Thankful.

Every single day.  We are thankful. We have made some amazing friends here in Chennai. We are blessed with terrific friends in Houston and all over the globe. We have a loving family anxiously waiting on us to come home next month. We have an awesome church and church family here. I have a fun job and terrific coworkers here and in the US that I get to work with. We have been exposed to a new culture and have had the opportunity to travel this side of the world. There's been a visit to the Taj Mahal, Delhi and Jaipur with my sweet girl, which made memories to last a lifetime. We got to experience Malaysia, Singapore & Chennai with my love and my parents.  These are the big things.  Of course there are little things, too.  We have our celebri-dog, Dynamo, with us to complete our little family here.  We have a dependable driver and in-home helper to make our lives easier here in this crazy world.  We have Gideon (who really falls in the "big" things category).  We have food (some of it American! in our cabinet LOL) and shelter.  We have technology to keep us in touch with friends and family around the world.  We are blessed.  We have much to be thankful for.

 

Usually I would have health on that list. And for me and most of those close to me, I am so thankful for health. Unfortunately, we've had a lack of it with Savannah this month. And often since we've been here, actually.  More than we've ever had, which is unnerving and stressful. We are both impatiently waiting for last week's antibiotics to kick in and get her back to her normal, feisty self.  We've also sat countless hours with a sweet four-year old fighting cancer this month. We are praying for a big miracle from God to heal her completely, but preparing our hearts for her to walk into Jesus' arms and out of pain. But how do we do that?  How do we prepare our heart to say goodbye to such a sweet girl, little Princess Prasansha, who brings smiles and laughs and love to everyone she meets?  I'm in awe of her parents, Shawn and Sheralyn, and their grace during these very hard weeks. Amazing faith. I don't know that I could be so understanding in the same situation. Selfishly, I hope I never have to find out. We will keep praying for them to have the strength they need and the answers for their older two children. 

 

We are winding down this year and getting in the "countdown to home" mode.  As long as everyone is healthy, we are looking forwrd to a fancy Thanksgiving dinner with some friends, including a few Americans and a New Zealander.  We will be thankful for each other and for some delicious food and wine. I am hoping for some turkey but not holding my breath.  I might indulge in a massage and pedicure if time allows, for which I will be thankful.  We will visit Prasansha and be thankful for her and her loving family.  We will attend a wedding of a dear friend and be thankful for the opportunity.  We will simply be thankful.

 

I am ticking off the "shopping weekends left until we leave" mentally and realizing I won't get much shopping done between Savannah not feeling well and wanting to spend time with and help the Acheson family.  And that's OK, because the meaning of Christmas is not the presents for us.  It's the love.  We are immeasurably thankful that God loved us so much that He sent His Son in the form of a small baby over 2,000 years ago.  We are blessed daily with His mercy, grace and forgiveness.  These things come in handy with us being imperfect humans.  We are happy to celebrate this special holiday with our loved ones in the US.

We are going back to the doctor tomorrow and hoping for some next steps to get Savannah well.  I had a meeting with her school yesterday and we aren't much further along with graduation plans than we were a month ago.  We will continue to ask for your prayers and thoughts for these obstacles.  Please also keep Prasansha in your prayers.  Scans yesterday showed tumor growth again.  We love you all and wish our American friends a very Happy Thanksgiving!  We hope everyone takes some time to reflect on the wonderful things (and people) that have happened to them in 2014 and to be thankful.  We are thankful for all of you and are blessed by your thoughts, prayers and encouragement all the time!  Gobble, gobble!