Thankful Thursday - Friday Edition

Cuz everyday can be Thankful Thursday, right???

Today is a special day of thanksgiving because it is the third anniversary of my kanswer diagnosis. Every time I flip through the pages of the journal I kept at the time,
every time I scroll back through the pages of my memory,
I shake my head in disbelief.

These three years have flown past.
So many doctors' visits and treatments and pills and supplements.
So many prayers and tears and cries out for mercy.
So much gratitude and laughter and joy and peace.
Good food. Kombucha. Green tea. Salads. Juices. Smoothies.
Hugs, kisses, snuggles, and smiles.
Hand holding, hand wringing, and hand raising.

I am grateful to be alive, to be healthy, to be here.

I am grateful to be in seminary.
Grateful to be in service at my church and in my community.
Grateful to be in relationship with people who are willing to love me and receive my love.

I am grateful for Kevin and Susan, Matthew and Monisha, and Raquel and Jay (the three names in bold are the children of my oldest brother) and how they managed to all get pregnant within months of each other. Triplet-cousins is what I have decided to call the three little ones who are being nurtured and loved in the bellies of their sweet and beautiful mamas.

I am grateful for my two children who continue to put up with my interference and questions and overt attempts to keep them from branching out as the (young) adults that they are. They make me laugh. They make me cry. And they make me pray. A LOT.

I am grateful for this sweet man of mine, the one who watches Project Runway with me and eats my randomly prepared meals while also determining that sometimes he would rather cook for himself than wait for me to make up my mind and who loves all my idiosyncrasies and weirdness.

I am grateful for honey and maple syrup and pistachios and cashews and dark chocolate covered almonds with sea salt and turbinado sugar and limes sliced and squeezed into glasses of ice water.

I am grateful for spaghetti squash, broccoli, brussels sprouts - and Pinterest, which provides recipes that combine these ingredients in various and delicious ways.

I am grateful for the ability, the privilege, the opportunity to go to the supermarket and choose such bounty for my family.

I am grateful for the chance to serve at the Loaves and Fishes pantry so that I can help those who aren't able to buy groceries for themselves to receive food that has been donated for their edification. Yesterday I met a mother of six sons who recently lost her job. Her two youngest sons were with her - and she expressed deep gratitude for the counselor at their school who gave her the referral to the pantry. Her love for her children, her desire to care for them and raise them well, and also their respect towards and honor for her were palpable. There was another woman who came to the pantry because she (and her husband) had recently gained custody of her three step-children and needed assistance to feed additional mouths. She works at a local market and spoke reverently about her boss' generosity in letter her take extra groceries home at no charge.

I am grateful that last night I had the chance to hear the story of a Mexican immigrant and his love for this country. He came here to earn money to pay for his last year of law school in Mexico but fell in love with this country and the life he found here. He fell in love with a woman from his hometown in Mexico and they got married and now have two children that were born here. Their love for each other as a family, their love for and pride in their lives here in Charlotte, and their yearning to become legal citizens of this country inspired everyone who listened to think differently about immigration and amnesty and grace and hope. Every person in that room was the descendant of someone who arrived in this nation without documentation and uninvited (or, in my case, against their will) - that dear man simply asks for the same chance, the same opportunity that others have misguidedly forgotten that they too benefit from. I am grateful for his courage, his honesty, and his tears.

I am grateful for sunshine and rain and fallen leaves and birdsong and scampering squirrels.

I am grateful for blenders and juicers and Nutribullets and refrigerators and ovens and sinks and dishwashers.

I am grateful for washing machines and dryers and hanging racks and detergent.

I am grateful for cameras and computers and paper and pens and books and backpacks.

I am grateful for the friend who gave me flowers in honor of my three year diagnosis anniversary and for the friend who sent me a journal in which to write down sermon ideas and other seminary-related inspiration.

I am grateful for the company of loved ones and time alone with The Alone.

I am grateful for safe travel, for safe arrivals, and for safe keeping.

I am grateful, grateful, grateful.