50 Things I Am Thankful For...

As we approach the Thanksgiving holiday, I thought I would dedicate a post to things I am thankful for. I hope to use this entry to go back to on the days I find myself complaining or being bitter or resentful about something in life. It always helps to write down the positive things to remind yourself just how blessed you really are. So here we go...Today on November 24th 2010, I am thankful...

1. For my Savior, Jesus Christ, who has saved me from my sin and given me abundant life through His grace. Without Him, I would not have much to be thankful for as everything I have comes from Him.
2. For my husband, someone who on days seems to be my polar opposite, but God so graciously brought us together - he is my best friend, the steady and consistent person in my life and I absolutely love being his wife. We have a lot of fun together.
3. For my sweet little Miyako and the other Baby K on the way. What a blessing children are.
4. For our families - we are so blessed to have three extended families to share life with.
5. For the view outside my apartment as it gives me a sense of freedom in such a populated concrete filled city.
6. For BSF and the children's program - I love picking up Miyako and hearing them sing The Doxology.
7. For my dear friends all over the world - in Tokyo, Europe, Russia, and the US - from high school, to college, to post-college, to married years, to social work friends, to book club, to kid years - God has given me way more friends than I could ever ask for or imagine.
8. For college football and basketball - and for my husband who reminds me it is simply for my entertainment, and I am not getting paid to coach the team. :)
9. For the smell of fresh baked cookies and pumpkin chocolate chip muffins.
10. For food - I love food, all kinds of food!
11. For the fact that my husband loves food too and he is not picky so we eat all kinds of ethnic foods.
12. For the gift of travel and all of the countries I have been able to see in my very short lifetime so far. It truly is a gift to have your eyes opened to this large vast world and see for yourself how big God is.
13. For the two years I spent in Belarus - life changing and such a rich time in my life.
14. For really great roommates leading up to Kan. He is pretty great too, but I have had fabulous roommates from my freshman year in college and on.
15. For family vacations - both with our immediate family and extended families.
16. For the beach - I am a beach girl.
17. For Colorado in the winter - breathtaking beauty, even if you are not a big time skier.
18. For the sound of the waves, and for sound machines that have an "ocean" sound on them.
19. For the holiday season - I LOVE it - I want to put my tree up before Thanksgiving and start listening to Christmas music in October. I love the lights, the shopping, the parties, the food - and of course the "reason for the season" but He was mentioned already. :)
20. For technology and how it keeps me connected to people all over the world.
21. For great churches God has provided me to be a part of my entire Christian life.
22. For the Henderson family, who first introduced me to my Savior.
23. For the women who have taken time out of their busy lives to invest in me and my spiritual growth. God has given me a lot of them.
24. For UT/UK match-ups and the teasing it brings.
25. For live music.
26. For G Funk and the All-Stars and the opportunity to have them play at our wedding. Kan ditched me for football games and buddies and I ditched him for G Funk and dancing. It was fabulous!
27. For our wedding day - it was so much fun!
28. For the chance to see UK play for a basketball National Championship in 1997. They lost a close one to Arizona, but the atmosphere was electrifying and I loved every minute of it.
29. For Campus Crusade for Christ, summer projects, and the friends I still have from those days.
30. For good health.
31. For fabulous grandparents and fond memories with them.
32. For Redeemer Presbyterian Church, their church plants, and their vision for big cities. Makes me want to be a part of it for awhile.
33. For the sound of Miyako singing praise songs on her own.
34. For dance parties with Miyako to either Elmo or Black Eyed Peas. We dance to it all in our house.
35. For my gym friends - and our Vandy/UK road trip in November 2007. So much fun.
36. For spinning.
37. For fall - the crisp cooler weather and the changing of the leaves - so pretty.
38. For spring in Tokyo and cherry blossom viewing.
39. For the chance to have two Thanksgiving dinners in a country that does not celebrate Thanksgiving. What a fun weekend in store for us.
40. For a husband who works very hard - as much as it can drive me crazy and I can cuss those long hours, the opposite would be someone who is lazy. I would rather have the hard worker.
41. For a dad who set the example of working hard.
42. For God moving us to Japan.
43. For the chance to have a baby "abroad."
44. For Disneyland and living so close to it.
45. For Nana's sweet potato casserole recipe of which I plan to prepare twice over the course of the weekend.
46. For Rincon restaurant - where we went on our first date.
47. For planes and how they enable us to get home quickly if we needed to.
48. For P90X and Insanity DVD's that allow me to work out in my apartment since gyms are so expensive over here.
49. For a roof over our heads and food on the table. We never are in need of anything.
50. For Community group at church and the chance to get out by myself one evening a week to fellowship with other women.

I could go on and on...maybe next year I will do this again. It will be interesting to see what will be the same and what will be different. I think it is pretty evident I have a lot to be thankful for. Don't we all? God is so gracious to us. Look at how much He has given me here on this earth, which does not last very long in the scheme of eternity. If life is full of this many blessings here on this fallen earth, how much better will it be when I meet Him face to face. Now that is something to be thankful for!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!