Given the title, I'm going to start with Eastern. Basically, Eastern is God's gift to the world. Ok, maybe for you that's a stretch (ha), but for me, every single day I am grateful to be a student there. I can't believe that I finished my first semester two days ago (!). Overall, these past three and a half months have been the best time of my life that I can remember since being a care-free child. For God's timing, for the professors and friends and everything I'm learning and experiencing, I'm so grateful to call Eastern my school. I'm grateful to have completed this first semester, and that Eastern is teaching us to live a story that is so much bigger than ourselves.
I'm grateful that Eastern is near Andrew and Jen (and their three babies and Ace, my pup), and that I can call their house my second home.
I'm grateful that when I go home to Bear Creek, Dan and Sarah and four happy kids are there to welcome me into my other second home.
I'm grateful for my mom and dad who love me so much and pray for me everyday. They are cheering me on from wherever they are and wherever I am. I'm grateful that they had the desire to teach me to see the positive side of every situation instead of the negative, to find something to be thankful for in every moment.
I'm grateful for four older siblings and four younger siblings. How each of them brings a different joy to my life and is so much a part of who I am.
I'm grateful for a brother-in-law and sister-in-law. Love them like my own.
For my seven nieces and nephews (and one on the way!), words cannot express my gratefulness.
For an extended family who loves each other and loves to have fun, I am grateful! Aunts, uncles, and cousins all over the world, always full of laughter and good stories when we are together.
During this break between semesters, I'm grateful for a chance to slow down and spend time with family and friends who I don't normally get to see. This break I'm going to visit friends in Danville, Hershey, Sanibel (FL), Nicaragua, and Honduras. These are just a few of the places where dear friends lives, and some of these places are home to me.
My sister Emily is coming home from Rwanda. Can I even express how grateful I am to see her?
Grateful for new running shoes and a body that has the ability to run and jump and dance.
Grateful for laughter over little things that sometime aren't even that funny, but they are funny to us. We laugh till we cry and can't breath and fall on the ground with hurting stomaches.
I'm grateful that Eastern is near Andrew and Jen (and their three babies and Ace, my pup), and that I can call their house my second home.
I'm grateful that when I go home to Bear Creek, Dan and Sarah and four happy kids are there to welcome me into my other second home.
I'm grateful for my mom and dad who love me so much and pray for me everyday. They are cheering me on from wherever they are and wherever I am. I'm grateful that they had the desire to teach me to see the positive side of every situation instead of the negative, to find something to be thankful for in every moment.
I'm grateful for four older siblings and four younger siblings. How each of them brings a different joy to my life and is so much a part of who I am.
I'm grateful for a brother-in-law and sister-in-law. Love them like my own.
For my seven nieces and nephews (and one on the way!), words cannot express my gratefulness.
For an extended family who loves each other and loves to have fun, I am grateful! Aunts, uncles, and cousins all over the world, always full of laughter and good stories when we are together.
During this break between semesters, I'm grateful for a chance to slow down and spend time with family and friends who I don't normally get to see. This break I'm going to visit friends in Danville, Hershey, Sanibel (FL), Nicaragua, and Honduras. These are just a few of the places where dear friends lives, and some of these places are home to me.
My sister Emily is coming home from Rwanda. Can I even express how grateful I am to see her?
Grateful for new running shoes and a body that has the ability to run and jump and dance.
Grateful for laughter over little things that sometime aren't even that funny, but they are funny to us. We laugh till we cry and can't breath and fall on the ground with hurting stomaches.
Above all I am thankful for Jesus because He is the reason that I am grateful for all of this. Grateful because even if I had nothing else, He would be enough. The reason I can love is because He loves me, the reason I can live is because He lives in me. Without Him I have no passion and no purpose, and because of Him I have life with joy and eternal hope. I'm grateful for the times that I'm reminded that life wasn't meant to be so complicated, it was meant to be simple because Jesus is more than enough. I need simple food and simple clothes, and I need to find my joy in Him and the people He has given me. I am a part of His eternal story, a story that is so much bigger than myself, and I am so humbled and grateful that I am even a small of it.
And while we're on the topic of gratefulness, check out this latest blog post from one of my favorite writers.
As we close out 2012 and come into a new year, I pray that you find joy in the simple things in life that make it so meaningful.
"Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus."
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
"The Spirit of the LORD is upon me, for he has anointed me to bring Good News to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim that captives will be released, that the blind will see, that the oppressed will be set free, and that the time of the LORD's favor has come."
Luke 4:18-19
