1. Friends, new and old
2. Safe travels, which I can never again take for granted - even on short trips - with all the crazy driving that goes on in Waukegan
3. Decent health
4. Apartment fitness room, to help me work on #4
5. Nice apartment with good landlords and maintenance staff
6. Limpio cleaning service, who keep the complex looking great and also extracted all the water from our place during the fire sprinkler flood
7. Game night! It’s good to have something fun to look forward to each week.
8. Halloween decorations – they make me smile
9. My kitty – Walter is such a great little buddy
10. My ’05 Vibe, which has been a most welcome vehicle change. Haven’t regretted the switch even once since we got it in January!
11. The walking paths near our apartments
12. The water fowl that frequent the ponds along the walking paths
13. The crazy and oh-so-interesting black squirrels I see around home and work on occasion
14. The silly chipmunks that entertain around our complex
15. Harvest Bible Chapel, our home for great serving, worshipping, and teaching
16. Our Harvest small group Bible study, which takes a huge church and makes it a family
17. Ice Cream. It does a body good (in at least some ways)…
18. My fabric steamer, because I hate ironing but don’t want to look like a hobo
19. Our washer and dryer. It is SOOOO nice not having to pay to do laundry anymore! 20. Great memories to cheer and encourage me in the tough times
21. Plans, hopes, and dreams to give me something to work toward
22. A buyer’s market for our ongoing first home search
23. The MLS listing search engine with many criteria to make the house hunting easier
24. Our nice realtor, who has been very helpful and honest
25. Robbie Gould, who is a great kicker for the Bears as well as an animal lover
26. The lower gas prices near my job
27. A good full-time job
28. Great co-workers
29. PTO (paid time off)
30. Finally getting to ride Giant Drop on the 4th or 5th attempt (it broke down every time we got in line prior to that)
31. That Ryan’s horrible cell phone is finally eligible for a free upgrade, because his current one doesn’t ring when I call him half the time
32. The efforts of Dr. Kelly Crowdis and Christian Veterinary Mission in Haiti
33. The efforts of thousands in Intervarsity Christian Fellowship
34. Cuddle time with my husband
35. The Harry Potter books and movies, which provided me with lots of entertainment this year
36. The Waukegan Public Library, for lending me some of #35
37. The beautiful (or at least impressive) view I get of Lake Michigan on my way to work each morning
38. Coupons. I use them to justify buying #17 and other fun things.
39. My spacious kitchen, which is very fun to bake in
40. Inside jokes like “licking knives” and “Buford”
41. Funny real-life stories that you can’t help but re-tell over and over
42. Camping trips
43. Warren Dunes
44. Family – somehow you never realize just how special and helpful they are when you’re with them
45. My adorable niece and nephew and their sibling on the way
46. My wonderful, loving husband, who tries very hard to make my life easier
47. Our Heavenly Father
48. The Holy Spirit
49. Jesus Christ, who sacrificed himself so we could be saved from our sins and prayed that we would have peace
50. The hope of Heaven
