Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving to you all! I hope that everyone is able to take some time out to spend with their families this Thanksgiving and reflect on all that they are grateful for.

We have a lot to be grateful for this year.

Around this time last year we didn't know if we would ever be able to have a biological child of our own and here we are now less than 4 weeks away from expecting our first baby. While I am tempted to complain about how I have been feeling lately, overall I am truly grateful to have been able to experience a healthy pregnancy and for what is awaiting us ahead!

As I look back on this year, there have been some tough challenges that we have been able to overcome. I am happy to report that our westie/cairn pup BamBam is healthy and doing well. In January we thought we had a matter of weeks left with him due to his kidney problems, but with the help and diligence of our wonderful veterinarian, BamBam is now happier than ever and much more playful than he has ever been. I never thought he would be here with us for so long and I am truly grateful that he is happy and seemingly healthy. Of course Rusty and Belfry are doing great too.

Being a small business owner in the worst economy ever has been challenging to say the least. After January, things came to a near standstill. I saw 4 of my competitors go out of business and was worried for the future of my business. Fortunately I held on, kept working and have started to pick things back up again to the point where I now feel secure in taking some time off after the baby is born. On top of that, we were a little worried about whether or not Dennis would be forced to strike as his contract was up. After a lot of time up in the air, he was given a new contract and never did have to strike.

Of course we are thankful for the wonderful family we have in our lives. We are blessed to have parents, grandparents, step-parents, siblings, aunts, uncles, cousins and nephews who have proven to be blessings to us time and again. Along with our families, we are grateful for the many many many friends we have in our lives. There are times we felt a little run down this past year with our crazy busy schedules, but the truth is that almost all weekends and many weekdays, we had plans with our friends and it is so nice to know that there are so many people who actually like hanging out with us! Our moms and sisters and friends did a tremendous job planning two very wonderful baby showers for us this past month. We were beyond amazed by all of the hard work and love that went into planning the showers and also by the graciousness and generosity of our guests.

We are grateful to have a roof (and a nice one at that) over our heads as so many others struggle to keep a permanent home. Our subdivision went through some rough times this year as our builder went out of business, but we banded together as a little community and helped make it a nicer place for all of us. It was nice to get to know our neighbors better and to take some pride in our subdivision.

We are grateful to be where we are now and thankful for all that the Lord has provided for us. We look forward with much anticipation to the coming year(s). As we celebrate Thanksgiving this year, we will be extra thankful for all we have been blessed with in 2009.