Gratefulness

This year a full heart look like. . .

My grandmother's lace table cloth, bringing a little of my history to a whole new tradition.

My great-grandmother's stuffing recipe & many turkey-strategy phone-calls home to mom.

Seeing loved ones in far away places (thank you Skype.) Banga in Afghanistan and grandparents in Iowa.

Celebrating little ones, this year Sophia's cousin and best friend in all the world turned five. (Sophia can't quite figure out how Hannah got to five before she did--it brings out her competitive side. She's happy for her cousin and the fact that we had cake and pie this year!)

Laughter with cousins all day long. (He ain't dead!)

Creating new traditions with Nate and Sophia (learning Nate prefers pecan over pumpkin pie.)

A table full of people this Thanksgiving. American's, Algerians, Chadians, Nigerians and everything in between. This year our Thanksgiving represented the very best of the essence of the holiday--a feast gathering strangers, becoming family simply through shared table and hearts.

This Woman Has A Secret

"Ahhh a little baby," I cooed this evening as an infant squawked nearby.

"Mommy, I want to see your little baby." Sophia told me, looking very sad and serious for a moment. "The one who went straight from your tummy, to heaven."

It doesn't matter how old you are, I believe, something in us delights in children. As our family mourns the child we won't meet this side of heaven, we're being introduced to a group of people who suffer empty arms, silently. I'm so thankful for groups like HOPEFUL HEARTS, my church's support group here in Dallas and brave women like Andrea, an infertility success story who took her painful journey to the web, both of these are shedding light into the pain of miscarriage and infertility.

It wasn't until this issue became personal did I realize how much shame and pain couples who are struggling to have children deal with. Self Magazine did an expose on it this fall, it's a MUST read for anyone who breathes. The stigma, shame and lack of research or options for this issue astound me. There is no reason that a couple should face this alone, especially when mind/body anti-anxiety is so vital for success. Please check it out and prayerfully consider how you can extend support and comfort to those around you.

"Infertility is where breast cancerwas in the 1970s—completely in the closet." Because no one wants to discuss infertility, "nothing gets done about it," says Lindsay Beck, founder of Fertile Hope, a program run by the Lance Armstrong Foundation in Austin, Texas, that supports cancer patients whose treatments threaten their fertility..

THIS WOMAN HAS A SECRET, Self Magazine