If you looked at our Thanksgiving Holiday this year at face value, you might consider it a total bust. I was looking forward to 4 days off of work, and time with family. However, fate had different plans, and it started with Sam waking up with stomach pains at 4am on Thanksgiving morning and with him throwing up by 5am! He was terribly sick all day on Thanksgiving, so Dan and the girls went ahead with our plans to go to Uncle Keith and Aunt Brenda's, and I stayed home and took care of Sam. Sam had a particularly nasty stomach bug, with over 20 hours of vomitting and lower GI issues as well. In between throwing up, he had terrible stomach pains.
I thought the worst of it was over until Saturday morning when Kendra was in our room at 4am, and after two hours of crying she started throwing up, with me throwing up shortly behind her. At that point Dan had to take over the caretaking of all three of us - I was probably the worst off of all us. I haven't been that sick for LONG time. Somehow it was even worse because it was a holiday weekend and cherished time off.
As I huddled under my blankets on the couch just hoping and praying for the day to be over yesterday, I had to stop and think about all that I have to be thankful for. At one point when I thought my stomach was going to turn completely inside out, I thought about all the people in the world fighting illnesses like cancer and suffering the horrible side effects of chemotherapy. I couldn't help but think about my friend Jack, whose Anniversary Day to Heaven is November 27th. While Jack's death was tragic and he left this world all too soon, he also taught me to appreciate every day and to live life to the fullest! He will never be forgotten.
Life is funny sometimes with how you make connections. Jack was an employee of mine who was diagnosed with nasopharynx cancer shortly after taking a position in one of my labs at work. He fought his battle with cancer without a single complaint, and his only worries were about how his illness was affecting others. What an inspiration Jack has been in my life. I have since developed a friendship with his family, who also happen to be Chinese and have provided a great connection to Chinese culture for Kaylie. Life seemed to come full circle on the day that we were able to introduce Jack's brother and parents to Kaylie. Jack had been so excited that we were adopting from China. I know that he was with us as we introduced her to his family that day.
This year we have much to be thankful for. We were able to witness a miracle with our own eyes as my sister Pam suffered a carotid artery dissection on March 4th and not only survived, but has thrived, despite the grim prognosis from the doctors in the weeks following the dissection and subsequent stroke. Never have I witnessed the work of God with such clarity. There is simply no other explanation as to why she was able to survive. We are also tremedously thankful for the health of our family. While we have had some ups and down this year with illnesses, Sam, Kendra and Kaylie continue to do well and thrive. It is simply amazing to me to witness them growing up and learning so many new things each day. I cherish the conversations with each one of them, as they give us glimpses of how they view the world. I feel like they teach us way more about life than we teach them. We are truly blessed, and very, very thankful.
~Ali
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