Thankful For...

Since Thanksgiving is less then a week away I figured it was a good time to talk about just a few of the things that I'm thankful for.

1) My roommates- it's been a rough year with lots of changes and my roommates have been rock solid in helping and supporting me deal with everything that's happened even when they've had a ton of their own stuff to deal with.

2) My family- Along with my roommates my family have been my biggest supporters. Especially my parents have been amazing in listening to my rants, calming me down when I'm upset and me to keep going and keep trusting God.

3) My home- Some of you may remember that I moved earlier this year. The whole process of us getting this house was a miracle and we've been so happy here. It's a great house and we love living here.

4) My new church- Looking for a new church was a really hard process but I'm so happy. My new home church has amazing teaching and friendly people. I'm so grateful God led me there.

5) My faith- The last year has taught me tons of things and the biggest is just how God has shown me His path again and again and again. He's given me the courage to prepare for the hard times that have come up by showing me how He cares for me and provides for me. It's those times of provision that I can look back on and cling to when things get tough. God is sovereign and He's made that clear again and again all year and forgiven me when I doubt.

So there's just five of the many things that I'm thankful for this Thanksgiving. What about you? What are some of the things you're thankful for this year?

Completing Our Family

This year I decided to write posts for each of my siblings. I've published posts for my three oldest siblings and an extra that lived with us. There's only one more sibling to go. My big brother, Toby. I saved his for last because I wasn't sure how to write it at first. There are plenty of stories I could tell about him or things I've learned from him but I had a hard time settling on just one thing. Instead I decided to write about how he came to be my big brother.

For fourteen years I was the youngest of four children. Two brothers, one sister and me; the baby. We moved to Oregon, when I was twelve, and we became friends with several kids that lived in our area. Toby was one of them.

He lived with his parents a few houses down from our store and we all started hanging out a lot. Before long he had become like family. 

Somewhere along the line Toby's parents split up and that's when things started to change for him. He stayed with his dad at first but things weren't going so well. He tried moving up with his mom to Portland, Oregon but that didn't work out. For a period of time he lived with family friends but that didn't seem like the best solution. I don't remember now how everything came to be but my parents offered to let him live with us. 

I remember that I was happy that my friend, who was like my brother, would be in a stable and loving home. He'd bounced around a lot and this seemed great to my fourteen year old self. Looking back I can't imagine how hard it must have been for him. He wasn't living with family but had moved in with people who had a completely different family structure, lifestyle and rules then he was used to. He went from being an only child to one of five kids. And it wasn't just a normal home, Mom and Dad owned a store and Toby-like the rest of us- was expected to do his part in helping to run it. It was a time of huge adjustment for him.

Toby lived with us for over two years and he truly did become our fifth sibling. He was already my friend but he became my brother. He taught me that your family doesn't just come by blood but by choice and that families don't lose love when they add people in, the love multiplies. It may not have always been easy but I believe that God put Toby in our family as much as for us as for him. My parents weren't expecting to have any more kids, and they certainly didn't expect to add one in at sixteen! But God knew better and Toby was given to us to complete our family in a way that we didn't even know was needed.

Toby may have been one of the many teenagers that lived with us over the years, and some of the still call us family; but Toby is the one that still consistently joins us at family events. He's the only one that has truly adopted our whole family and all of us have adopted him.

Thanks Toby for allowing us to have input into your life and providing a unique perspective to our family. And thanks for completing our family, it would never be the same without you.

Veterans Day Tribute

I feel like I'm doing a lot of apologizing on here lately for forgetting to post. Unfortunately I did forget to post last week and I'm late this week. Please bear with me as I'm in a time of transition in my life, looking for a new job, and just generally very busy. I so appreciate all of you who take the time to read this blog, you guys are awesome! Thank you for the support!

Seeing as tomorrow is Veteran's Day it got me thinking about a toddler's favorite question that adults often struggle to answer. Why?

Why do these brave men and women sign up to leave behind safety and security? To be separated from their families? Why do they put their lives on the line? Why are they willing to give it all for people they've never met, many of whom are indifferent at best and hostile at worst? Why? What's the point? What drives them to make these sacrifices?

It's not the money. It's not the benefits. It's certainly not having control over your own schedule or life. Maybe some do it for the stability, but there's stable ways of life that don't require a contract. Maybe some do it to travel, but that's a gamble because you don't know where you'll be stationed. Perhaps some go in for the 'honor and glory' but when you're part of such a huge group most people will never know your name.

So why do it at all?

Everyone has their own answers but mine, based on the actions and words of the many veterans is that they do it because they believe that there are some things worth fighting for. They fight for freedom.

Freedom of speech. Freedom to worship or not to worship as you choose. Freedom to not be separated according to ethnicity, or gender or class. Freedom to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Freedom to recognize that all men are created equal. Freedom to keep and bear arms so that civilians can protect their rights.

They fight to protect all the freedoms that the founding fathers believed we were given by God when they wrote the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.

So this Veterans Day, thank a veteran for every freedom you have. Thank them because they chose to fight so we didn't have too.