Grateful on the last day of November

I love Christmas season. I’m currently basking in the warm glow of our family Christmas tree on November 30^th. The cat is playing around the base of the tree and ventures up the middle every now and again (we really have to stop that from happening). We haven’t put any gifts under the tree yet, even though we’ve bought a few already. I’ve got a cup of coffee on my side table next to me. It’s Millstone brand breakfast blend. Life is good.

This has been such a year of change for us, even outside of cystic fibrosis. Samantha has been mostly healthy here in Jacksonville, FL, where we now live after my Navy transfer in July. She’s settled into school and has a ton of friends. Timothy too has found that he’s adjusting back to life at school after four years of homeschooling. He’s been over to some friends’ house (they are twins) and we’ve had them over once as well. The kids are really enjoying life for the most part. Hannah has just learned how to play games on our iPhones. Life has ended for us on that note. But if that’s the worst we can drum up, I suppose we’re ok.

The point is, life doesn’t revolve around cystic fibrosis for us (or Hannah’s peanut allergy or Tim’s Asperger’s). Life revolves around our family, faith, friendships, and a bunch of other things. It’s what makes us “us” as a unit.

When I wrote this draft in my head, I wanted to say that we shouldn’t take cystic fibrosis too seriously, but that would be wrong. We do take it seriously. It is real and it’s landed our daughter in the hospital several times. Our boy with Asperger’s has a constant struggle with reality. Our baby has to be protected from peanuts for crying out loud! So yes, we take these things seriously, but they do not define us.

Instead, we are defined by who we are, not by what we have. I am grateful for that as I enter the last month of 2014. God is good.