Thankful: November 3

I am so thankful for Josh.

When I was pregnant with Josh I SO wanted a girl. I didn't know anything about boys and so I wanted a girl to play with. When I found out he was a boy, I'll admit I was disappointed for a bit, but I was so happy that he was healthy that I soon got over it.

And then he came. And I remember laying in the hospital bed, holding him with my friend Martha visiting and telling her, "Isn't he the most beautiful baby you have ever seen?" She laughed and said, "All mamas think their babies are the most beautiful." I replied, "But he IS!"

Josh has led me down many roads I would have never travelled if he had indeed been a girl and I have been so incredibly blessed by the people we have met, the experiences we have had and the life we have lived because of him. But more than anything, I have been blessed by the lesssons God has taught me through this wonderful creature: this son of ours.

Because he was born late in November and we went directly into the Christmas season, that was the most meaningful Christmas I think I ever had. I knew how Mary felt; I knew how much she loved her son. I knew for the first time what the verse, "For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son..." and knew that only God could have done that because a mother couldn't.

Thank you God, for this blessing, this life, this miracle, this never-ending, undying love for my son -- for my Joshua. May I never take this blessing you have given me for granted.