giving thanks

Us at Thanksgiving, 2015.  I'm a little overwhelmed by church obligations and was planning a miminal-effort, no decorations dinner, etc, but Emma insisted we get out the china and candles.  Most of the kids helped out with cooking the various dishes which made the whole shebang go quite well.  Much to our sorrow, we only had 6 pies for the 7 of us.  Don't tell grandma.

Deanna caught a ride home from a neighbor, so we got to have her home this weekend.  We all enjoyed having her here.  Except maybe Morris, who wasn't happy at getting snuggled so much.  Poor cat.

This morning D left around 7 and I was supposed to help out a friend to plan her visit tomorrow to the cancer center.  My friend canceled so I was tidying up the house this morning (surfing facebook) feeling at loose ends when I heard a blood-curdling "MOM!"  yelled from my garage door.  I had quite a few moments of disorientation until I realized it wasn't one of my little cookies, but the nieghbor's child who couldn't find her mom and wandered over to my house to look for her.  I wrapped her up in the tardis blanket and returned her home, explaining that her mom was in the shower.  Boy do I remember those days when grabbing a bathroom break was a major accomplishment.  Luckily I know how to start their DVD player and peace was restored.

It made me remember one particularly interesting day in California when I got out of the shower to find that one of my kids was missing.  I completely panicked, running outside in a towel, screaming the kid's name, to find one of my angel neighbors coming up the street with her.  I am so grateful that my 'village' at that point in time included sympathetic and helpful friends.

How grateful I am for friendship and family and the ways we choose to be in each others lives.  Thanks for being in mine!