Here are just a few of the things that I'm thankful for today:
- Family and friends who are able to come and visit us. We're looking forward to my parents visiting this weekend and then L's parents coming the following weekend. We are so grateful that they are willing and able to come and see us and that all things considered, Turkey is not that far from the UK. The ongoing tourist visa situation between Turkey and the USA, which prevented my friend's sister from being able to come here last week as she had planned, makes me especially grateful for family visits.
- A toddler who makes me laugh, who loves books and trains and stomping like a dinosaur, who daily drives me beyond the limits of my own reserves of patience - and who sometimes does all of that at the same time!
- A baby who has just turned 6 months old (how time flies!), who laughs out loud at the sight of his big brother, who has decided that being mobile is fun but so are cuddles.
- A husband who daily exemplifies self sacrificing love and who gets up with the boys at a time that begins with a 6 (and occasionally a 5) every morning so I can sleep a bit longer.
- Friends here. When we came here, I asked our Father for two friends - one expat who could help me navigate the system here as a foreigner and one with whom I could meet and talk to . 18 months later, those prayers have been answered and I have several friends from a variety of countries.
- Electricity and water. Whenever we have water or electric cuts (which happens rather more regularly here than in the UK) and then the water or power returns, I'm always so grateful for it for a few minutes/hours/days (depending on how long the cut has lasted!). But then so quickly I forget and start taking these for granted again.
- And for drinking water - no one who has any choice in the matter drinks water from the tap here. You either install a filter on the tap or buy 19 litre bottles of drinking water. I'm thankful that I only have to call a number and someone brings a new bottle of drinking water right to our door.
- Routine. I was reading a blog the other day which talked about the 'luxury of routine' and it was right. To have predictable days, to know where you will sleep each night, to know you can open the cupboard and find food, or go to the shop and buy some, to know (on the whole) what to expect when you walk down the street. To have relatively settled and stable lives is something I am thankful for.
Of course there are many more, but these are just a few that came to mind...
