Serious catch up!

13 - I am thankful for basketball season. Although it's the busiest "season" of the year for us, I really enjoy the games. I've always wanted to be a coach's wife and it's everything it's cracked up to be. Thankfully, we have always had a good team and I don't have to deal with the losses all the time :) Ryan only has a handful of losses and he's in his 4th year!

14 - I can't express how thankful I am to be able to stay home with Josiah. No matter how much I tell Ryan I am thankful for him and I appreciate that he works for us, it's never enough in my eyes (and I'm sure not in his either;)). Granted I have two "jobs", I am able to stay home all day and don't have to leave my precious little man. Hats off to those mommy's that go back to work, you are true heroes!

15 - CAMPUS LIFE! These kids are awesome! One of the first things Ryan and I discovered about each other was that we both wanted to be involved in junior high ministry. I know, we're insane. Who on earth wants to try to reach youth at this age? WE DO! I can't imagine it any other way. No matter what position we have or where we are in life, we both know that we want to be involved in junior high ministry all our lives!

16 - My amazing husband Ryan James. The 16th was our 5 year "anniversary" of dating. (Guess where we spent it? Playing laser tag with junior high kids!) I'm impatient, he's incredibly patient and understanding. I'm a little OCD, he's laid back. I'm an amazing basketball player, he's just okay. I'm sure you've heard the quote "If he can't handle me at my worst, he doesn't deserve me at my best" (it's always been said that Marilyn Monroe said this, but she's quoted for a lot of things she didn't say...so idk who said it!) But it's pretty true in our situation. Ryan and I found each other in a rough part of our lives. Living lives we are not particularly proud of, but wouldn't change. It's always been clear to me that God brought him into my life at that time to rescue me...and possibly for me to rescue him. It took a lot of time, a lot of sadness and a lot of struggles...but God's timing was and always has been perfect. I can't imagine ANYONE better suited for me than this man. I really couldn't be happier.

17 - On the 17th I went to Notre Dame Stadium for a game for only the third time in my life. I've been to a game out at Stanford and one in the big house. So I am incredibly thankful for my friend Matt Hammons for scoring me and my dad tickets on the 9th row in the end zone. It's a game I will NEVER forget! (Along with the others)

18 - Although I rarely get to see them, I'm SO thankful for my girl friends. I have 5 girl friends that I talk to on a regular basis and the one that lives the closest is an hour and a half away and 2 of them live about 9 and a half and 10 hours away. It's not easy maintaining long distance friendships. It's hard to know what's going on in our daily lives when we don't get that face-to-face (unless we're FaceTiming...) all the time like we're used to. But I would do anything for these girls.

19 - My sweet sweet baby Josiah. Seriously this kid is amazing. I expected to be a sleep deprived, stressed out mama for the next 5-6 years. Not the case (I realize I don't have child #2 yet, so don't punch me!) . This kid sleeps like a CHAMP, he's incredibly sweet, and is all around an amazing kid. He's creepin up on 15 months old and he listens, does what he's told (for the most part), is incredibly easy-going and loves us so much. He does cry, whine and get a little crazy sometimes...but he's a kid:)

20 - This goes along with how thankful I am for Josiah as a little person, but I think it deserves a thankful of it's own...I'm so thankful for his health. This is something so many of us take for granted. We expect to have full term babies that we get to take home within a couple days. Yes, most of the time that's true. Josiah was that way, and I'm so thankful for that. I don't take that for granted and I pray for those who have had difficult pregnancies, births and sick babies.

21 - My mama. Ohhh my amazing mama. My mom has been through so much in her life it's unreal. Let's just say she drove me and 3 of my friends to Florida one year (3 girls in the back seat of her Volkswagon Beatle) and told us stories of things that have happened to her the WHOLE way. We were on the edge of our seats dreading to stop with the rest of our caravan to get food or go to the bathroom. Let's just say some of the stories included con-men, hitting guys in the head with glass Pepsi bottles, and a stalker writing crazy things on patio doors. Not only those kinds of crazy stories you only see in movies, but she's been through countless surgeries (from going to have her gall bladder removed only to find out she was born without one....to open heart surgery). My mom has been through EVERYTHING! Is she a bump on a log that gets down on herself when things like this happen? Yea right. She doesn't get herself down, she stays positive enough to keep the rest of us positive! She continues to serve others and keeps pushing. She is absolutely hilarious and there's no telling what words (or non-words) will come out of her mouth. The older I get, the more I start talking like her. Or maybe it's now that I also have a mommy brain.....either way! She's a hoot and so so so much fun to be around. She is out of this world selfless. She would do anything for anyone. I love my mama. I wouldn't trade her for the world.

