And in the end...

My 999 days are up! In the last 2.775 years I have cooked, eaten, traveled, read, learned, and grown far more than I ever expected to when I started this list.

I didn't accomplish every goal I set for myself, but I'd say 64 out of 99 isn't too shabby! I'll be making my donations to Water Missions and Jeff Street soon.

If you remember my very first post, the ultimate goal of doing this list was to make me more thankful, and if that was the case, I'd say this was a huge success. Here are just a few things for which I have become more thankful in the last 999 days...

God.

It's because of Him that any of this was possible. God gave me the opportunities to travel, the resources with which to cook, and so much more. Memorizing Titus gave me a greater appreciation for God's word and for the body of Christ, the church. Volunteering at Jeff Street allowed me to see the transforming power of the Gospel in the lives of broken people, people that the rest of the world might have ignored or written off as hopeless. That's what it's all about, folks.

My city.

(image from louilink.com)

When I started this list, I thought we only had a few months left here in Louisville, but God had other plans, and now it looks like are going to be here for quite awhile. Louisville's not a perfect city; there is no such thing this side of heaven. There's a lot of darkness here, a lot of hurting people. But I love this place. Though Charleston will always be home to me, Louisville is one of the coolest cities around, and I feel blessed to live here.

My body.

It's not cover-of-Cosmo material, but my body is a lot stronger than I give it credit for; I discovered that while training for the Bridge Run. This is the only body I'll ever have, and in the last few years I have learned how to take better care of it. As a result, I'm now almost heartburn-free, and I eventually had to give away my high-school jeans (the ones I'm wearing in that pic on the left) because they were too BIG!

My kitchen.

I cooked almost all of my 100 new recipes in my little kitchen. At 56 square feet, the kitchen is one of the smallest rooms in our apartment (second only to the bathroom). There's no dishwasher and virtually zero counter space, and the tiny cabinets had us storing surplus non-perishables in the cleaning closet. There were countless times when I (very loudly) voiced my hatred for it, yet I can't deny that it has given me some of the best meals of my life. Good things in small packages and all that sorta thing.

Books.

I've always loved to read, but I stopped doing it for a long time. Who knows why...maybe I was too busy, maybe I associated it with school and that made it feel like work, maybe I was just more preoccupied with stuff like social media. Ugh. In any case, I'm back in a groove with reading, and I wouldn't have it any other way. Written word > Facebook/Pinterest/all the other ways I waste my time.

My husband.

He's my best friend, and throughout the last 999 days, he has been my biggest fan and greatest supporter. There's no one else with whom I'd rather share this journey. That's why I'm pleased to announce that we are teaming up to do a combined 99-in-999 list, starting the first of October! That's just a few days away...so stay tuned!