Season of Giving

Today feels like a Friday. Most likely because my oldest is out of school today, and my nephews are here to spend the night. Hubby will be getting off work early and will head home to help get the house ready for our Thanksgiving feast tomorrow.

This is my favorite time of year for many reasons. It always begins with the start of school to occupy the kiddos and college football. My Sooners are having a really bad, injury plagued year. I know we can't win them all, but this hasn't been a fun year to watch. The excitement continues on though with most of our family birthdays leading up to Thanksgiving and Christmas.

This year we will spend the first part of Thanksgiving day at my aunt's house with her family. Then we'll head home to have our own celebration with my brother and his kids. I have NEVER EVER wanted to torture myself with Black Friday and it wouldn't even be an option this year.

Thank you all so much for your prayers and good thoughts. I'm feeling much better and getting around pretty well. The rash on my face is still visible but just looks as if my face is a little flushed. The Rheumatologist has diagnosed me with Fibromyalgia and is testing for an underlying illness. While he believes that I have arthritis, he's feeling optimistic that it's not Rheumatoid Arthritis. I have an appointment today at the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation for more tests for the Lupus.

Even if I wasn't dealing with illness, I have so much to be thankful for. My family is a huge source of comfort for me. My boys are well behaved and have become protective of me. My husband hates to leave me to go to work, and is willing to get up at 4am every morning and work his patootie off for us. They will be leaving next week to start the next tank in California, but we are so fortunate that he even has a job in this economy. My mother has had a few episodes with her health problems from battling cancer, but she is celebrating another year cancer free.

Yes, God has truly blessed us. We have a warm, safe home with a table full of good food. We were fortunate enough to buy food for three other families to make sure they are able to have the same meal we're having with leftovers to enjoy for another week. We will even prepare the meal for one of the families because she admitted to not knowing how to cook. Of course I'll have a plate ready for our homeless alley guy, Gary. He'll eat well this week for sure. Things are tough right now for so many families. I can only hope that we spread some of our good fortune as far as possible and it makes a difference somehow.

As for my writing? I'm trying to decide which story I'll submit to my chapter's contest for the members. I'm thinking it'll be my contemporary category romance, but lately I've been working a little on my historical. I have a couple of weeks to decide.

In the meantime...I hope you guys have a very blessed Thanksgiving!