27 reasons to be thankful to be....27 (so original)

Here it is - two days late  - but in honour of my birthday I want to celebrate the things I've learned/gotten to do/am thankful for. In no particular order (or maybe in some sort of order...) and some serious and some not...here they are.

27. SOFT contact lenses. I did have hard. They felt like you had two pennies in your eyes.
26. Soccer (dear Netherlands, sniff...what are we going to do...)
25. Sushi of any sort
24. Volleyball - competitive - I admit I'm a bit of a snob
23. Hagelslag - not a swear word - and if you don't know what it is click here
22. Theodore
21. Jacob
20. Hetty
19. Laurence
18. Candace
17. Rachel (yes, some say that is cheating, but what else can you do with six siblings?)
16. My parents
15. the invention of scuba diving (I mean think about it, HOW, did that happen?)
14. that I learnt early that lying is not a good idea (yes there is a story here and it involves velcro shoes...hahaha)
13. Living in Honduras
12. Learning Spanish - I say "learning" intentionally.
11. That for once in my life having a name as dutch and a long as mine could be fun - I am still written down in the books through Central America as Amanda Van Helsing.
10. guitar
9. piano
8. my health - which seems to have a mind of its own - but I am still thankful
7. a growing desire to find something (not someone unless its me) to laugh at
6. friends - whom I am continually blessed to know and journey with
5. that I have gotten to study more and love it - yes I am a nerd -
4. traveling
3. sushi - did I mention that? - oh I must really like it
2. Afterbite
1. On a serious note, I am thankful to live in a country where the is freedom to openly worship Christ, and to have grown up in a family that follows Him as well.
\manda

Happy 28th Anniversary to my wonderful parents!

Dear Dad & Mom,

On this day of all days, the day that marked the start of your life together, the sibs and I want to take a moment to say thank for of the following:
 
 - thank you that there are enough of us to have:  our own volleyball team with subs, enough badminton teams for round robin tournaments, enough people to have our own band, and how we can double the size of any party we attend.
- thank you for making us believe that there was a Grinch in the world so that every night we would check our closet and under our bed to make sure he wasn't hiding there.

- on the flip side, thank you for being there to protect us from the Grinch
- thank you for making us eat our vegetables and liver - so that now our friends think we are weird because we like brussel sprouts, though we still hate liver
- thank you for making us get over our fear of heights by refusing to go home until we all had jumped from some high height into Georgian Bay
- thank you for instilling in us an appreciation for long road trips and "the scenic route"
- thank you for teaching us not to take ourselves too seriously. Now we don't take you too seriously either.


Laughing aside, in all seriousness, thank you very much for your love and care for us these past years, for your generosity in your time and with your money, for your encouragement as we ventured far from home and into some not-so-safe situations, for your examples of godliness and sacrifice in your love for each other. Thank you for your continued encouragement for each of us to seek the Lor.

 Lots of love from the crazy squad:
Amanda, Rachel, Candace, Laurence, Hetty, Jacob & Theodore