Twenty-One

Last year I was in Jerusalem for my birthday and I wrote this blog post. I can't help but write a similar one for this year. This blog is kind of full of gratitude lists, but what can I say? It's my blog and it's my birthday so I'll do what I want to. I'm still thankful for those twenty things of last year's list, but here's a slew of 21 more things off the top of my head that I'm grateful for this year:

1. I'm grateful for my mission call.  I can serve a mission now and I will be a missionary in 64 days! Do you understand how wonderful this is? Turning 21 has been a day I've looked forward to for years. There are no limits now, baby! My age can't restrict me from anything (ok, besides renting a car, running for president, and getting the senior citizen discount)!
2. I'm grateful for my wonderful roommates and past roommates who I'm still friends with. While others may come and go, they are my consistent friends and I love them dearly. I'm grateful for roommates like Jamie, who despite being in the middle of testing week in the #2-in-the-nation-accounting-program, got up early to make me waffles. I'm so grateful to live with girls who live in a way that the Spirit is really always in our apartment.
3. I'm grateful for my job at the MTC. I get to work with great girls and be in an inspiring environment (not to mention go on a date or two with awesome MTC teachers).
4. I'm so grateful Hope is at BYU with me. I will miss her so much (and eating at the Cannon Center with her, aka my one opportunity for chocolate milk).
5. I'm grateful for the Provo YSA  78th ward!  Home teachers who teach me in Spanish, FHE brothers who make homemade birthday cakes, a wonderful Relief Society presidency to work with. They're a true ward family.
6. The temple. So very grateful for it.
7. Last year at my birthday I didn't realize how much I appreciate reliable electricity and hot water heaters. After cold water-pressure-less showers in the dark in Africa all summer, I am now quite grateful.
8. I'm thankful for 21 years of good memories with my family.
9. Estoy agradecida por espanol y que voy a servir en espanol, y en un ano voy a estar en PARAGUAY!
10. I'm grateful for lessons that come only through experience.
11. I'm thankful to have friends who are supportive of my mission. I'm thankful to know so many girls on missions right now, and for their emails that inspire me and prompt me to think, "What kind of missionary am I going to be?"
12. I'm so thankful for the friends I made in Jerusalem. As of my birthday last year I had only just met them, but they've since become a huge part of my life. A few became my roommates. I'm so lucky to know them. 
12. I'm thankful for my friends from Tanzania--like Seth who's coming to visit from Texas this week, and Camilla and Austin who are such great examples to me, and Annette who just rocks my world, and Elliot who encourages me one g-chat at a time.
13. I'm thankful to be living in the U.S. right now and be able to call home whenever I want. There's nothing like talking to your mom to make you feel like you can do anything.
14. I'm thankful for my sister Carrie and her husband Jared and the good example they set to me in the way they raise their three precious children.
15. I'm thankful for my six adorable nieces and nephews who adore me more than I deserve, and, despite it all, make me so excited for my own kids. They teach me a lot of lessons about children.
16. I'm thankful I could go to NYC this summer with my mom to attend a United Nations conference, which made me thankful I don't have to learn the hard way that strong families are crucial to society, that marriage is worth fighting for, and the worth of every soul, even unborn ones, is great.
17. After taking a step back and looking at what's happened in the past year, I'm just grateful to be alive after a few near-death experiences. And yet I'm so thankful for those experiences. What a rush.
18. I'm thankful Mitt won Florida yesterday. You couldn't have given me a better birthday gift, Florida.
19. I'm thankful for my substance abuse class. Ask me about it sometime.
20. I'm thankful for a lot of things that I'm not going to tell the world about on a blog.
21. Especially on my birthday, I'm thankful for my parents. It is because of their faith in God that I'm even alive and have a birthday to celebrate. They have been the source of most of the things I'm grateful for. They have taught me the gospel and live it with all their heart, and the gospel is what has brought me the meaningful happiness I enjoy and the perspective to cheerfully endure the not-so-happy times. They've believed in me and paid for me and had fun with me and just been the best. Mom and dad, I love you!