Happy Thanksgiving?

These pictures are from Thanksgiving #1 on the Sunday before Thanksgiving. I had this grand plan on how I would divide the Holiday so we could enjoy both sides of the family with out eating 2 huge dinners in one day. Sunday was with my side of the family and it was wonderful. The kids all played well together, except for my Stella who does not enjoy playing with my nephew ("He growls"). We have learned that we can not take my sisters word for it when she says that you can't tell if the mashed potatoes were made with soy milk (yuck). However her soy ice cream cake was good.
Then Tuesday the fever came. Charlotte didn't really feel warm to me, she was just so lethargic. When I took her temperature it was 103! Holy Crap! I called the doctor in a mini panic (funny how you can keep a calm exterior for your kids' sake). I was told that the bugs going around (including H1N1) meant that I could expect days of a high fever that may never break even with Tylenol. The next 3 days her fever never got below 100, peaking at 103.5. She just wanted to sleep. I would wake her, feed her and then she would fall back asleep in my arms. I have to say that I took advantage of this time to just sit and rock her. My inner mommy just felt better trying to believe that nothing would happen to her when she was in my arms. At one point after she threw up, Adrianne began to cry. I told her if she was worried, she should pray for Charlotte. Then the saddest/sweetest thing ever came out of her mouth:
"Jesus, please don't let Charlotte get so sick that she dies and goes to Heaven to be with you. I would miss her too much."
Thanksgiving day, Jonah took the big girls to the Lang Family get together and I stayed home and had a quiet day with Charlotte aka fever baby. That night when we put the girls to bed, I asked Adrianne what she was thankful for. She said "Mommy & Daddy, Jesus and red licorice". Then Adrianne asked me what I was thankful for. I told her I was thankful for my family... Daddy and my girls, but most of all I am thankful for Jesus. I told her that if I hadn't given my life to Jesus 15 years ago, I wouldn't have this life, this family, these kids.
Jonah and I've been taking this class at church called "Vintage Jesus". It has really made me think, especially the last class we attended which challenged us to think about where our lives would be without Jesus. Now that I am 30, half of my life was lived without Him. Half lived fuller with Him. My life is so transformed by that choice.
Peace in spite of worry. It was a good Thanksgiving. Full of thankfulness.