Week of Thanksgiving - Day #3 - Friendship

Just because one day isn't enough to tell of all the things that I'm thankful for, I have been celebrating a whole week of Thanksgiving. But today is ACTUALLY Thanksgiving! So I had to make time to speak of one of the most important aspects of my life that I'm grateful for - Friendship. I say Friendship, not just friends, because I'm thankful for the entire idea of Friendship. The whole "institution" of friendship, if you will. Friends come and go, but no matter how long a friend sticks around, they have an impact on your life, and who you are.  So today, I am thankful for friendship. I'm thankful for those friends of my past who aren't really around anymore - because they had an impact on the woman that I am today. I'm thankful for the friends who are currently in my life, because they are my support system- spiritually, physically, socially, and emotionally. I'm thankful for the friends that I know God will bless me with in the future - both new friends, and those who stuck around despite my downfalls. But most of all, I'm thankful for my BEST friend. The one who knows me better than I know myself. The one who will ALWAYS stick around, no matter where my life leads. He is always there for me when my other friends cannot be or when it seems like I am alone. Jesus Christ. He is the ULTIMATE friend, and I am extremely grateful that he thinks I am worthy enough to be called his friend. 

Week of Thanksgiving - Day #3 - My Health

Just because one day isn't enough to talk about all of the things that I'm grateful for: Week of Thanksgiving: Day #3 - For the past 5 years, my health has been a roller coaster of good and bad. It all started when, right before I was supposed to leave on a trip with my youth group, I passed out four different times and ended up having to lay on a couch rather than go on the trip. It seems like since then, it has been one thing after another - test after test after test. After that first episode of passing out, I had 3 more episodes in the same manner over the next two years. Then, I started having extreme migraine attacks periodically. Dizziness, numbness all over my body, vomiting - the whole nine yards. Then, in 2013, I started having random symptoms like extreme heart burn almost every day, anxiety attacks, heart palpitation episodes that would occur every night for hours - causing me to lose sleep and replace it with anxiety attacks, weight gain, random dizziness and nausea, and so on. I was at a loss for what was happening to my body. I went to my thyroid doctor after suffering from all of these symptoms for months, and I found out that the one side of my thyroid that I had left (right side was removed when I was 13) had a large nodule on it - possibly cancerous. He told me that surgery to remove the other half of my thyroid was unavoidable while also mentioning that it could damage my vocal chords and give me a calcium deficiency. After dropping the bad news, he performed a very painful biopsy, then referred me to a specialist. Once at the specialist, I also found out that I am pre-diabetic. You might be thinking, "Ummm...I thought this post was supposed to be about what you're THANKFUL for? Not what you're suffering from?" And you're right. But this is what I'm thankful for. I am thankful for how far I have come since my health issues worsened in 2013. I'm thankful that my biopsy results came back negative for cancer! I'm thankful that it has been a year since the declaration of "necessary surgery" and I haven't had one knife put to my neck! I'm thankful that I haven't had a fainting spell in over 2 and a half years. I'm thankful that my migraines, although they still come every once in a while, are less frequent than when they began. I'm thankful that God is helping me work with my high blood sugar instead of having to be on medicine for the rest of my life. I'm thankful that I no longer have heart palpitation spells keeping me up at night. I'm thankful that my random dizzy spells only happen every once and a while. I'm thankful that the words "anxiety attack" no longer plague me. But most of all, I'm thankful that it happened. You might call me crazy, but I'm thankful that all of these sicknesses came upon me. Why? Because God has revealed so many things to me during these times. If I never had a problem, I wouldn't know that God could solve them. Yes, I still have high blood sugar. Yes, I still have days where I just want to stay at home and cry because I don't feel like I have the strength to deal with the tiredness and the dizzy spells. BUT GOD IS IN CONTROL. He has all the answers when the doctors have none. So, on this third day of my Thanksgiving week, I am thankful for my health - every last bit of it. God is good, all the time. And all the time, God is good.

Week of Thanksgiving - Day #2 - The Love of my Life

Just because one day isn't enough to talk about all of the things that I'm grateful for: Week of Thanksgiving: Day #2 - It is no secret to anyone that I am completely captivated by and head over heels for Seth - the love of my life. So then, it should be no secret that I am extremely thankful for him. As I look back on everything that we've been through together, I just have to smile. There have been bad times during our 7 years of dating, but there have been SO many more GOOD times. He has put up with me in my times of immaturity, in my times of nonsensical thinking, and in my times of over-dramatic, emotional fits. He has let me go, knowing that once I was done with one of those over-dramatic fits, I would come right back - like I always did. He loves me more than any other human being possibly could - and he always has. He treats me like the princess I am not - contrary to popular opinion ;). He spoils me and makes sure that I am always taken care of. Always wants the best for me. Always wants me to be happy. Always looks out for me even when I am not looking out for myself. There is no wonder why I am so grateful for this guy, and how much I love that he is in my life - and has been for so many years. I pray that God gives us many more years together to do what we do best - laugh, act crazy, argue about silly things but always quickly make amends, be comfortable around each other, talk about deep things, lift each other up spiritually, pray for each other, and the list goes on and on. I love you Seth, and words could never say just how thankful I am for you. :)

Week of Thanksgiving - Day #1 - Family

Just because one day isn't enough to talk about all of the things that I'm grateful for: Week of Thanksgiving: Day #1 - I can't even begin to express just how thankful I am for my family. My family - the ones that I fight with the most. The ones that sometimes I just want to scream at. But also the ones that bring a huge amount of joy into my life. When I say that I have the most crazy and fun family around, that's not an obligatory statement. There is NEVER a dull moment with us. We have our flaws, we have our ups and downs, we fight, we scream, we make a dramatic event out of every little thing that happens, but most importantly, we're there for each other. We make each other laugh like none other. We tell each other the hard truth. We love tough, and we love without boundaries. I am SO thankful for the family God gave me. They keep life interesting. They keep life happy. They keep life crazy. They keep life meaningful. I love you guys!! :)