Day 6

I meant to do this earlier but life got in the way a bit.  We make plans for our life (big or small) and God laughs. I should know that by now.

Today I am thankful for my youngest child.  A brief time spent with us but a presence felt in our hearts much longer.  She looked like her oldest sister. She captured our hearts and minds. It's been a long lonely year without her. A year spent worrying about how the older children were handling things, a year watching one son become overly protective of me, a year watching my husband still fight with the guilt of could he have done more, a year of learning that you frankly can't lean on anyone because they just can't be there for you.

Thankful for this picture because it represents the generosity of a group of people I don't know.  You see we'd priced things out and saved money until we could afford a simple stone. Then we called the church to see who we needed to talk to and were put in touch with the one guy who handles everything for the cemetery. We were then quoted a price 4 times what we'd been prepared for. In a bit of shock and dismay, I sent an email to a friend telling her what I'd learned. I just figured we'd save longer and figure it out eventually. But she reached out to her local friends (all of whom I've never met) and they donated enough to cover the cost of the headstone.  Seriously amazed by the generosity of strangers.  Truly touched. And it also makes me wonder why it's so much easier to help those we don't know.

So today I am thankful for generous hearts, small souls, and mournful spirits. May we all learn to treasure those things in front of us just a little bit more than we do today.