Gratitude 2013 Day 12

Today I am grateful that I get to be a grandma...

and Thayne gets to be a grandpa,

to (so far) 6 of the most adorable children ever born!

It is amazing to watch them grow.

It's amazing to watch their parents grow.

Our hearts just keep getting larger and our lives keep getting richer.

I count my blessings every day,

and they are at the top of that list!!!



Gratitude 2013 Day 11

Today I am grateful for flowers...

and a husband who will bring them home randomly

to cheer me up and let me know he loves me!

 

I am also grateful for our veterans and the sacrifices they have made

in our behalf.

I am grateful for their families who also sacrifice so that we may remain free!

Gratitude 2013 Day 10

My Sunday gratitude.... 

I am grateful for the gift of faith. 

We had some pretty amazing conversations about faith over the past couple of days

and I am grateful to see how faith has blessed my life.

  Having the faith to trust The Lord isn't necessarily always easy,

 but looking back over my life I see how me trying to decide,

or even demand life work out exactly the way I wanted it,

 or thought it should,

 would have robbed me of the most incredible blessings. 

Looking back,

I wonder why I thought for one minute that I could even think I had a better way. 

We know that the only thing we truly have to give to The Lord is our will

 and I will forever be grateful for that moment when I had the faith to let go of my will

 and give it to Him.

Because He has far better things in store for me than I ever have had for myself. 

Faith is my reason for being on this earth. 

To walk by faith. 

To become like the One that sent me.

  Yes, it takes faith in something I can't "see" at the moment. 

But the tangible evidence of the blessings are enough to keep me believing.

Gratitude 2013 Day 9

Today I am grateful for being a mom. 

I am not just grateful for the sweet times,

or those amazing smelling newborn babies,

 but also for the heart wrenching times when I feel like I am failing in every way.

  I am grateful for the teaching moments.

 I am grateful to know that my heart is capable of loving not just one,

but many human beings so completely and so perfectly,

 and even when "I" am far from perfect,

I know that my love for them IS perfect. 

I am grateful for the ability to sacrifice and for the ability to pray for my children

 and for the tiny miracles daily that prove to me

that though I love them to the best of my abilities,

they are loved absolutely perfectly by our Father in Heaven.

He loves them even more than me.

  He gives me light, and hope that He will help me.

  I am grateful to understand that giving more than I thought I ever had,

has made me better than I ever could have been.

I learned what it means to know that you would lay down your life

 for another human being. 

I am grateful to have learned what life is really about.

  I am grateful that I got to feel life grow within me time and time again.

  I am grateful for those nights when I lay in bed with my hands on my belly,

 feeling kicks and turns and dreaming of who that little soul would be.

  I am grateful for the tears I have cried,

and the nights I lay awake wondering what to do,

because I learned that I never walk alone in this.

  I have felt the Savior wipe my tears

 when I did not or could not do anything else but pray.

 I am grateful for the lost nights of sleep while I rocked a crying baby,

 because I now know how quickly those years went by.

 I am grateful for the joy I have felt

as little hands give me dandelions 

and drew me pictures

and hugged me when I am sad.

I am grateful for the times when they have shown me

 fierce loyalty and great compassion,

when they encircled me as I mourned

 and give me courage when I am afraid.

  Nothing has ever taught me more than I have learned

 by being a mom to these amazing people.

Gratitude 2013 Day 8

Today I am grateful for the opportunity I have to pursue a dream that I almost doubted would happen.  I am especially grateful for my husband and children supporting me while I accomplish this dream, because it takes time away from them. 

 

I committed to taking a 9 month class by www.wedofeet.net and it has been one of the most amazing experiences of my life.  What I am learning brings me so much peace, and joy.  I have to travel one weekend a month and be away from my family, yet I have gained some wonderful relationships with the women teaching, and participating in the class. 

 

It is also something that I have wanted to do as a way to bless my family and friends, because it truly IS a blessing.  It is a way to heal both physically and emotionally and I look forward to the next several months as I complete the class!  I have already had so many experiences that have reinforced the decision to do this and makes me excited for all of the experiences to come!

Gratitude 2013 Day 7

Today I am grateful to live in America. 

