Thanksgiving in the Months of August & September

August and September 2012 will be a months I never forget.  The whole of my summer was pretty intense and wacky, but I have to say the end of this summer may be what sticks out most.

You've probably read some of the insanity that's gone on in my life for the past couple of months, but what I am learning to focus on are the ridiculous number of things and people and situations that God has blessed me through.  This is my Thanksgiving summer.  Truly, my thanksgiving summer.

So here's what I'm thankful for (in no particular order):

• My insanely supportive family who have done everything from visiting me in the hospital every evening I was there to making me tea to carrying things for me (which I'm still not allowed to do) to praying for me to making me laugh.  They're wonderful.
• Giant water bottles I got at the hospital.  They're huge and they keep everything cold for a long, long time.  I love it.
• Morgan Glawe.  Honestly, I can't thank her enough for her support, encouragement, book lending, gifts, and time.  Morgo, you make me happy.
• Amber, Kimmieboo, Heather, Hilary, and Regina.  For the prayer, support, laughter, and for Hil busting me out of the hospital to bring me home.
• My iPod (thanks, as always, Carson...this thing is fantastic and continues to survive so much).  It kept me sane several different nights at the hospital when the sounds and people in other rooms were too much for me to deal with anymore, and has been a wonderful thing to keep me sane here at home too.
• Jordan Durham.  For reminding me that God always works for the good, telling me that I won't always need reminders to be patient, making me laugh, and being one of the best friends I have ever had.
• The internet.  For allowing me to talk to Nikky even though she's been in China through most of the past month.  
• Nikky Wu.  My best friend, for praying for me even when she was half the world away, for making me one of the best care packages I have ever received, and for always being, well...the BEST.
• Kimzipan and Jay for bringing me the circle-a-word puzzle book, laughter, and magazine with Ryan Reynolds right there on the cover the night I got home from the second round of hospitalization (I am glad I have you in my life, and I'm glad you're together...it needed to be).
• Foods that are healthy and still taste good which make dealing with pancreatitis and gall stones much, much easier.
• My church families (IL, MI, OH, GA, MO, NB)...God continues to blow me away through your kindness, prayers, love, support, and generosity.
• Hope.  I would not be able to do any of this without God constantly showing me that their is always hope.
• Jake and Amber's continued love, support, and reminding me that I have a place to move into when I'm ready (and thanks for taking care of those couple boxes of books, I can't wait to live with them again).
• Amanda and Rich.  For all the prayer and kind words on top of the sweet care package full of tea and joy and socks.  It meant the world.
• Barf bags.
• The insane flexibility of my office in working with my terrible health and crazy number of doctor's appointments.  This is terrible for me, but it's been no picnic for them either.
• Having a fan next to my bed at night while here at home because I'm finding the sound gets me to sleep when nothing else seems to.
• Kevin Rogers.  He may not know it (he may never know it really), but he made the day of my surgery, and going down for my surgery so much less scary.  I know this wasn't an insanely terrifying surgery and it's fairly common, but with everything else that had gone wrong lately...his belief that my surgeon was a good guy, making me laugh, and telling me it was all going to go just fine...I believed it.  I am forever grateful.
• Texting.  I would have gone insane while in the hospital without it.  Well, without texting AND cable TV (the Travel and Food networks really are addictive).
• Books.  I find myself reading a lot lately.  Fact and fiction.  I am grateful for every writer ready and willing to put pen to paper and tell us how the story goes.  I have needed that a lot lately for my little mental vacations (special thanks to Jennifer Crusie and Bob Mayer for writing both Agnes & the Hitman and Don't Look Down.  Please collaborate on many more books so I will have new favorites to read and new reasons to laugh; I need them).
• Knowing I'm healing every day, even when I feel lousy.
• Feeling that I am truly growing closer to God each and every day of this and finding that it's all worthwhile because of that.

Mind you, this is a very abbreviated list, but it's a start.  I am so thankful.  I hope Thanksgiving is something I can keep going in October too.  Let's see where God takes all of this.

What are you thankful for?

Merry-Go-Round, for You, for Me

Amy trying to make sure she didn't throw up (as per my request), and despite the look of semi-terror, she had a great time.

Jay spinning me around on the merry-go-round. Bless him. He does a really great job of spinning you REALLY fast. Maybe the extremely long legs help.

Jay took this sweet, sweet picture of the merry-go-round in Lowell Park the other night after we were just about done spinning on it. Such a glorious good time.

Jay enjoying himself on the merry-go-round.

As you can see, I have been up to something lately. I'm actually a bit behind in talking about the things I'm thankful for, but I'll skip around a bit.

All these pictures are from a trip to Lowell Park down in Dixon this past Sunday with Jay and Amy (as you have already seen). Amy and I had discussed our mutual love of pointless, spinning, semi-dangerous playground equipment. We had a wonderful time at MN Camp playing on the Witch's hat. If you are unaware of what this glorious playground item is, look it up. They're like a much sharper, more painful merry-go-round. Most of the girls in our cabin were bleeding at one point or another due to that particular device, but all of us had to get back on. As a result of our realized mutual love, I told Amy that Lowell Park still had a great functioning merry-go-round.

I hadn't been there in a few years. In fact, the last time I was there may have been the night that Nikky, David, Kelsey and I decided to go eat Taco Bell for dinner and then get on the merry-go-round. That ended in all of us laying on the merry-go-round while David slowly pushed with one foot while we all talked about how miserable we felt and how one of us was definitely going to puke. Miraculously none of us did, but that story will definitely go in my eventual (read "inevitable") memoirs, Caffeine & Bad Choices. As a result of this mistake (though hilarious), I had told Amy that we needed to go play on the merry-go-round with Jay, then go to Taco Bell for dinner, then go to Jay's to watch "Anchor Man" (because Amy hadn't seen it yet, and...well, it sounded like a GREAT way to end a good evening).

