Gratitude...

...has been on my mind and heart daily over the past several weeks. First, gratitude to my Heavenly Father for my many blessings! I can not list my blessings because there are simply too many (and my kids will be home from school in 30 minutes!).

I am overwhelmed with gratitude as I ponder my many blessings. My family ranks very high on my list of blessings. My heart is full and tears come to my eyes as I watch how well each member of my family is adjusting to having Katiana home. I have seen the Lord's hand almost daily as we make adjustments. Every member of the Hixon family has stepped up and caught the spirit of our *new* family! For this I am unable to properly express my gratitude - it fills my heart with joy.

Gratitude for my family and friends who have reached out to us. Visits, phone calls, help, gifts - gifts from family and friends Katiana has never met --- when I explain a package that has arrived in the mail for her from a *friend* she hasn't yet met.......she lights up! I KNOW she understands she has family and friends that love her and are expressing their love with gifts.

Gratitude for neighbors. Neighbors who have welcomed her with such warmth. Neighbor kids who greet her at school and look after her (and track down the mean boys who squirted her with water in ceramics class....come to find out, it was an accident....but that didn't stop one of the neighbor boys from hauling the two culprits over to Marisa who was ready to give them both a good fonging!) And for another neighbor who helped us *forget* the hard day at school by having us over and teaching us how to make jewelry - LOTS of jewelry for all of us! What a fun way to turn lemons into lemonade!

Gratitude for people in our community. Dr. Clayton who convinced Katiana that Doctors are "tres gentile", Our friends who work at the Jr. High school who helped get her in all the right classes, a new friends mom who offered to come to school and translate during Ceramics class - all because her daughter has taken an interest in Katiana and knew her Mom speaks French.

Gratitude for Mansour Masse and Holt International for providing a safe and loving home for Katiana and for the good work they do around the world for those who are so deserving of help....and of course, for helping us navigate our way through a very difficult adoption process. Gratitude for all the housemoms who loved and taught Katiana over the past 10 years. Gratitude for Betty and Phil Snyder and Mission Possible and GLOW Ministries that also influenced Katiana's sweet attitude and for the work they do for so many others in Haiti. Gratitude for her birth parents who loved her and found a safe place for her to receive that which they struggled to give her.

Gratitude for ALL who picked up their phones and called on our behalf when we were denied her visa. Gratitude to those who were able to push things even more after we encountered the bad man in Haiti! I know good people I never met helped encourage the visa office in Washington D.C. on our behalf (of course, THANK YOU to a certain brother and an executive at Holt for their influence on this gov't office!)

Gratitude for our good friends in Haiti - at Holt Fontana and Foyer de Sion for their kindness and support. For their commitment to the children of Haiti. For their determination in bringing about positive change for Haiti. YOU inspire me to be better and instill in me a desire to do more. And....I am greatly blessed because I now have another beautiful daughter and she has this amazing Haitian spirit! AND I will soon be blessed with two more beautiful children who are equally bright in spirit. When I ponder the blessing of children......it makes the struggle of bringing them home pale in comparison. I am very blessed. For this I thank my Father in Heaven every day.

The moment I post this it will be outdated because my gratitude grows. Thank you all - my heart is full as I continue to witness the many blessings that are working together to bless our family.