Grace

"...and now, let the weak say I am strong,

Let the poor say I am rich

Because of what The Lord has done for us;

Give thanks..."

- "Give Thanks", by Don Moen

Dear God,

I don't know where to start thanking You for the mercy you've shown our family this year.  I would not ask that a minute of confusion or fear we might have experienced be rescinded, because I can clearly see how such moments fortified our hearts with a steadiness and trust that is learned only when we follow you across dark waters without looking down in disbelief.

I know that You don't require me to make a checklist of your recent miracles involving our daughter just because it's Thanksgiving, but in my typically selfish way, I think I need to see some written down here in this space so folks other than you and I know of some of the everyday miracles that encourage us so much.

I thank you for a communicative child.  I am so grateful that she is able to express with clarity what her needs and wants are (as much as an infant possibly can).  If she had been more difficult to decipher, there's no telling what state her health would be in now.  

I thank you that Ava has the drive and desire to try with all her might to do things that are physically challenging for her.  When she takes a tumble because she's knocked herself off balance reaching for a faraway toy, my heart swells with pride because she was bold enough to go beyond her comfort zone to go after what she had her eye on.  

I thank you that we have the means to feed Ava through her button when she can't take enough by mouth to keep up with her needs.  Please give me wisdom and insight as we explore new methods of food preparation and eating which encourage her development.

I thank you for compassionate friends and family who have been our buoys when we felt drowned in responsibilities and difficult choices.  

I thank you for the therapists who seem to enjoy watching Ava respond so well to their guidance.  

I thank you that she has health insurance.  We'd be up a creek without it.

I thank you for all the children at church who are so excited to see her every time we walk through the door.  It moves me so much to watch them play with 

her and watch them swoop in to the rescue when they think someone or something has upset her.  It's so important to me that she grows up to know that she is an important and beautiful square in the social quilt of our community, and I think these kids are sewing her right up into it without a second thought.

And in my own cross-eyed kind of way, I want to thank you for the innate ability you instill in new mothers to perform all manner of taxing tasks while their sleep-fueled engine is running on fumes.  When I ask for rest, you either provide it generously or you renew my strength to make it to the coffeepot.  

Remind me every moment throughout this holiday season that your footprints precede wherever I may roam, and your fingerprints are all over everything set my hand to (even the pumpkin pie I accidentally doused with smoked paprika last night....  Maybe that was your way of telling me to GO TO BED so I wouldn't be such a weary grump when the family comes over this evening).  

Thank you for Ava's first Thanksgiving.

Our bottle runneth over.