7 Days of Thanksgiving - Day 7

This is probably a cop out because I have been baking and snacking and baking pretty much all day, so food is on my mind...but I am so thankful for it. I know I forget how HUGE it is to be able to talk about food as a given, as a "hobby" that I can indulge in whenever I want. I definitely forget what a privilege it is to be able to pull out my cookbook, mull over different recipes, imagine what kind of pie to make, and know that I can afford the ingredients.

I've never known [what I imagine is] the gut-wrenching feeling of wondering not what or where I'll be eating, but IF. It's so simple...but I think so much of the time it's the simple things - automatic for us but a luxury for so many - that we forget to breathe a prayer of thanks for every day. So in that sense, I am incredibly thankful that I can not only eat a delicious meal with family tomorrow, but that I can eat. At all.

I'm also thankful for food because of what it does to people. It doesn't matter how bad of a day it's been or what kind of baggage you bring - it all gets left at the door when people gather around a meal. At Convergence, it has become a regular event to have a community meal for people in the neighborhood. Each person brings a dish - doesn't matter what it is or how much - but each person brings something, and we gather around it and enjoy.

See, people bond over food. A man from an art gallery can sit next to a single mom from the streets and they can talk about how GOOD that green bean casserole is, or how decadent that piece of chocolate cake tastes. At our house church, we gather around food once a week, and some life-changing, encouraging, and completely frivolous (but AWESOME) conversations take place over those meals. Conversations take place and entire communities are formed on Twitter about food between complete strangers. You can learn so much about entire cultures based on the kind of food they eat and how they eat it. I don't know about you, but eating a good meal automatically puts me in a better mood (that might mean I should be in counseling, but whatever). The thing about food is this: no matter who you are, everyone likes food, and everyone needs it. Simple as that. It's amazing.

Happy Thanksgiving.

7 Days of Thanksgiving...Day 6

I am SO thankful for all of these people:

Extended family, friends, in-laws, they are all amazing! Even if they make weird faces, can't dance in a very coordinated fashion, and wear man short shorts. They are literally all over the world and I don't get to see them nearly as often as I'd like, but they are still my besties. I am also VERY thankful for things such as Gchat, iChat, and email that let me stay up to date with what's going in their crazy and amazing lives. Thank you for being so wonderful!

7 Days of Thanksgiving - Day 5

This is kind of related to yesterday's post, but I'm not cheating! Over the last three years, I have become acutely aware of how important it is to be a part of a community...To surround yourself, whereever you are and however you do it, with a group of people who care about something bigger than themselves, who are committed to caring about you and "keeping it real," as it were.

Despite what we tell ourselves and what the flashy billboards screaming "rugged individualism" tell us, we are not meant to go through life alone. We're not meant to struggle, make decisions, celebrate, or love in isolation. We can tell ourselves we're okay on our own all we want, but that doesn't change the fact that we need each other to give a hug, lend a hand, call us out, or help others together.

I honestly believe that being a part of the Convergence community has changed the direction of my life, and it has had a profound impact on the direction of my life with Scott as the Girgishmelsons (you have to have the "h" in there to make it sound right). It definitely played a big part in my decision to pursue a career in social work, and it has been so amazing to see how real, authentic, and powerfully changing life with God and life with others can be. Yesterday, I spent the morning helping set up for "ReThread," the free clothing store we do several times a year for the kids in the neighborhood. Families come in, are greeted with a smile and maybe a hug, and they get paired up with a "co-shopper" who takes them around to find the sizes they need and helps them try on clothes just like they would in a real "store." Yesterday, we gave out over 160 coats (I had to leave shortly after the store opened, but it was awesome nonetheless) to kids who would have otherwise been cold this winter. But as always, it is one of the most amazing feelings to look around and see this group of people who love each other dearly extending that love just as authentically to others.

The point of this isn't to say how awesome Convergence is or how "selfless" or "giving" these people are; it's simply me saying how thankful I am to be part of such a real community in the midst of a lot of "fake." They've seen me happy, sad, vulnerable, excited, inspired, scared, and everything in between...and I know they'll be there through everything else. Yesterday I had a scary thought: "What if we hadn't met them? What if we had just gone through the last 3 years alone?" What if we hadn't met them? I wouldn't have a lot of the passion for justice and true life with God that I have now, and I definitely wouldn't have laughed as much. I've probably gotten weirder, too. I don't know what our lives would look like, but I know for sure it wouldn't be this. And that's DEFINITELY a good thing.

