Thanks and Giving

It would be an arduous task in the least to list everything I am thankful for but I'll try and summarize it. I am thankful for friends and family who are an active part of my life. I've known for a long time that blood doesn't equal family and friends don't have to be merely that. The people in my life are my family regardless of their origins and for that I am extremely grateful. I am especially grateful for my mom who is my partner in crime, my dutiful assistant and watcher of small child. I couldn't ask for a better grandparent. I am grateful for overall good health despite the fact I've had every bug and critter known to man this year. In the big picture all is well. I am thankful for our amazing doctors who take really good care of us. To say I am grateful for my daughter seems odd so we'll rephrase it. I am both grateful and ever so thankful to my adoption agency, the People's Republic of China, IAAP and special friends, the "T" family in Beijing who made me a parent and gave my daughter a forever family that loves her to the moon and back. Words will never be enough. I am thankful and blessed to have a wonderful man in my life who accepts me unconditionally and loves my daughter almost as much as I do. I am thankful they were open minded enough to welcome each other into their lives. I am also thankful for his family who treats us like we have always been part of them. I am thankful and grateful for my daughter's daycare. The owner and staff take extraordinary care of my daughter and treat her as if she were their own. What more could any parent ask for? We are blessed to be part of yet another family. I am thankful that there are also so many wonderful children and families that we've gotten to know. I am thankful for the new people I've met as a result of becoming a parent. While there are a lot of new friends in our life, we do hold a special place for the P family and of course the L family. Deb (L) and I worked together and probably wouldn't have chosen to be friends otherwise. We're very different but she and her family are a blessing nonetheless. At this difficult time of being unemployed I am thankful for my education that will take me on the next leg of the journey and for my colleagues who I've developed relationships with over the past 15 years. From our house to yours, Happy Thanksgiving