I am thankful for being able to help others by sharing my struggles. Sometimes by allowing others to see the pain you have faced it can help them to better face the struggles ahead of them.

Last night on a facebook group I met a mom with a 7 month old little boy who is struggling with bowel issues (I won’t get in to details). This mom was very stressed and upset (as any good mom would be). I read her story as she shared it with the group and I saw in it my own story with Nate. There were so many parallels that it brought tears to my eyes. Today I sent her a message and offered to share my story (or rather Nate’s). She accepted and we spent a lot of time messaging back and forth. I don’t really know this woman and we haven’t become best friends, in fact odds are that a some point will drift apart and loose contact but that doesn’t change the fact that her and her child have touched my heart and I hope that I have touched hers. By spending that time today I feel I got to help her at least in some small way, but even more she helped me. She helped me to see all of that bad that I watched Nate go through as something that is turned into something wonderful. Don’t get me wrong if I could I would take all of it away and have him live a “normal” childhood…but I can’t. Instead it has become a badge of honor. A strength. Courage. I feel honored and thankful to be able to look back and see how far things have come and to be able to share that with others to help and to try to ease some of the journey that they have ahead of them.

I would also be thankful for any prayers that could be shared in your hearts for this little man and his momma and family.

Today I am thankful for time with loved ones. Be it family or chosen family, it is so wonderful to kick back, relax and just enjoy the ones we care about. I am so thankful for that special time.

Today I am thankful for a day of no bad news. It was one of those days where nothing really went wrong. Not that it was a perfect day, things went as would be expected but nothing went wrong. No one was sick. No one got in trouble at school. None of the kids got into a fight. I didn’t burn dinner. The list is endless. I guess really it was a “boring” day but I am thankful for the calm and monotony of an average and expected day.

I am thankful for personal strength. Not the type that you work at and build. Instead the kind that you don’t know you even have till it has just become a part of who you are. This may sound vague but I don’t want to go into to much detail. Sometimes things happen in our life that are unexpected and we are unprepared for but when we rise to these occasions we find strengths we didn’t know we had but if these events continue on some of these strengths become a part of what makes u who we are and stay to shape how we approach other things in life. I discovered one such strength yesterday. It shocked me at first to see it. It is strength I didn’t always have but that I now know will stay with me. It makes me proud and happy and thankful to know what I (and my family) have faced and where it has brought us and who it has made us.

I am thankful for those moments when things just work out right. Like that moment when you decide to call someone now instead of in 5 minutes and catch them just before they head out. I had one of those moments today. For some reason I decided I needed to stop procrastinating and just make a phone call I had been putting off it just so happened that the person was there even though they weren’t suppose to be. So I am thankful for the unexpected working out.

I am thankful for a good conversation with a complete stranger.

I am thankful for the days when the boys arrive home form school happy and full of love. Yesterday after school Nate’s bus pulled up and Nate came bouncing out of it so loving and full of hugs and ready for lots of hugs.

Today I am thankful for those that are willing to go out of their way to help others. So last night I decide as the kids are getting ready to go to bed that I will have them try on their dressy clothes to make sure they fit so that they can wear them to daddy’s work Christmas party…today! Of course mommy left it to the last minute…and…of course things didn’t go smoothly. Nate’s Aly’s fit but Cam’s dress pants were a good 3 sizes+ to big in the waist. They were so big that if I pinched the waist in he was left with a huge bubble of extra pants. So in a moment of panic 12 hours before I need him to get ready I decided to post on a local mommy group to ask if anyone had a pair to spare. Miraculously and much to my surprise a generous woman dug a pair out of storage that no longer fit her older son and offered them to me. I was amazed and beyond happy. I picked them up and they fit great. I am not sure what I would have done if she hadn’t offered. So today I am so thankful for others who are willing to go out of their way to help others. I also want to say a huge thank you to her, you saved a bit of this mommy’s sanity, I can not thank you enough.

I am thankful for those moments when you’re sure not everything is going to work out and then you are pleasantly surprised and instead things work out better then you could have hoped for. Today the kids wanted to go and see the CP holiday train and to visit with Nana and Papa but other things came up and I though that we were going to miss the train but we rushed over and arrived in time to see it pass by. It turns out the train was running a little behind the posted schedule and we had enough time to see it. The kids loved it. After wards we got to go and visit Nana and Papa. I am so thankful that it all worked out when it seemed doomed.

Having a cup of hot chocolate while we wait for the train to arrive. Unfortunately my phone died so I didn’t get any pictures of the train.