thankful thursdays {23}

Happy Thursday!
I hope you have had a fabulous week... Hold on, Friday is a-comin' for you!

Here's my list of thankfulness for the week...

Baking scones with Kaitlyn & T-face
Spending a Saturday afternoon reading (just for fun)
Lessons in Biblical financial stewardship
Watching Jake's stellar performance of 'The Bema Seat'
A fabulous Sunday dinner with the fam
Incredibly humbling experiences on BMT
Performing my first Bone Marrow Transplant (oh, wow!)
Girl Scout cookies (sabotaging my healthy diet, but they're so good!)
Discovering Kari Jobe (check out this song)
My car was broken into (again), BUT nothing was stolen!
Unlikely friendships that have richly blessed my life
Doctors that have managed to escape the "god-complex"
Silly voice mails that make me smile
Being mentored by one of the coolest ladies around
peace about the future
&
a God who is so incredibly faithful!

Now for something NEW!


I've been realizing over the past few weeks that I spend more time being thankful for things (like my electric blanket and morning coffee) than for the characters that grace this story of mine. And that's just not okay... so I'm adding a new element to my weekly little project in cultivating thankfulness. Each week I will be highlighting one of these different characters from my life and writing a quick little something about why I am thankful for them. This week's feature: one of my best friends in this whole wide world,
Christina

This chica has been such an incredible blessing in my life. We met when we were 9 years old at Vacation Bible School and grew up going to the same youth group. She was really shy, and so was I. She was into soccer and I was into swimming. We both remember thinking that the other person was real cool, but somehow from 9 to 18 our relationship mainly consisted of a quick, "Hey, how are you?" on Sunday mornings.

We ended up going to the same college and decided to be suite mates our freshman year. We both went into that year pretty broken from brutal high school relationships, but found genuine friendship in one another. Looking back, it is so fun to see how both of us kind of came alive in the strength and love and encouragement that we found in each other. What can I say? I am just SO incredibly blessed by her... From that freshman year until now, we have basically been inseparable. We have been roomies throughout college and have had the privilege of sharing life's joys and pains.

Christina is one of the sweetest people you will ever meet. She has a deep passion for the Lord and is always encouraging me in my faith. Her counsel is wise and she truly does live a life of love... I could go on and on. I am just so humbled and blessed by her presence in my life. God has truly given me a precious gift with our friendship. I'll quit my babbling now and leave you with a little list of things I love about her...