I hope you all enjoyed your Thanksgiving and found some time to relax with family and friends while reflecting on the blessings in your lives. 

For Thanksgiving this year, Roxanne and I decided to run the Edison Park Turkey Trot, a 5k race we ran a few years back.  It seemed like a great idea...that is, until the weather report was released.  Yep, it was indeed the coldest Thanksgiving in 50 years in Chicago, and we found ourselves spending Thanksgiving morning out in the 20 degree (0 with wind chill) weather.  It could have been raini...I mean snowing, so at least we had the sun on our side!

The race actually ended up being a lot of fun despite the cold, so we headed back to the car and drove home to get ready for dinner at the in-laws.  On the way back, I couldn't help but notice the car was pulling hard to the right, so I pulled over and found that, sure enough, one of the one-month old tires I had just put on the car was flat.  Let me tell you...changing a tire in weather that feels like 0 degrees is MUCH LESS ENJOYABLE than running in it.  I got the spare on, which, of course, was almost totally flat itself.  Finally got it filled up and we were on our way.

Despite the less-than perfect start to our Thanksgiving, I had to remind myself...if this is the only thing that I have to be upset about, I am pretty well blessed.  Indeed, God has blessed my family in so many ways I can't even begin to list them all here.  However,  I will note that the very fact that I am a United States citizen means that I have been given WAY MORE than I could ever hope for, let alone need.  This website is a great reminder of just how rich we are really are.  As an American, we are surrounded by wealth and often take for granted the lifestyle we live.  We must strive to remind ourselves that the lives we are experiencing are in no way normative on this planet.  In fact, it seems to me that many of the material "blessings" we have are so often curses in the end.