Wednesday, November 24, 2010

There is Thankfulness...and a Contest!

As I write this from the passenger seat of my RV, we are about two hours east of Santa Monica which will conclude our coast-to-coast trip that began in Baltimore on November 5th. We're pulling into SoCal just in time to be included in a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner and celebration with our friends The Wilsons.



Having just come cross-country, over 3,000 miles, there is much thankfulness. I'm thankful for the love and support of my sweetheart, Patrick, who not only did his share of driving us out here, he also took care of pumping the gas, dumping the water tanks (don't make me go into too much detail! LOL!), and taking care of any needed repairs here and there.



I'm also very thankful to the many friends and family we stayed with (called "boondocking" in RV vernacular) along the way from Baltimore to Chicago to St. Louis to Joplin, across Oklahoma, Texas, and New Mexico, to Arizona and finally to California.

And I'm thankful for this beautiful country that we live in. I am truly in awe of her beauty...literally, from the mountains, to the prairies, to the oceans. We watched the leaves turn colors on the east coast and then saw the flat plains of the midwest change into the deserts of the southwest and into the mountains. I'm a writer, yet I have no words to describe the things we've seen except...wow.


The beautiful mountains of western Arizona along Old Route 66


The Petrified Forest in eastern Arizona


The Painted Desert in eastern Arizona


The world's largest rocking chair in Cuba, MO

I will be most thankful on Thursday when I sit down to a wonderful dinner with friends who were kind enough to bring us into their fold for the holiday. And, I will be most thankful on Saturday if my beloved Crimson Tide and completely mess up the Auburn Tigers' "perfect" record with a win in the Iron Bowl. LOL! What...I can't be grateful for my football team?



Shout out and thanks to the wonderful people at RTBookReview.com for their amazing support of the Buzz Blog Girls and featuring us to give advice to aspiring writers of young adult fiction. If you haven't already done it, check out the article here.

And in celebration of the Thanksgiving holiday and the upcoming Christmas holiday season, I am giving away a copy of my book, CHRISTMAS MIRACLES. To be eligible to win, please post in the comment trail what you're most grateful and thankful for...from the most sincere and heartfelt...to the most quirky. One (1) winner* will receive an autographed copy fo CHRISTMAS MIRACLES.



Happy Thanksgiving and Roll Tide!

Hugs,
Marley = )

Ghosts don't hang up their sheets after Halloween!
GHOST HUNTRESS series - The Awakening, The Guidance,
The Reason, The Counseling - available now!

*Contest is open to US and Canadian residents.

11 comments:

Unknown said...

Hi :)
That's my dream- to be able to travel throughout North America in a nice RV/Coach. Thank you for the wonderful pictures.
I'm thankful that my three children are healthy and self-confident.
:)
Happy Thanksgiving!
Love & Best Wishes to you & yours,
RKCharron

TinaFerraro said...

Love these pictures and enjoy the California weather--however chilly! =)

Jessica said...

Sounds like it was a great trip! Love the giant rocker!! :P

I am grateful for many, many things...on the sweet side, I'm grateful to have a loving and supportive husband, on the quirky side, I am grateful to have a dog large enough to ride around like a small pony! (I'm totally kidding...he is that big, but I would never want to potentially hurt him!)

Happy Thanksgiving!!
Jessica
ireadtorelax@yahoo.com

Bwyatt said...

ROLL TIDE!!!!!! I will be grateful if our team can pull it together and play up to their potential and beat Auburn. My husband will be at the game! But I will certainly be watching it. Roll Tide Roll!!

Steph said...

I am most thankful for my immediate family. I know it is so typical to hear that people are thankful for their family, but I really am thankful to have them in my life. They are my strongest support system that I can count on constantly. Without them, I don't know who, what, or where I would be. My parents have always pushed me to be the best person I could be and they have allowed me all the opportunities I could possibly wish for. They accept me as I am and know that I make my decisions with the best outcome in mind. My brother and sister are also always there. Even though I talk to my sister more and I know she will always be there, I also know that I can go to my brother about anything. They also have learned to accepted for who I am and love me anyway. We don't have everything in the world, but we are always there for each other.

When you consider the amount of kids who don't have anything remotely close to this, you realize how much you take your life for granted. I write this with tears in my eyes as I think about how great my life is compared to the lives of other kids my age, including the lives of some of my friends.

You shouldn't compare yourself to other people, but, at this time of year, I feel like we need to in order to really see what we need to be thankful for. Life is far from perfect, but when you take a step back and look at what you do have, you see how good things are for you and the little things in life that tend to make you feel happier. When I take a step back, I see how I have taken my family for granted. Though I tell them I love them, I feel like it isn't enough compared to what they do for me each passing day. That is why I need to often stop and think about the good things I do have in life, despite all of the things that can and have gone wrong.

Celise said...

So glad you enjoyed the desert mountains of my hometown. I almost forget we have beautiful places like that here. Until I travel. LOL

DianeScraps said...

I am most thankful for my family!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Esterina said...

im thankful for my husband,family, pets and facebook friends.

sunnynikki said...

Right now since it is getting colder outside I'm thankful for a warm house, down slippers, and fingerless gloves that keep me toasty even while I type away.

Laura @thereadingnook said...

I am grateful for my hubby, my family, my friends, and my two girls ska English bulldogs ohhh and of course books!

brendajean said...

I am most thankful to have a healthy body that still works:)

Happy Holidays!

bchild5 at aol dot com