I am Grateful

Hello fellow blog friends!
Thanksgiving is two days away.  I'm ready to get my pie on and I'm pretty darn excited about it.  It's going to be really weird this Thanksgiving.  It's the first one ever that I won't be with my family.  I'm excited to get to see how Steve's family celebrates and what they do differently.  In the spirit of Thanksgiving I've been thinking a lot about what I'm thankful for.  I feel like I take SOOO much for granted and I need to take time to stop and write down what I'm thankful for.

So here it goes, and not in any particular order of importance...

(This might be a large post.  I'm pretty blessed.)

I'm grateful for this girl.

Seriously grateful for her.  With the exception of Steve, I have never been this close with anyone.  She knows me inside and out and I her.  I am also grateful for e-mail, phones, cars, and airplanes that help me stay in touch and visit her as often as possible.  I sure wish she wasn't still back in Vegas.

Not only am I grateful for her, I'm grateful for all of my friends.  I've learned wonderful lessons from every single one of them and without them, I wouldn't be who I am today.

I'm so grateful for my family.

Not just the family that I was born into, but the family I married into.  I'm so grateful for the uniquely individual relationships I have with each one of them.  We're all so very different, but love each other so darn much and for that I am overwhelmingly grateful.

I am so grateful for the opportunity to go to school (even if I have an endless sea of semesters before me.)  Sometimes I'm overwhelmed and exhausted with working full time and trying to cram in as many classes as I can but when I calm down and practice my deep breathing I am grateful.  I know that it's a blessing to be able to better myself through education.  I'm also very grateful to be able to pay my own way and not have to go into debt for school.

I'm grateful for my wonderful job.  I know what it's like to struggle and scrape by pay check to pay check.  I'm so grateful for a job that is not only steady, but has excellent benefits.  I'm grateful for the means for Steve and I to be self sufficient and help others out when we can.

I'm grateful for the people I work with, not just my co-workers, but also my supervisors.  Everyone is treated with respect and love.  I've never felt so appreciated and happy at any other job.

I'm grateful for the doctors who have taken the time to try to help my back.  It still hurts quite a bit but it's come leaps and bounds from where it used to be.

I'm grateful for my good health, with the exception of my back, I am in excellent heath.  I very rarely get sick. (knock on wood)

I'm grateful for food.  It is Thanksgiving after all.

I'm grateful for new opportunities.

I'm grateful for my talents, even if I have a hard time seeing them at times.

I'm grateful for Maggee.

She's just the cutest.  She makes me laugh every day.

I'm grateful for my puppies at my parents house.

I'm grateful for my church callings and the opportunity I have to get to know my sweet little primary girls.  I teach the 11 year olds.  Each of them are so unique and sweet.  I'm going to cry when they leave me for Young Women's.

I'm grateful for my memory foam mattress.

I'm grateful for heat.

I'm grateful for socks.  I'm pretty sure I have bad circulation because my feet are always cold.  I would be a Miserable Mary if socks didn't exist.

I'm grateful for Pinterest.  I have become so crafty thanks to that lovely site.

I'm grateful for my car.

I'm grateful for the gym.

I'm definitely grateful for chocolate.

And diet coke.

I'm grateful for love.  What kind of a sad world would we live in if love didn't exist?

I'm grateful for second chances.

I'm grateful for forgiveness.

Steve...

I put him towards the end because I don't know what to write.  There are not words for the gratitude I feel for him.  He is my world.  Never in my wildest dreams would I have imagined that a man like him existed.  He is patient and kind.  He is funny and silly.  He is unbelievable smart.  To the point where he has to dumb things down to talk to me sometimes. haha.  He is spiritual and honorable.  He actually likes to clean.  He is musical.  He understands me.  He always knows exactly what I need.  He knows all my insecurities and faults and he loves me just the same.  No matter what I do or what I say, I will never be able to fully express my love and my gratitude for my Steve.  He is my everything.

And last, but most definitely not least,  I am grateful for my Heavenly Father.  He is the one who has blessed me with this wonderful life.  I have done nothing to deserve his love and kindness and yet he completely engulfs me in it.  I know that he loves me, I can feel his love everywhere.  I am so grateful that no matter what has happened or what I have done, I can always speak to him, always.  I love that he is always there to teach me and to guide me.  I am grateful that he knows me far better than I know myself.  He has always given me exactly what I needed, even if it wasn't what I wanted.  I am grateful for the comfort that I receive from him and I am so grateful for second chances... and third and forth and fifth chances.  I know that I take so much for granted and I can't possibly begin to understand all that he has blessed me with, but none the less, I try to always thank him for everything I can.