The Thanksgiving Blog

          Well friends, it is Thanksgiving. We have so much to be thankful for. I've enjoyed watching my friends' daily posts on Facebook of things they are thankful for. It's a great practice, and it's fun to share and see what other people notice in their lives. I didn't opt to participate in the Facebook thankfulness practice this year, because I knew I couldn't commit to posting every day. So, today I am going to jot down a few thoughts. Thank you for reading my blog, and letting me share my mind. :)

        I am thankful for:

• Jesus. Without Him, nothing in this life means anything. I am so grateful for His love and sacrifice.
• My family. I have one of the greatest families ever. Period. They rock. 
• My church family. No where else could I walk in harried and frustrated on Sunday mornings and be surrounded by people who love me, offer me a smile and a "Hey! Jb!" that just makes my day. I love my church family so much.  
• My friends. With such a great church family, it is no surprise that most of my close friends have entered my life through church. I have such a wide, diverse net of truly great women that I call friends. Young, not as young, married, single, with kids, or without, I have some marvelous friends. I love you all so much! Thank you for walking life with me, supporting me when I need it, and putting up with my quirks. 
• My health. I have been blessed to be healthy, even with Type 1 Diabetes tagging along for the ride for over 20 years. 
• My new insulin pump. I got a new pump this year, and just being able to get it was such a testament to God's goodness. I mean, really. Maybe one day I'll do a whole blog about that experience. 
• My jobs. I am so blessed to be able to do two things I love, and to be able to balance both jobs. Teaching dance gives me such joy and a great creative outlet. And substitute teaching lets me be blessed by so many different teachers and students each week. I only hope that I am able to be a blessing to them as well.
• A warm house. 
• My crock pot, and a wonderful sister/roommate who will start dinner in the crock pot, even though I often give her little directive and no recipe. To someone who doesn't like to cook, that is a big deal. Because of her and the crock pot, we are able to eat fairly well-balanced warm meals at a (mostly) decent hour after I get home from dance.
• Google Hangouts, which allow me to keep up with a sister who lives halfway around the world, as well as friends who are across town or away at college. I look forward to my Sunday hangouts with all of them. 
• The ability to read. I love reading, and can't imagine not having that opportunity. I'm also thankful for books like the Harry Potter, Hunger Games, and Divergent series that allow me to connect on a literary level with friends and students. 
• My car, Hazel. It has over 200,000 miles on it, but it still runs and gets me where I need to go. 
• My name! I just remembered this is my 1st Thanksgiving with my new name. I love honoring my grandmother by sharing her middle name, as well as embracing the uniqueness of my first name. 
• My girls. I am so blessed to be surrounded by a group of wonderful teen girls. I can't understand most days why they put up with me, but I love them so much. They encourage me and challenge me to be better and more Christlike each day. 
• The Green Bay Packers. I know it seems silly, but becoming a football fan has been so empowering. I know I make my family crazy, but I just love football. I can't believe I missed out on this the first twenty something years of my life! And being a Packers fan in a family of Titans fans has let me express some individuality that is really fun. Even when they lose, like today.

I could go on and on, but I have a yummy Thanksgiving Dinner to get to soon. :)

I hope you have a million things to be thankful for, and that you are able to enjoy some of those things and people today. Don't forget to give thanks to the One who blesses you with them! 

Happy Thanksgiving!!

My security

            A few friends and I have a recurring joke about me marrying a certain NFL quarterback. I don't remember where or when it started, but it has become an ongoing thing that we reference frequently. I don't take it seriously, but it is fun to joke about. Last week, this particular quarterback got injured during a game, and will miss several weeks of practice and games. A few days after his injury, I was talking to one of my friends about it, and how it will impact the team, which is our mutual favorite. We lamented about what  may happen to their offense with him sidelined and how bad he must feel having to sit out. Then my friend made a comment about how his injury will affect me, since I'm going to marry him, of course. :) She said, "Jennabeth, your future is at stake." due to the games he will miss. We decided he was probably getting paid even though he has to sit out a few weeks, and I added that even not counting his income from these games, he probably has plenty of money from his previous years in the NFL, plus his future income, since it was not a career ending injury. I replied to her, "Don't worry. My future is secure." We laughed about it and turned our conversation to weekend plans. 
         
            The next morning, driving to school, I randomly thought back on that conversation from the night before. And it hit me: even though that conversation was in jest, my statement was so true. My future is secure. God knows the ending of my story, and it ends with Him winning. Since I belong to Him, my future is a done deal - it will be fine. The more I thought about it, the truer and truer it became to me. God has called us to be His own, and He loves us as His little children. He has beaten death and is planning an awesome party for eternity in Heaven with Him. I for one, can't wait. It's going to be amazing!

             Even the rest of this human life will be ok. There will be bad days, for sure. And it will not always be "puppy dogs and sunshine" but our Father is in control. He will hold us tight through the hard times, and will never let us walk alone. So that future is secure, too, because I know He will always be with me.