Rough Day Thankfulness

Today we celebrated the five and a half months we got to have this little guy, Jared D Manwiller.

It was a rough day.  There were lots of tears.  It was also a good day.  There was lots of laughter and hugging.  Spending time with family helps heal.  Huggings friends and hearing their encouraging words aids the healing.  It was an exhausting day.  My emotions are spent and I can't even begin to imagine what my cousin and her husband are feeling.  But it's the day before Thanksgiving and I realize that I have an awful lot to be thankful for:

• A Savior who offers a hope and a promise that isn't just good in this life but also the next.
• A family who sticks together.  We cry together, laugh together, and tomorrow we'll just hang out together.
• Friends who send encouraging messages via text, Facebook, email, and in person.  Friends who probably don't even realize the impact that they have had on my life these last few weeks.
• Journals to process life that happens.
• Jesus music to heal and encourage.
• New sweatpants and sweatshirts that are cozy and warm and that I got a great deal on.
• Laughter.  It soothes the soul.
• Mac and Cheese.  Because sometimes I just need comfort food and it's the best.
• Birthday cupcakes that my dad is making me right now. And they're the best flavor: chocolate.
• Chocolate chip cookies.  I don't think this one needs an explanation.
• Timely songs that come on the radio.
• Punch.  We only have it around the holidays and it's the best.
• Hugs. Because hugs help everything.
• My blog.  It's a processing tool, it's a release, and it encourages my heart to see how many people are reading.
• My phone.  It has my music, my contact with friends and so much more that helps me escape at times.

There is so much more that could go on this list.  I am thankful for so many things and being thankful heals.  Being thankful takes the focus off of me and puts it back onto the giver of all these gifts: Jesus Christ.  None of these things belong to me... all of them are gifts... all of them are from the greatest gift giver... and all of them cause me to look outside myself.

Happy Thanksgiving.