Thankfulness

We thank you for this bread

And give bread to those who are hungry

And hunger for justice to those who are fed

We thank you for this bread

~Prayer of thankfulness from Argentina

Following the example of Jenn (http://2moretolove.blogspot.com/2006/11/12-days-and-counting.html), a post of that which I am thankful for:

I am thankful for my husband, who is my best friend, my confident, my better half, yin to my yang, the love of my life, a light when it feels dark.

I am thankful for my son, Gabriel, for the sparkle in his eyes, for the questions he endlessly asks, for the kisses he blows to me each morning when he gets ready to get on the bus.

I am thankful for my mother, who made me the person I am today.

Despite our differences, I am thankful for my father.

And thankful for my step-father, who never tried to replace my father, but was a father to me inasmuch as I let him be.

I am thankful for my five brothers and sisters, and for their children.

I am thankful for my Girlfriends, who have hugged me close when I needed comfort, who have jumped up and down with me when I needed to rejoice.

I am thankful for my job, and for my husband's job.

I am thankful for this community of adoption bloggers, who provide me with a sympathetic ear and an endless supply of information and support.

I am thankful for baklava, and also chocolate. And rum with pineapple juice. And for warm ocean breezes and expanses of sugary white sand to escape to. (Is it okay to be thankful for one's vices?)

I am thankful to be offered the opportunity to love a little girl who is waiting for me even as I type this. And I promise her now, I will choose to love her, and I will choose to mother her, even though, at first, I suspect she will want neither of these things from me.

LM