Thankful to be Me

Simple as that. Everyday I think of more to be thankful for. Things I don't usually feel thankful for. Things that I shouldn't take advantage of like I do.

I hear and see things on TV and Facebook that sometimes make me wonder how I ended up with the life I did. And makes me wonder how I am even allowed to think about complaining.

I was born in a time of heat, air conditioning, running water, electronics for just about anything that would require hard labor, medical technology, cell phones, etc.

I was born in America to a middle class family that were already members of The Church.

I think a lot about Russia. Not because of the Olympics or anything but because a little bug or something climbed in my head a long time ago and said I was going to adopt from there. I don't know when, and lately I don't know how because of the new law there, but I do know I will eventually do it.
I think about the children there and in countries all over the world that are in orphanages. Rows of beds, dirty clothes, little food, and little warmth. No one to pay for medical expenses. And I wonder, how did I get so lucky? And why do they have to suffer?

Makes me think of the bigger picture. Having a body and coming to earth must be the most important thing we will ever do, throughout eternity. We knew of the hardships we would have and yet we still chose to come. Makes me wonder if I was a big baby about it. I wasn't one of the stronger ones that said, "Let me be born in "whatever" country and in "whatever" time and I will deal with the hardships of that land and time. Put me in Germany, in 1940, and better yet, make me a Jew." or "Put me in Russia, born with FAS, a mother that abandon's me and a life in an orphanage that has little heat and little food and only a few caretakers." or "Give me a family but make them abuse me in the most horrible way possible until I lose the will to live." or "How about the Middle Ages where I watch everyone around me die of plague and then I do the same."
I could go on but we all know how hard things can be and have been for people.

I've talked to Jake about this and he tells me that we all have our own hardships to go through and they are made for us. We were born at the time and place we were for a reason. I know this is true but I just can't wrap my head around it. I understand that we are all born at the time we should be but why am I one of the lucky ones?

Sometimes, I just wish that I would remember this more often. Remember that things could be worse and I really shouldn't be complaining at all.