Every year around Thanksgiving, we take time to talk about what we are thankful for. Whether it is family and friends, a new job, a new opportunity in school, a good health diagnosis or healing, we all have something to be thankful for. But to me, there’s something so special about the moment when the thanks is shared.
Usually I’m the type of person to just say that I’m thankful for the friends and family that God has placed in my life. But since being on the race, my list of things that I am thankful for has grown. I have experienced four months living in four very different places and learning four different cultures and ways of living.
So here are just some of the things [in no particular order] that I am thankful for, since leaving America four months ago. Some of these things I have experienced for the first time on the race and other things I have experienced everyday, but took them for granted being in America.
1. The hard days. Yeah, the good days are great and fun but it’s the hard days when I have no other choice than to run to God. It’s the days I remember that it’s not my strength, my plan, or my timing. It’s all his.
2. My team. Cat, ‘Merica, Ms. Watson, K.Rob, Bet-any, K.G.; these girls are the real MVPs though. They are by my side 25/8, always there to challenge me, encourage me, love me, be sassy with me, and make me laugh til someone pees their pants. I love you girls. PS. unicorns are not a real thing 😉
3. Real western toilets. Don’t get me wrong, using the squatty potty everyday really builds your leg and butt muscles. But those times when you come across an actual toilet where you can sit down, it’s like finding gold.
4. Hosts that become honorary parents. Having lived with my parents for the past 24 years, not being around them everyday has been hard. But thankfully the Lord has blessed our team with several ministry hosts that have turned into family. They have taken us in, treating us like their own.
5. Precious children. My oh my, leaving my five babies was the hardest part about leaving home. This month we get to work with pregnant women and children, meaning that I get to be around kids aged from 1 month to 12 years all the time. They may not be my babies back home, but getting to love on these precious children has helped so much.
6. American snacks, like Oreos. I don’t even like Oreos… I think there’s only been a dish or two that we have been served the whole race that I was not a fan of. But when someone comes and offers you their Oreos from the states when you have had the same things to eat over and over, you just don’t say no.
7. Creation & Nature. Very early into race life, I realized that the beauty of God’s creation is one of the ways he speaks to me most. I’ve been able to really connect with him in the bush in Africa, in the Himalayas in Nepal, on a country road in India, and I can’t wait to see where he takes me over the next 7 months to connect with him there.
8. Travel days. I have always been a fan of road trips and flying but the best thing about road trips and flying on the race is that it’s a day or two when the whole squad is together again and I can see faces I haven’t seen in a month.
9. Alone time. Shoot, I love my alone time but when you live in community and constantly have anywhere from 6 to 51 staying in the same house as you, having alone time is sometimes very difficult. So the times that I can be alone [even it’s just hiding under my sleeping bag and pretending no one else is in the room] is a blessing.
10. PIZZA. “You had me at pizza” is a common phrase that comes out of my mouth. Coming on the race, I thought I was going to have to go most of the 11 months without my favorite food. Thankfully though, I have had the opportunity to eat pizza in every single country so far.
11. Actual showers. Bonus if it’s warm water. Fill up a bucket with water [usually ice cold], dump said water over yourself. Bucket showers are no fun and sometimes even torturous. So when you have the chance to take an actual shower, you jump all over that.
Give thanks to the Lord for he is good; His loves endures forever – Psalm 107:1
