Thankfulness...

Stuff I'm thankful for:

1) My family. I know that sounds generic and is a cop-out answer for a lot of people who can't think of something else to be thankful for, but my family was not always so happy, so I really am thankful that God took two broken homes and brought us together to be happier than we ever were before. I was never this happy when my parents were together, and even though I was happier when they split up and it was just Mom, Kara and me, I was never this happy. Our family is so tight now, it is hard to believe we weren't always together and happy and I love all my step-siblings like they were flesh and blood. So I'm really thankful for my family!

2) I'm thankful for surprises. Even though I hate being surprised and not knowing what the future holds, I know that some surprises are good ones. I don't know what this next year holds. I'm sure there will be some times where I will be beyond frustrated, but there will also be some awesome times, and I know it will all work out in the end. This time last year I never could have imagined I'd be where I am now. Working in radio and earning an MBA were not even at the bottom of my list of things to do, but now I can't imagine being anywhere else. I'll never understand that, so I'm not even going to try. I'll just trust that God will take care of me and my family for another year, so that at Thanksgiving next year I'll be giving thanks for blessings I never expected!

3) I'm thankful for friends. Not just friendly aquaintences, but real friends. The kind where it doesn't matter if the last time you talked to them was yesterday or a year ago, you can still pick up where you left off and chat like nothing's changed. The kind you know you can always count on to listen when you need to spill your guts, to offer sound advice when you're stressing out, to be empathetic when you're bummed, and to never judge you when you make mistakes. Everyone deserves at least one of these friends. I have been blessed with several.

4) I know it sounds cheesy, but I'm thankful for Culver's. In a world where everyone wants everything right away and customer service is waning and bosses are only interested in making a buck, I'm truly thankful for a food service establishment that doesn't bend to follow the trends of food service, but maintains its integrity and puts quality and customer service first, and is truly concerned with the wellbeing of its employees! I'm not joking about this. If every business owner had the values and mindset of the Culvers, America would be much less corrupt.

Mimicry is the Sincerest Form of Flattery...

My boss at Brew Crew hooked me up with 4 sweet field level tickets right behind the home dugout for the Brewer game on September 22. However, my entire family was coming to the game on the 23rd to celebrate the twins' birthday, so no one wanted to come with me on Friday. Then my roommate and I decided it would be fun to give them to our two pastors and their wives, and offer to baby-sit their children (6 total and all 5 and under...)

We had a super-fun time watching my stash of VeggieTales, Cinderella, Winnie The Pooh, making a Bob & Larry cake, coloring, reading, and playing "zoo animals"... The oldest girl, Kaylee, even made us cute rings out of beads she'd gotten for her birthday (which I lost two days later :(

Anyways, the next week at church one of the pastor's wives came up to me and told me the kids still talk about how much fun they had and, "Kate did this," or "Kate said that," and when Kaylee and Chloe are playing they even pretend they are "Kate" and "Jackie!" Now if that is not the cutest thing you've ever heard, you must be heartless...

Providence...

I wasn't looking forward to spending all of Friday and Saturday working at a men's conference for the radio station, but it ended up being the best thing ever! (exlcuding, of course, the fact that "Men" signs were taped over all the "Women" signs on all the upper level restrooms...) To take a term from the book character, Anne Shirley... it must have been "Providence" that our booth was next to the booth for Concordia University. I was talking with a graduate admissions counselor from the business department and their MBA program sounded so perfect I felt like I needed to be pinched! I don't have to take the GMAT, which is great since I already spent $100+ taking the GRE, and I don't have to write a thesis! It is an accelerated program so they are night classes one day a week and if I take two classes at a time, even with taking the summer off and having to take three undergrad math courses, I can get an Masters of Business Administration with concentrations in both Marketing and Corporate Communications in two years! And even though I hate math, I'm not totally freaked out because the outcome will be totally worth it! I am super psyched... what an awesome answer to prayer!