Thanksgiving - part 2

Here is part 2 of my November thankful list. For part 1, click here: Thanksgiving part 1

8)      I’m thankful for my country, the United States of America. It’s not a perfect country and the leaders don’t always make decisions that I agree with, but there’s no other country in the world that I would rather live in. I’m thankful for the freedoms that we have in the USA. There’s no other place quite like it, and I’m blessed and proud to be an American.

9)      I’m thankful for all the men and women who have served and are currently serving in our nation’s military. These men and women are the ones who gave us our freedom and who have kept us free. They have fought wars and made sacrifices that most people have no clue about. Many have died or have been injured during their service to our country. Our country would not be what it is today without them.

10)      I’m thankful for the military families that I’ve met since Justin and I got married. I’ve made some amazing friends at the various duty stations where we’ve lived. They’ve been my support system during deployments and many have become like family to me during times when my family was far away.

11)      I’m thankful for our “new normal”. The military life can be a crazy one with a lot of changes. I have no regrets about it, but it was hard for me to leave friends every few years and to be so far away from family. As Corey’s gotten older, it’s harder for him to leave behind people and places he became attached to. I wouldn’t have chosen this particular method of getting to a post-military life, but I’m thankful that our “new normal” is in our hometown in Florida. Justin’s been reconnecting with friends that he hung out with in high school. I’ve been able to spend time with friends that I hadn’t seen in a while and look forward to spending time with other friends. Living near family both on my side and on Justin’s side for the first time in our marriage will be wonderful. Corey is going to really enjoy being close to family and being able to see them whenever we want. Good-bye will mean “I’ll see you in a day or two” rather than 6 months from now. My son will get to grow up with the kids of people that I grew up with. He’ll get to grow up in the church I grew up with. Even though the reason for us living in our hometown at this point in our lives is due to Justin being injured which is a bad thing, we are blessed with how things have worked out. I’m excited to see what the future holds for our family.

12)      I’m thankful for all the non-profits who have made our lives easier over the past 17 months. I’ve said quite a lot previously about some of the various ones that have helped us out, so I won’t go into a full list right now. You can check out some of my previous blog posts for more information. One of the biggest things I’m thankful for with these non-profits is not just what they’ve done to help us, but the friendships that they’ve formed with us. They are people who we know that we can call if we need help, not from their organizations, but as friends who care about us. They have encouraged us through some very difficult times and I will forever be thankful for them.

13)      I’m thankful for all the support and encouragement we’ve received since Justin was injured. It’s been amazing to see the outpouring of love and support we’ve received over the past year and a half. We’ve had people all over the world praying for us. I’ve gotten some of the nicest letters, messages, and posts from friends, family, and strangers. At the end of some hard days, it was nice to open up my facebook or the Saluting Sgt Justin Burdette page and read the nice things people have posted. It helped a lot.

14)      I’m thankful that we will be spending Thanksgiving with family. Over the past 6 years, with us living wherever the Army sent us, one of my sisters and her family living in NC, one of Justin’s brothers living in WV for a while, it’s been hard getting everyone in town at the same time for holidays, so when we’re together, it’s always special. One of my sisters had a baby this year, and Thanksgiving will be the first time Corey and all of his cousins will be at the same place at the same time. My mom is going to be loving life having all 5 grandkids together. We will have a busy Thanksgiving and will be completely stuffed by the end of the day with having lunch with my family and supper with Justin’s family, but I’m so thankful that our families live close enough that we don’t have to choose where to go on a holiday…we can go to both.