Thanksgiving and Reflections

Last November at Thanksgiving I had just finished NaNoWriMo, and was thankful for how God had used the writing to help me process through some of the grief from recent heartache.  I was thankful because I felt I had new purpose and joy, and I was at peace about the losses and the possibility that James and I might not be able to have kids.  
A year later, I am thankful for an unexpected blessing which has brought us so much joy-- David Roger Frederick Holland.  Last year I did not know we had conceived the day after I finished NaNoWriMo, and when I took a pregnancy test on a whim 15 days later and it came out positive, I about fell over from surprise.  
Four months later we had another wonderful surprise when we found out we were having a boy. I was so excited, because I knew he would have a wonderful father, James Frederick Holland, who be there for him and would be an example of a strong, Godly man... just as he's always been to me. James' strong faith is what attracted me to him in the first place, and then I noticed things like how James always walked me home and opened my door. Four and a half years later, it has been quite a journey, but I am so thankful to be walking it with this man at my side!
This past year our family received another blessing, David's cousin, older by four months-- Robert Patrick Bracht. Robert brings so much joy to our family, and I am excited for David to have a boy cousin so close to his own age! Robert was early and David was late, (they were only supposed to be three months apart), but I am thankful they were both fighters, both healthy, and currently both are doing well.
I am thankful for my siblings, my two older brothers and their wonderful wives. I am thankful that I get to live in close proximity to some of them, Robert's parents, my brother Stephen Bracht and his wife Ginny. I am thankful that as we started this new journey they were a little ahead of us and were able to give helpful advice and hand-me-downs. :-)
I am thankful for my son's grandparents, Roger Bracht and Patty Bracht. I am thankful that David and Robert have such wonderful grandparents; I am thankful for the Godly example they are, and always have been; and I am thankful that, for now at least, we live in close proximity to them and get to celebrate holidays like Thanksgiving with them!
I am thankful for my in-laws, David Holland and Lois Holland. I am thankful my son has two Godly men for grandfathers, and we were honored to name him after them. I am thankful I got to see my parents-in-law this May at a family reunion. I am thankful that Lois was able to come in September, when David was 2 weeks old, and help out and visit. It was wonderful having her come and getting to know her more.
I am so thankful David has a Godly heritage. I pray he would learn to know God from an early age and would love and serve Him all his days!
I am also thankful for faithful friends, friends who walk beside you when the road gets rough; friends who help and pray for you. It was through reading many of my friend's statuses today on what they are thankful for that I was caused to pause and reflect on much written here.
This year two other people I am thankful for are the OB doctor who walked with me through my pregnancy, and the doctor who did such a wonderful job delivering David safely into the world!
Above all, I am thankful for a God whose ways are not my ways-- for the sacrifice of His son, through whose shed blood I have redemption, the forgiveness of sins-- and because of whom I have a future and a hope!