Thursday Thirteen #17: Qualities I Admire in Others

We feel very positive tonight - filled with hope for the future and proud of those with whom we are able to associate. Therefore, we would like to expound upon those people and why we love them so much! These are not in order of importance, just in the order we think of them.

1. Promptness: If you're early, you're on time. If you're on time, you're late. If you're late, you're dead. People who take that to heart really impress us.

2. Friendliness:  When we graduated from college and moved to Colorado, we didn't know a single person in the entire state.  Our first Sunday in Colorado we went to church and as we sat down in one of the side pews, another couple with a little boy came up to us and introduced themselves as Mark, Lisa, and little Ethan.  By the end of the service they had invited us over to dinner that evening.  They are our good friends to this day.

3. Creativity:  It takes creativity to do well in a situation that you're new to.  For example, Nick's Mom once sewed Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle shells for Nick and his brothers for Halloween.  I'm sure that wasn't taught in home economics, but creative people make solutions.

4. Gratitude: We think that those who know they have it really good, especially even when they really don't, are so pleasant to be around.

5. Humility:  It's so refreshing to be around some one that is truly humble, especially when they have reason to be full of themselves.

6. Fashionability: Rachel used to say these people “wear themselves well.” You don’t have to be size 2, 100 LBS., and 5’11” to be fashionable. This could also be categorized as expressiveness or self-confidence. However you say it, it all means the same thing--you look good in what you wear and how you present yourself.

6. Courage:  To a 6-year-old, courage is loud and involves physical danger.  The older we get the more we see that courage is about moving forward in the face of disappointment, discouragement, fear, or loss.

7. Optimism:  SPOILER ALERT!  We know how it all ends.  God wins, good triumphs, and love conquers all.  We love people that remember that often.

8. Perseverance:  During the last month of Nick's missionary service in Brazil, his Mom sent him a Nike t-shirt with the slogan "There is no finish line" written on the front.  It's true.

9. Charity:  When Rachel was in grade school, her violin was stolen, placed on train tracks near her school, and smashed to bits by a train.  The story made the news and soon the community had raised enough money to buy Rachel a new violin.  There wasn't a rich benefactor that donated most of the money - it came from little acts of kindness working together.

10. Forgiveness: 


11. Reliability: Isn't it nice when you can trust that someone is going to do what they said they will do when they say they will do it?

12.  Humor:  On our recent vacation to Twin Lakes we spent one evening with Nick's brothers, Greg and Chris, and their wives, Kandice and Jessica.  Chris has always been the funny one in Nick's family and he was in top form that evening.  By the end of the night we were laughing so hard we were crying and our jaws hurt. 

13.  Faith:  In the words of Yellowcard "Everything is gonna be alright, be strong, believe."