I may be a couple of weeks late getting this post together but I didn’t want the season of giving thanks to pass without sharing a few photos from our family holiday and giving an update on just how much we have to be thankful for. At the top of the list: Penelope is doing SO well! We’ve been to the neurologist, geneticist, and ophthalmologist since the MRI and every visit delivered a positive report. The geneticist visit might as well have been over the phone – the results we were so worried about came back all clear without any red flags. The ophthalmologist thinks there may be some slight delay in her right peripheral vision, but nothing that couldn’t heal over time. She’s in the 97th percentile for height, 87th for weight. She’s holding her head up, coos at us nonstop, and we got her first laugh out of her just last night while Javier was bouncing her trying to get a smile for a photo. She’s our biggest blessing, and she added so much joy to our Thanksgiving holiday.

We spent the holiday with the McClure side of our family in Shelbyville, KY. Over the years we’ve developed a number of stations in Marian and Stephen’s house that keep us happily occupied while we enjoy one another’s company. The living room is for music from the piano or Andre’s classical guitar, for feeding babies and quiet conversation and relaxing on the most comfortable couch in the world. The basement has some form of art-in-progress that we all work on intermittently (last year it was a puzzle and an intricate coloring book, this year it was a large paint-by-number), and there’s ping pong and darts. Politics and other more animated topics of conversation are best addressed in the kitchen where a slice of pie is easily at hand. We go on walks outside to settle the food, and Melissa and I have a new tradition (two years in a row signifies tradition, right?) of going to the Shelbyville goodwill in search of the best oddities Shelbyville has to offer.

I love Thanksgiving, and sharing it this year with Penelope (and sharing Penelope with my family) was so special! We are incredibly thankful for everyone out there who has been praying for her, and again for everyone who contributed to her fund. We have the best friends and family in the world! I’ve been listening to A Christmas Carol on audiobook (I HIGHLY recommend the version narrated by Tim Curry) and Dickens provides such a poetic reminder that love and generosity make life worth living. Being surrounded by so much love and so many generous people has warmed our hearts this season, and we hope to pass that feeling along to as many people as we can. Happy Thanksgiving all!