My thankful list: new car!, half marathon!, Sally, friends, etc.

Life in general is good.

Here's what I am most thankful for right now:
-my new car!! About a week ago I bought a car for the first time. It has been a very big deal. After saving for about 7 months, and car shopping for probably 2 long months (I was SO done with car shopping by the time I bought it), I finally found and purchased what seems like will be a good car, and which I love more and more the more I drive it! It's a 2007 Hyundai Tucson, and it's like a light sea foam green color. It's an SUV, which I've wanted for a long time, but never really thought I'd actually own. But it's a small SUV, gets pretty good gas mileage, and it's fun to drive. And it has an awesome radio/CD player, with a remote included, which I think is Jamie's favorite. the radio thing is always lit up and it constantly changes color, it's awesome. The interesting thing about this car buying experience is that I found this 2002 Honda CRV a little while ago, that I really liked, even brought it home, seemed like a great car, loved everything about it except the price. The guy at that dealership wouldn't budge on price, so I left that day, after I was ready to make an offer and buy the car. I was bummed. Then about a week later I decided it was worth the money and I'd just bite the bullet because it seemed like a great car. And I had prayed all week (I worked a lot in the beginning of the week and couldn't do anything about it even if I wanted to) that it would still be there after all my shifts, if I was supposed to buy it. I was, and then the next day I called, and he had sold it the night before. I was absolutely crushed. I felt like it was the perfect car for me, so much that I almost felt like it was a mistake that someone else bought it. I wondered if they might bring it back. Not really, but I just felt totally and completely crushed and regretful. I was so bummed. I totally lost the motivation to look for a car for a little bit after that too.
And even when I bought the car I just bought, I even then felt like though I liked it, and felt like I got a good deal, if I could go back I'd still get the CRV. However, now, after owning and driving this car for even just a few days, I feel like I got the right one, and that I would not go back if I could. That this car is perfect for me, I love it, and I saved about $2000 than if I had bought the CRV. And it was a great car buying experience, the guy let me offer him less than it was listed at, and then he counter-offered and we met in the middle. It was great. Anyway, my point is that even in something such as buying a car, Heavenly Father has our best interests at hand. When I lost out on what I thought was the perfect car for me, in trying to console myself, I tried to think of the possibility of there being something even better in the future. But it was hard to imagine, it really was. And I don't know if my car is necessarily bettter, but in some ways I think for me, it is. I really like the look of it, and have come to like it more and more all the time, maybe even more than the CRV, the radio is awesome, it gets slightly better gas mileage than the CRV I think.. so I just really feel like even in this situation, Heavenly Father had my back. And I did get something even better in the end, that I absolutely love. And I feel so extremely blessed to have been able to buy this car. I was able to pay cash for it, which was always my goal, so it's totally paid off, I got my own insurance for the first time, and it's totally paid for the next six months too. And I still have money in my bank account, which I truly feel so blessed about. Plus, it was really great timing, because right before I bought it, my other car, the Oldsmobile Eighty-Eight, that I've been driving for FIVE years now, since I got home from my mission, had been quitting more frequently, so I feel like I was being watched out for there too. Good timing, but not a coincidence, I feel. God is so good to me.

Other things I'm thankful for:
-My body and being blessed be able to run a HALF MARATHON yesterday with Jamie! Holy moly, I still can't believe I actually ran a half marathon. My body sure feels like I did, still hurts to walk, but man, I just feel so blessed and accomplished. I was not able to train as much as I wanted to or should have, with the busy end of summer recently and I got sick a couple weeks ago, so I was pretty nervous about the race, and just prayed that we could have a good experience, and be able to get through it and run all or most of it. And I was so blessed. We both were. Minus the about ten minute bathroom break halfway through (Jamie had to go to the bathroom, and I stopped and stretched and drank powerade, I was definitely grateful for the little break, I think it made all the difference for me), we pretty much ran the entire race, which completely exceeded my expectations. Hers too. But we just took a good steady, slow pace the entire way, and made it through! And it really wasn't too terrible! That last mile was pretty hard to get through, but we pushed through, and even kind of sprinted to the end! I think mostly because we just wanted to be done, haha. It was so exciting though, I just still can't believe I just ran a half marathon, ha! That is so not like me I feel like. The most I'd ever run before that was my 6.3 mile leg for Ragnar this summer, and I definitely didn't run the whole time. I just feel so blessed to have been able to do this.

-My family, especially my relationship with Sally. For the past year, maybe, I have not had a good relationship with Sally, and I don't really want to take the time to explain why, but since she came and stayed here, and everything came out on the table, with tears and all, things have gotten so much better, and I actually look forward to talking to her, and want to see her, which has not been the case for quite a while, which I've hated. So I feel very blessed and my prayers have been very answered, in that our relationship is so much better now. And I'm hoping to fly down on her birthday next month and surprise her. Just have to find/bribe someone to cover one shift for me..

-My confidence and self-esteem. I feel very blessed to know who I am and to know my worth. At least to the extent I do. I have been blessed with people and experiences in my life that have given me the self-confidence that I have, and I am so so grateful for those things. Like my education, my mission, my testimony, my job, my family and knowing they love me, other experiences like doing EFY (as a counselor), past and current callings, going skydiving, recently going to Havasupai, running Ragnars, now having done this half marathon, etc. I just feel really blessed to be who I am and to have been blessed with the outgoing, friendly, fun personality that I have, and to have been blessed to have these experiences that have shaped me.

-Good friends. Right now I'm in this I'm-sick-of-people phase, including my friends, but I am grateful for them. I'm grateful to have good friends that like me.

-The cool CTR ring I bought at the state fair last night. It's silver, hand made out of the end of a spoon, and engraved with CTR, and I love it! Jamie almost got one too, but then didn't. I used to always wear a CTR ring, for years and years, the same one, and then I lost it in the grass  at an intramural soccer game in nursing school. I got a new one a few months later, which I really liked, but lost that one day after taking it off to put on lotion and forgetting to put it back on before I got out of the car I was riding in, and we never found it. That was about a year ago. I don't wear rings to work, because I wash my hands so much, and it's much easier without rings on I think, just my personal preference, so I just haven't worried about getting a new one. But I'm excited to have this new one. I won't wear it at work, but other times, and I really like it. I like having one on for missionary opportunities.

-Feeling over and okay about Andy. I think I will always remember him with fondness, and cherish our times together and the mistakes we made and what we learned and shared together, and the good times we had, but I don't think about him and miss him near as much as I used to. I think that phone call with him a few weeks ago was very good for me, for that purpose. I feel like that was an end to this era of Andy. And I'm grateful to feel like I'm able to move on.

Well, I'm thankful for many things, but I better quit. Goodnight!