Flashback: Thanksgiving 2003

Three years ago, my husband & I hosted Thanksgiving at our home for both sides of our family. We had moved here from Charlottesville, VA only 5 months prior, so the house was still fairly empty. Feeling like I had finally graduated to the "grown up table," I prepared my first turkey & excitedly used my china and my silver for only the 2nd time.

After lunch, we each read a Bible verse and told why we were thankful. My husband went last and told our family how thankful he was to be married to me & that he knew in his heart I was going to be an amazing Mom to our children...the first of whom we expected at the end of July! There was a momentary, "Huh?" Then the room erupted in squeals. Our family knew we had been struggling with an infertility diagnosis. We revelled in the miracles of modern medicine and God's blessing in bringing new life to our family. We still had lots of surprises in store, as none of us yet knew we were expecting triplets...(We discovered 3 heartbeats via a 6 week ultrasound on Dec 1st.)

Thursday, as we recounted this story with our expanded family, we howled as we remembered the rest of that story...As everyone offered their congratulatory hugs and squeals, my sweet Grandmama, who is EXTREMELY hard of hearing, just smiled proudly and nodded as if she was with us and understood exactly what was going on. (This is a skill she has completely mastered.) Then, right in the midst of the excited chatter, she looked out the dining room window and loudly said, "Honey, that is a beautiful tree. Is it a crepe myrtle?" Everyone looked at each other, confused--then realized she has missed the whole announcement. So, my Mom shouted the news in her ear and the squeals started all over again.

This year's table involved a lot of squealing as well, but it was more age appropriate. :-) I am continually reminded that we have NO IDEA what our futures hold--and am exceptionally thankful I know WHO holds my future.

This year, I thanked God for the trials we endured to get to this point. I am positive that we have a greater appreciation of our blessings because of the struggles we've encountered to get here.

**File this picture under "the best you can do with 2.5 year olds who have been 'on their best behavior' at lunch."