Thankful #1

I have been avoiding this challenge from Brandy. As most of you know, I am not good with seriousness. As a matter of fact, when I'm uncomfortable, I will try to make a joke or say something funny. Serious matters make me a little nervous sometimes.

Mimi asked me this morning if I was going to participate, and I commented that the others were doing "deep" subjects. She reminded me that there are so many simple things in life to be thankful for and after I hung up the phone things just started coming to me. So here is numero uno. (Number one for those non-spanish understanding individuals.)

I am thankful for the life that I have been born into. Steve and I like to watch the Discovery channel. A couple of weekends ago, I think it was a Sunday that I was feeling extra green and we didn't go to church, we were watching a special on a river. I'm pretty sure it wasn't the Amazon, I think it was the Nile. It showed the wet season and the dry season and all the different stages that the environment goes through. Anyway, there was a tribe of people that were constantly moving to follow the water. I have watched these specials before and never really thought much about it. On this episode, they showed a little boy, probably close to Buzzy's age, in line with the rest of the people, carrying his little goat. These people herded their goats everywhere they went. You could tell that this little boy LOVED this little goat. You could tell he was uncomfortable with the camera following him. He was walking fast and avoiding looking at the camera. The whole time, he had a death grip on that little goat. I told Steve right then, that we have been so blessed to have been born into this life. We don't have to move to find water. We don't have to live in a tent. We don't have to uproot our entire life each season.

I watched 20/20 last week. It was on Camden, NJ. Camden is, I think they said, the next to the poorest city in the US. Drugs, gangs, and crime rule the little city. It followed two children that week and one family. It was so sad the things that a four-year-old has to live through. He had been homeless with his mother and older brother. And all he wanted was to know how to read. He thought that if he could read, he could do anything. Another little girl, who had an alcoholic father, just wanted a clean park to play in. The park that she went to was nicknamed Needle Park, because of all the drug needles that littered the ground. The family that was on 20/20 was featured on Extreme Makeover Home on Sunday. To see the conditions that these people live in, was absolutely heart breaking.

God places each person with each family and life. And I am so thankful that he placed me right where I am. So yes, I may live in KY, just off Cleaton Road, but let me tell you, I am so THANKFUL to live where I live. Yes, the drug problem is bad, but we can go to the park and not have to worry about Buzzy getting stuck by a dirty needle. No, there isn't much to DO here, but we can go out of our house at night and not worry about getting shot in a gang dispute. And our home is permanent. I am so glad that God placed me in this life, where I live, how I live, and with whom I live with!