Days of Thanksgiving

I hope you all had a fantastic Thanksgiving!! We definitely did! We praise the Lord for answered prayer in allowing our sweet Anna to be here for this day of feasting, fellowshipping, and, most importantly, reflecting and thanking the Lord for everything in our lives. I was reminded of the fact that just four years ago, we had the same type of prayer request as we almost lost our dear son, Daniel, to septic shock. We had been told (after he survived the worst of it) that we'd be lucky if he came home from the hospital before Thanksgiving....he came home two days before!!! I am thankful that all of my children were once again home to celebrate this holiday with us! We enjoyed time with our family, old friends, and new friends. It was a day spent around our new dining room table, another thing to be thankful for! (I'll be posting on that soon!)

Wednesday, while we were preparing for Thursday's festivities, Craig took Anna to her oncologist as she was experiencing some complications due to her CML. Blood work revealed that the Gleevec is working already!!!! After just a couple of weeks on it, her white blood cell count was down to 40,000. We are so thankful for this! However, there are other complications that have arisen as well. Her red blood cell count is low as well as her platelet count. She is now on iron, and a few other meds for regulation. We do rejoice in that Anna gets to take pain medication now. The Gleevec unfortunately causes extreme bone pain, joint pain, and muscle pain. So much so that Anna can barely move at times. She winces in pain whenever she tries to get up to do anything. It also is causing water retention and swelling in her face. We are thankful for her smile and her sweet spirit in all of this. She has been brave, though I know it's not easy for her.

The day after Thanksgiving, we stayed in our pjs just laying low. We enjoyed a turkey hash brunch which has become a tradition for Craig to make. I helped this year as I didn't do much cooking the day before.....ahh, the joy of reaping from your children what you have taught them! We did a bit of cleaning up after Thursday's events, and then went on over to the study for family movie time. I chose "The Ultimate Gift", though I must confess that I wasn't as ready to watch it as I thought I was! For those who haven't seen it, it deals with a little girl who has leukemia and eventually dies at the end. Ok, bad choice on my part, but it's a good movie. We ended with "It's a Wonderful Life", then with a reading in the book of Psalms and a time of prayer, it was off to bed with the little ones, and now I am off as well.

Here's to each of you, may you all have a blessed weekend!