I’m a little late with getting this Thanksgiving post up. I have a good excuse in that, in the not too distant future, this site will be migrating back to WordPress, and with nearly 2,000 posts done over several years, there’s some back work which needed to be done. I didn’t want to create extra work for the person helping me (thanks!), so I haven’t been doing much posting lately. All that will change in the near future, and I’m very excited for what’s on the horizon.
Back to being thankful. Overall, it’s been a great year, but there are some things which I recognize as wonderful events needing an extra dose of thankfulness and gratitude.
At the beginning of 2019, I was talking with a friend of mine, and he told me about an upcoming Ignatian Spiritual Conference being led by Fr. Joe Tetlow SJ. I had heard from others that, given his advanced age, he wasn’t active anymore. Wrong. Let me just say this amazing Jesuit priest is very much active and the knowledge I’ve gained from him this year has been transformative. Lucky for me that I attended not one but two conferences with Fr. Tetlow and his team, both taking place at Montserrat Retreat Center in Dallas. These events were completely unexpected gifts, for which I’m especially thankful. Over the next year, you’ll be reading here about some of the graces flowing from my learning.
In early October my great niece Maeve was born. She came a month early, and as to be expected, there were some initial health issues. Thankfully, she’s doing great now and I have loved to see all the photos coming via text. Little Maeve is the first baby born in our family in about ten years, and I’m looking forward to meeting her at Christmas. Such a gift!
Also in October, I met for the first time with a nutritionist. I was encouraged by my diabetes specialist to make the appointment, and I’m really grateful I did. It’s been ten years since my initial diagnosis of type II diabetes, and although my numbers are good, they are not where I need them to be. My doctor thought setting some new nutrition goals were in order, so the appointment was important. When I arrived, the nutritionist told me that the appointments after me had cancelled, so he had some extra time to talk. He was so helpful and had great advice. Although I have been slow to implement some of his suggestions, I’m using the Advent season to get on track. I know that the holidays are not the best time to make dietary changes, but I’m up for the challenge. I want to set the stage for the New Year.
Well that’s enough for today, the First Sunday in Advent. Hard to believe how fast 2019 went by and I’m guessing it will be the same for 2020. Let’s use the Advent season to reflect on all the ways God has blessed us this year, rather than focus on all the negativity and craziness which seems to permeate everything right now.