Thanksgiving Top 10 List 2013 edition

Back in 2005, as I was preparing to leave the UAE, I was trying to mentally gather all the good things about that place, and so I began making top ten lists.  The day Thanksgiving approached, and it just made sense to make a list for that.  A tradition was born, and I've done it ever year since...except for last year.  Oops.  Here are my thanksgiving lists from years past:
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012: While I fully intended to write a Thanksgiving post, it just never happened.  What with having been on a Big White Boat for two weeks, and then having just arrived in America days before Thanksgiving, and being reunited with my family... there was just other stuff going on.  Not to say I wasn't thankful last year, I certainly was!  I just didn't blog about it.  Oops.  Funny to miss a blogging tradition I'd done for seven straight years.

And thus, here's my Thanksgiving top 10 list for 2013.  (As always, I am always thankful for the biggest and deepest blessings in my life: salvation, family, friends, health, home, job.  My list consists of looking back at the year and being thankful for the top 10 things on top of the normal things.)  In no particular order:

10.  Marseille 2013: Where Weird is the New Black.  I've always thought Marseille was quirky.  This year, however, with it being the Cultural Capital of Europe for 2013, Marseille grew weirder by the minute.  Someone on that Cultural Capital Committee seemed to think that culture = weird.
          a.  Bunny Invasion : That time when I was walking down the main street of Marseille and saw hundreds upon hundreds of bunny...stickers... Why?  Nobody knows.

          b.  Floats and Flames : That time when they decided it would be a good idea to put open flames all over the Vieux Port and then invite the whole city to come.  Thousands of people + lots of alcohol + fires with no barriers + small space = bad idea culture.
          c.  Sheep on the Vieux Port : That time when thousands of sheep, horses, and a pair of zebroids were paraded through the streets of Marseille.  Okay, I'll go with the Committee on this one, it was pretty cool.

          d.  Randomness all year long: The plastic painted animals all over town.  (Which, by the way, the Marseillais must not love the statues, because they keep getting pranked.  Someone cut the antlers off of this one.  The camel that was wearing swim trunks and sunglasses somehow got um, stripped, so they ended up painting the poor naked thing blue all over.)  Or how bout the time that they pretended to paint the white church (in the background of the picture with the deer below) a whole mess of pastels?

9.  Lent: Lent was special this year.  I decorated for it, fasted from meat during it, (also quit Facebook right before and haven't returned), and just all around enjoyed that time with the Lord.  Definitely one of the most special things about 2013 for me.

8.  The summer interns: This year was our first time to host a group of interns from a particular university.  I enjoyed all the planning for them, but even more, every single minute that they were here with us.  I can't wait to do it all over again this next year!

7.  Finishing my kitchen: I'm not gonna lie, the actual process of finishing the kitchen brought many tears, and I don't think I'd want to do it again.  But I was so glad when it was done, and I'm so happy to have it a real kitchen now.  How I functioned for 16 months without an oven, countertops, or storage space for food is beyond me.
          a.  Parts 1-3
          b.  Part 4
          c.  Part 5
          d.  Part 6

6.  Greece: I honestly never expected to enjoy Greece as much as I did.  It was just such a wonderful time!  Even now, whenever I think back to it, or talk about it, a giddy happy smile breaks out on my face.  So ever thankful for the gift of that time!

5.  My new quilting class: Even just last night, I was sitting at the sewing machine, working on a new technique that I've learned in my class, and was amazed.  What I couldn't do three months ago, and what even seemed so hard last week to do (I had to redo the same line of sewing three times before I got it barely right!), I can now do spot-on perfect every time.  I'm thankful for all I'm learned, the improvement in my French comprehension, and the fun I have in the class with the French ladies as well.  It's such a great creative outlet for me!

4.  iPhone: It seems so silly materialistic to say that it's one of the top ten things I'm thankful for, so materialistic, but... when I live on the other side of the world from my family and closest friends, and yet I can still text for free through iMessage, and can FaceTime call them for free, it really helps with homesickness.  Not only that, but it's helped immensely with my Bible memorization, of which I'll blog more about later.  Really...I love my phone and am thankful for it!

3.  Rereading my journals: One of the more interesting spiritual practices I did this year was to reread through all my old journals.  I'd highly recommend doing that to anyone who is a regular journaler.  (I'm not sure that's a word, but you get it, right?)  I was able to see major lessons God taught me, as well as regular, consistent weaknesses...which showed me areas I can work on to grow in my walk with the Lord.

2.  Sports: Getting caught up in the Tour de France and American College Football has been fun this year.  Shoo...I even joined a gym this year and have been enjoying that too!  Why am I thankful for all of it?  Well, I'm thankful for the gym because it's good to feel so healthy, and just to have a whole new place to go and be around people and meet new kinds of people.  And as for watching sports--I'm thankful for it because it gives me a form of entertainment to watch that is clean and fun.

1.  Fun with friends: Master Yoda recently wrote me about how it seems like every year I keep having more and more fun.  I hadn't really thought about it...I just try to take advantage of the opportunities around me and enjoy the blessings of the people in my life.  I've already recently written about the amazing friends God has given me.  And Master Yoda's right: we've had some good fun this year!  Like the time me, the Artist, and Mr. and Mrs. X went to Menton to see the citrus festival.

 And the time that Whitey came back to France to see me and I laughed for five days straight.

Or the time the Soul Twin, and Eskimo, and I were reunited altogether for the first time since 1999.

Already mentioned it, but what about that time that me, the Artist, and the camelridingcowgirl hung out in Athens?

Or the time I went kayaking with Giggles, Munchkin, the Crazy Cajun, the Bodybuilder, the Artist, and the boss's wife and kids?  Or the time when some of us had a picnic on my bed because that's where the AC was and thus the only cool place in my apartment?  Or how about the almost entire month of August with the Superheroes?  Or when the Real McCoys came back to France for the gazillionth time to visit blessmyheart?  Or the fun in Barcelona?  Or the many laughs over dinner?  Or the lavender fields tradition with the X's? Or game nights?  Or movie nights? Or...

Well, needless to say, it has been a fun year with friends.  I've been homesick more than normal lately, missing the states, missing my family, missing church in English, missing fall leaves and apple cider and fried okra, missing watching football at a normal hour.  But I am still thankful, even after 11 years, to be here.

Thankful that Jesus keeps me alive, keeps me going day after day, keeps me.