Love Stories

The Unexpected

We had a busy and enjoyable holiday. To show our appreciation for our family and friends, we decided to host Thanksgiving this year. We had friends and family come from Florida, Maryland and Michigan, totaling 18 guests in all!

In addition to the traditional baked turkey, we had a fried turkey (thank you to my brother-in-law for his expertise), a ham, dressing, mashed potatoes (over 20 pounds!), green beans, corn, baked apples, cranberry sauce and all the Thanksgiving trimmings. Jim’s mom made her pumpkin and pecan pies. We also had coconut cake (sent from friends in MD) banana bread, cookies, fudge, cheesecake and more. There was food everywhere!

After the meal, since we'll all be in different places for Christmas, we celebrated Christmas early with a "Dirty Santa" gift exchange. It was hilarious as many family members fought over who would get the two iTunes gift cards. Jim & I both had them for a while, then our nephews, without any remorse, took them from us. We laughed hysterically when my father-in-law received a gift card to a day spa (that was a priceless moment!) He was thankful to eventually trade it for a gift card to “Cracker Barrel.” Our 8 year old niece, Annabeth, was thrilled to take Uncle Jim’s gift card to “Toys-R-Us” and was the first in the family to hit the stores on Friday, spending every penny! I happily ended up with a gift card to Borders and will enjoy adding to my book collection.

We eventually spread out all over the house. Some were in the living room watching football, some were upstairs watching movies and music videos, the rest of us were playing games and visiting. It was great fun and the evening turned to a sweet time of relaxing and reflecting on how blessed we are to be with the ones we love.

After the fun and excitement of visiting with family, I was surprised to get a call from a family member telling me that my great uncle is in the hospital, having had a heart attack this past weekend. I was even more surprised to get a text from my sis-in-law this morning telling me that she had been in a car accident.

Today, I’m forced to realize that life is unpredictable. You can be celebrating the holidays with family one day and the next, the unexpected could happen.

My uncle is in good hands, and prayerfully will recover quickly. As for my sis-in law, although the car is wrecked, she’s fine and we praise God for His hand of protection.

This has all been a great reminder to me as to what is really important in life. God has been good to me and I’m thankful for the “things” He’s given me, but I am most thankful for the friends and family that fill my life with joy!

Who are you thankful for today? Let them know!

Melissa Brady
http://www.jimandmelissabrady.com