Top Ten Things I'm Thankful For

I keep a list of things I'm thankful for, based on the ideas from the book, One Thousand Gifts, by Ann Voskamp. I've been adding to this list for four years now, and I'm getting close to 800 items on my list. I can't wait to see how much more my list grows in the next four years... or twenty!

 Keeping this list has seriously changed my outlook on life.  It's taught me to be thankful for each day, and all the little beautiful things that used to escape my notice, and it's made my life immeasurably richer.

I have come to believe that contentment and happiness is closely linked to thankfulness.

I've been meaning to make a regular habit of sharing my thanks on my blog. Finally, the Top Ten meme from the wonderful bloggers at The Broke and the Bookish prompted me to get started.

Here's my top ten things I'm thankful for:

1. My four daughters - and their laughter. There's nothing better than a kid belly laughing or even just giggling.

2. Listening to KLOVE radio as I drive myself and my kids around to various things during the day. Amy, Craig and Kankelfritz are the funniest trio, they give me a guaranteed laugh or two every morning.

3. My husband. He can drive me nuts, but there's nothing better than a loving partner. He makes me laugh, too.

Hey, there's a theme here. Apparently, laughter is really important to me!

4. I'm really thankful for God (the God of the Bible, to be specific). I don't like religious trappings and for a long stretch of my life, I rejected everything religious. But God became really important to me when I walked through that dark valley: yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, thou art with me.

5. My parents. I have the best parents ever. Every year I realize that more and more. My dad has a dry sense of humor that makes me grin, and my mom has taught me to love life in so many beautiful ways.

6. My home. I love my beat-up old house, with its beautiful prairie and mountain views. I love my adopted home state, Wyoming, so big sky and wild.

7. My friends. I don't have a lot of friends, but I have some really loyal friends that have stuck with me for years. They are the best.

8. Reading. I love to read, can't even put into words how much I love reading. And related to that:

9. Learning. It only recently occurred to me how much I love learning about new things: in science, history, pop culture, anything! It's like discovering little treasures, or like following fairy lights through a dark woods. I'm so thankful I have a love of learning - it keeps my life full and interesting (along with everything else on this list)

10. Writing. As important as writing is to me, it's a pathetic that I can't easily put into words how much this means to me, and how thankful I am for the adventures my stories have taken me through.