Thanksgiving 2012

“Give thanks to the Lord for He is good, His love endures forever.”                                                    Psalm 118:1

“Therfore, we who are receiving the unshakable kingdom should have gratitude, with which we should offer worship pleasing to God in reverence and awe. For our God is a consuming fire.”  Hebrews 12: 28-29

Thankful for my family (27 weeks pregnant) Photo Courtesy of Andrea Mellen Photography NILMDTS

Thankful for my family (27 weeks pregnant) Photo Courtesy of Andrea Mellen Photography NILMDTS

 

The entire fam in Greenville, South Carolina, 26 weeks pregnant

 

Thanksgiving Day 2012 at my parent's house (nearly 28 weeks) So much to be thankful for

 

This Thanksgiving, more than ever before, I am thankful for the gifts of faith, family and friends. I am thankful for our Angel and the lessons our little one is teaching us. I am thankful for all those who have contacted us whose lives have been touched by our story. I am thankful for all the support I have, for our wonderful Doctors, Isaiah’s Promise and Gilchrist Hospice. I am thankful most of all, for the gift of life in all its forms. I am thankful for today, for this day and every day I have with our little one. I am thankful that at our last visit with the specialist we were told our baby has a better chance of surviving till birth than was first expected and I was allowed to travel to South Carolina. We had a great trip.

I am thankful for God the Father and the examples of Mary and Joseph. How thankful I am to pray to a God of the Universe who knows the pain of losing His Son to this world, and the joy of the promise of Heaven and knowing He will live forever. How thankful I am for the intercession of Mary and Joseph, who during this season, carried their unborn Son, expecting the unexpected.

I must admit, I sat down to write this post before and did not feel very grateful. I had to pray about it and come back. Recently, creating a birth plan full of very difficult choices regarding life saving measures and interventions as well as making preparations to potentially bury our child is one of the most difficult things I have ever done. Being thankful and choosing life is truly a choice. We understand we have not taken the easy road. There are days when I choose fear, anxiety, selfishness, self-pity or grief. We are only human, sure I am sad for myself and the pain we are enduring, but then I make a better choice, and choose our faith, and trust that our baby will go straight to heaven and experience eternal joy.  Eternal joy sure sounds much better than a life here on earth, so we choose gratefulness over sadness.

I spent a day this week at The Northwest Center, (a pregnancy center and maternity home for those in need in DC, that I have been involved with for nearly nine years).  Whenever I go there, I am reminded of those who are less fortunate than I. Those who don’t have a loving husband, and family and friends to support them, those who might be in poor health, have little resources, no homes to call their own, no big Thanksgiving dinner, and little money to buy diapers, or access the best prenatal care.  Yet these moms and their children choose life and choose joy as well… They inspire me, and help me realize what is important, what really matters…. and I am grateful for all I have. I am thankful for the families served at NWC, for those close to my heart who serve them, and those who make the lifesaving work of The Northwest Center possible.

Finally, John and I are beyond thankful for the support of our church in all its forms. John wrote a thank you letter to Archbishop William Lori of Baltimore this week sharing our story, offering to help others in our situation.  We are so blessed with the wonderful support system we have received from the church we love so much. He wrote “What a blessing to have our church to walk with us on this journey, loving this life that began at conception, now 29 weeks ago.”