Counting My Blessings 1..2..3..4..5..6..7..8..9......

First I will take a brief moment to explain Aunt Toad. Trish's sister is named Toni. Somewhere along the line when of the kids was learning to talk they called her Aunt Toady and that was later shortened to Aunt Toad. Now she is a collector of Toads and it is our goal to one day fill her house completely with Toads. So there you have it....Aunt Toad in a nutshell.

Tonight is my last night with my Gherkin and Trish. Rather than thinking about the hard times I am reminding myself of all the blessings in my life.

• I have a Father in Heaven who created me and cares for me enough to send His only son to die on a cross so that I might live with Him for eternity.
• I have been blessed with a wife that is so much more than I deserve. She is a wonderful wife and mother and my best friend in the whole world.
• I have three children that I could not be more proud of.
• I/We were chosen to be the family of baby Ashley.
• Ashley is still a part of our family and has made it through some pretty rough times.
• Ash received a second chance at life.
• Somewhere there is a family that cared enough to reach out and give life to our Gherkin even during the most difficult time in their lives.
• There is no one I could possibly trust more to handle all the daily responsibilites of care that Ash needs.
• I have a wonderful family that supports us. Grandmas, Grandpas, sisters, in-laws that all love Ashley in spite of all her disabilities.
• I have a wonderful mother-in-law who is giving so much of her time, talent, energy and heart to stay and help fill in the gap at home while Trish is away.
• I have a church family that has shown us the love of Christ though there prayers and their actions.
• I know I will have new friends once we get home and become involved in our church once again.
• I have a pastor who supports our family with the love of Christ.
• I have a job that I love full of patients that I love and care about and I know they care about my family and our Gherkin.
• I have a home for my family
• I (now) have a car that I can rely on. Up until recently that was quite the problem.
• Blake and Allie have a wonderful school full of teachers and administrators who are so understanding of why they are missing so much class and who have made it possible for them to have some structure in their lives during a difficult time for them.
• I can see my family growing closer together even though we are farther apart.
• I can see my family growing closer to God.
• I can see my blessings and not be struggling to terriblely much
• I have a wonderful group of volunteers who are running a fundraising campaign that will help cover alot of the expenses associated with our Gherkin
• I got to see snow in October. Actually I was in a snowstorm on July 29th of this year and that was kind of cool, but I was at 13,500 feet on top of a mountain in Colorado.
• Texas beat Nebraska and I got to be in Nebraska to watch the game.

I could keep typing all night, but there is a Gherkin in the next room and since tonight is my last night with her I think I am going to wrap this up and go memorize her face.

Thank you all for praying for my family. We love you all.

Dave