What a great week it has been.  We are so thankful to be visiting with one of my brothers, Chris, and his wife, Es.  They drove down from IA and are spending Thanksgiving week with us.  It has been extra sweet since we haven’t seen them since their wedding 18 months ago.  There has been a lot of laughter, tickling and silliness… which is doing all of our hearts good, I do believe.
We are obviously extremely thankful for all that we’ve come through this year.  We are thankful for Josiah’s healing… and you can tell by the double chin in the picture that he’s back to being our chunky little boy.  It is incredibly overwhelming in so many ways when I think about all that our little man (and our family) has been through – the worst and some of the best.
I have always loved the passion of hispanic and latin cultures.  I realize that our family has ended up right in the middle of that passion.  We have the intensity of stress, trials, exhaustion and normal life craziness.  We also have had an amazing increase in the intensity of our love, appreciation and value of our time and life together.
A fellow CaringBridge mom, Holly, articulated some of my thoughts so well – “And so this Thanksgiving, although we still have much to be thankful for, I am reminded that some times, some seasons of life, we must be thankful simply for who God is, not just simply for the pain we have avoided. As a mom. I would love for my children to avoid pain, especially of this magnitude. But we are trying to learn to praise in the valleys and be thankful for who God is, no matter how horrific the storm we are experiencing.” www.caringbridge.org/visit/katemcrae
We are thankful for our Heavenly Father, His mercies and grace, our family (both here and around the world), our prayer support and church family, and all that God has provided for us… especially a growing and healed little boy.
Happy Thanksgiving!

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