i'll be home for chrismas

you can count on me :)

so i'm sitting here in my room. it's nigh 80 degrees outside, and the hot south american sun is beating down on the poor defenseless vegetation outside. strange environment for what i'm doing....

i'm watching the macy's thanksgiving day parade, drinking hot tea, and listening to christmas music.

**i had to laugh just now. the c alphabet block from the sesame street float almost lost his pants and had to run off the road for a second. that's good times, folks :)**

anyway, as i face the last 3 or 4 days of my first adventure in bolivia, i find myself often stopping to take stock of all that god has done in me, for me, and with me these past 4 1/2 ish months. i have never appreciated my family more than i do now. i have never loved my hometown (wichita) more than i do now. i have never known the value of my best friends like i do now. and i have never ached for and seen the beauty of so many of the small things that made up my life and who i am, as i do now.

the world is much brighter now, from where i sit, than it was just a few short months ago. and for the patience and love of all of you that endured this painful transformation with me, i am forever grateful. even those words seem so small...

so now that i've gushed and mushed all over all of you, i have very specific things i want to let you know i am thankful to remember today. cliche? yes. will i do it anyway? oh yes.

- grandma's house on thanksgiving. the macy's parade was always on all morning while we cooked and ran our errands in the snow or leaves of late fall. after the parade, it was football until our late lunch. which sort of dragged on through the rest of the day to dinner and midnight snacks. oh turkey and mashed potato sandwiches...

- aunt pat's on thanksgiving. can anyone say, pies and fresh whipped cream? how about ice cream with homemade chocolate sauce? oh yes. and pitch tournaments galore with the cousins. grandpa used to say, bid or die. kind of like vote or die. but more severe. shooting the moon and losing was hilarious. shooting the moon and winning was legendary :) <3>