Wonderful Thanksgiving

We hope that you and your family had a wonderful Thanksgiving. At the beginning of the week it was decided that mom and dad were going to make the trek over the mountains and through the woods to Sisters to spend Thanksgiving with us. Dad had chemo on Wednesday like normal despite asking the doctor to forgo the week so he could have a good holiday. The doctor continues to be pleased with how dad is responding to this treatment. His cancer cell count is down to 2,000. All of his other vitals were good except that he had lost 2 pounds.

So we were a bit nervous about mom and dad driving here on Thursday morning. The roads are icy in the mornings even if there hasn't been snow. Sarah had come home from college on Wednesday and said that the roads were pretty clear; just a few spots of packed snow and ice. Mom and dad arrived safely. We had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Dad was very tired so after some breakfast, he rested most of the day. We did get him up for our turkey dinner and he ate quite a plate full. He didn't use oxygen all weekend long and was doing pretty good other than being so tired. He is dealing with another infection so he was popping pills but at least we were together.

We were blessed by the wonderful people that I work for. They knew that mom and dad were coming and wanted me to be able to spend time with them and not cooking all weekend long. So they prepared meals for us ahead of time and also gave us a gift card to our local grocery store to help with the cost. We had a wonderful beef stroganoff that was made with pot roast, a very yummy Mexican lasagna , cranberry cream cheese bars and french toast made with eggnog. Thanksgiving morning they delivered a fresh pumpkin and chocolate cream pie and also a pumpkin roll. What a blessing. It really did allow me to spend more time with mom and dad and we never wanted for anything.

Mom and dad headed out about 1:00 on Saturday, just before the famous Sisters Christmas parade. They wanted to get home before it got too dark. Dad told me as he was walking out the door that he hoped it wasn't his last Thanksgiving but if it was, it was a good one. Dad actually drove the whole 150+ miles home. They got home and unpacked, went to the Twisted Comfort restaurant for a bowl of soup and then rested for the evening. Sunday they were able to make it to church and had a very quite day.

Another highlight for mom and dad was having Sarah come from college to spend the weekend with them last weekend. She came to help them decorate their apartment for Christmas. They were thinking they wouldn't get to do very much but with Sarah's help, in her words, "Santa vomited all over Grandpa and Grandma's house". They were very appreciative of her spending the weekend with 2 old people, hanging Christmas decor.

We hope this holiday season is a special time for all of you. That you get to spend quality AND quantity time with your loved ones. Remember the true reason for the season: For God so loved the world that He gave his one and only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him would not perish but have eternal life. May God bless you all!