We have SO MUCH to be thankful for!

Yesterday at High Pointe Community Church we had a fabulous service that was personal stories about how God has blessed them throughout the year.  I didn't work up the courage to actually stand up and share, but had a long list of blessings going through my mind that I wouldn't have know where to start...and it probably could have taken me an hour to get through it all!  This year has been the hardest financial year that we have had as a married couple thus far.  All three of our children (I'm choosing to include our 4-legged, hairy child because it makes for a better story) have had emergency medical concerns that have required immediate treatment.  Lucie started the ball rolling when we discovered she had Lyme Disease and required an emergency vet visit on a Sunday this past spring.  Braylee came next with her osteomyelitis which required 3 pediatric visits, 1 visit to the E.D., 2 sets of x-rays, 1 ultrasound, 1 sedated MRI, a 6 day hospital stay, 1 surgery (and a partridge in a pear tree), and numerous pokes for IVs or blood work.  She ended up being sent home in a non-weight bearing cast for 6 weeks and was on a strong antibiotic to kick the infection.  The long term antibiotic then lead to a fungal infection which required more prescription creams...our summer went by much too quickly!  And Paitin brought up the rear just a few weeks ago when she woke up in the middle of the night and couldn't breathe.  We were told by the on-call nurse from the peds office to call 911 because she didn't want Pait to lose her airway on the way to the hospital.  That was just the kiddos.  We've also had to replace a car, lawn mower, fix a water heater, and have had a couple thousand dollars worth of repairs on the 'good car'.  I think we've just about fixed everything we can.  Somehow (through family and lots of prayers) we have managed to rebound financially despite all of these costly repairs and fixes and medical emergencies.  God has blessed us so much and we are so thankful to have a savior as good, and forgiving, and powerful as He is!