November Adventures in Thankfulness

Hard to believe it is already the 1st of December. November flew by so quickly it left me unprepared for the cold of winter that is already upon us. Almost exactly one year ago I received my first real job offer and began the process of finding a place to live, purchasing furniture to fill the place, and packing up all of my childhood to move to Ohio. And now, here I am, almost a year later writing to you in my cute little condo nestled on the lake shore in Celina, OH. And I am reminded of all that I have to be thankful for in the past year:

-my job. I am thankful to have a job and an income and to be able to pay the bills that sneak in month after month. In a time when so many are laid off or jobless-even people in my own workplace, 60 of them, laid off indefinitely-I am beyond thankful to have the means to support myself. The means to put a roof over my head, clothes on my back, and food in my stomach. The necessities of life, really. And here I am 12 months and I've never gone naked, hungry, or homeless while people all over the world are all 3 of those most days of their lives.

-my family. I am thankful for the addition of Gavin to our family this past year and the joy he has brought to all of us. He makes everything brighter and more full of joy then you would ever think possible. He is the epitome of strength, the image of hope, and the sound of survival. He is reason for the rest of us to never stop believing in tomorow. And I'm not only thankful for him, I'm thankful for the rest of my family and the struggles that we all continue to face head on with the supportive insight of love that surrounds us, and the new-found innocence of a child that keeps pouring itself into our ives.

-my friends. Many old friends have crossed my path in the past year to brighten up my life with memories of the past and new adventures for the present while new friends have made their way into my life helping me to experience so many new and exciting things.

and now the little things:

-my camera and the way that photography has brought a new aspect of creativity to my life

-my newfound love of running

-the continued communication that I am lucky enough to have with the girls in Romania
-the passion for children in need around the world that continues to be reignited in my life
-people that make me smile everyday

-my own place. Sometimes it's quiet and lonely here these days but I am thankful for this time of growing in my own independence. I think I'll look back and really appreciate these days.

Really, I could go on forever about all of the things that I am thankful for but I'll stop there and leave you, instead, with some photos from the past month or so. I hope, though, that you will stop for a minute and make a list of your own of all that you have to be thankful for. Have shoes on your feet right now? Be thankful for those. Have a family that loves and supports you? Man, you're a lucky one. A job that pays the bills? Thats really something to be thankful for. Think of the little things and maybe you'll be surprised by all that you have to be thankful for in your life.

Okay, on with the pictures!!

Gavin trying to read one of my favorite books!

Computer time with Ben

My Mom picking out the chosen Christmas tree!

Fondue with friends in Dayton....DELICIOUS

One for One

One for One. Thats their motto. A pair of shoes. You buy one pair, they give one pair to a child in need. A child in Argentina. Or a child in Ethiopia. Or a child right here in the USA. Children who don't have shoes. Who play soccer in their bare feet while running around on damaging turf. Children who will suffer diseases ingested into their bodies by wounds on those bare feet. Some of them will die. For those who don't, they will face terrible sickness and crippling illnesses. All that because they don't have a pair of shoes. Will you help?

I've been following these shoes for months now and finally ordered my first pair. I ordered them a few days ago and have checked my email 95,000 times anxiously awaiting that glorious email that tells me they are headed my way. And lets not forget the tracking number so I can check that another 95,000 times to know exactly where my shoes stop on their long journey to my doorstep. That package filled with my brand new shoes isn't only a Christmas present to myself, it's a Christmas present to a child. I think of the children I saw at orphanages in Romania who didn't have properly fitting shoes on their feet because all they had access to were hand-me-downs that were well warn and full of holes. I'm giving a pair of shoes for those children. I think of children I met at a particular gypsy village (picture yourself in the middle of a Feed the Children commercial you see on TV) who didn't even have clothes let alone a pair of shoes. They walk around their village of dirt huts nearly naked and entirely barefoot. All of them. Babies. Toddlers. Children. Adults. The whole village. I'm giving a pair of shoes for those children. And I'm giving because an orphan child with nearly nothing of her own gave me a pair of shoes for my 20th birthday in Romania. A pair of green tennis shoes that are slightly too small and have a few tiny holes in them. One pair of shoes that changed me forever.

And now I get to give back by participating with Toms Shoes.

One for One.