Happy Thanksgiving

On Wednesday when the girls got home from school, I asked each family member to write a letter about what they're thankful for this year. We could address our letter to whomever we chose, needed to say at least 3 things we're thankful for and why.

Here are our letters that we read at our Thanksgiving Table last night:

Dear God, Thank

you for giving my family and I food because when we are hungry, I can ask for a snack. I'm also thankful for friends because they are really nice to me. And last but not least I'm thankful for my family because they love and care for me all of the time.

Thank you, Haley. (7)

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Dear Mr. President Bush, You have helped the entire United States of America. I, an ordinary Washington girl, am very thankful. Here are the reasons. First of all you keep my country safe and free from all harm. I thank you for that because we don't have to worry about something happening to us. Second, you have supported everyone in the army that is in Iraq at the moment, including my family who are very special to me. And last but not least you make sure that all children are supported. Thank you for supporting our freedom in this country.

Thank you so much!! Happy Thanksgiving!!
Jeanna Caldwell. (11)

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Thursday, November 22, 2007

Dearest Mom & Dad,

I am so thankful for both of you and for the Lord bringing you here to all of us this year. You two are such a huge blessing to each of us, for who you are – your servants’ hearts, willing to serve, bless and minister to whomever, whenever, wherever. You are both awesome examples to all of us of what it means to be servants of the Lord.

Thank you for the best gift of all - raising me to love and serve Jesus, our Precious Lord and Savior. Without Him, how futile our lives would be. I am so thankful that each of us can have personal relationship with Him.

When reflecting about all that I am thankful for this year, I realized that I am thankful for many things… but more importantly I asked myself, “What if everything was taken away from me, would I still be thankful and for what?” I recognize that I am mostly appreciative for people – each one of my dear precious family members – immediate and extended – I feel so richly blessed! I am also extremely grateful for church family and friends. And even then, if any or all were taken away from me, if I was stripped bare of all my relationships, I would still be thankful for Jesus because HE is the ultimate relationship, THE ONE that can never be taken away. When it comes down to it, I guess really nothing else matters in light of eternity, except
Him.

Thank you both for your influence in helping me to keep my eyes on Jesus – the author and the finisher of our faith. Thank you both for the example you are of Jesus to me, to us.

Mom & Dad, please know how very proud I am of both of you as my parents and how grateful I am to be your daughter!

I love you! JG

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Dear Lord,

I am thankful for the following on this day:

For my family
For Mimi and Papa to be here for our kids
That you are taking care of our needs
For the friends we are making at our church
That you answer our prayers
For our health

However, it makes me sad on this day that:

There will be many who will be alone on this day
There will be many who will not have a big dinner today
There will be many who will not eat at all today
There will be many who will see this day as just another day

Thank you that there will be many praying to You for help or change
today.

Paul

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Dear Jesus, On this Thanksgiving Day, Nov. 22, 2007, I want to say how thankful I am that you are my Lord and Savior and that my mother raised me to trust in you. I am so thankful that you sent JoAnn to go to college in Plainview, Texas and that we met and she later became my wife. Jesus, without her I do not know where I would be today.

I am so thankful that you gave Mimi (JoAnn) and I three such wonderful children. Joy Grace, Joel Aaron and Jason Daniel. And now because of Joy Grace we have such a wonderful Son-in-Law Paul Matthew Caldwell and because he and Becky got married they brought into our lives our beautiful little princess, Haley Alexandra. And I also thank you for our little Molly "Dolly" (Paul's other daughter.) Jesus, I thank you that our dear Joy married X many years ago and because of that we have our oldest and beautiful, smart and intelligent granddaughter, Jeanna Joy and to top it off we have our little angel sent straight from your heart, Jessica Faith. Jesus you are so good to us. We could never have dreamed that our Joy and Paul would one day be married and the fruit of their love would come in the form of such a bundle of love, our precious Hannah Mae Grace. I've got the sweetest Daughter-in-law any man could have in Laura, Jason's wife, who brought us our very first grandson, Elliot Daniel . And of course, I am very grateful for Joel's daughter, our beautiful little Ameya Rose.

Jesus, thank you for making a place for Mimi and I to come and live close to this precious family. I do not remember all of the 64 Thanksgivings I have experienced, but I will always remember this Thansgiving, November 22, 2007 as the first Thanksgiving we had in our new home with our completed family.

In Jesus' Name,
Your little boy and son,
Jackie Wright or also known as just "Papa".

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Oh, yes! I am sooo thankful!

Thankful for:
A warm, cozy home full of God's love
and light
Papa's arms around me in the middle of
the night
Beautiful granddaughters to hug &
give sweet kisses
A daughter and a "son" whose love & care
just never misses!

I'm thankful for:
A church full of friends and devotion
A heart that still can feel love and emotion.
Our family and grands in other places, too.
And loved ones up in Heaven awaiting me & you.

x0x0x0, Mimi.

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When Jessica was asked what she is thankful for she just said, "Jesus".

So there you have it - from our heart to yours, Happy Thanksgiving. We're thankful for you and pray your hearts are full of thanksgiving, too!

Settling In

Here they are - our 4 drama queens in their matching Easter blouses. They're quite the beauties aren't they?! Way too much fun!

