Thankful

What are we thankful for this year?  Well, a lot has been going on but here are some things that we can be really appreciative of this weekend:

Bathtubs!  The last time we were able to take a bath was in … um … in …. early June, maybe at a hotel.  Now we bathe everyday (some days more than once depending on the sweat factor) but an actual bathtub?  That is pretty awesome.

Hot Water!  At our house we have these wall-mounted water heaters in our showers (2 of 3 anyway) so when we bathe we do so with hot water.  Well, actually, hot water is available but often not used by Craig since its always so hot, cooler water is a soothing change.  So we do not have hot water for: sinks (hand washing, dishes, etc) or the washing machine.  Where we are staying has hot water in the sinks so we can wash our hands and dishes in hot water.  That is nice.

Cold water!  Since where we live is hot and the water we have at sinks doesn’t come from pipes buried deep in the ground, its never very cold.  Its cool here and so on Thanksgiving Day when we were eating at Kumar’s we went to wash our hands and found the water was COLD.  That was pretty sweet.  Hard not to splash it all over your face when it’s cool like that.

Fire!  This place has a fireplace and since its cool here, we can use the fireplace (maybe its 60 outside and everyone was covered with blankets as we watched ‘Miracle on 34^th Street’).  It’s nice and smells good and reminds me of my grandparent’s house before they installed that dastardly, efficient wood stove in their fireplace (booo on the wood stove insert).

Turkey!  We carried our turkey 8 hours in a cooler to have it here for our big meal on Friday.

Enjoying ham sandwiches for breakfast!
Ham!!!  Omigosh … we haven’t had a ham sandwich since June.  You have to know that here pork and things like that are sold in a “special” section of the grocery.  It has everything except flashing DO NOT ENTER signs.  It’s actually in our rental agreement for our house that we cannot have pork there.  Plus our neighbors hate it and so we wouldn’t eat it there anyway.  But Wednesday night we shelled out $8 per pound for thinly sliced ham for sandwiches.  The lady offered us the first two slices to taste and we thought the kids were going to go crazy.  I hear pork does that to people…

Quiet!  We live near a pretty busy road and the traffic there never seems to stop.  So never does the noise of the traffic stop.  Now we are sitting and its so cool and quiet it’s amazing.  (Plus did I mention its cool?)

Towels That Don’t Stink!  Something about living in the tropics makes your towels stink.  They smell like mildew and it’s almost impossible to get out.  You wash and air out and throw in the dryer.  Then as soon as you get it wet and wipe your face it hits you, “Man, this towel stinks!”  It seems this weekend we have towels that smell like what towels are supposed to – nothing!

Christmas Music and Movies!  I love Christmas movies.  Normally I am sort of cynical and sarcastic (no, seriously) but I love Christmas movies.  You know, the kind where the bad guy has a change of heart and does the right thing and people go for the peace and goodwill of it all.  I love it that Charlie Brown has people rally around him.  I love the hope and that people see how shortsighted they are being and they mend relationships and they reach out and the give and think of others.  I love that I was standing in a parking garage surrounded by hundreds of people who know nothing of the true reason we celebrate Christmas and I could hear, “He rules the world with truth and grace and makes the nations prove the glories of His righteousness and wonders of His love…” and I can close my eyes and be reminded that He really does rule the world and He does it with grace and love and patience.

Now two years ago I probably would not have been able to make a list that included things like these (and commodes, soap and paper towels in bathrooms, free refills, and mall holiday decorations).  My list would have been different.  I’m sure yours is different.  Which leads me to worry that maybe you’d feel sorry for us or think we are missing something by not having hot water to wash our whites.  Then you’d be missing something important. 

I am thankful for all these things but they don’t make me wish my life every day were different.  I am so appreciative for the opportunity for us to do what we do, where we do it.  Today we got to stand at the base of a big waterfall feeling the mist cover us.  I got to hear someone say, “You speak my language really well.”  We get to be different for a reason.

Oftentimes I tell the kids that everything you get costs you something.  And it does, every choice costs you something.  But if you make good choices it also gives you something.  Maybe something you never even thought to ask for but find you can really love.  I guess now I even sound like a Christmas movie but I’m thankful for that, too!