Every time I hear the National Anthem I get tears in my eyes.

  This is still the land of the free and the home of the brave. 

I am so grateful for the heroes that have fought for our freedom,

 now and in the past!

 

(Taken at the Real Salt Lake soccer game)

Gratitude 2013 Day 6

Today I am grateful for the many reasons in my life that I have to smile!

Gratitude 2013 Day 5

Today I am grateful for many things that living in the year 2013 provides.

  I am grateful for new hot water heaters that warm my water up instantly

 instead of having to warm water over a fire to do dishes by hand.

(I did that today... heated fire to wash my dishes!)

  I am grateful for Facebook and having friends know what was going on

 and offering to help,

and for friends that wanted to help but had trials of their own.

  I am grateful for washing machines that allow my laundry to continue all day long. 

(Instead of having to do all of that by hand too!)

I am grateful for hot showers.

(even if I have to ask my daughter in law if I can borrow hers before mine was fixed!)

  I am grateful for cell phones that allowed my husband to do his work from home

between working on fixing the mess from our shock and awe bomb.

 (aka old water heater!!!)

I'm also grateful for my kids being willing to work so hard

 to get things back together

 and for taking care of each other so well. 

It makes me smile to listen to your conversations

and I feel really blessed to think that you guys can be mine forever!

  And...

a couple other little things that made me smile today in the middle of the chaos!

Blessings In Disguise

Well...

 Instead of crying in despair over the garage

 and two bedrooms in the basement being flooded,

 I will instead cry on gratitude that angels protected my home

from what certainly should have burned out home to the ground. 

Yes, just this morning they used to be a nice,

 normal looking furnace and water heater.

The water heater literally gave up the ghost.

  As a positive we now get to move the five thousand plus pounds of wheat

 and other food storage in the garage out and clean behind it all. 

See, the silver lining.

  And just to put it out there....

You won't win Satan!

You may get me down but you won't break me!!!!

Gratitude 2013 Day 4

 



Today I am grateful for angels.

Those we see and those we don't see.

 When I left my house this morning,

 I prayed that angels would surround my children

 and watch over them,

 and also that angels would keep watch over our home.

  I am thankful that while it seems to be storming,

at least we are being watched over and blessed in the storm! 

I am grateful for the angels that seem to come to our rescue

(...I am pretty sure Buffy and Tracy have shown up at just the right time

for more than one emergency of ours!)

and for my boys willing to step up and clean up.

 And for the one that brought me a hot chocolate

just because he knew I was stressed.  

  I learned a long time ago to look for the blessings

 in the middle of the trials

 and find a reason to rejoice even when it's hard.

  So tonight I am grateful that my pizza kids brought pizza home

and that we have a wood stove to keep us warm tonight

and sons that help their dad

 and sisters that take little ones to their house to spend the night.

 Rejoice in all that we have and

we won't think about what we don't have.

Gratitude 2013 Day 3

Day 3

 

I am grateful today for the freedom to worship how I choose.

 To be able to go to church and partake the sacrament,

 and renew my baptismal covenants with The Lord.

I am grateful to be able to have my spirit fed,

 and hear messages that will lift my soul. 

I am especially grateful today for the gift of the atonement

and to know that I do not ever walk alone.

Gratitude 2013 Day 2

Day 2

I am grateful for a God that performs miracles.

 I am grateful to have seen miracles of Biblical proportions in my life,

 and for the knowledge that with faith,

those miracles will continue to happen.

That we do not have a quota for the number of miracles

we can have in our life...

 

And I am grateful that when I pray,

 those prayers are heard...

 and answered.

Gratitude 2013

I love the month of November...

and I especially love reading 'gratitude' posts on Facebook.

It motivates me to stop and smell the roses

and reflect on things that I am truly grateful for.

 

Day 1:

I am thankful for my husband.

 For all he is, for the way he loves us, and works so hard for us
and for the absolute peace I felt the first day I met him.

  For not just being the right one,

but for making sure that we are working for more than just now...

 he has always made sure we are working on forever!

 For being my very best friend.

  After all these years I am still not sure where I stop and he begins. 

 

Thank you Thayne for giving me a million reasons to be grateful.