Giving Thanks

As November rolls to a close we start to feel a sense of excitement about getting back home and sharing time with family.  After being out of the country for a while you kind of forget about the building momentum of fall/winter holidays which has it's upside and down.  We don't have to put up with all of the commercialism that comes with this time of year and the worries about weather interrupting our travel plans.  But of course no one celebrates Thanksgiving here or even Christmas the way we do in the States, so we miss out on the holiday cheer and crisp weather and yummy treats. 

However, we do still think about the things we are thankful for, like our health and work and supportive family and church.  We are are grateful for our Spirit-filled life that brings us closer to God each day.  And we are blessed to hear about other people express their gratitude for gifts that God has brought to their lives.  

•    For instance a diabetic patient blind from cataracts in both eyes by 48 years of age, who had surgery last week after months of trying to get his blood sugar under control. He was so full of joy and thanksgiving on his followup appointment, thanking God, the surgeons who helped him and our staff for helping him get his sugars down. 
•   Parents of a scholarship students who watched their children graduate from high school or college or professional school, when they themselves had only finished 3-4th grade.  They were full of thanksgiving and praise for God's blessings on their familes.
•    Finally,  the lady Sheri saw today in cervical cancer screening clinic who has a precancerous lesion but was so thankful to have found it early, as her own mother died of some type of uterine cancer at a young age.  Rather than leaving clinic heavy-hearted with the diagnosis, she she left happy at the chance to avoid her mother's outcome.

So, Happy Thanksgiving everyone, and we wish you a wonderful and restful time with family and friends.  Don't eat too much turkey!