Friday, November 28, 2008

Thanks

Yesterday was the first Thanksgiving I ever spent in my own home. It was nice to stroll around in pajama bottoms and my big bear paw slippers.

Usually I'm rushing through a shower and trying to get ready to travel somewhere for this holiday, over hill and over dale, over the river and through the woods.

But this year it was just Barb and I, and staying home once in a lifetime for Thanksgiving was good.

We did have a great early Thanksgiving at the home of Barb's sister and brother-in-law last Sunday.

The Albert family Thanksgiving originally schedule for yesterday kind of fell apart for various reasons.

I was very impressed by my brother's plans to visit a friend who has an addiction problem. He was going to try to talk him into rehab. I hope his Thanksgiving mission yesterday went well.

Barb and I were still able to pull together a Thanksgiving dinner from Sunday's leftovers though. We made hot turkey sandwiches from Sunday leftovers with all of the fixings. It was very good, and Freckles was very jealous.

I have so many things to be thankful for, from the earliest stages of my life until this very moment.

I could have easily been raised in an orphanage. But a kind, wonderful, couple from Myerstown adopted me and provided me with everything a kid can hope for in life.

When I was an infant I had to wear metal braces and the doctor questioned how well I'd be able to walk as I grew older. Then I went and became a top athlete who started on the school's basketball and soccer team.

I am so thankful for my family and all of the friends who I've been lucky enough to be surrounded with through all these years. And I'm especially thankful for all of those who've surrounded me these past few years, constantly giving me the strength and support to fight this cancer.

I am especially thankful for Barb. She's an angel sent from heaven as far as I'm concerned. Her and her daughter have given me the world to live for, and more. Thanks Barb. I love you.

Next Thanksgiving, undoubtedly we'll be on the road again. But that will work just fine too. It was nice though, for the first time in my history, to enjoy the holiday here in my own home.
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1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Did it ever occur to you that dad and I are extremely thankful for the opportunity to raise 3 wonderful kids. When I hear of the struggles couples have today with the adoption process, there isn't enough thanks we can give to Almighty God for the 3 lives entrusted to our care.

I guess adoption was not really on the front burner of our lives the day that I was making supper and waiting for dad to come home from a very long day at the bakery. I can even remember that it was baked pork chops I was making for supper that night. Since everything was ready, I needed to kill some time and just happened to pick up the Lutheran Magazine (which I never seemed to find time to read). In the very center of the magazine was an article titled "Too many children, not enough parents". It told of the plight in Texas where they could not find enough people to adopt babies that were available. I could hardly wait for dad to get home and it didn't take much for us to put adoption on the front stage of our lives. I talked to the social worker at the VA who was a friend of mine and her enthusiasm was enormous. She swung into action that very day and by Christmas Eve, we had our application ready to mail to Lutheran Social Services. After a series of interviews in which they told us that only 3 couples would be chosen to be parents (there were at least 50 couples at that initial meeting), we could only go on our faith that we would be one of the 3 couples chosen. We then went through a series of interviews over the next few months and we got to bring you home on June 25. Talk about being thankful -- I have been thankful every single day of my life. We applied for Karen right away which is what they told us to do since the agency really liked to create families of more than 1 child and 22 months later she came home as well. Three years later, I got a call on a Friday afternoon asking if we would consider another child -- a little boy. His mother was very reluctant to give him up for adoption but because of pressure from her family, she would only give him up if he could be adopted into a family with other adopted children. Since our name came up at the top of the alphabet, they called us first. We could see this little boy at the Lutheran Church in Sunbury on Monday. One look and I knew Doug had to come home with us -- he had red hair. And that is how the Albert family was created. Grateful, thankful -- I cannot begin to tell all 3 of you what you mean to us. I certainly cannot begin to tell you how much the hand of God was there guiding us from that very first application. My heart breaks for those who are now trying desparately to adopt and there are no children available for them. Some of the children that have been kept by their single moms would have been better off in an adoptive home. I am also extremely grateful to the 3 moms who gave up their children so that we could adopt them. It must have been absolutely gut wrentching for them to do that. They are also in my daily prayers of thanks.

Yes, we have so much to be grateful for -- you kids, our home, our lives. I know that I would turn over Heaven and Earth to find the cure or control of your cancer and it is only because of the prayers of so many friends and strangers alike that we have come so far in this battle. We will continue to keep the faith and be grateful and thankful for every day that you are with us. Love MOM

November 28, 2008 at 9:34 AM

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