Thankful Trees

I am not a big fan of Standard Time.

I do not like that it gets dark at 5:30pm.

Mostly because I don't know what to do with the kids between dinner and bedtime if they can't play outside.

They love being outside. They will play for hours outside.

They fight A LOT when they are couped up inside.

So tonight I kept them busy with a craft:

 

Making Thankful Trees.

 

Livie's Thankful Tree

 

I did all of the cutting & writing.
Livie did all of the decorations & gluing.
When I asked her what she was thankful for, this is what she said:

Friends, Family, Almond Milk, Pizza,
This Pencil, Broccoli, Trees, My Life, Do not Let Your Heart Be Troubled.

That last one was a memory verse she learned about 4 weeks ago for Wednesday night church.
I couldn't believe she remembered it.

It's a good verse to be thankful for - it's something I need to recite every day.
"Do not let your heart be troubled. Trust in God and also in Me." John 14:1

 

 

Ella's Thankful Tree

 

Ella made this all by herself.

 

 

Did you see the leaf in the lower right of the photo?

 

 

I'm thankful for Diabetes Friends, too.

I don't know how I would have made it through this year without some of you.

And I don't even know a lot of you in real life!

And a lot of you don't even know me...or even know of my existence!

But when Ella was first diagnosed, I stayed up for HOURS reading blogs.

Reading and reading and reading and reading.

And thinking to myself:

 

Huh...these people seem happy.
If they're happy living with this, it means I can be happy living with this.

These people are funny, too.

You can still be funny and live with diabetes.

There is a light at the end of this dark tunnel!

 

Ella's also thankful for Family, Love, Life, Air, Best Friends Forever, Delight & Peace.

 

When she was done making her tree, she declared that every tree needs a star at the top.

 

 

My Thankful Tree

 

I didn't make a Thankful Tree.

 

Mostly because I was still cleaning up the kitchen from dinner while at the same time trying to keep Livie from cutting herself with scissors and gluing her fingers together.

 

But if I were to make a Thankful Tree, it would have a lot of the same things I was thankful for last year:

 

 My Family, Friends, Health, My job, My home...

 

With the addition of some new items like:

 

Insulin, Afternoon Naps, Glucose Meters, Access to Plenty of Blood Glucose Strips, My awesome Pediatrician, A good Health Care Plan, Crystal Lite, Insulin Pumps, Endocrinologists, CDEs, Nurses, Starburst, Skittles, Almond Flour, School Health Techs, Friends for Life Conferences (who's going in 2013?), Camp Conrad-Chinnock, Diabetes Friends, JDRF, Sansum Diabetes Research Institute, Dr. Faustman, DOC, Diabetes Research Institute...and on and on and on...

 

All too often throughout this year I've found myself dwelling on what we lost when Ella was diagnosed. Or dwelling on what we might lose if Livie gets diagnosed as well.

 

Then the other day I read this post from Moments of Wonderful 

and watched the documentary at the bottom of this post about Life for a Child.

And I felt like I'd been hit upside the head.

 

I complain about the 1 hour drive I have to take on the PCH Highway along California's Malibu Coastline to get to Ella's Endocrinologist.

Meanwhile, a little girl in another country walks 4 to 6 hours on a dirt path to get to a bus to see her doctor or get medical supplies.

 

I complain about having to deal with the online pharmacy when they ship me not 6, but 5 vials of insulin.

Meanwhile there are people who travel hours to get just 1.

 

I complain about the $100 copay for a 3-month supply of insulin or a 3-month supply of test strips.

Meanwhile there are people dying because they can't afford the medical supplies they need.

 

I need to stop complaining.

Yes, having a child with diabetes sucks and I think, once in a while, I'm allowed to vent.

Having 2 kids diagnosed with diabetes would suck a lot.

But I need to stop dwelling on what we lost or what we might lose and start being thankful for what we have.

 

Because we have a lot to be Thankful for.

 

Life for a Child Documentary Part 1:

 

 

 

Life for a Child Documentary Part 2: