Happy Thanksgiving!

First off I want to wish everyone back there in America a very happy Thanksgiving holiday. I hope you all enjoy your time home and spending every available second with your families and friends :) I miss ya'll a whole lot and wish I could celebrate with you...alas that is not to be. Enjoy the parade and eat some turkey and pie for us!

Today was strange. This is the first holiday I have ever spent One: out of the country, Two: not with my family, Three: didn't actually celerate, Four: not on vacation.

Don't get me wrong it was a fine day here at camp, just really normal. I had today off from work, but with bible classes in the morning, lunch, chorus, and afternoon activity we really didnt have any time off today to cook so couscous and tomato farcies made up our Thanksgiving feast. Tonight we will spend some time saying what we are thankful for, but no meal, no family, no celebrating my parents anniversary, no silly board games with my uncle and cousin, no formal dinners by candlelight in Shrewsbury, no sorting out antiques with the rest of the clan, and of course no sleepover with the cousin and sis tonight. All those things I took for granted. I appreciate them now. Kinda sad. For those of you that are not home today. I feel for ya. For BCD and Beth who I know will spend Thanksgiving without their families and all the others out there.

The day wasn't all bad though. In fact today was a pretty good day. For one thing no dishes, Chorus was great fun, and my roomates and I had a cafe party. Either way in keeping with traditions here's a brief list ( i am terrible at being consice) of what I am thankful for today. I'm sure I'm forgetting things. I lift these thanks to you Lord:

1. My roomates here. i couldnt have asked for any better, nor would i want anyone else. to walking into closets instead of the bathroom. to endless tea parties. to dancing in the rain. to pounding out songs on our thin walls. to german/franglish convos. to cleaning lists. to hairbrush concerts. to running to breakfast. to killing alarm clocks. thank you.
2. peanut butter with oreos...my thanksgiving treat to myself :)
3. not having to work today
4. sleeping in...till 7:40
5. bible classes in english!
6. french worship. i love french worship songs. especially 'toi et moi' when sung in parts by DEFI and the equipiers.
7. BIOLA blogs...and knowing some of the people who are writing them! So exciting!
8. Family
9. Gifts that make dreams possible. Thank you.
10. BIOLA.
11. my friends back home. the old, the new, and those still out there i have yet to meet!
12. reconnecting with old friends. especially those that have been living out in the middle of the mtns camping and i havent talked to in months!
13. I've Always Loved You by Third Day...I have a God who has always loved me and always will, what better news could there be?
14. gilmore girls for reminding me of home.
15. music lists created by my little sis
16. my family redoing my room to surprise me when i went home.
17. the seasons. i love watching time go by.
18. blankets. i have a really pretty soft one deb made for me.
19. good books "borrowed" from blain: the irresistible revolution, blink, blue like jazz, redeeming love. to name a few from this past month.
20. people who have this uncanny ability to make me laugh. even when i really dont want to.
21. DEFI students: for sledding, for laughter, for practical jokes, for late nights of breaking curfew, for snow dances, for chorus, for circus training, for sore thighs, for licking the bedsheets of life, for teaching me french, for being a family when we all needed one the most, for singing, for raiding the costume closet and playing narnia. thank you all and big hugs.
22. for AWANA's. and my boys.
23. for those of you back home keeping us in your thoughts and prayers these past months and those to come.
24. to an amazing chef who cooks me special meals everyday so i won't die from dairy. thanks emmy.
25. for the bible. my lifesource these past four months.
26. for church.
27. for snow. and warm heating so when the weather outside is frightful inside it's so delightful.
28. for packages and letters that make me smile and then die laughing.
29. for such a blessed life thus far and the amazing people and memories we have all made that will stay with my throughout this life.
30. for sunsets and warm days to enjoy being outside under the stars.
31. and last, but not least. for the friendship Kristin and i have. who would have thought we would end up best buds. only God.

So today as you gather with your loves ones just remember God is so good.


HAPPY THANKSGIVING!