Thankful

I'm not normally the one who does the thankful blogs around thanksgiving. But recently I've noticed my negativity. I am THANKFUL that I notice when I'm being abundantly negative, and I'm THANKFUL I have the know how to change my attitude.

Regardless, I feel like I owe it to my friends and family to talk about all the things I truly am thankful for. All the things I'm blessed with even when my complaints seems to overshadow them. Here are 24 things I am thankful for this year...in no special order!

1. I am thankful for my husband. I am married to a man I don't deserve. He is kind...more kind than anyone you know (I'm sure of it). He is patient, gracious, loving and loyal. He keeps my head up, he makes me feel beautiful even on my ugliest days and he holds me accountable to the things I'm working on. He is, in every meaning of the phrase, my best friend. I am so in love. So devoted.

2. I am thankful for my beautiful children. I've been blessed with a daughter who is wise, beautiful, loving, hilarious and so creative. I've been blessed with a son who is so caring, so loving and abundantly happy. My heart is FULL...incredibly full.

3. I am thankful for my parents. I have the world's most incredible parents. They are caring, devoted, wise and always true. They have taught me love, that perfection is unattainable, but that God is refining. I love them endlessly.

4. I am thankful for my siblings and their spouses. Each one is so different and so completely necessary in my life. I love all of them. We have so much fun.

5. I am thankful for my 6 nieces and 1 nephew! They are beautiful, each one of them. I would scoop them up and call them my own if I needed to. Each one is so tucked into my heart, I feel blessed to have them!

6. I am thankful for my inlaws. They are generous and loving...so endlessly devoted to our babies, and so supportive of Jon and I.

7. I am thankful for my grandparents and extended family. Aunts, uncles, cousins...blessed to have many. I love my time spent with them. I love all of them.

8. I am thankful for my friends. Ahhh friends...the privilege of being able to create relationships with people like the ones I have in my life is incredible. I love them. They strengthen me and better me.

9. I'm thankful for my home. We own a beautiful condo we were able to purchase last year. While it constantly stretches us, it is a blessing none the less. I am covered, I am warm, I am comfortable. Thats a lot more than most can say.

10. I am thankful for the clothes on my back...because I have them in abundance, because I can choose my outfit and wear a different one every day. I have too much to be thankful for...how easily we forget to be thankful for even the smallest things.

11. I am thankful for the food in my pantry. I am thankful because even when it's all gone, and we don't have means to buy more, we have people who help us.

12. I am thankful for our cars. A car is a strange thing. Such an overlooked luxury. And we have two of them.

13. I am thankful for electricity. I can see in the dark. I am warm when it's cold. I can cook my food with ease. I can be entertained by film and technology.

14. I am thankful for my laundry machines. My clothes are always clean.

15. I am thankful for running water. I can take a warm shower whenever I want. I can drink a cold glass of water when I'm thirsty. It's endless. And clean.

16. I am thankful for the freedom to do whatever I want, whenever I want.

17. I am thankful that my husband and I have jobs...and even though money is tight, things could be far worse.

18. I am thankful for my humor. This sounds terribly conceited, but I don't mean it to be. I have tough skin, I am able to laugh and make others laugh. I love it. I am thankful for it. Laughter is healing.

19. I am thankful for our pediatricians. When my kids are sick or hurt, I can take them to a place where people dedicate their lives to help them. No matter the cost, I'm grateful.

20. I am thankful for my neighborhood. We live in a place where my kids can play safely, where neighbors are friendly, where lawns are mowed.

21. I am thankful for my bed. I get to sleep on clean sheets, on top of a pillow top mattress, with a giant (and very warm) blanket and TWO big fluffy pillows to rest my head on.

22. I am thankful for my church. I get to go and worship Jesus Christ twice a week...no one stops me.

23. I am thankful for education. For my own. For my husband's. For the future education of my children.

24. Finally, and certainly above all, I am thankful for my relationship with Jesus Christ. I am forgiven when I don't deserve to be. I am cleansed. I am renewed. I am thankful for a God who is righteous and good. I am thankful for a God who chose me and loves me. THIS is enough.

I could add a hundred more things I'm thankful for, but you get the point. We want and want and want...our society is structured that way...and we forget the small things that are so big in the eyes of others.

I am blessed big time.
Even when money is tight.
Even when things seem impossible.
Even when reality isn't pretty.
Even when the world tries to take me down.

I am thankful this year and I plan to remind myself to be thankful for things small and big, every year.

Happy Thanksgiving loved ones.