Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving!

We had a truly wonderful Thanksgiving this year. It had all the elements of a great day of thanks. Dan’s mom and brother were staying with us for the holiday. Thursday morning Dan and I did the Run to Feed the Hungry. This is a 10k run that benefits the Sacramento Food Bank. It has become a family tradition if we are in town for Thanksgiving. There are 3 reasons I love doing this run on Thanksgiving morning. 1. It feels good to be doing something to help those who are less fortunate. 2. There is such a sense of community out there, and I really enjoy the spirit of the morning. 3. I feel so much better starting off the day with some good calorie burning before we indulge in our Thanksgiving feast later that day. This year was no different, although I did have a few moments of hesitation when we got up at 6:30 am and it was 29 degrees outside. Luckily Dan helped me get into the right frame of mind and we did our 6.2 miles together. It didn’t feel SO freezing after the first mile.

After our run, we headed over to my friend Kristina’s house to pack lunches and bags of toiletries for the homeless in downtown Sacramento. This is something Kristina and her family and friends do every Thanksgiving and we were happy to be able to help out this year. Kathy, Scott and the kids met us over there and we all made PB & J sandwiches, packed fruit, chips and snacks into the bags the kids had decorated and then headed downtown to pass out the lunches. I’m so glad that we are able to do things like this with our kids at an early age. It is so important to me to cultivate in them a spirit of serving others.

After passing out lunches to over 75 men and women we headed back home to prepare the turkey for our family gathering. We had ten people at our house for Thanksgiving Dinner and everyone helped out by providing a dish or two or three. The kids had a great time playing with everyone and we all had a good time just enjoying each others company. Every year we go around the table and share what we are thankful for and both kids said “my family and friends.” This year we also had a Thanksgiving trivia quiz with 20 questions and Aunt Marie was the winner with 14 correct answers.

I hope you all had a blessed Thanksgiving celebration with your families.

Ready to Run to Feed the Hungry

One side of our Thanksgiving Table

 

The other side of our table

 

Ava

 

Drew

 

Grandma Honey

Thanksgiving Recap

We had a great Thanksgiving!

We started out on Wednesday, by helping assemble and deliver Thanksgiving baskets to the families of the Green House, a non-profit that a friend of mine runs. I brought the kids with me and they were good little helpers, finding the different items that I needed and putting them in our boxes. Then when it was time to deliver all the ingredients to make a Thanksgiving feast they were so excited to go door to door. It was a really great experience and I love that it's something I can include the kids in. We talked on the way there about what we were doing and why. Ava and Drew both liked the idea of "helping people." It was such a rewarding experience, I hope to make it a yearly tradition!

Then, on Thanksgiving morning, Dan, his mom, and I ran in the Run to Feed the Hungry. We did the 10k timed run which starts at 8:45 and Uncle Scott stayed at home with the kids. They watched the Thanksgiving Day Parade while we ran in the cold! We ran this race a couple of years ago and really enjoyed it, even though it's the largest organized run in Sacramento and had over 30,000 runners and walkers this year! It's a great way to start the day. You get the feeling of being part of a community, you are raising money to support the Sacramento Food Bank and getting some good exercise in before indulging in all those delicious Thanksgiving calories. This year Dan found the best place to park and we walked right over to the starting line. I think Dan was motivated to beat his mom to the finish, so we ran much faster than I am used to. We ended up finishing our 6.2 miles in 58 minutes and 30 seconds, which gives us an average pace of 9:18.


After the run, we got cleaned up and headed up to Amador to celebrate Thanksgiving with my Aunt Marie, Uncle Terry, cousin Heather and her husband John, cousin Adam and Grandma Honey and her friend Gil. Grandma Kathy and Uncle Scott came with us too. There was lots of delicious food and lots of good times! After dinner we went for a walk in the woods and saw a bunch of deer. Then it was time for more food--we had three different kinds of pie! The kids each had two pieces of pumpkin pie! And I confess-I had a sliver of each! It's a good thing we ran in the morning!

