Things To Be Grateful For...

I have been thinking a lot lately about the many things that my family has to be grateful for. I've decided to list a few of them, in no particular order. I am doing this partly because of the upcoming Thanksgiving Holiday, and partly because of the talks shared during Sacrament Meeting today. It is so important that we recognize all of the blessing that we have in our lives. I believe that positive thinking is powerful and if we dwell on the positives that we can be given renewed strength during our trials. So here we go:

1. We found our babies cancer at the time that we did, and that it had not spread.

2. We have a smart Family Doctor who was prompted to send us up to the Children's Hospital for further testing right away, rather than waiting to see what would happen with her bleeding.

3. Her type of cancer is quite treatable.

4. Insurance, where would we be without our insurance??? I am so glad that my husbands work has such a good insurance policy.

5. My husbands work (they have been so great and so supportive!!!!!) THANK YOU

6. Anti nausea medicine, I am so glad that there is modern medicine to help ease our pain and discomfort (our daughters to be specific).

7. Family support, both our immediate and extended families have been willing to drop almost anything to help us out when we need it. It is wonderful to know that we have such a great support system of people who love us and care about us.

8. Freezer meals, my family has appreciated all of the freezer meals that have been brought in to us. It is so nice to be able to pull an already prepared meal out of the freezer on those days that it has been to difficult to get a meal prepared. It is also wonderful to have meals for people to pull out of our freezer on the days that we have Doctor appointments or hospital stays (planned and unexpected).

9. Great friends and neighbors, our hearts have been touched by the out pouring of love that we have felt from our wonderful neighbors and friends (both old and new).

10. Hats, I love them! I can't get enough of them our little girl looks darling in them, and ....they keep her cute bald head warm.

11. Helpful Doctors and Nurses. The staff at the children's hospital have been wonderful to work with (most of them). We are so grateful for their knowledge in the medical field.

12. Home Health Care (what a blessing). Our nurse has been great, I have even found myself chatting with her on occasion about some of my concerns with my baby (not necessarily medical related), so I am thankful for her.

13. Medical Technology (scans, tubes, medicine etc.)Yes even Chemotherapy!

14. Prayer, we know that she is being prayed for all over the US and also in other countries in the world. She is a very lucky girl to have so many people concerned for her well being.

15. Our knowledge of our Heavenly Fathers love for us always, and under every circumstance we find ourselves in.

16. Pacifiers, our baby never wanted a pacifier the first year of her life. From the day her testing began she has decided that she loved pacifiers. I brought it more for a toy than anything, but I have appreciated her taking it during some of her restless/irritable times.

17. Pictures there is nothing in the world that can capture a moment in time better than a photograph. Not even our memory can hang on to an image and keep it like a photograph can. It seems as though each picture captures a time, a place, a thought, a feeling and occasionally even a smell that brings back to our conscious mind a memory from our past.

18. The internet/Skype, it enables us to keep in contact with our family that lives out of the country and they are able to see our children at that moment, live through our computer.

19. Broviac Tubes, I would be a wreck having to watch her get poked every time they had to draw labs or give medication. Her (almost) daily shots in her thigh are enough for me.

20. My house, there is nothing better than having our family together in our home.

21. Not having to stay at the hospital for longer than four days at a time. I am so grateful to be able to bring my daughter home after her treatment sessions. As grateful as we are to have the constant watch and care for our daughter that we do in the hospital, we would much rather be in our own home, living in our (somewhat) normal circumstances.

22. My other children and their love and support they show for their baby sister. I am so proud of how well each one of them has dealt with this new change in their lives.

23. That our bed is big enough to accommodate our baby and her new dislike for sleeping in her own crib (well really her dislike for sleeping at all)

24. People that donate blood

25. Cancer survivors, and their stories

26. That our baby is only one and won't remember a lot of what is happening to her.

27. That our baby is only one and her body is so resilient, I can't believe how well her body can bounce back from all that is happening to it right now.

28. That she dodged a bullet this last week (our son got strep throat and she drank from the same cup as him and ate off of a treat that he had eaten off and then left on the ground all during the time he was fevering and before we know what he had).

29. My relationship with my husband and the strength this trial has given to us. I loved him before, but I have watch our love and respect for one another grow during the last couple of months. I am so grateful for the strength his is to our family. He is a wonderful Husband and Father!!!
30. That my baby is alive and relatively well, despite any lasting side effects of chemotherapy and possible surgeries.

This list could go on, but I will spare my hands from getting to tired of typing and leave my list at that for now. In spite of the hardships associated with having cancer be apart of our lives, we really are very blessed. We thank our Father in Heaven for giving us the ability to see the many blessing that are being poured out to our whole family during this time.