Thanksgiving

"Be thankful for each new challenge, because it will build your strength and character." ---Author Unknown, from Be Thankful

"In everyone's life, at some time, our inner fire goes out. It is then burst into flame by an encounter with another human being. We should all be thankful for those people who rekindle the inner spirit." ---Albert Schweitzer

I wanted to take this opportunity to list just a few things I am extremely grateful for in my life. It has been an eventful year, one filled with great joy, terrific triumphs, amazing encounters and even excruciating trials. Sitting here at my computer, looking back on the entire year, even my life thus far, I have a smile ear to ear. I am a blessed man and have so much to be grateful for in my life.

I am grateful that I continued my journey and that I lost an amazing 110 pounds this year alone. This brings the weight loss total to this date at 202 pounds and the journey continues. I feel younger; have not been this healthy since I was twenty years old. I like myself in the mirror again and continue to like myself more every day. I am thankful that through my trials and my successes that I stayed the course and I righted the ship after each deviation from the journey. I am so thankful that people all around me have supported me and encouraged me.

"There are high spots in all of our lives and most of them have come about through encouragement from someone else. I don't care how great, how famous or successful a man or woman may be, each hungers for applause." ---George M. Adams

I am thankful for my family. If you ever want to know what family means to you, just put yourself into a crisis. Honestly, without family involvement I am not so sure I could have survived the devastating trials I experienced this year. I am so grateful for my children and the love and joy they add to my life. I am thankful for my friends, all of them. Many of my friends stepped up, made life easier and tolerable during my trials, and assisted me in continuing my journey. I am very thankful for my neighbors, church members, extended family, and friends for reaching out and in some way touching my life in a positive manner. I want to name every one of you individually, but this entry would be many, many pages long. With friends like Shanna, Jenny, Brady, Helen, Wendy (Both of you), Kristen, Greg, Rene, Julie, Uarda, Marni, Alan, Troy, Scott (SRP), Max, Anthony, and the beautiful, inspiring Monique, I was certain that the Lord sent me an all-star team of angels. So many more played such a huge role in my survival and empowered me to become a better man. I am eternally grateful to you all.

"The best advisers, helpers and friends, always are not those who tell us how to act in special cases, but who give us, out of themselves, the ardent spirit and desire to act right, and leave us then, even through many blunders, to find out what our own form of right action is." ---Phillips Brooks

I am very thankful for the amazing life I have had and for a kind and generous Heavenly Father. I am thankful that I continue to push forward and continue the journey. I am thankful that I have experienced the trials I have had in my life. These trials have made me a better Man, Son of God, Father, Neighbor, Co-Worker, Employee, Friend, and one day a better Husband for a beautiful, brilliant woman walking this earth somewhere. I am grateful that my passions and desires stay intact and I look toward the future with great optimism and excitement. I am thankful that this year I kept my integrity and honesty in tact. I am thankful that the Lord found me and in doing so, I found him.

In conclusion, I would like to say that I am extremely thankful that I have the ability to Laugh, Love, Live. I am thankful that I continue to learn and grow daily and continue the journey to… Live It By Design.

"So long as the memory of certain beloved friends lives in my heart, I shall say that life is good." ---Helen Keller

"Give us grace and strength to forbear and to persevere. Give us courage and gaiety and the quiet mind, spare to us our friends, soften to us our enemies." ---Robert Louis Stevenson