Speaking of drama, there's never a lack of it around here. A couple weeks ago, our little dog Sandy (maltese/pom) and the neighbors boxer (BIG dog!) decided to "go a round". Needless to say, Sandy lost - ending up with 7 stitches in his neck from a puncture wound. Lots of tears that day from all of us girls!!! Thankfully Paul was here and assisted with separating the dogs, the vet run, etc. It was very traumatic for the girls but after lots of cuddles and prayer, the girls and Sandy are all better now and none the worse for wear. I dare say he's got it in for big dogs for sure now - barking vigorously at any he catches sight of!!

Then there's Jessica - brave, no fear, confident, and bold!! We were at the playground a week ago, me sitting, the girls exploring the ladders, slides, swings, etc., when Jessica decided maybe she could try the monkey bars ALONE! NOT!! Before I knew it she was on the ground crying, with her face bleeding. She had landed head/face first in the bark. I think she was more upset that there was bark all over her clothing than the fact her face was hurt. She cried for a couple minutes then wanted back on the playground - "All better. No Dr." Long and short of it - I took her to the Dr. anyway just to be on the safe side. (I'm pretty sure an angel or two helped cushion her fall as it should've been much worse!) No concussion or serious injury - just a badly bruised and scratched face, with a bit of a black eye the next morning. The Lord was watching over her!! She only had one dose of tylenol the first night at bedtime. A week later you can hardly see a scratch left. She's such a trooper! (This picture was taken on Easter Sunday just a couple of days after the accident.)

We're feeling more settled in all the time in our new home and loving it. Right now we're counting down 'til Baby arrives. Looks like she'll be here within the next month at least. I've had a couple "false alarms" and visits to the Hospital already. Thankfully, we're still holding on, though, we can hardly wait for the right time to be here... especially me... I'm feeling a bit anxious to have my body back. All you moms out there know what I mean!

In the middle of all this, Paul's store in Burlington was closed for good a couple weeks ago - very sad; however, the good news is that he was transferred to Sedro Wooley (only a few more miles away) to the busiest store in the chain. He is the Perishables Manager there and enjoying the busy-ness of the larger store.

Meantime, my Mom & Dad (affectionately known as Mimi & Papa to our girls) arrive here on Monday as they are moving here permanently from Swan Hills, AB, Canada. We are very anxious to have them here. My awkward body needs the help :) They will be ministering on staff at our church, Christ the King, and reaching out to our community and county here in Mount Vernon, WA. The biggest blessing will be to our immediate family as we are all anxious to have more family close by.

So there you have the latest news from the Caldwell Clan... busy and growing, never a dull moment... too much fun! We'll keep you posted when Baby arrives... Drop us a line when you have a moment. We would love to hear from you, too.

Life is Full of Surprises!

What a month or two we've had! At the end of August, it looked like Paul might be transferred with his work out to Eastern Washington, putting us into a wierd phase of living in "limbo land", waiting for all the "what if's" to work themselves out. We had been discussing selling our house for months and this was the motivation to get it going... so we put our house up for sale. (For more info on our house, you can check out http://www.2915timothypl.com.) After a few weeks of our faith and trust being tested in "limbo land" Paul decided to take one "if" off the table and we chose not to move out of Mount Vernon, even once our house is sold. YAY! We love living here so that part was easy and a huge relief! We want to build a new home once this one is sold...

Meantime, I was hired at the end of September to work as a one-on-one assistant to a wonderful boy with disabilities at the girls' school. I have always appreciated the staff at Madison School and here in the Mount Vernon School District, so it was a real pleasure to be there on a daily basis. My student is an amazing boy and a real delight to work with. It was a real privilige to work with him. It also felt very good to be there at the school, available to our 3 girls but not right in their faces. (They seemed to like it too.)

I was just starting to settle into my new position there at the school, when I started feeling like maybe I was catching Paul's flu... but oddly enough I felt better in the afternoon. Other signs and symptoms appeared making me question "my flu". I thought maybe a little test at home was in order... SURPRISE!!! Yep - it confirmed my suspicions, I officially have the "Egyptian Flu"... I'm going to be a "Mummy" again! It's an extra surprise, especially since I had been told by my healthcare professional back in April that I was in premature menopause, confirmed by ultrasound and bloodwork. The Lord must have some pretty neat plans in mind for this miracle baby! After my first u/s, the "Dr" thought maybe she saw 2 babies... but after my first visit with the OB today, he confirmed only ONE baby - doing very well thus far. ;) Baby is due in May.

Once I knew that I was "with child", my ability to perform my duties with my student changed immediately. Because of my previous pregnancy histories, I am considered "high risk" so I am no longer able to lift him as required and must be extremely careful. I am not on bed rest but after the middle of December (16 weeks) will be limited even more physically. The school staff was very understanding and accommodating, but after weighing all my options and considering the possibilities, I decided to relinquish my contract and just go on the substitute list, relieving myself of the pressure of reporting daily but at the same time, I can work as I'm feeling up to it and available. I am sorry for the sake of my student but I'm confident that all will work out as it is supposed to, since Baby Surprise wasn't part of my plans but the Lord's :)

We are all very excited about Baby. It's pretty cool to be able to see such a strong heartbeat already so early. The girls are busy making plans of their own for Baby and are very sweet with the way they "take care" of me. Of course Paul is as amazing as ever, making sure I'm getting enough rest, bringing me crackers, fluffing my pillows, etc., so comforting, strong, and nurturing! Now thinking about making plans for a new home, the requirements just went from a 3 bedroom to at least a 4...

Stay tuned for more updates, coming your way via this channel soon....