Happy Thanksgiving

This has been a month where it has been hard to be thankful. It seemed like everytime we turned around something else expensive would break. The short list of major things that went wrong this month started with the minor, but expensive accident that I got in. Then, the iPhone broke. Then the computer died. Then we had to get 2 new run-flat tires (and those babies don't come cheap)! Whew. But, when I go through and reflect on all those major things...there is something to be thankful for in each one. In the car accident, no one was hurt! We had $200 in deductible rewards, so that helped too. Allstate was very prompt and helpful and the van looks better than ever. We found a place to repair the iPhone for less than it would have been to trade it in to Apple (it did take longer, but we are thankful to be learning patience). The computer died, but the hard-drive was salvagable. And we were espeically thankful to my brother Dave who dedicated a day to the project of getting us back up and running on our old computer (which I think we will be using for awhile). Finally, we are thankful that the slow leak in our run-flat tire decided to become a fast leak while the tires were on sale for $50 off. We are also thankful to Shorewood Wrestling, Qwest field and major league soccer, Dick's Drive in, and Seattle City Light for providing Derek with PLENTY of off-duty work to help cover the expenses. It has been a cloudy month--but those clouds, on closer inspection, have had beautiful silver linings.