Uncle Terry and Aunt Marie with the bird

Heather (with a tiny baby bump) making gravy

Uncle Scott, Dan and Ava

Grandma Kathy, me and Drew

One side of the Thanksgiving table

The other side of the Thanksgiving table

This morning Dan and I hit some of the Black Friday sales. We went to Kohl's, Walmart, Costco and Toys R Us and got some great deals. It was our first experience shopping on Black Friday and it wasn't bad at all. There were some long lines, but they moved quickly and were pretty organized. Except for Toys R Us. That place was packed and we decided to leave instead of shop.

When we got home from our shopping we learned that my grandma had a mild heart attack last night. She should be ok, but she is in the ICU at a hospital here in Sacramento. So this afternoon Heather and John and I visited her at the hospital. She is so sweet and we are so thankful that she is still here with us. She was very sleepy today, so we didn't stay too long, but I am planning to go back and visit her tomorrow. If you could please keep her in your prayers, I would appreciate it!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays, probably second only to Christmas. I love the time of reflecting on our blessings, giving thanks to God, and sharing what we have. This year I participated in a kind of challenge, each day coming up with one thing that I am thankful for. So I have had a lot of time to think and reflect on what I am thankful for. I like spreading it out through the month, so I can experience gratitude on a daily basis.

You would think that with all we have been through as a family, all the stories we've come to know through being a part of the CHD community, that we would never take anything for granted. That we would never sweat the small stuff or get caught up in petty things and that we'd count each day that we are able to open our eyes as a tremendous blessing. But, we are human. And once things settle into a normal routine it's easy to fall back into our old habits.

I'm thinking it might be a good idea to continue the challenge of finding one thing to be thankful for each day for the entire year. Wouldn't it be incredible to look back at it months later and be able to actually count your blessings? I think it would be a great way to keep life in perspective.

So what am I thankful for?

I'm thankful for my family.

• I'm thankful for my strong, supportive, loving, generous, hard-working husband. I'm thankful for him every day.

• I'm thankful for a healthy little boy with 100% oxygen saturations and so much energy he is a little bit naughty.

• I'm thankful for my sweet, feisty little girl who feels everything BIG and has the best laugh and the cutest little dimple...and she knows it!

I'm thankful for our health.

• I'm thankful for Hearts of Hope and the amazing professionals in the field of pediatric cardiology. My life has been permanently changed because of you.

• I am SO thankful that Drew got his H1N1 flu shot! A huge thank you to Dr. Teimor Nasirov for making it possible for Drew and the other heart kids in our support group to get the shot they need to be protected!

• I'm thankful that our peds office got the H1N1 injections in and that Ava got her shot. I was going to take her to the county health department clinic and saw on the news that some people waited 8 hours in line!

I'm thankful for my friends.

I'm thankful for babies.

• I'm thankful that so many of our friends and family are having babies! We have been praying for some of these babies for years, and now they are on their way!

• I'm thankful for baby Ashley, who learned how to say "Auntie Andrea." She is so cute!

I'm thankful for all the little things that make life comfortable and fun.

• I'm thankful for crisp fall mornings and morning jogs with my husband. And the spa to sit in afterward!

• I'm thankful for our Sunday morning tradition: pancakes and chicken apple sausage for breakfast. Yum!

• I'm thankful for my crockpot. It cooks dinner for me while I clean the house and go to the gym.

• I'm thankful for my minivan with DVD player. It makes the six hour drive to my parent's house so much easier!

• I'm thankful for my cozy house and my own bed! And that our whole family is together under one roof.

• I'm thankful that God has provided for all of our needs...and that we are able to share what we have with those that are less fortunate.

This year I am most thankful that 2009 is the first full year that Drew has not had an inpatient hospitalization since he was born in 2004. Thank you Jesus!