Thursday, November 24, 2011

It's Turkey day!

I can't believe it's Thanksgiving already!  With the help of Thankful Thelma, Libby and I have tried to spend the last couple weeks remembering and being thankful for the many blessings in our life.  Here is my personal top 10 list (in no particular order):

  1. My daughter.  I know, I know...it's pretty much a given if you're a parent that you're going to be thankful for your children.  But they have a way of touching our lives in a way that no one else can.  All you parents out there --- you know what I mean!
  2. My home.  I'm so thankful that my daughter and I are able to sleep with a solid roof over our heads on soft beds under warm blankets in a heated house.  It's easy to overlook the fact that some of the comforts that we take for granted are luxuries for other people. 
  3. My job.  I'm so blessed to have a job in this day's economy.  I know so many people that have struggled or are currently struggling with unemployment.  I honestly and truthfully love what I do - I help people get better!  What's not to love about that?!  But I know not everyone is lucky enough to be in a position where they can do what they love.  I'm thankful that I can.  And I'm thankful for a new opportunity that's just crossed my path as well...as of last week I became a consultant for Tastefully Simple and am looking forward to my new adventure with a fun little "side job!" 
  4. My friends and family.  I have amazing friends and family!  Some I don't get to see as often as I'd like but with true friends we can always pick up right where we left off.  If it weren't for my awesome friends and family, I never would have survived my unwed pregnancy.  From fixing dinners to putting together baby furniture to "coaching" me through labor to volunteering to watch my newborn baby so I could quickly return to school, I had a strong support system to pull me through.  I am also so thankful that I continue to have a good, working relationship with my daughter's dad and that his family is basically like a second family to me, constantly opening their home and their hearts to me and my daughter. 
  5. Music.  This may sound like a petty thing to be thankful for but it can sometimes make or break me.  Music has the power to bring forth waves of emotion through powerful lyrics or memories that have become intertwined with particular songs.  A couple years ago the car I was driving had no radio, no CD player, nothing - it had all quit working and I was too cheap to buy a new stereo knowing that I would soon be buying a new car.  I remember the first time I got into my new car and drove to work with the radio again - it seriously made my day!  There's nothing like a little boost from K-love in the morning! 
  6. My church.  I have found a home in Southland Christian Church and have developed friendships with so many amazing people.  My daughter and I both look forward to church every Sunday (she used to cry when we missed a Sunday!) and I love walking away with real-life applications.  I'm also so thankful that we live in a country where I can freely attend church and read my Bible without persecution.
  7. DayBreak.  This could be considered part of my church experience but it's played such a huge role in my life that I have to count it as a separate blessing!  DayBreak is an 8 week program for single moms (from all walks of life - divorced, widowed, never married...) that I had the opportunity to go through at Southeast Christian Church and it was really life changing for me.  It helped me "let go and let God" and free myself of the weight of guilt that I had been carrying.  Just recently I got to be part of bringing DayBreak to my church in Danville and serving as a co-coordinator for the program was such an awesome privilege.  I enjoyed meeting all of the wonderful women who participated and volunteered with the program - what a joy to work alongside each of them!
  8. My health.  I work primarily with an elderly population but occasionally I see someone that is my own age.  It's humbling when I work with those patients that are my age because my health is something I so often take for granted.  I complain because I have a sore throat or because I'm having an eczema flair-up but imagine not being able to walk...or living in physical pain everyday...or losing a limb.  I'm thankful that I get to see these situations so that I can remind myself how blessed I truly am. 
  9. Food.  I won't deny that I love food!  And this is definitely a day to be thankful for it!  I haven't had my Thanksgiving feast yet (we celebrate on Friday) but I'm sure many of you have.  Some of my favorites for Thanksgiving are my mom's grit casserole and (the Honey Baked Ham version of) sweet potato souffle (Sorry I didn't share this link in time for you to try it on Thanksgiving but maybe you could give it a whirl for Christmas!).  I typically don't really love sweet potatoes but whether you like sweet potatoes or not, the sweet potato souffle is hard not to love!  In fact, I think it warrants sharing this video with you that I saw on the Today Show...


And lastly...
YOU!  Thank you so much for taking the time out of your busy life to read a little bit about mine!  This blog is still only a few months old but I hope that it will grow and that I will be able to reach out to other single parents (or just parents...or single people...or whoever wants to read this!) and maybe together we can make this journey called life a little bit easier.

I hope you've had a blessed Thanksgiving!  I'd love to hear what you're thankful for today.

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