Thankful Thursday: November

(For an explanation of Thankful Thursday, go here.)

84) Living in a country where I can vote for my leaders.

85) A warm-in-the-sun-yet-cool autumn day - perfect for Bible study time outside under my favorite Vikings blanket.
86) Date night with my roommie - sweet time to talk about life and pray together. Love.
87) Feeling overwhelmed with love for my Bible study girls - gaining great biblical insights from them & loving sharing life together.
88) Talking about something over dinner with Chinwe and then having Rachel Nagel pray something similar in her opening Bible study prayer and feeling God's presence/leading/consistency in my life because of it.
89) Bursting out in full-fledged belly laughter in the middle of a conversation, looking at Chinwe laughing and knowing we are thinking the same thing.
92) Seeing patients & families that I worked with on previous days, remembering their names and having good follow-up conversations.

95) The feeling of having written a good story and written it well.

97) Rides to my car from Beth & opportunities to chat with her about where God is leading her.

100) An email from my aunt Faith telling me how much she loves me and what joy and laughter I bring into her life (in response to a blog post).

101) The smell of freshly baked cookies from the oven. Somehow they smell even better when baked for someone else.
102) Seeing the advent baskets come together and getting excited about it not only being fun but being spiritually encouraging, too.
104) Campfires on brisk November nights.
106) Sabbath time away from the "noise" to be in the Word and fellowship.
107) Getting an email from Warren in which he called me an "uncommon friend" - quite possibly one of the most meaningful friendship compliments I have ever been given.
108) Feeling obedient to an opportunity to bless someone financially.
109) Feeling comfortable stepping in to an informal leadership role and getting a small glimpse into how God has uniquely gifted me and ways he uses me.
110) Falling back an hour. Love.
111) Pearls.
112) Babies that fit perfectly in the crook of my arm.
113) Sitting with Laurel at communion after being reminded of how Christ calls us individually but also calls "us" as a community - such a tender moment for us.
115) The way Kyle treats me with such respect and makes me feel well cared for.
116) The opportunity to pick up overtime at work so I can pay for the Christmas presents I am really excited to give.
120) Making lasagna after a 16 hour day at work and being reminded that cooking is not as difficult as I make it out to be.

121) Waking up from a dream in the middle of the night laughing and not being able to fall back asleep because I can't. stop. laughing.

122) Allowing myself to sleep in after working really hard yesterday.

123) Iced almond mochas from Caribou.
124) 60 degree November days.
125) Having my lasagna turn out not-so-well and deciding that is okay even if I am serving it to company.
126) Calling Chris to play him his birthday accordion serenade and having a lovely conversation.
127) Sweet potato fries.
128) Having Linds call to pick my brain about job stuff (since I am 1. a nurse 2. who knows her well) and feeling like I had worthwhile feedback for her.
129) Discovering that Jill and I will be really good vacation buddies.
130) Planning a winter getaway to Mexico and realizing it is only happening because I have been blessed with the friends, money and time to do so.
131) Veterans who have served our country and given their lives (or pieces of their lives) for my freedom.
132) Details working out with semi-stressful vacation planning.
133) My patient mother who loves me so dearly and handles me so well.
136) The feeling I get when the timing of my day falls together perfectly - logistics mesh and I get everywhere on time.

137) Truffles.

138) Roadtrips with my sisters.
139) My mom being so excited to see us that she is waiting by the door of the hotel room.

140) The way my mom gets so excited to see us and how anxious she is to "visit."

141) Museums. I love learning. The U-505 exhibit at the Museum of Science and Industry was amazing.

142) All-you-can eat bacon at the Embassy Suites breakfast. :-)
143) A day in Chicago with the whole family.
145) Hearing the joy in Emily's voice after her engagement.
146) Hearing Dad say he cares a lot more about being with his girls than going to football games.

147) Having Dad completely treat us to a weekend in Chicago and feeling well cared for.

148) Beautiful weather for outdoor football in November.

149) Hearing someone marvel at the fact that we came to the game as a family and realizing how uniquely blessed I am.
151) Coming home to find the fridge stuffed with delicious food.
152) Taking some of said food to work with me for a delightful dinner.
156) Starting my day with breakfast and prayer with my roommie.
158) Getting my work email down to 5 emails.
159) Seeing my 83 year old, confused patient come out of brain surgery and still "mother" her adult children.
162) Having a patient's family *hoping* I get to stay with them all 12 hours and then being genuinely disappointed when I don't.
163) Building good rapport with a young girl who is an individual assignment for psych reasons.
164) Having my behaviorally challenging individual assignment patient ask if I will be her nurse again the following day.
166) Ohmygosh I am so excited about these advent baskets I can hardly stand it!!!!!!!!
167) Waking up early and not being able to get back to sleep because I am so excited about my day.
168) Getting invited over to Jill and Kristy's for a steak and sweet potato dinner.
169) Pumpkin spice white chocolate mocha.
170) FINALLY getting to meet Amaka!!! I think I am really going to like her.

171) Sleeping in.

172) The sight of beautiful advent baskets, all wrapped and organized.

173) Dinner at Chesters with girls I love.

174) Have I mentioned lately how excited I am about these advent baskets?

176) Lavender baths and relaxing music.
180) Game night with the sisters, Hansons, Oostras and Abbie - laughing, laughing, laughing and laughing.
189) Jimmy John's. #5, baby!
191) Lazy mornings when I am still sitting in bed in my pajamas at noon.
192) Productive days off when I feel like I got a lot of stuff done despite still being in my bed in my pajamas at noon.
194) The joy I find in my beautiful Christmas tree.
195) Dinner date/prayer night with my roommie. What a blessing.
196) Friends who bring me Thanksgiving dinner when I am working at the hospital.
197) Green bean casserole.
198) Mom ALWAYS crying when I talk to her on holidays when I can't make it home. I am so dearly loved.
200) Christmas music.
202) Curling up with a good book, hot cocoa and burning vanilla-scented oil while reading by the light of the Christmas tree (and a headlamp).
203) A job that I love going to 98% of the time (even if today was in the 2%).
205) The beauty of color and the art of theater displayed in the movie Hero.
206) Having a family invite me into their home for Thanksgiving dinner when I can't be home with my own. #relationallyblessed.
207) Snuggling with Loki and being told he has a very short list of "friends."
208) Laughter. Lots and lots of laughter.
209) Long hugs from old friends.
210) Coming to terms with Chinwe having found out about the advent baskets and realizing things can still be fun even if they don't play out exactly how I intended or expected.
211) Lazy, alarm-less morning complete with pajamas and chocolate chip pancakes.
212) Little peanut 5-lb premies who are just so cute and fragile. So glad baby Jadon is doing well and was born without any serious premie complications.
213) Successful advent basket deliveries. :-)
214) Long, laugh-filled conversations with my mom.
215) Long convo with Linds reminding me how well she knows me, how well we relate and how well our friendship is surviving the distance. LOVE her.
216) Excitement headaches.
217) The joy of a paper-chain countdown.
218) Getting "found out" as the advent-basket-giver by Hannah and laughing SO HARD as I try to deny it because she knows me so well and I simply can not lie to her.
219) The feeling of having a really big, fun secret.
220) Listening to Julie tell me about how excited she is about her mystery basket.