One thousand gifts challenge

So if you haven't read One Thousand Gifts, you really should. It's a NY Times Bestseller, an Amazon bestseller, and USA Today bestseller — but most importantly, the author is a Christian woman who clearly really loves Jesus and is committed to sharing joy, despite life's hardships. (And this book isn't all lovey-dovey — she's gone through some REALLY hard things in her life.) She has a great blog, and she's issued a challenge to her readers to list their blessings via blog once a week — totaling 1,000 for the year.

Obviously, I'm a little behind on the challenge (but apparently, you can start whenever, so I'm not really that behind) ... but better late than never, right? She has these great little banners that you're supposed to put on your site, but I can't get the image to show up on my blog — oh well. So, 1,000 blessings in a year means listing 20 per week ... wish me luck! Here's the list for this past two weeks:

1. Thankful for the ministry of NightLight Atlanta (and many other groups) working to end human trafficking in Atlanta, & glad I get to partner with them in a 40 Day Fast (I gave up sugar/sweets and fried food!)
2. Three of the Kennesaw RUF ladies are joining me in that fast — it is much easier to fast knowing that others are keeping you accountable!
3. Glad to be writing again — freelancing at World on Campus a little bit
4. The Green at Kennesaw's campus. We had an absolutely gorgeous day last week, and it brought hundreds of students outside to play.
5. Sweet friends who call and text to say hi
6. A precious note from Adam's sweet mom
7. Lots of blessings to write about in my spring RUF newsletter
8. E-mails from the office reminding me that summer conference is just around the corner (doesn't the beach and sunshine and good teaching sound wonderful?)
9. Getting to share about RUF with my church here in Kennesaw
10. Running twice without my knees hurting
11. Running a couple of times with my knees hurting — thankful that I have knees that still allow me to be active!
12. Fruit being on sale at Kroger (especially since I've given up desserts)
13. Finding my favorite gloves that have been missing for two weeks
14. E-mail. It's just a great invention.
15. Reduced fat Cheeze-Its. (They're still not good for you, but I am thankful for their deliciousness.)
16. The fact that mold hasn't come back to our apartment (after a long saga of deep cleaning, cutting holes in the walls and ceilings, finding the leak/problem, putting in new drywall, and repainting)_
17. The fact that I live in a nice complex with great repairmen who did all the work listed above. It would have been really bad if I had to do all that on my own.
18. StrangeBrew coffee (and the fact that they ship so I can have it every morning)
19. A weekend away in Townsend with Stephen and his mom
20. Valentines from Jake & Cole, and my parents