Wednesday, December 19, 2012

Gratitude, Grief, and Prayers.

.  Long ago when I was much younger and more energetic, our home was graced with a series of tiny foster babys. Most of them went on to be adopted. The mothers were young, 12 or 13 years most of the time. In those days, girls went to "visit" a relative and came back without a child.
  One of our little ones was not well when she arrived. We kept her for a year. A year filled with trips to emergency rooms, wearing pillow splints, caring for eczema etc but she was such a little doll that when orders came to move on to another base, we decided to adopt her. The first few years went well, then she started bruising. We were sent via military aircraft to a wonderful hospital in Denver. Many sick children and returning wounded vets were all mixed together. We found out our babe had in laymens terms, aplastic anemia. This is the failure of the bone marrow to make platelets so she bled easily.  I had been told she might live 6 months.
 We moved into a country setting, grew our own fruits and veggies, had chickens, horses etc and gave her 5 years. This kind of lulled us into thinking she might survive. But when she was ten, we lost her. Like the parents in Conn. this last week, grief was overwhelming. I know first hand the horrid wrench of loosing a child, so symapthize deeply with those parents and families facing this Christmas without the joy on the faces of small ones whose gifts have been planned for months.
  My life changed then, guess I really unraveled.  But as it does, life went on. I had even prayed that God take me and let my baby survive, she had so many years of living to do, and I had been around longer.
  God had given my the three best children in the world, and the little one we lost. All my kids have grown up to be kind, caring, loving adults.  My one regret is that one of them does not keep in touch, and I miss hearing from him very much.
  After life settled down, I remarried and had one more son. He is now the farthest away. And has a new daughter, his second. So I am packing up to travel the thousand miles to meet this new little girl. But this requires a lot of travel on the part of my wonderful kids. My daughter in Illnois will head this way in a few days, and the next day we head back to Illinois. There I will get to visit with 3 of my grandchildren and 2 of my great grandkids. Then on to Nebraska, part way across MO we will meet my son from Crete and I will go the rest of the way with him. I am so grateful to have kids that want to do this, its a great many miles, weather is always a concern, and safety. So many prayers are being sent out for safe travel.
  Having Christmas with the 2 youngest grand daughters will be a treat. And the son here in TN is also invaluable, as he takes care of my companion and friend Miss Libby while I am gone. She is a 6 year old kitty from our local shelter and my constant friend. She knows I am packing and is very upset, knowing she will be alone except for feeding times.
  How could any one be more blessed, I have the greatest kids, grand kids and great grandkids on earth, and I am thankful for every one of them.
  I will not be forgetting the heavy hearts of others this year, and sadness will be taking up a small part of my heart, but God has a way of getting us through tough times. Let us all be grateful for the blessings we have in our lives, even if they seem few sometimes, we likely have more than we realize.
  May your holidays be richly blessed, filled with family, songs, food and happiness.  Take time to give thanks for homes, families, food, and most of all love, it's our greatest blessing of all.

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