Much to be thankful for

It is pretty standard to think about and discuss what you are thankful for with your family and whoever else gathers around your table and in your home for Thanksgiving. So, pull up a chair and share some thanks with the DN. If you would like to add your own, we would love to hear it.

It has been a big year for the DN. A lot of loss and a lot of gain. First, we are thankful for our family. Within the "nuclear" fam, we are thankful for our health and especially for Charlie. What a tremendous blessing. We thank God for him every day. We are thankful for Fido's continued improved and good health. Most of all we are just thankful for his continued presence in our family. We were blessed to share the last year with Matilda Mae and we still mourn her loss. We are also thankful for our new pup Gertie. In just a short time she has already brought us smiles, lots of licks and a little pandemonium.

Moving to our extended family, we are thankful that Momma D's heart surgery was basically a false alarm and that she remains healthy. We could not imagine losing her and are glad that the heart surgery did nothing more than make us imagine it. We are also thankful that she will soon start to fix her feet and that she should be up and running by the time Charlie decides to arrive. We are thankful that Dave Devitre is joining the family (even if he is a Blues & Cards fan), he is a wonderful guy and a great permanent addition to the family. We are also thankful for the continued health of Aunt Jane.

We are thankful that the Huntingtons are all coming for Thanksgiving. We are very excited to show them our new home. We are also thankful that we don't have mature trees yet, so that Howie cannot try to set up HAM antennas at our new house. ;) We are thankful that everyone remains in good health. We are thankful for Howie's 35+ years at Motorola. We are thankful for Tad's new job, Ellen's full class schedule, and Ellen's plans to get her PhD. And we are thankful for Tad & Ellen's basement and their willingness to allow Laura to use it. We are thankful for Grandma, for all of the love she gave us, that Dave was able to get to know her and develop a relationship with her, and that she went peacefully to Heaven with God and her Husband, Bill. We still miss her terribly though, especially during the holidays. And we are thankful for Uncle Jim: a good man and a good uncle. He fought cancer as hard as anyone could and we are glad that he passed comfortably with his family. We will also miss Jim during the holidays, but will think of him every time we hear some Clapton on the radio. We are also blessed by Grandma's sisters and Carol. We love you all even though we will not get to share a Thanksgiving meal with you.

I appreciate that this is getting long, but the DN has an embarrassing amount to be thankful for. We are blessed with many, many wonderful friends. Thank you to La Image who has supported us through our move and all of the changes associated with it. Your friendships have been an important support during our transition; especially, Matt and Sally who are starting to think Laura is the fifth member of their family and Karen & Ally who have generously opened their doors as well. We are thankful for Sanya, Alyssa & Andrew, Dan & Carol, Debbie, Kevin & Leanne, Jaybo, John & Cathi, Erik & Jesse, Steve & Laura, David & Andy (& Mickey) and many more. We hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving and that your coming year is blessed.

Okay we are in the home stretch. We are also thankful for the continued health and healing of our friends and family who have had medical troubles this year, people like Retha, L.G., Roberta and Erik's father. May God bless you with continued health and healing.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone.