So Many Things To Be Thankful For

There are so many things in my life to be thankful for this week.

First of all, my birthday was last Friday. My birthday always reminds me of my beginning and that gives me many reasons to be grateful. I'm reminded of a young girl who did the right, but hard thing. She chose to carry and give birth to a child whom she would never know. I don't know anything about her other than that she was young and played the piano. (When I was little and practicing piano when I wanted to be watching tv, I wasn't very grateful for that knowledge.) But a birthday can not pass without my thinking of her and thanking her for the choice she made.

That leads me to the wonderful people who wanted another child and patiently waited to adopt one. They opened their hands and hearts to a little baby who was colicky, prone to ear infections, didn't eat, and was all-around cranky. But those things didn't matter to my parents in the least. They just knew that I was theirs and they loved me. And as I grew, I knew they were the only mom and dad for me. I may have grown only in their hearts, but I was placed in their hands by a very smart and loving God who had the perfect family picked out just for me. I know I don't tell them often enough, but I am so grateful for the choice they made, the love they gave, and the way they raised me. I am who I am today because I was their child.

My birthday also leads to the next thing I am thankful for this week. Eric and I had one of our rare date nights away from home. He took me to a fantastic restaurant. The food was incredible, the musician was great, and our conversation was even better. After dinner, we stopped for a little while by a bar where Eric's networking group was having their 10th Anniversary party. We chatted with some of the people from the group and I was finally able to put faces with names I have been hearing for over a year. While we were there, a friend of ours that we used to work with stopped by and we were able to spend some time with her also. What a great night!

And last but not least, I am so grateful for the wonderful clothes I received last week. I have been just giddy when getting dressed every morning and having all of these wonderful new options.

Don't forget to stop in at Laura's blog for more Gratituesday. Also, head over to Lara's blog for Talk About Tuesday.