Giving thanks

I like seeing the Facebook posts of folks who spend the month of November enumerating what they are thankful for - here's at least a partial list for me:

• I'm thankful for my sweet husband, Dwayne. I'm thankful that God brought us together, even at a time that neither of us was walking closely with Him, and that God ultimately brought us back to Him.
• I'm thankful for being born into the family I was born into, for having the Mom and Dad and brother that God gave me.
• I'm thankful for being born in Virginia where learning state history and US history coincided so closely. I'm also thankful for my adopted state, Texas, and the richness of the history here.
• I'm thankful for the career I had with IBM, the friends and colleagues there, and the ability to still keep up with many of them through the wonder of the internet, email, and Sametime. I'm also very thankful for retirement! I'm excited to see what this next phase of life brings!
• I'm thankful for the ability that I have had to travel over so much of the US and the world in my work life, and the ability to continue traveling during retirement.
• I'm thankful for my extended family - cousins that I am just becoming closer to now as an adult; members of Dwayne's family that have become my family; many members of family whose life on earth has ceased, but who still influence my life through memories; and members of the generations coming into adulthood now, who remind me to be grateful for what God has brought us through!
• I'm thankful to live in a diverse community where people from many different countries can be seen every day; meeting someone from a different culture doesn't require getting on an airplane, but just crossing the street or walking into WalMart!
• I'm thankful for my church family - for their support and love for us, for their willingness to hold us accountable, to build us up, to welcome us back when we've been away.
• I'm thankful for the kitties that I have had in my life - most particularly for our current two, Miss Kitty and Tabitha. 
• I'm also thankful for all the animals we were able to have growing up - cats and dogs of course, but also rabbits, chickens, horses and ponies, guinea pigs, skunks, calves, and of course, Belle, the goat. I'm not as thankful for snakes... but I think lizards are "cute". (Dwayne affirms me by telling me that my distaste for snakes is Biblical, "And I will put enmity between you and the woman...." (Gen 3:15a))
• I'm thankful to have grown up on a farm, but not to be living there as an adult. I'm also thankful that my brother and sister-in-law want to be on the farm (so I didn't have to feel guilty about *not* wanting to live there).
• I'm thankful for the opportunity that we had to spend quite a lot of time on Kauai during our marriage and for our "church family" and friends there.
• I'm thankful for friends - whether they be from childhood or adulthood, from work or church or neighborhood or school or just someone that God has brought across my path - each person has impacted my life and I am grateful.
• I'm thankful for teachers through my life - those that influenced me in my grade school and high school years, professors in college, instructors in technical topics during my work life, folks who are sharing with me about their paths even now as they are several steps ahead of us in the RV life.
• I'm thankful for technology that allows access to so much information at the tips of my fingers on a keyboard or telephone. But I'm also thankful for the written word in the form of books that are still great "friends" to spend time with!
• Of course, as I wrote a couple of days ago, I'm thankful for the relationship that I have with Jesus, that allows me to approach the throne of God and express to Him how thankful I am!

I am certain as soon as I post this entry, I'll think of more -- so I'll stick with this being a "start"!