22- My family. I have quite a large family (especially compared to Ryan's side!). We are crazy, loud, and a ton of fun! I really wish we could all get together for more than just the holiday's, because I miss them very much!

23 - Black Friday!!! This is a new tradition my mom and I started only a few years ago and it's awesome. We hardly ever have anything we're after, we just do it because it's fun. We refuse to go out any earlier than 10:00 (that's the absolute EARLIEST I will shop) on Thanksgiving night. (Sidenote: I hate that it's crept up to Thanksgiving day and I will never give up my Thanksgiving with my family in order to buy some material item that is meaningless). Regardless, we usually go between 10:00 and midnight and get home as late as 8 or 9:00 am. This is the first year that we did it in Fort Wayne. My mom drove up on Thanksgiving night to go shopping with me since I couldn't make it down to Indy until Saturday. What a rockstar. (Don't forget the fact that we only slept 3 1/2 hours when we got home, then she drove all the way home, shopped some more then went to the Pacers game and didn't get home til almost midnight!) It's so much fun and I love the crazies. I have never seen anyone get trampled, get mean or be in a bad mood. In fact, the Starbucks people were hilarious this year! We drove through there to get a little pick-me-up before enduring the mall. Granted, they work at a coffee shop and said they were on their 5th shot of expresso....it was pretty funny! It's a great way to kick off the holidays!

24 - Thankful for the Christmas season, which isn't allowed to start until after Thanksgiving. I leave stores if they have Christmas music on before Thanksgiving and I REFUSE to buy any Christmas items before Black Friday. Once Black Friday hits I'm one of the biggest fans of Christmas you'll meet! One of my favorite things is how warm and fuzzy everyone is! Yes it's a very hard time for a lot of people, but the generosity of others really makes it so uplifting! The way people act towards others around Christmas is how we need to act all year long. Jesus wasn't born in the winter, but for whatever reason we celebrate in December, I'm glad. It's a great way to finish off the year and have a fresh perspective for the new year. If only people would keep that holiday spirit year round!

25 - I am thankful for the kiddo's I watch. Roenin and Declin (and their wonderful family!) I love that Josiah has a buddy he can play with and learn from. He also has learned to be gentle with babies! When I was working, I missed being in the day care a lot...so this has been perfect for us! I get to hang out with littles all day, plus I get to stay home.

26 - Our home! When we got engaged, one of the first things Ryan said before he left to go back home that weekend was that he was ready to start looking for a house. That totally freaked me out. So many people that buy houses before they're ready end up losing them. I didn't want to get ourselves into debt from the get-go. Luckily, my husband rocks. After a long extensive search of looking at homes here (and saving only the select few for me to look at when I came), he found our house. It's been more than perfect for us. It's just the right size (although I could use a little bit more storage and possibly an actual pantry?), but I love it's little cozy-ness. It hasn't been a money guzzler like I thought it would be. The money we have put into it has been more for our convenience than have-to's. Like almost all new windows, having a/c installed (yea, no a/c when we moved in), renovating the bathroom, and putting insulation in the attic (because there was hardly any). Thankfully, the government gave us $8,000 to buy our house, so none of that was out of pocket! I'm so thankful I had a home to bring Josiah home to and learn to run around in the yard!

27 - My car! With as much traveling as we do (My car isn't even 3 years old yet and it has 61,000 miles on it), I'm thankful we have a vehicle that gets us there and back with no trouble. I'm also thankful for Ryan's "new" car, because now I don't have to look at cars every second of my spare time and because he really enjoys driving it. Plus I don't have to worry about him breaking down or the car blowing up:)

28 - This is gonna sound crazy to anyone who lives outside of Indiana, but I am thankful I live here. As much as our weather is insane, I'm glad we have seasons. It also makes me appreciate the beach that much more:)

29 - I'm thankful for Ryan's friends, who are also my friends. As much as I miss my girl friends, I couldn't ask for better friends to have around all the time than the ones that I do. They are all great guys that will listen and pray for me at the drop of a hat. They will even listen to me vent about things that they don't care about and don't want to hear and won't complain (at least to my face...haha). I'm so glad my husband has such a great group of guys around him!