Thankful

I started my Thanksgiving celebrations with a heavy heart as we just found out that my mom's cancer has returned. (http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/janerainey) This time around she will have chemo and then a stem cell transplant. My heart is so sad that our family, and particularly mom, has to go through this again. At the same time I know there are many blessings through all of this. We are so blessed that Hodgkin's Lymphoma is not only treatable but curable. We are blessed in the timing. My mom was recovered enough from the first round of chemo that she was able to stay with us after Ellie was born. She was healthy for my brother's college graduation and for his move to Arkansas. We had a wonderful family vacation this past summer. She will most likely just be starting treatments or about to start treatments for Christmas this year so she should still be feeling good and the girls and I got to spend some time with her before Thanksgiving and hopefully by next holiday season she'll be all fixed up! I am also very thankful for Skype so the girls can see and talk to Gran and Grandaddy while my mom is going through the transplant and can't be around germs! While I so wish she didn't have to deal with the chemo and transplant I am comforted in that there is perfection in the Lord's timing.

While my heart is heavy I also have many things to be thankful for. I am so thankful for the wonderful family I married in to. I love watching my girls play with the older girls at family gatherings. This year we stayed an extra night with Aunt Suzy and Uncle Clyde and got to spend part of the day today with the big girls and their parents and my girls (especially Emmie) just had a BALL! Emmie woke up with morning asking when Emma, Mary Jane, and Laura Ann were coming over and I love that! I was so blessed to marry into this fun loving Christian family and I'm so thankful for that. I'm also so thankful to be getting a wonderful sister-in-law this coming June and I KNOW my girls are super thankful to be getting an Aunt Emily!



Laura Ann, Mary Jane, Emmie, Emma, and Ellie
(I'm quite thankful I was able to tell Mary Jane and Emma apart...lol!)

 
I'm so thankful this year for modern medicine. The medicine that has given two of my sweet Cystic Fibrosis patients lung transplants in the last year and a half and for the first time in their lives they know what it feels like to be able to breathe like the rest of us and to live lives where they're not dependent on oxygen and they're not in and out of the hospital every few months. I am thankful for modern medicine that can cure my mom's cancer. I'm thankful for the modern medicine that helped my cousin John live 5 years after being diagnosed with an aggressive brain tumor and a prognosis of only living 15months. Even though John lost his battle with GBM I'm so hopeful that what the doctors learned from John's treatments will one day save someone's life and allow them to live a long, disease free life. I'm so thankful for a God that has given the doctors the wisdom to treat patients with a variety of illnesses and to learn constantly and then to develop even better solutions to devestating illnesses.

Most of all I am thankful for my little family. I am so thankful for Paul. He is a wonderful husband and a wonderful Daddy to Emmie, Ellie, and our furbaby Franklin. I am thankful for my sweet girls. I am thankful for my little cuddle puppy. I am thankful for all the memories our little family has made over the years and for the blessings God has given all of us.

I hope you and your family had a very happy Thanksgiving!!