So we did. :)

I am thankful for this. I am thankful I have a couple friends up here that are willing to be a little immature for an evening and spend some time spinning on a merry-go-round in the perfect sunlight of a quiet Sunday afternoon in July. Spinning in the gold light and forgetting all about the things we have to face in the real world come Monday and beyond. I am thankful we were allowed this brief escape. I am thankful for Jay and Amy. I am thankful for reckless behavior and outdated playground equipment. I am thankful for perfect gold sunlight on Sunday afternoons.

Mostly though, I am thankful for this life I have been given. Crazy and confusing as it is some days. Reckless and wishy-washy as I am some days...this is a beautiful life. I am thankful it's mine.

Good night, my loves.

Ps. What are you thankful for?

Good, Good Life

I am so terribly, incredibly, amazingly lucky. God blesses me in such lovely ways.

For instance, I am currently possessing directions for my travels tomorrow along with some tasty snacks (including blue gummi sharks...I swear, it's such a small thing, but God knows my heart...it's all about the little things), and I have a good grasp on my lessons for the week. I may not be the world's best teacher, but I'm going to give it my best shot and hopefully the kids will get good things out of it and be blessed despite my failings. In my weakness God is stronger, and I'm going to do a lot relying on Him to show me how to present what I need to present to the kids this week.

I am also blessed because I have parents who are willing to help me out when I realize I've done a terrible job scheduling myself. My parents are consistently amazing and helpful. They have never failed to come through for me when I really did need the help. God blesses me every day through them.

Tomorrow should be exciting too. I mean, I've got a whole day of getting to know Amy. Hopefully she'll still be excited to be around me after tomorrow. haha. It will be a good day. And this week will be full of surprises and new friends I am sure. I can't wait to take a crazy large number of pictures.

The Thanksgiving Summer

Early this week my brother David called me and asked me to come to dinner. He said he and Kelsey were going to have my favorite high school teacher to dinner that night as well. The theme would be "Summer Thanksgiving." I, of course, agreed.

I was driving down to their apartment Thursday afternoon and I was pondering the idea of "Summer Thanksgiving." I knew he meant that they were doing a meal that would incorporate some traditional Thanksgiving foods in very non-traditional ways, but I decided to flip-flop this theme. Thus was born my brain's conception of the Thanksgiving Summer.

This concept actually has been floating through my head in it's own little sailboat ever since the car ride Thursday afternoon. I've decided to embrace it. I am constantly trying to find more ways/people/places/ideas to help me see good and be more grateful/thankful, and as a result, I've decided that this is going to be my Thanksgiving Summer.

The Thanksgiving Summer is going to mean I will be doing more to find the joy and wonder in each and every day and show a true appreciation for it.

A couple of amazing things to start off this season of Thanksgiving: I am thankful for my brother David and his lovely girlfriend Kelsey. I had such a blast having dinner with them on Thursday night, and getting to hang out with Mr. J. V. Young after all these years was an experience all to itself. David and Kelsey made some really delicious turkey burgers and banana/sweet potato balls that I plan to duplicate come the fall for my roommates. Getting a chance to talk to Kelsey, David, and Mr. Young was hilarious and wonderful. I also finally found a wine I like. Berringer's White Zinfandel. (Did I even come close to spelling that right?) It was really delicious and worked really well with dinner. There is nothing stranger than realizing you've helped consume 3 bottles of white wine over a dinner party that consists of the oldest of your 3 little brothers, his girlfriend, and a high school teacher you haven't seen or spoken to in years. I am thankful for that crazy evening and the idea of "Summer Thanksgiving" which led to this little idea. I am thankful.

I have a new job. I am extremely grateful for this. I am back to work at the pharmacy I worked for last summer, but now I am just working on cleaning up some book keeping issues they had with the computer system. Hopefully I'll be able to get a lot of that cleaned up for them before I head back to school in August. I'm just excited that they wanted me to come back and offered me this job. It's full-time, and I like it a lot. I am thankful.

Next amazing thing, I head to MN for Junior Camp on Sunday with the lovely Amy Cunningham. I am teaching a class all week, and I think Amy is speaking one of the nights. Because I am lacking a calendar to keep my schedule together, I didn't realize until about 9pm that I am supposed to be leaving for MN on Sunday morning. Yes...and I still hadn't looked over my class material. Thankfully I've been able to get quite a bit of that together in the few hours since and I also put together a basic plan of action. I am thinking I should be alright. I am grateful for the opportunity to go to the camp, and I am glad that my work is so willing to work with my hectic summer schedule. I am also thankful for the experience of the drive up to MN and back with Amy. I don't know her super well, but the more I get to know about her, the more amazing I realize she really is. I am genuinely looking forward to that road trip with her. I am also looking forward to meeting some new people at MN camp. I'll only know a few people at the camp besides Amy, and I don't know any of them super well. One of them is Jack, and I am looking forward to getting to know him a bit better because he's moving down to McDonough to attend ABC in the fall. It will be great to get to know him a bit better before he comes down. I am thankful for this opportunity.

I am also thankful for Jennie Lee Montgomery, Cayce Ballard, Jordan Bemister, Allison & Heather Jones. I received a video today that proved that I really do have a fan club in SC & GA as well. These lovely girls cheered me on. They reminded me that I am very much loved and missed in the south. Nice to know that when I get back in August I'll have people who very much want me there. I miss them all so much. For this I am thankful.

Mostly though, I am thankful to be home for the summer and for being given the crazy opportunities to travel and help that I am. MN Camp, FUEL, Nikky's wedding in August...life is incredibly insane, but I am loving every moment of this glorious Thanksgiving Summer. I hope you do too.

What are you thankful for?