What Thanksgiving Means to Us!
Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend. Thanksgiving has always been one of our most favorite holidays. It seems most folks overlook this holiday, as it’s lost in the over-commercialization of Halloween and Christmas. It seems folks only love holidays where they can shirk responsibilities and load up on selfish loot. And so even for the few that enjoy Thanksgiving, it’s because they enjoy the over indulgence of food. But Thanksgiving, by it’s very definition is distinctly Christian and uniquely American — how could we not love it!? Doug and I love the time to relish in the bounty of all God’s blessings to us. We make it a point to reflect upon all that has happened in the year and praise God for it all. We enjoy family and we enjoy serving! And we love sharing the richness and truest picture of bounty – God’s Word!
Still, to my core, there are certain traditions and food items that are so quintessential for a true nostalgic Thanksgiving. And to the delight of my heart, after 12 years of marriage, Doug and I have come to love the same foods and traditions of that day! It’s not a true Thanksgiving without gravy! That is the ultimate, single essential for a fall harvest meal.( What’s your favorite item??) I was raised to have no casseroles, to have lots of fresh items, and to not to drown the table in a sea of brownish-colored foods! We always had salad, asparagus, and brightly colored cranberry salad which couldn’t get more opposite of cranberry goo shaped like a can. Mom always made my Grandma’s cranberry salad that is fresh and uncooked, sweet and tart, and packed with pineapple, grapes, nuts, and whipped cream! And pecan pies and pumpkin pies with homemade pastries are always a given.
Looking Back Over this Year
For us this year, our year in retrospect, showed us that we have MUCH to be thankful for! One year ago, right at this time, we lost 2 embryos in a thaw and 2 after being transferred into my womb. I spent over a month with terrible bleeding problems, bronchitis, a fall at New Year’s that broke a rib and messed with my shoulder. After hacking for weeks, I was put on antibiotics for bronchitis and a sinus infection. This medicine caused me to develop c.diff (clostridium difficile colitis). In and out of the hospital and doctors offices fighting the worst sickness I’ve ever had in my life, I was left with long-term damage to my insides! And if the physical pain weren’t devastating enough, we had several cancelled embryo implantation procedures and back-lash from not following through with the intended procedures – as if we could help any of it! Doug and I had several more cancelled embryo transfers because I wasn’t responding to the medications. And because of these set-backs, we had to scramble last minute to have our homestudy updated. We’ve had both cars die on us this year…… There are more trials we could surely mention, but in all of this we are thankful! Thankful that God hand-crafted each of these trials because it was the most loving thing He could do for us. It was all an effort to make us love Him more and to bring Him more glory!
This Thanksgiving was….Different
I think it all started the day before, on Wednesday. My dad and Doug’s dad were here replacing the radiator on our old, little car. Mom was in the house with Audrey and I. After doing some housework for me, mom was dozing on one couch and I on the other. I decided I had loafed long enough and really needed to get a few things done. When I stood up, I instantly felt ‘not right’. I realized I was bleeding – a lot, not a little. So I grabbed the phone to page the doctor and call Doug. It was by God’s grace that mom was here to keep me calm and help me distract Audrey.
I spent the rest of the week laying down, drinking water, and trying to control the cramping with Ibuprofen. Thanksgiving day, we had scrambled eggs and PB &Js for lunch. For dinner, we actually found a Domino’s opened across town and ordered pizza. We ate in our jammies with windows open, since it was so warm outside! I kept wrestling with whether or not I should go to the ER, but the mounting stack of medical bills on the dining table kept pushing me to hold off! Initially, I was pretty freaked out. Our last pregnancy ended in miscarriage and this time around, I have individual concern for 3 individual lives! We sent out an email asking for prayer from our many prayer warrior friends and family and again, God answered our prayers!
THE BABIES!!!!
Yesterday I went to the doctor and got to see all our babies on ultrasound in an effort to figure out the source of the pain and bleeding. All babies were looking good. Seeing flickering heart beats has amazing powers of healing for a Momma’s heart and emotions!! Baby A had hiccups and gave us a pretty picture of him/herself while flailing about. Baby B was still sitting on its head and pretty sedate. But we did get to see the umbilical cord, which was good. And Baby C must have been sleeping and/or unwilling to show us any tricks.
Baby A is sitting very low, and as best as the doctor can tell, the placenta is forming right on top of the cervix. This is what the doctor believes is causing the pain, irritation, and bleeding. So, I guess I’ll keep my activity ‘reasonable’ and control cramping with some meds. He said it’s a remote possibility that if there’s constant irritation/cramping the placenta would want to pull away. Everything should be fine and in another 8 weeks or so, the baby will slowly move up and away on its own. He thought that the high risk OB would be better able to see what’s going on and explain it later this week and would follow it closely. So, basically the gist is -the doctor says, 3 strong heart beats, and not to worry!
I get to go down to 1 injection a day!! I’ll be rechecked on Friday to see if I can then go down even less! This is very, VERY exciting to me! After 11 weeks of injections 2x/day, I’m so over it! So, our prayer this week will be that the babies placentas are healthy and can efficiently take over the progesterone production that I’ve been jamming into my backside on their behalf! We see the new high-risk OB on Wednesday.
Continuing the Search for a Bigger, Reliable Vehicle
Some of you were wondering what became of our car situation. I know, there’s ALWAYS a car situation at the Walkers. It would seem there will always be car issues, rotting floors, hideous wallpaper, but lots of food, lots of love, and lots of remembering what’s really critical for life which help us not to fret over all the afore mentioned strife!
Our little stick-shift Corolla hasn’t been running for a few weeks. We reluctantly ordered a used radiator to temporarily fix the little car, but all the while have been seriously questioning the sanity of owning a 20 year old car, that can only hold 4 people when we have triplets on the way, that is a stick shift which I don’t know how to drive, etc. We had a glimmer of hope when we saw an opportunity to purchase a 2002 Windstar with 100,000miles on it, for $700. With my dad doing much of the leg-work for us, we looked into seeing what was involved with repairing it. We had it towed to a mechanic, and clearly we began to see that all that glitters isn’t gold!! It needed new tires, a fuel pump, and it had some serious electrical problems – and those were the problems we were only quickly able to assess. Upon closer inspection, it seemed strangely odd that all metal parts on the seats where rusted and seat belts were covered in mold/mildew. We got to wondering if the peculiar odor, combined with bizarre interior damage that maybe this vehicle was a hurricane Katrina victim!!
So after several towing expenses, we decide to take the view point that for a mere $120 God kept us from buying a huge lemon! And thanks to our dads, we at least have a running 2nd car to buy us some time while
we look for a car able to hold lots of carseats!!
