30 days of thankfulness day #10

 On day # 10, I am thankful for my upbringing. No parent or family is perfect, but I have heard and read of so many people who had really messed up upbringing and it has resulted in them being messed up. I was spanked, I was taught to respect people, to be on time, to do a job well, and more. I was taken to church, and went to a Christian school all of my school years. My family ate meals together, went on family vacations together, played games together,, and had fun. There were no drugs, smoking, or alcohol in our home. There was no abuse.

 We didn't roam the streets as kids. My parents kept track of where we were and who we were with.

  Life wasn't perfect.... nobody's is, but I am thankful for how I was raised and for the home life I had.

30 days of thankfulness #9

On day # 9 of my 30 days of thankfulness, I am thankful for food. There have been a lot of times in my life that I was hungry, such as when the pastor is going longer with his sermon than I like, and I know there is a great Sunday dinner to be had at home........but I have never been truly hungry where there was no food to be had.

 And there is such a wide variety of great food to be had: fried chicken, lasagna, roast beef, mashed potatoes and gravy, stuffing, apple pie, and on and on. So today I am thankful for food and for always having enough of it.

30 days of thankfulness day #8

On day #8, I am thankful for my job. The days are long - I work 4 10 1/2 hour days, with the 1/2 hour for lunch. I stand the majority of  the time, and it has its slow and boring moments, and I drive further than I like...... and have to wear a suit jacket and tie. I'd rather just work at the closest hospital where I know the most people, but I have to go to one further away that I don't like working at much......but the pay is decent and the benefits are pretty good too. After working 6 months for the hospital, I got 84. some hours of paid time off, which can be used for days off, vacations, or sometimes leave early. I work every other Saturday, one Sunday a month, and have holidays off with pay. It may not be my favorite job I have had, but it is the best job I have had, and I am very thankful to have it.

30 days of thankfulness day #7

On day #7, I am thankful for freedom and that I live in America. We are fast losing our freedoms as the gay gestapo, atheists, ACLU, and other ultra liberal groups try to stamp out Christianity, or at least silence us and force us to do what they want. We daily murder innocent babies and a large segment of our population cheers and celebrates the "right" for a woman to muder her baby. Our government is full of corrupt politicians on both sides. I despised the 2 main choices for president this past election and would not have been happy with either choice. We are overtaxed and overworked.

 Yet we still have freedoms so many in our world do not have. We can pick whatever vocation we want and work where we want....if we can get hired where we want to work.

 We can worship where we want and as often as we want, without fear of the government coming in and arresting us. We can drive unhindered all over this country of ours without being stopped, questioned, searched, and fearing arrest.

 We can openly buy Bibles and read them openly.

If we are unhappy with our church or religion, we can change without fear that we will be killed, tortured, or jailed.

We can criticize our govrerment and leaders.......unless of course they are Donald Trump. (Yeah, I had to put that in) :)

 We often focus too much on the negatives in life, and many do that with our freedoms and country. Yes, there is a lot wrong in America. Yes, we are losing our freedoms. However, I still believe we are living in the best country in the world and take for granted freedoms that many don't have in other countries.

 So on day #7 of my 30 days of thankfulness, I am very thankful for the freedoms we still have and for the provlege of living in America.

30 days of thankfulness, day #6

On day #6, I am thankful for music. I have a lot of CDs, and have music playing a lot in my car and at home. My favorite genre' is Southern Gospel, and I contend that it is the best music and the most encouraging. I am mostly listening to Christmas music at this time of year, and am thankful there is so much good Christmas music out there. Music can soothe the soul, make you happy, encourage you, take you down memory lane, and more.

 There are people who rarely listen to music, and I don't understand that. There are Christians who seem to mostly listen to secular music, and I don't get that either. If one is a Christian, shouldn't you want to listen to Christian music that will bring you closer to God, instead of the music of the world? I am thankful there is such a wide variety of music on the Christian market today, and that modern technology means you can take it everywhere you go.

30 days of thankfulness day #5

 

On day #5 of my 30 days of thankfulness, I am thankful for books and for my love of books and reading. I have no idea how many books I have read in my lifetime, but it is a lot. I have read 101 books this year so far, with a goal of 125.... I should hit that goal. Now that I have my own place again and have 2 spare bedrooms, I made one a library that holds most of my books, with 5 3-shelf bookcases outside of my library.

30 days of thankfulness, days 1-4

  I have done 30 days of thankfulness during November on my blog the last few days, but this year November sneaked up on me. I was at a concert Thursday evening, and one of the singers mentioned that she is doing it on Facebook. Two days later, I have decided that I need to do it again this year. Since we are four days into November, I'll do the first 4 days in this post to catch up.

Day 1: I am thankful for my family. No family is perfect, but ours is a fairly close family. We all get along and enjoy being together. Our whole gang isn't together much anymore, but we have fun when we are. We celebrate birthdays together, and they are still a big deal in our family. My mom always makes the birthday guy or girl whatever they want for their birthday meal.

Day 2: I am thankful for my nieces and nephews. This may sound like a repeat of day 1,  but it isn't. I love kids, but I was not able to have any of my own since marriage is not an option. However, I am very close to my nieces and nephews and am crazy about those 6 kids. Stephanie: 22, Allison: 19, Caite: 17, Josiah: 16, Ben: 13, and Nathan: soon to be 11. I think they are awesome kids, and they always seem happy to spend time with me, whether it be playing the Wii or going out to eat with Uncle Mark.

Day 3: Health. I have diabetes, which isn't fun to deal with. I have always struggled with my weight. I am thankful though that I don't have worse health issues. Cancer is widespread, and people younger than me have other serious health issues. I am thankful I don't have any serious health problems, as long as I keep my sugar levels down.

Day 4: Now I am caught up. Today, on day 4, I am thankful for my house. I am thankful to my parents for putting up with me so long, but it is great to have my own place again. I despaired it was ever going to happen, and this past year was full of disappointments as I searched for a house to buy, had one deal fall through, and was outbid on others. Then this rental came along totally unexpected. I found out I was moving into it 2 weeks before I moved. Life is different, and I am doing all my own cooking, laundry, and house cleaning..... but it is awesome.