Counting Our Blessings













We enjoyed a wonderful, though somewhat quiet for our crew, Thanksgiving, with just the White Family. Unfortunately, because my branch of the family tree experienced a week of the little-virus-that-could (first Will, then Sophie, then Matt, finally me - only the baby was spared), our favorite people from Birmingham decided they'd better not risk exposure. (The only thing worse than this virus would be missing the Alabama-Auburn game for this virus!) We missed everyone (not just Birmingham family, but LA and Chicago too!) like crazy, but it will make seeing everyone over Christmas all the more special!

I guess he just couldn't handle a Thanksgiving without Mee-Maw, so Matt actually headed south late last night to go with Aunt Pam and Big Dad to the big game! Thanks to lucky Aunt Pammie, Matt is experiencing his first Alabama game with two of his favorite people, traveling in style, by limo with great food (Dreamland, of course), great tickets, and sideline passes! The final verdict isn't in yet, but when I talked to Matt last, he said it was the experience of a lifetime!

And the fun isn't over! What do you do after having a baby, beating cancer, experiencing multiple moves, dealing with major stresses at church and nearly completing an international adoption? What else? We're going to Disney World! We leave at various times on Sunday, but, we will all converge on the Contemporary Resort for a week of magical fun! Will has no idea what to expect, and as excited as Sophie is, Tori and I are at least 10 times as excited. We've planned and plotted, made and changed reservations, packed, unpacked, and repacked, and all that is left is one week with our favorite people in the happiest place on earth!

So though we're running headlong into the most wonderful time of the year, with all the lights, music, parties, and presents, Thanksgiving isn't forgotten in our family. For as we sat around in honor of the first Thanksgiving counting our blessings for our five kernels of corn, (or in our case, the five lollipops we used to keep Will interested), we realized that it is in the difficult years, you decide whether or not to choose as Patti-Grams calls it, "an attitude of gratitude." And in our family, after this difficult year, we've decided that we have more blessings than bushel's worth of corn kernels. Here are just a few of the blessings we named "one-by-one."


homes * massage therapy * peace *a new baby as sweet as pie * parents *a precious new boy at TPC Kids * a stronger family * grace * sisters * God's faithfulness * cousins * Diesel 10 * aunts * health * grandparents and great-grandparents * Zoe * shoes that fit * husbands and wives * food to eat * Disney World * Sophie asking Jesus into her heart * mercy * uncles * learning lessons * being together * leadership * provision * life

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