to listen and to pray

1. I am grateful that we are finally going to the temple--it has been way too long since our last trip.

2. I am grateful for gingerbread muffins from Lehi Roller Mills. Yum.

3. I am grateful for online maps that direct me to the places I want to go.

"We give thanks for unknown blessings already on their way." -Author Unknown

this is the night we've waited for

Although my family was physically divided this holiday, it was one of the most enjoyable Thanksgiving days I can remember. We divided out the food prep and so it felt like I hardly had to do any baking and still there was plenty of food on the table. In fact, the food was better than I can ever remember it being. The company was delightful. Oliver was charming and entertaining. It was a perfect moment in time. I hope that each of you also enjoyed a day that included a multitude of things to be grateful for.

1. I am thankful for Somebody. I can't imagine a better match for me than he is. He is calm, loving, helpful, loyal, patient, adventurous, honest, and strong. He is encouraging and realistic. He makes me laugh and is willing to hug it out. At the end of the day (and the beginning, and the middle) he is the person that I most want to be with, most want to talk to, most want to share with. He has a vision for his life and I am thrilled to be included in it. I love him.

2. I am thankful for Oliver. I am fairly certain I got the best baby there is--he is so full of smiles and laughter and fun. He challenges my patience and my selflessness, but he rewards me with love and devotion. I never knew how delightful it would be to watch another person learn and grow and develop a personality. I spend more time with him than with anyone else and I still sometimes feel like there aren't enough minutes in the day to enjoy him. Some of my most cherished moments from the past year have been holding my beautiful baby, and I am thrilled that I was trusted with his care. I love him.

3. I am thankful that I have a testimony of Jesus Christ--that He suffered for my sins and sorrows, that He died on the cross, and that He rose again. I can't imagine my life without my relationship with my Savior. It gives purpose and direction to everything I do. I am thankful to know that there is a reason for the challenges of this life and that there is something more that we are working towards, but especially that He is there to help me through all the hard parts. I love Him.

"You simply will not be the same person two months from now after consciously giving thanks each day for the abundance that exists in your life. And you will have set in motion an ancient spiritual law: the more you have and are grateful for, the more will be given you."
-Sarah Ban Breathnach

slide down my rainbow

1. I am grateful that Oliver slept just long enough for me to make both of the pies for Thanksgiving, plus a little hand pie with the dough fragments for lunch, plus do the dishes, plus clean the kitchen, plus eat lunch, plus check my email. Now THAT is a good nap. And those are going to be good pies.

2. I am grateful for my current life circumstances. My home is safe and clean and has plenty of space for our needs. Somebody has a stable job that provides enough income to pay our bills. We are all healthy. Somebody and I have both been blessed with opportunities for higher education. We are mentally stable (Somebody might say that my mental stability is at times unstable, but in general the lights are all on over here.) I have a remarkably supportive family who would catch us if we started to fall. We feel secure and loved. I have been blessed beyond measure.

3. I am grateful that Somebody has confidence that I can do whatever I want--decorate cookies, sew quilts, make pies, design onesies--and that people would be willing to pay me because my talent is so magnificent. I'm not usually as confident in my abilities, but I appreciate that he always encourages me toward whatever hobby has my interest.

"And though I ebb in worth, I'll flow in thanks." -John Taylor

blessings in my home

1. I am grateful that I am able to stay home and work full-time at keeping Oliver alive. This is the greatest, hardest, most time-consuming, most rewarding job I could ever imagine. I am grateful that Somebody supports that decision and willingly goes to work to provide for our family.

2. I am grateful for music that can change my mood.

3. I am grateful for those who are willing to go out of their way to help others.

"We need to be more grateful. I think there's no true character without gratitude. It's one of the marks of a real strong character, to have a feeling of thanksgiving and gratitude for blessings that are ours. We need more of that spirit in our homes, in our daily associations, in church, everywhere. It doesn't cost anything. It's so easy to cultivate the spirit of appreciation and gratitude."-Ezra Taft Benson, "Receive All Things with Thankfulness," New Era, Nov 1976

i may eat my words

1. Today is Somebody's birthday and he celebrated by taking the day off of work and spending it at home with us. Well, we weren't home all day because he wanted to do some shopping, but at least we got to spend the day together. The weather was beautiful and we were able to enjoy being outside for a little bit. This evening we met my mom for dinner and ate our fill (and more!) of crab and shrimp and calamari. And if that wasn't enough--because it kind of wasn't--we were able to finish the night with homemade cheesecake from my mom. It was a relaxing, fun, calm, perfect day. I am thankful for every minute of it.

2. I am grateful for the Google Latitude program that allowed us to track the progress of my dad, brother, niece, and nephew as they drove from Kansas to Utah last night. It was fun always knowing where they were along that long route. It was also reassuring to know that as long as their tracking dot kept moving that they were alive and well. I did consider that perhaps they had been ambushed and the phone with the tracking device had been stolen and I was watching the progress of the thieves as they made their get-away, but it turns out that was not the case at all and for that I am grateful.

3. I am grateful that as Somebody and I plan the finished touches of putting our home together that we have very similar taste and ideas and rarely disagree about what would be the best thing to do with the space. Thinking so similarly makes the process much more enjoyable.

"A thankful heart is not only the greatest virtue, but the parent of all the other virtues." -Cicero

valentine candy or boxing gloves

1. I am grateful that my cough seems to finally be going away AND that Oliver finally seems healthy and happy again.

2. I am grateful for childhood movies that have great quotable lines that come to me at the most random times. For example, while typing that last gratitude I thought, "To have your alligators thaw out and your daughter forgive you all in the same bright morning--that's fortuosity." And it made me smile.

3. I am grateful that my parents are letting us borrow their second Christmas tree to set up in our living room this year.

"To speak gratitude is courteous and pleasant, to enact gratitude is generous and noble, but to live gratitude is to touch Heaven." -Johannes A. Gaertner

through rose-colored glasses

1. I am grateful that I feel like I belong.
2. I am grateful for the ability to change.
3. I am grateful that I have millions of happy memories.
"We give thanks for unknown blessings already on their way." -Author Unknown