Thankful

I know it is after Thanksgiving and all but it has been a busy few weeks and I haven't been able to post this yet.

This has been a challenging year for us, and every year we make it a point to sit down and think about what we are Thankful and grateful for. To say it was easy this year would be a big fat lie. We have had so many ups and downs and challenges to overcome that it has made us a little jaded.

With that being said when we sat down and started thinking about it, and made an effort to really look at things in a positive light it got easier, so here is our list!

We are thankful for...

Our families, we never would have gotten through all of this without them, and knowing that they support us, love us, and are there for us every step of the way has been a comfort on our tough days.

Our amazing and beautiful daughter, she is the light in our lives, our greatest, and most amazing blessing and miracle. I look at her everyday and and fall more and more in love. I cannot imagine our lives without her in it, or what our life was like before as it pales in comparison. To be able to watch a child grow and learn and change is the greatest gift anyone could ever be given.

Our marriage, we have struggled as of late but we are better because of it, if this year has shown us anything it has shown how much love can really change you and soften you. Even on our hardest days, if all we had to come back to was our love for each other that was enough to pull us through.

The changes we have gone though, yes they have been difficult and this year will be full of more changes but, the ones we have faced and taken on have been an amazing transformation for us. We have learned to live with less, and make due when needed, but we have also realized how full our life really is and that material possesions are not what matters, rather love, compassion, family, and a relationship with God are what save you from your hardest times.

So even though we look around and see how much we have had to endure, how much change we have gone through and how much change is to come; we are thankful, even for the smallest things, like food on the table and a roof still over our head, family to celebrate with and cry with, a community of faith that came together in our hard times and helped to pull us through, and the fact that no matter how far gone things can get there is always a light. No matter how far off it seems it is there, you just have to go through hell sometimes to get to the end, but what matters is that you keep on going, right through it and in the end you won't look back with regret but with thankfulness that you had to struggle to get where you are, so you could be evermore grateful for the things you will have.

“But there is suffering in life, and there are defeats. No one can avoid them. But it's better to lose some of the battles in the struggles for your dreams than to be defeated without ever knowing what you're fighting for.”

~ Paul Coelho

Moving on, below are some new pictures of our little miracle and from the holidays...Enjoy!!

So thankful to have such a beautiful table to come together at
(thanks to Tess and Aunt Mary Fran)

First Thanksgiving

All ready for Turkey

Gammie and Abby, and of course Abby made her stinker face right on cue for the picture

Grandpa H and Abby all ready for the Holly Days Parade

All Bundled up at Holly Days

Hitchin a ride with Dad

As you can tell it was pretty cold that night :)

Love,

Christie, Donnie, and Abby