This past Thanksgiving, like many before, I had a number of things for which to be thankful. But the one thing that topped the list this year was the new addition our family welcomed into the world.

On Thanksgiving Day, my sister and brother-in-law blessed me with my first niece, Sawyer Rose. I couldn’t have been any more overjoyed when I saw the first picture of that healthy, beautiful 6-pound, 3-ounce little peanut with a full head of hair come across my phone, knowing both mom and baby were doing well.

But while God had blessed our family with the birth of a new baby, he had different plans for my grandfather.