30 Days of Thanks- D30

Wow, last day of my 30 Days of Thanks!  First I have to thank you all for allowing me to post all my thoughts this last month; it has been quite fun to share bits of my life and myself with you all.  Secondly, I have to thank the Six for allowing me to have a voice here, and to encourage my writing.

And so, to finish!

I think I'll end with the simplest thing I can be thankful for, and for the most profound gift we as humanity have been given: the ability to love, and to feel love in return.  The joy of my children's faces, the touch of my husbands hand, the sound of my father's voice, the calmness of my mother's smile...  Truly, from love comes all good things.

Thank you for joining me on this journey.  It has been wonderful to keep myself in the place of thanks for this last month.  It is truly amazing how a bit of thanks can change one's perspective so completely!

~The DO

30 Days of Thanks- D29

Yesterday the kids and I get back into the swing of school and I had no choice but to be thankful that this nation is still one of freedom.  I have the option of teaching my kids at home because, so far, the government has yet to claim that right in totality for themselves.  It reminds me that the point of our nation was that the government was to protect us from those things we couldn't protect our selves from (i.e. the armies of other nations) and not to be the parents to my children.  Nor to me, for that matter!  So, at least for now, I am thankful that I live in a nation of freedom and of personal responsibility!

~The DO

30 Days of Thanks- D28

This is the time of year when all eyes turn toward celebration.  Sometimes celebration can be tiring and challenging, but it also reminds us that we are alive, and that people care about us.  I try not to stress over my celebrations, I don't worry about getting every last Christmas activity done, I pay more attention to the fact that I get the chance to watch my kids discover the holidays, and what they mean to them.  I'm intensely thankful that I get to experience anew all the joy of this time of year through them.

~The DO

30 Days of Thanks- D27

I love getting lost in a project.  Ever start something, some project doing something you love, and suddenly hours have gone by and you didn't even notice?  I LOVE that feeling.

~The DO

30 Days of Thanks- D26

I am immensely thankful for imagination.  Watching my kids play with Angus, out in the Pirate ship, making up games, is seriously amazing.  They are so creative!  My kids make books,  build amazing Lego creations, are creative problem solvers, and they see life in an amazing way.  Imagination allows for fascinating books, beautiful art, and fantastical science.  Imagination allows for a more interesting world, for a more creative existence, and for a more fulfilled life.

~The DO

30 Days of Thanks- D25

I'm late posting today, as we've been enjoying our Thanksgiving meal a day late but with much  joy, love and laughter.  Today I'm very thankful for the internet.  It has allowed me to keep in contact with my family in way that you didn't use to be able to, making living so far away a bit easier.

~The DO

30 Days of Thanks- D24

(After Vienna with my husband yesterday, the kids and I are on a plane today on our way home)

 (All the Rockwell photos found here)

Family, friends, home, peace, joy.

 Thanksgiving is an awesome day, one of my very favorites, and I'm very thankful I'll be getting to spend it with family.

I'm also very thankful for the Wright Brothers, since it will take me 17 hours, and not 17 weeks, to get from Hungary to Utah today!

Happy Thanksgiving all, may it be truly blessed.

~The DO

30 Days of Thanks- D23

(We are all in Vienna today enjoying our last European city trip before we move, hence my thoughts about moving!)

I am beyond thankful that the military moves us, rather than having to do it myself.  Nothing beats telling other people what to pack, and where to put it!

~The DO

30 Days of Thanks- D22

I'm thankful for Hungary, and for the Hungarians, and for the people of Pápa.  I know I've done the whole living abroad thing already in this 30, but as I sit here on my last full day in this country, perhaps never to return, I'm a bit nostalgic. Hungary has been good to us, and it is a great place to live and to travel.  A new chapter is exciting, but sometimes it's hard to turn the page...


~The DO

30 Days of Thanks- D21

Tap water.  I'm so very thankful for tap water.  Imagine having to walk a mile roundtrip to the town well for water.  Drinking, washing, you name it, you have to haul it in on foot.  Yeah...  I'm thankful for the tap!!

~The DO

30 Days of Thanks- D20

I'm thankful to Monsieur Eiffel for his fantastic temporary structure, and especially for the fact that originally the Parisians HATED it!  Irony, how I love thee!

~The DO

30 Days of Thanks- D19

Unlike the supposed 99%, I am thankful that I have a husband willing to work hard for what we have, and that we have enough money to enjoy life.  However, I'm also thankful that we don't have so much that we become douches!

~The DO

30 Days of Thanks- D18

Kisses from my kids.  Can't get more simple, or more moving, than that for me.

~The DO

30 Days of Thanks- D17

I am very thankful for clothing, food, shelter and warmth.  Even more, I am thankful that my family and I don't struggle to maintain any of the above.  We have more than we need, and we are very blessed for it.  Beyond that, I'm thankful that I have an amazing family that would drop everything to help me were I in a situation where I had lost the above.  Not feeling alone in my attempt to take care of my kids is priceless.

~The DO

30 Days of Thanks- D16

Music.  Need I say more?  Well, alright then.  I'm thankful not just for the music I love, and the ability to enjoy it, but also the ability to pass it on to my kids and watch them fall in love with what I love.  'Course it IS heartbreaking when they hate your favorite stuff!!

(The Six's song that I grew up with and love)


(My song that my daughter is growing up with and loves)


~The DO

30 Days of Thanks- D15

Some of the most important things are those that are the simplest.  I am so grateful for the warmth of the sun, especially in the spring when it feels like it will never be warm again.  And the coolness of the fall breeze when you were sure it was NEVER going to be cool outside again.  The sense of change, renewal, of the next cycle and of life ever after.  Each change is a reminder that nothing lasts forever, the good or the bad.  I'm on the precipice of a major change and I've been reminded by the change in weather that change can bring on amazing new situations.

~The DO

30 Days of Thanks- D14

(My little Hungarian POS)

Transportation rocks!  It took me 30 min each way to walk my kids to school, but 5 to drive.  And it had heat, and air conditioning.  Yeah, I'm thankful for cars.  The cooler the car the better, but wheels are wheels!

~The DO

30 Days of Thanks- D13

(My husbands feet on the black sand beaches of Santorini)

I love the beach with a passion, and there are few things in life more fun than spending the day at the ocean.  I am so thankful for the chances I've had to feel the sand between my toes.  I'm also thankful that I can look forward to the next 3 years living on the Gulf coast.

~The DO

30 Days of Thanks-D12

St. George (not Saint George) Utah.  Aka, the Motherland

(Not my photo.  Snagged it from Flickr.  Click the photo to be taken to his page)
I am very thankful for my family and friends.  Though odd and interesting, they love me and accept me.  Helps that they are all odd and interesting as well!  The apple and tree and all that, I suppose.  The kids and I will have the chance to spend 2+ months in the old homeland, down the street from cousins, and next door to great grandparents.  I will get to go shopping with some cousins, stay up way too late wandering around the Walmarts with others (yes I like American made, yes I still shop Wally world), talk football with the husbands, homeschooling with an uncle, and be amazed, as always, that I'm related to all these crazy and wonderful people.

~The DO

30 Days of Thanks- D11

My Cherry Tree.

This summer was the first time in my adult life that I harvest a crop from my lands (granted, those lands are rented) and created a meal from that crop.  Okay, so it was a few bucketfuls of cherries, and two cherry crisps, but still.  It was a neat experience to be connected to my food source, and one that the kids and I want to recreate at the new house.

~The DO