The Day of Thankfulness Finally

So 4 things a day until Thanksgiving that I am thankful for was not as hard as I thought it would be but these last four are pretty dang important so I want you to read them...carefully...then print them...and remember to be thankful for them.

1. My Life. John 3:16 comes to mind. But I can lower it down to easy terms. I'm a complicated thing. I couldn't make me and I'm pretty crafty. I don't know anyone who can make me just the way I am except God. It's not all rose petals and triumphes of angels over here. There are struggles, sins and things that just don't work the way I think they should. But... it's my life and I'm extremely grateful that it was given to me so that I can make a fool of myself with it.

2. My Husband. I know he was sort of on the list before because he takes out the trash. But, and that's a huge but, he should be on this list for a thousand other things. He loves people well. He laughs with his whole soul. He smiles and a room lights up (ok so I'm bias...get your own husband). He's quite charming when he needs to be, he stern when I need to here it and he'll never let me win a game "just because". I'm grateful that despite all the akward things that my life has walked me through it walked me through a life with him...because he's the bestest.

3. My Family. I know everyone says that but you've never met my family. They are loud, funny, and very intimidating at first so I recommend meeting them twice. But, that second time, you're going to LOVE them. I know I do. I love the fact that grown men will play chutes and ladders one minute and then teach the 5 year old to play black jack and win all their quarters. I love that all the woman can cook so well that we're all lucky we aren't 500 lbs already. I love that my grandfather never says anything but when he does finally say something it's always the last thing in the conversation. I love that my father taught me not to let people mistake my kindness for stupidity and to prove it to them using my love...he loves everyone...even the people that should have been abandoned years ago. I love that my mother has "lorriemoments" where she does things no other rational human being would ever do...and then tries to explain them to other rational human beings. I love them all from the littlest neice to the newest mother in law and everyone in between.

4. Hope. I had a small glimpse once of a life without hope. I was in a bad situation with a bad person who was enabling me to do bad things with other bad people and occassionaly to some good and totally innocent people. I never robbed anyone or killed anyone or anything of that nature but I was just doing things that didn't feel right and I didn't have the hope or the faith to walk away. It almost killed me, it almost snuffed out the parts of me that I love the most. But somewhere in me there was a teeny tiny piece of hope. And I clung to it and others helped me to fan it till it was bright and brilliant and it could be seen from all around. I am grateful to those people but not so grateful as I am for hope. Hope is the most ingenious thing that the heavens ever created... it helps us seach the impossible, it makes us dreamers and fools but every once in awhile it makes see the bigger picture and to know that the impossible is sometimes possible and sometimes the fools are just the people who don't follow the dreamers.