Thanksgiving Blessings
What an eventful week we’ve had around here! Trach is out and elastics are cut! HALLELUJAH!!!! The doctors wanted to downsize the trach one more time and we really had to fight for it to be removed, but we were able to convince them he no longer needed it.
The feeding tube had been causing Dust some pain and we weren’t able to get anything through it. After a 45 minute x-ray and procedure, the tube was removed and replaced with a new one.
The only bad news of the week was that Dust will have to get braces for about six months because the wires slowly pulled three of his front bottom teeth out of socket. The good news is they don’t think they lost blood supply, so he probably won’t lose them. Not fun, but not terrible either.
The second we got home from the doctor, I found myself downstairs purging our room of all the equipment that has taken up space for way too long! In a frenzy, I began ripping plugs from outlets and filling garbage bags with things that were no longer necessary. Before I knew what I was doing, the basement kitchen table was covered with supplies and machines and I had pushed the hospital bed into a far corner (to await pick-up from the home health company). I just HAD to get them out of our room, so we could start to get back to our normal lives!!!
Now, I could relax and enjoy this beautiful holiday weekend – after I called everyone down to admire my work, of course!
Later that day, I saw the sun begin to rise on this new day as I watched Cole and his daddy in the back yard with smiles on their faces. Dust is a really great dad. The second he comes home from work, it’s play time! He and Cole wrestle all around the house, they “roar” at each other, they throw balls back and forth. So, needless to say, it has been really hard for Dust to be unable to play with his little bud. Cole has been really resilient through these last two months, but this is a boy who needs his dad – that’s for sure.
I watched them kick leaves around and play in the dirt. A little while later, my brother told me to come to the window. We watched Dust lift Cole to the basketball hoop to make a shot. AND THEN… We watched Dust step back and shoot and MAKE baskets!!! My heart literally skipped a beat! I was so elated!
We had our first Thanksgiving dinner at my parent’s house. We are lucky enough to have families full of amazing cooks. My mom said she was going to scale back this year, because we are all so worn out.
“I’m only going to do Turkey, of course,” she told me and Dust. “Stuffing, potatoes and gravy, sweet potatoes, raspberry jello, rolls, pumpkin roll, apple cobbler….”
Dustin looked at me and laughed, “What exactly is she cutting out?”
Every inch of the dinner table was covered with delicious food! It all looked as good as it tasted. And Dust was even able to eat some of the soft stuff!
Dust’s mom wanted a low key dinner as well, but we found the same thing at her house later that day! Everything was perfect!
I sat back at each table and looked around at our families: our selfless moms, our inspirational and encouraging dads, our strong siblings and their amazing spouses, our beautiful children and nieces and nephews. I couldn’t help but feel honored that our Heavenly Father would not only think we fit with this remarkable group of people, but that He would bless us with this incredible support system. Each of them has or has had their own sets of trials and struggles and fights their way through them triumphantly. Every one of them has stepped forward and unselfishly offered all that they have to help us through ours, despite what they have going on in their own lives.
During each dinner, my gaze would drift to my sweet husband. My heart was constantly lifted up in thanks to our Heavenly Father. I absolutely adore this man. Everything about him. Nothing about who he is or what he is, was taken from us. And it so easily could have been. If everything were to stay how it is, right at this very moment – we would be blessed beyond measure. I am so very thankful that he is able to tell me he loves me this Thanksgiving, that he can kiss the chubby little cheeks of our darling Haley, that he is able to listen to Cole belt out “I am a Child of God” at the top of his lungs.
We went around each table, taking turns saying what we were thankful for. We turned to Cole.
“What are you thankful for Cole?” we asked our sweet son.
“Ummmm, I’m thankful for Jesus,” he replied as he laid his head in the crook of his daddy’s neck.
Dustin always says that our prayers have grown by twenty minutes these days, because we have too many things to thank our Heavenly Father for. That’s how I feel this post could go. I could go on and on forever with the things that I have to be thankful for this Thanksgiving, but I’d better leave all those other things for another post. Let’s just say, we are so very thankful. For everything.