7 Days of Thanksgiving - Day 4

Unfortunately, I don't have many embarrassing photos of these people to share with you, but that is only because I do not have my camera with me every minute I am with them...trust me, they are very weird. This group of people have made our life here in Oklahoma SO incredible. They have been with us on the med school roller coaster since before the first test block, and they are amazing. They bring us food when we are too stressed out to cook, make us roll on the floor laughing with their randomness, give us awesome role models for that FAR OFF day when we become parents, send us weird and inappropriate videos, call us out when we need some tough love, hold us when we cry, laugh for an hour about weird plastic evil rats, care about other people and show love to those who don't get it enough, bring us desserts every day for 4 days before board exams, live out their faith every day in an incredibly authentic way, let us kidnap their children and take them to Chuck E. Cheese, and basically walk through life with us hand in hand. Oh and also, they are all AMAZING COOKS. That is really why we are friends with them. They even listen to Scott's random rants and don't run away when he shows them disgusting pictures of operations and human organs and such. That is love.

Seriously, I am so very thankful for our amazing church community, especially our house church (small group). They are some of the best friends we've ever had, and they are literally like members of our family. We would do anything for them, and they have been there with us during the great times and the unexpectedly heartbreaking times in the last three years. We all know I was less than thrilled about moving to Oklahoma, but I truly believe that these people are the reason we ended up here. They have literally changed our lives, and I don't know what Scott and I would do without them!

7 Days of Thanksgiving - Day 3

They sing "Yellow Submarine" without fail when we go on road trips. They yell at each other when the other one drifts into another lane while driving in the dark. They cheer for us when we do something great, cry with us when the world is ending, come to visit when we're sick, send us care packages, and embarrass us in public. The occasional dinner out or shopping trip is great, too. Just kidding.

Yup, I am thankful for my parents! They are both amazing, generous, kind, giving, motivated, weird, thoughtful people, and I can only hope and pray that I will be as wonderful as they are when Scott and I have kids. I couldn't have asked for better role models growing up, and we are incredibly blessed to have them. Even if my mom still makes her dog "talk." And even if my dad still orders at the drive thru in weird voices or in opera form. AND even if they insist on taking us to Medieval Times when we are in our 20s. Totally normal. They are awesome.

I heart them.

7 Days of Thanksgiving - Day 2

I am SOOO thankful for my brother, Tim. Even though we are 5 years apart, we are really close, and I love hanging out with him. I think that we both regress about 15 years when we get together, and we are definitely a TAD on the weird side. Tim is hilarious, very hip and trendy, has excellent taste in music, has an incredibly kind heart, and is very popular with the ladies. He has a sweet haircut right now just like Kanye West, and he is really one of the greatest people ever. He's very laid back and good-natured, but he knows what he believes and sticks to it, and he is always willing to help out someone who needs it.

AND.

He posts things on my Facebook wall like this:

Thanks Tim.

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7 Days of Thanksgiving - Day 1

Thanksgiving really snuck up on me - we have been super busy, and for some reason it just doesn't FEEL like it's almost holiday time. That probably has something to do with the fact that it's way warmer than usual for this time of year, but whateverrr Oklahoma!

So I've seen this on a few other blogs and we did this last week in our small group, so I thought I'd follow suit by posting every day about what I'm thankful for. There are definitely more than 7 things I'm thankful for, but you get the picture.

Sooo, I'll start with my lovely bff/husband/shopping partner/expert chef/bringer of hot chocolate, Scott! The last 2.5 years have been so wonderful, and he always finds a way to make things fun, cheer me up when I'm down, or do something totally weird or crazy to make me laugh. I know he is my biggest fan, and he is so supportive even when I am freaking out unnecessarily and being dramatic. He also understands the importance of boots, and he is always willing to give me his opinion on crucial things like which pants to wear with which sweater (even if sometimes his opinion is wrong). He is obsessed with musical theater and buys every song from Glee on iTunes as soon as it comes out. Then, he listens to it at full volume in the study, in the kitchen, and in the car, even if it is putting us at risk for deafness. Then, he puts songs like "Take a Bow" (yes, the Glee version of a Rihanna song) on repeat and listens to them 12 times in a row. SO THANKFUL.

Just kidding ;) For serious, he is amazing! I know plenty of married med students who let their spouses do everything and don't get very involved in anything aside from studying, and Scott is pretty much the opposite of that. Even when he is working 18 hour days at the hospital on his surgery rotation, he makes time to help me with things and go on date nights, even when he is pretty much a zombie. He is passionate about so many things, and he doesn't let that little med school thing get in the way of staying as involved as he can in things that he cares about - he really goes over and beyond what is required of him, and he is an amazing husband, friend, brother, and son. I couldn't be more thankful for him!

YAY SCOTT.

Haha.