Happy Thanksgiving! I Am Grateful For….

I just wanted to wish all of you a very blessed and Happy Thanksgiving. These past two years have honestly been the hardest of my life with yet another relocation back to California and two moves in 1-1/2 years as I just sold my house. This lupus and rheumatoid arthritis that so brutally declared itself on November 17, 2010. I feel so out of sorts since I left New York in 2006. Even though I am living a few short miles where I grew up and I have my childhood friends back in my life, it's still an adjustment. Instead of talking about who is dating who and where the next beer is going to come from, we're talking about our grandkids (I have grand dogs) and high blood pressure and acid reflux. I still see all of my friends like they were 17 again and look beyond the wrinkles, weight and gray hair to the heart. This life journey is mysterious. Despite hardships and heartbreaks, I have so much to be thankful for and I would like to share that with you. 

1.  My Lord and Savior Jesus Christ who died on the cross for my sins and loves me unconditionally. Without him, I would have no life. He has carried me through everything. 

2.  My father who is now a daily part of my life after 20 years. He's my rock and I love him so much. I'm more of a daddy's girl now at 49 than ever before. He supports me and stands behind me 100% and he helps me raise my kids. I have the best father in the world!

3.  I have four of the most beautiful children and a precious daughter-in-law. Mike is now 26 and Alaina is 27, Mackenzie is 19 and will be starting college in January. Scott is 17 and will be graduating from high school in June 2013. He has my adventurous spirit. Bailey, my bonus baby, is 14. They all have such individual personalities and when one of them has a fit over whatever, even at their ages, especially Mackenzie, I look at her at that 2-year-old little angel (and she had a temper then too) who stood in front of the TV during Wheel of Fortune and clapped her hands the entire time. I remember the days when I longed to pee alone (admit it, we've all had them). Event the dog would slip her paws under the bathroom door in our little farmhouse. I would also long for a hot meal and shower too! So I'm having that coveted alone bathroom time – now remember I have 12 years between my oldest son and youngest daughter – so I'm also multitasking getting in some much cherished reading time (let's be honest here), and Bailey is standing outside the bathroom door telling me what she can do with her little alphabet toy. So I ask her through the bathroom door to tell me. She's only about 1-1/2 years old. So she presses the buttons of I, C, U, P. I couldn't help but laugh to the point of crying and then reprimanded Mike because I knew he was behind it. That's how I remember the kids. Each and every one of them is a precious gift from God and time has slipped by so fast. If I had known then what I know now, I would have blown off the unimportant things and spent more time with them. Mike's favorite place to go to is the zoo and when he came out in March, we went to the zoo and it meant the world to me. I really hate having my son and his wife living 3000 miles away from me. We left NY when he was 19 so I never got to watch him grow up into a young man. I feel cheated. All I can do now is just cherish them and love them and I do. 

4.  I am thankful for my friends in Cali who just let me back into their lives seamlessly like I wasn't gone for 20 years. My dear friend that I've known since I was 15 was just here last month and spent a week with me. I never imagined her or any of my other friends meeting my kids. And they are also meeting my friends kids too! It really is a small world. 

5.  I'm so grateful for my 15 years in New York at Calvary Chapel of the Finger Lakes and that's where I really grew up and came to know the Lord. I still keep in touch with my church family there and I can't wait to see them all again in less than a month when we all fly back to New York for Christmas. This will be the first time in 6 years that I've been able to spend Christmas with all of my children and my mother's intuition tells me that it will be a while before we will be able to do this again. I do not have a mother but a very Godly woman, who is only 9 years older than me, took me under her wing and God gave her a special love for me in her heart. Everybody needs a Lynn Leckie in their lives and I'll take that to the grave with me. I can't wait to wrap my arms around her. I also can't wait to attend my first church service at Calvary Chapel of the Finger Lakes. Every time I go back to New York, I walk in the doors and just stand there and look around, remember it as home, and how the Holy Spirits dwells there. The best years of my life were there. Even though my dad was so far away, the entire congregation was my family. I love them all so very much and miss them.

6.  I am very grateful for Dr. Arun Anand and the staff at Delta Bay Surgery Center for taking such good care of me. If it wasn't for him, I don't know where I'd be today. When this all started in Kentucky and then a few weeks later Pete got the transfer back to Cali and I was all over that. it was very hard to fit in anywhere in Kentucky. I'm a hybrid Yankee/Cali woman. The MDs back there just drug you and I honestly don't remember how I even got us moved here or remember 9 months of my life. Dr. Kaur, my wonderful general practitioner, referred me to Dr. Anand where he got me off of the drugs and started fixing the real problem and he is still fixing me and will be fixing me for years to come unless the Lord decides to heal me and I pray for that daily. I take advantage of nothing anymore and life is too short. My life is no longer revolving around my back and I've learned a new normal and have accepted it. Gone are the days of snow skiing and water skiing, but I remember my days now. It's all in the attitude. I control the diseases. They do not control me or define me. Sometimes they'll make my days difficult but I keep going no matter what. You have to.

7.  I am very blessed by the Christian women I've met in this crazy wonderful world of paper, ink and stamps and more! They have seen me through thick and thin and still love me regardless. A special thanks goes to all of the ladies at Christian Paper Crafts and Our Daily Bread Designs, Michelle Laycock, Angie Crockett, Natalie Houston, and this list has hundreds of other women on it. 

8.  I am very grateful for my clients who believe in me and take my online card classes and for my customers. I am not the best and drop the ball so much due to the moves and I am on that OR table a lot but they patiently wait and pray for me. I'm also blessed by all of your encouraging comments and blog followers. Thank you! I am so blessed by the opportunities presented to me of designing and other special assignments. And that brings me to my magazine editors. Thank you for believing in me too. 

9.  I am grateful for the Lord's daily provision. In 1-1/2 years, I've gone from living in my 5000 sf dream house in Kentucky to a tract house of almost 2000 sf in Dixon. It's a roof over my head, I love my little house, God knows what we need and he provided. I am really okay with all of this. It's simpler and I like simple. I have everything that I want here, except a pool, but I also have plenty of friends who have one. My pool is my happy place. I like to sleep on my floating raft and soak up the sun. It's just fun. 

10.  Most of all, despite it all, moving, divorce, and some significant life changes, I've always had your support without being judged. Thank you. 

As I write this, I'm contemplating moving Thanksgiving to tomorrow since I have a 101 fever, nasty post nasal drip and sinus infection, and just want to crawl back in bed. My doctor was kind enough to call in a prescription for me at 4:30 yesterday so I can make it through the weekend. 

Enjoy your day. We should be thankful every single day and I am. God has given me so much that I don't deserve so I praise his name. All glory and honor goes to God for everything. 

God bless all of you.