Hi everyone! First off, Ivan and I owe a giant THANK YOU for all the love, prayers, and concern we received after Ivan’s post 10 days ago. The love God shows us through you all is literally a pillar of support for each new trial we face. So, from the bottom of our hearts: thank you!!

From the medical side, I wish I had more positive news to report, but we haven’t made it that far yet. Some of you may know that I spent the Sunday night and Monday after Ivan’s post as an inpatient in the neurology unit at Stanford, but we will need to do a more extensive test before we get good, solid answers to share with you all.

But in the meantime….it’s THANKSGIVING! I don’t think there’s any mistake in the timing of all this: what better challenge from the Lord than to seek a thankful heart in the midst of uncertainty and waiting? So here’s some things we would be very remiss if we didn’t celebrate this week:

1. I can walk, talk, eat, and think! Just around this time last year, all of those were thrown into serious jeopardy.
2. God has placed us in the perfect location for our needs at the moment (close to my parents, Kaiser, and Valley Christian).
3. God worked through many people – especially our loving and concerned Hillside family – to provide a job for Ivan that placed us in the ideal location I just described.
4. MY FAMILY. I literally have no idea where we would be without them. I think we all hoped that Mom would have graduated from extensive “babysitting” and medical care duties by now. But even as these needs resurface so unexpectedly, she’s jumped back in with her whole heart, and Dad and Anna have been right beside her. Not to mention the five months she spent living with us in Riverside earlier this year.
5. Ivan. He’s embraced more pressure and responsibility than anyone could say was reasonable for a 23/24 – year-old…and done it with a consistent faith in God’s love and unwavering love for me…no matter what my latest “problem” happens to be. As we approach our second anniversary, I really can’t imagine a better best friend or husband.

And last, because He is the most important….I’m thankful for our loving Heavenly Father. No matter how difficult each day may be, I’m thankful we can cling to what we know of Him. He created us, saved us, loves us unconditionally. He saw and planned the end of my and Ivan’s journey before we were born, or met each other –  much less started the beginning of it almost a year ago. And the best part is: He never makes mistakes.