Gratituesday: opportunity

I’d first like to give you all a heads up that there are some administrative announcements coming soon! Important dates, pricing changes, etc. So please stay tuned for that!

So this is the first week I have sat down to write my Gratituesday post feeling completely unprepared. I have been thinking about it all week and this one thing has been on my mind a lot lately. But it wasn’t until I sat down to watch the Cowboys game last night with my husband that it really hit me.

This week I want to express my gratefulness for Opportunity.

There is SO much I can say about this, but I’m going to try to keep it short. The wallpaper on my ipod touch is the following photo:

I took this photo while standing in a little Nepalese dress shop. These girls were following us, begging for money.

Every single time I swipe the little “unlock” switch (?) on this ipod, I catch myself reflecting on my trip to Nepal. It truly changed my life. Not a day goes by that I don’t stop to appreciate, consider, or just think about the opportunities I have in my life. While watching the Cowboys game last night I was absolutely blown away by their new stadium. A 1.1 BILLION dollar stadium? Really, America? No offense to all the Cowboy fans out there… but I really had a hard time swallowing that one. I said out loud before the game started “Do you KNOW what 1.1 BILLION dollars could BUY in Nepal?!” My husband responded with a chuckle, “It could buy the whole country.”

Now I don’t know if that’s true or not, but it was at that moment when I decided what today’s Gratituesday would be about. Today, and all days, I am extremely grateful for the opportunities I have in my life as both an American and a child of God:

• to follow my dream and make a living doing something I truly enjoy.
• to go to school and get an education despite my financial circumstances.
• to have any career I’d like, despite what my parents do.
• to CHOOSE what I want to eat every  night for dinner and knowing that there WILL be food available to me.
• to travel around the world and see different places and cultures. While I was in Nepal I was so surprised at the number of people I ran into trying to get a Visa into the United States (at cyber cafe’s or simply in conversation). It is so rare for anyone in Nepal to be approved for a Visa in different countries!
• to own a vehicle.
• to visit, explore, and buy items from a grocery store that would be considered a palace in Nepal.
• to have a warm bed to sleep in and a roof over my head every night.

This list could truly go on and on and on. We are so, so blessed to be born Americans and I don’t ever want to take that for granted again. If I could, I would take everyone I know to Nepal or India or any other country - to SHOW them how crazy blessed we are here in the United States.

I am so, so grateful for the opportunities I have in my life.

We ended up buying food and drinks for the girls and giving that to them instead.