Canandaigua, N.Y. --- The Anderson family held hands and bowed their heads in prayer moments before their Thanksgiving dinner began. Sherrie, James, and their eight children were joined by extended family and friends for this year’s feast.
For Sherrie and James this day began with an emotional realization that the events of July 19, 2012 could’ve made for quite a different holiday.
"This morning I woke up and our little Selah had come (into our room) in the middle of the night at some point. I just turned over and looked at her and I started crying because I realized that it could've been a very different story, it could've been a very different Thanksgiving,” Sherrie Anderson said. “I'm well aware that for many people it is a Thanksgiving that they're experiencing loss and the thought of losing my three smallest children!--I mean, I'm so thankful. I have so much to be thankful for.”
On that day in July, Sherrie was with five of her children on some land in Bristol that the family owns. Sherrie was cheering and videotaping her two oldest daughters, McKenna, 14 and Jordyn, now 17, as they wrestled in a small boat on a pond.
Moments earlier Anderson’s three youngest children, Selah who is now three, four year-old Justice, and Chase who is now six, had retreated to the family van to dry off and warm up after a swim.
