Every day is Thanksgiving. I begin each day by giving thanks to God, His Son Jesus Christ and The Holy Spirit for mine and my family members’ awakening, to be given the strength to rise and shine so that we may begin another day, for keeping everyone and our home safe throughout the night and for the lovely weather … rain and or shine.

In regards to my family, I am thankful for being born to very goodly parents. I am also thankful for my siblings.

Despite our conflicts and disagreements we have had from childhood until now, which is a part of life so that we learn and progress, I thank God for my very loving family.

I am thankful for the employment that our parents were blessed with for many years. And because of their long-term employment, we always had a place to live, food and beverages to partake of, clothing to wear, footwear — plus so much more.

I am thankful for the sacrifices that our parents made for us. I recall the many nights they remained awake late into the night assisting us with our homework. And then came the weekends. Our dad usually performed some type of home improvement project and maintained our yard. Yet, he was also a beach person. There were many times when he set a project aside and told us: “OK, let’s go to the beach.” He told us to prepare our bags, then asked mom to prepare food and off we went into the country.

Speaking of sacrifices, I am thankful for our parents serving in the Army. Dad was so very eager to serve in the military that he could not wait to graduate from high school.

Once he entered and earned income, he sacrificed some of it and sent it home to his mom, our grandma Katie. This was to assist with payments so one of his brothers could attend a private school. Sacrifices, yes. Dad assisted many people but he always made sure that his family came first. I will always be thankful from learning from his examples.

I am also thankful for everyone who served and are serving in the military, as well as everyone who places their lives on the line to save lives — people and animals.

I am thankful for all of the businesses — profit and nonprofit, government agencies and volunteers who assists our communities from social networking to food banks to projects such as improving our environment and schools.

I am thankful for my good health. I encountered one major issue 13 years ago, but I fully recovered through the grace of God. I am also thankful for being able to walk, that I still have the abilities to see properly with the aid of eyeglasses, to hear, to smell, to taste and to touch.

I am thankful to have been born and raised in such a lovely place, here on the island of Oahu. I am also thankful to enjoy God’s great beauty around us from the beautiful blue sky and ocean to our stunning sunrises and sunsets and other marvelous creations.

I count my blessings every day. My biggest blessings above all of the above are God, His Son Jesus Christ and The Holy Spirit. Despite of all of my flaws, I am thankful for Their unconditional love.

Alexis M. Liftee, of Nuuanu, has worked as an administrative aide and community volunteer.