As it turned out, we were grateful for more than just the beauty of the water and the sunset and the birds in flight. I took Marilee to the doctor, and all is well. She’s gained three pounds in the past four weeks. She’s hearty and happy and sleeping well. We are grateful. We also found out that William got in, via a lottery, to the preschool we had hoped he could enter next year. It’s the same school where Penny spent two years, a public pre-school with an integrated class of kids with special needs and others who are typically developing. William will follow in his sister’s footsteps with her phenomenal teachers (we’ll call them all Miss K for the moment), although he will do so without an IEP (Individualized Education Plan) and therapists and evaluations. We are grateful.

We sat as a family at dinner last night. We were all eating pizza (I haven’t managed to cook a real meal in the past six weeks), and Peter was rocking Marilee back to sleep. All of a sudden he said, “Guys, I want to say thank you to God for the beautiful day!” William responded, “And I want to say thank you God for Miss K’s class!” He clasped his hands and bowed his head and whispered the words again. 

Later as I was putting him to bed, I said, “William, I’m grateful that God gave us you.” He beamed and replied, “And that God gave us Marilee and Penny and Mom and Dad.” 

Yep. That pretty much sums it up. Grateful.