So, today is Thanksgiving, and I thought, what a better day to get back to blogging?

This past year has been a year of great events, trials, changes (good and bad), complications, and exciting developments. And through it all, I'm thankful for many things.

For starters, I'm thankful for my salvation. My Jesus, my God...they're amazing. :) I don't know how I would've gotten through this past year without my faith.

I'm thankful for my family. Over the past year, I have grown so incredibly closer with my family. It's such a great feeling to be so close with your family. I have for too long taken my family for granted, and now truly appreciate what I have with them. My parents truly are awesome people - I get reminded of this by people all of the time when I tell them stories of what my parents do and say. Like, their reaction to me getting a third tattoo and my nose pierced without them knowing about it until after it all happened. My sister and brother-in-law are awesome too. While I don't get to see them nearly as much as I'd like, they're so much fun to be around.

I'm thankful for amazing friends. Over the past couple of years actually, through my graduate program, I have met truly awesome people. It's kinda funny, I've begun telling people that my graduate school experience has turned out the way I always wanted my undergraduate career to be. I have such an amazing support system and tight network of friends that I know I will continue to have even after our graduation. On this same note, I'm thankful for my best friend. The first person who truly gets me outside of my family...understands my nuances and idiosyncrasies, and still has the patience to put up with me. We are complete opposites in so many ways, but because of this, we balance each other out in such a cool way. We have a lot of things in common too, which I think adds to the reason we're so understanding of each other.

I'm thankful for my health. Yes, it may not be perfect....but I have so much to be thankful for even given that. After a stay in the hospital in January, recurring doctors visits and gamuts of testing after that, it seemed as if my health was on the rise, was getting better. After a period of about 6 months or so, something triggered in my body to repeat what had happened at the end of last year to put me in the hospital. Luckily, I was more proactive this time, and immediately began doctor visit after visit. After blood test after test, tests for cancer, blood disorders, and various other ailments I can't even pronounce the name of, doctors still couldn't give me any answers. I was an enigma....none of the doctors or specialists had an explanation. But having to go to the hospital every week for the past month for iron infusion treatments really puts things in perspective - having to sit next to optimistic chemo patients, bright eyed and hopeful, will really put you in a reality check - I really don't have it that bad. I'm blessed with good health.

I'm thankful for my job. I work with such an amazing team of people. I hear people complain all of the time about their job, and I know that I am in the minority of people who really, truly love their job and the people that they work with. I'm so blessed to be working in the field that I'm in as well...it has proven to be so rewarding personally, I love it.

I'm thankful for heat in my car. Lame, I know, but very, very true. For those of you who haven't heard the drama, I bought a new car, and soon came to find out the heat in the car was no longer working (lovely, huh?) Well, my dad is amazing, and fixed it for me! And believe me, I need heat in my car during this time of the year.

I'm thankful for my education. I'm so blessed to have been able to complete my undergraduate studies and go straight into my graduate studies. It has been so rewarding. While it's challenging to balance graduate studies with a full-time job, I know it's all going to pay off in the end.

Well, that's not alllllll I'm thankful for, but it's the beginning of a rather extensive list, so I figured I'd stick to the major ones. I hope everyone has a safe and wonderful Thanksgiving!

God Bless,