the things for which i am thankful

'tis the season of thanks. i like thanksgiving. it's one of the best times of year to be with family, eat a whole lot, get amazing deals at stores, and most importantly, count your blessings. the thing that i am the most thankful for is the Gospel of Jesus Christ. having a testimony of Jesus Christ and of Heavenly Father and His plan for all of us is the greatest blessing i have. i was thinking about a lot of things today and i thought about how ivana is going on her mission tomorrow!!! i am so excited for her. gosh, i remember those days struggling in croatian as i tried to explain the answers to her very intricate questions. i remembered going to zagreb to witness her baptism. i remembered all the times we spent together. all of our conversations and hugs. i am so grateful for her. she taught me what a truly loyal friend is. i have so many great friends. and as flaky as it sounds, i really wish i were a better friend to them. my greatest weakness isn't loving my friends, it's not keeping in touch as often as i should. i'll work to improve that! i'm grateful to clayton for supporting me so greatly as i decided to go on a mission and for supporting me all the way. words cannot express his sweetness and amazingness. he showed me what respect is and that not all guys are pompous jerks.
the person at the forefront of my mind was gabriele. my silly italian. i am grateful for each passing day when he decides to still love me. i'm grateful for our engagement and for all the little things that we constantly learn about each other. i'm grateful for having been led to him. we're just meant for each other. he's made everything worthwhile.
i'm happy. even when i think i'm not i'm happy. because i have a lot to be thankful for. i have a great family. one that's strong in the church and whose ties can never break. and i'm happy with that.

venezia

i went to the library today to donate some books and check out whatever caught my eye. so i found a dvd about venice and i checked it out. venice is quite the place and its history is really interesting. so many things that are common to us started in venice. well, glass is a duh but the fact that the mirror was invented there is pretty cool. marco polo, casanova, casinos, cafes, murano glass...the list goes on. anyway, i really enjoyed the little history lesson and loved the images. i can't wait to go back.
cormons, italy is about an hour north of venice and ummm yeah i am definitely choosing venice as a top weekend getaway, alongside zadar of course. i don't know what gabriele will say about this. he's not a huge fan of venice. to be honest, i wouldn't say it's my favorite place in the world, but it has a lot of charm. i'd very much enjoy to visit the murano island to see the glass factories. i turned down the invitation the last time. oops. watching the video made me want to go the next time around.
the thing i found crazy is that i'll be able to visit venice the way i visit downtown chicago. it's that close to where we'll be living in italy. so all of the glitz will someday be somewhat commonplace. but i guess that happens everywhere. i'm still super excited to move to italy. :)
just for everyone's information, i will be making a guest room in our house. so if you're interested in coming to venice and need a place to stay and a ehm...translator (namely gabriele), we are so available to provide these things.