Thank You

I've been spending time this week writing thank you notes. This has been something I have liked doing because I really am so thankful for the prayers, love, and support of so many people. I wish that I could write a thank you note to each and every person who prayed so faithfully and so hard for Anne Marie. While we were in Dallas I witnessed many direct answers to prayer and I am so grateful. It's really hard even to begin to say how thankful I am for the countless prayers on behalf of our daughter and our family. I wrote a post several weeks ago about how thankful I was, but it is something I would like to say again.

I am so thankful for the many encouraging e-mails, cards, and messages we have gotten. I have read each and every heartfelt message, and many days I go back and read them over and over again.

I am thankful for Park Cities Presbyterian Church in Dallas for taking us in, ministering to us, and treating us as one of their own. I am thankful for Our Lord's Community Church, our former church in Oklahoma City, for opening up their beautiful and spacious sanctuary to us for Anne Marie's funeral service. We saw so many people we hadn't seen in many years and it was a comfort to be back in the sanctuary where we had spent so much time. And I am thankful for our home church, Heritage Presbyterian, for the huge support they have been during the pregnancy, birth, and care of Anne Marie. They have prayed for us and loved us through the hardest time in our life and the load has been lighter because of it. We are grateful for the many meals, the flowers, the cards and notes, the pantry and refrigerator FULL of food, and so much more.

I am thankful for the many, many friends who have been so loving and encouraging. Friends here in Edmond and friends in Dallas. Friends in Dallas visited us at the hospital and brought us home-cooked meals. We received many sweet notes from people in Dallas whom we had never met. A Dallas homeschool group reached out to us and prayed for us and invited us to come to their activities. And our friends here loved us and encouraged us from "afar." They watched our kids, called to check on us, drove down to visit us, sent us so many messages, and someone (I haven't figured out who) mowed our lawn and trimmed our trees. I am truly overwhelmed by the love and support that has been poured out on us.

I am thankful for everyone at Dallas Children's. The many people who cared for Anne Marie made our stay there one that I will never forget.

I am thankful to everyone who came to Anne Marie's viewing and funeral service. I wish I had been able to talk to each and every person and tell them how much it meant to have them there. When I got home I read through the guest book and was so touched. Friends we see all the time came, friends we haven't seen in years came, people we hadn't met before came, and Anne Marie's doctor from Dallas (whom I love so much) came. It was a hard day for us, but we were honored and touched by so many who came to her service.

I am thankful for my family. For Brandon who has truly proved that "two are better than one." He has been the strong one in all of this and has helped me more than I can say. For my children, who make me smile and laugh in the midst of all this sadness. For all of the grandparents and aunts and uncles and cousins who have stayed with us and visited us and prayed for us.

And I am thankful for Anne Marie. I am a different person because of her life and death. I am thankful for what God has done through her and what He will continue to do. I am thankful that because of Christ's sacrificial death she is now alive in heaven. And I am so thankful that one day I will see her beautiful angel face again.

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