A Month of Thanksgiving Day 11

I am so grateful for our freedoms.  It is another one of those things, like electricity and plumbing, that we totally take for granted.  We live our lives, make our choices, do what we want, all without a single worry about whether we can or not.  We can.  It is our right.  Our liberty.  We get to be free.  We can make our choices and live the lives we choose for ourselves.  And we forget just how lucky we are to be able to do all that.  We forget that there are people in the world who don't have those rights and that if it weren't for wise, brave, and selfless men and women who have sacrificed for our rights, we wouldn't either.

Today is Veteran's Day and it just seemed right to express my gratitude for all who have fought, all who are fighting now, and all who ever will fight for our freedom.  I am so grateful for them, and also for their families who sacrifice just as much in letting their loved one leave and risk their life for us. 

A Month of Thanksgiving Day 10

As I mentioned at the start of the month, these are in no particular order.  If they were, this would have been among the first 3 days.  Today, I want to share how grateful I am for my kids.

Everyone thinks their own kids are the best.  And everyone would be right.  And so I know I'm right when I say that I really do have the best kids!  I am so thankful to be their mom and that they are here with us, blessing and enriching our lives daily.

We have been spoiled by Acadia.  Cadi is so good.  She just is purely good.  She isn't perfect, but she is sincere, honest, obedient, faithful, smart, and ... well, really, really easy.  I am sure that she is the reason why I still have my natural hair color.  It has been so easy with her.  She wants to make good choices.  Sometimes she makes mistakes, but she always tries to do what is best.  That being said, her room is almost always a mess and I usually have to remind her at least once a day to practice the piano and violin. ;) 

Aurora is not as easy, but she is still really, really good.  She started out a little wild but is becoming a bit more tame as she grows.  She loves to learn and do.  She is always busy.  But she also loves to help and she still asks to cuddle with me so I know she's not entirely ready to grow up yet.  I don't her to grow all the way up yet, so that is good.  I tend to have more patience with Rori but that is probably because I need to.  And it is also probably because I'm older and wiser now, too. 

I love both of my girls so much.  Acadia is my Mini Me, but better.  She is who I wish I had always been.  She teaches me a lot and she is a testimony to me of how strong these spirits are that our Heavenly Father is sending to the earth right now.  Aurora is my saving grace.  She saved me and I know it.  I didn't know how much I needed her until they placed her in my arms the moment she was born.  Her spirit is strong, too.  It is my deepest desire for her to direct her path to the right course.  We have been doing all we can to help her do that but we know that eventually it will be up to her.  I see glimmers of her future and I know she wants to be good and happy.  I just hope and pray that all that we do for and with the girls will be enough for them to want to choose the right. 

Ryan is the single most important person to me on this earth, but these two girls are right behind him.  I cannot imagine eternity without them, either.  And all I want is for us to be able to achieve that together.  In the meantime, I am so grateful that they are apart of our family.  They make life extra fun and meaningful and it truly is such a joy to raise them and watch them grow. :)

A Month of Thanksgiving Day 9

I am thankful for garbage pick up.

Today, is our garbage pick up day.  We must have a new driver or something because after almost 9 years, all of a sudden, we have a note on our unemptied can telling us we don't have service.  Well, we do.  This guy is confused.  I'll call and get it straightened out in a couple of hours.  But it got me thinking.

I am really grateful for garbage pick up.  I mean, what would we do with all our trash if we couldn't put it on the curb every week?  I've read stories about people who have reduced their garbage to insanely low amounts, we could burn it (at least some of it), or we would have to load it into our car and haul it away to the dump ourselves.  None of those things sound practical to me. 

Have you ever really thought about what you would do if you didn't have garbage pick up?  I rarely think of it.  But I am grateful for it.

A Month of Thanksgiving Day 8

I am thankful for the temple. 

For those anyone not familiar with our faith and why/how we use temples, you can find more information and answers to your questions here.

This morning I am heading to the temple.  I feel so blessed to have a temple so close by.  Temples are more than just incredibly beautiful buildings, they are even more than just incredibly peaceful places.  Temples provide the way for us to be with our family forever.  And that is why I love it.  I love to go and be reminded of the covenants that I have made.  I love to be reminded of the promises that can be mine as long as I am striving to keep my part of those covenants.  I love how strong the spirit is felt there, how close to heaven it feels.  We have a plaque in our family room that has a picture of the Portland Temple and says, "Where heaven and earth are blended together."  I love thinking about my family and all the blessings we can enjoy if we keep working together to live worthy of them.

I love going with my husband but today they are having problems at work, so he won't be able to get off in time tonight, and instead I am going with one of my best friends this morning.  And I love that, too.  I love that the temple is something I can share with the people who are close to me.  Next month, I will get to go with my daughter.  It is a joy I can only imagine at this point, but will very soon become a reality.  I am so excited to share this special place with her.

A Month of Thanksgiving Day 7

I am thankful for the internet.

It can be addicting, and I'm not glad about that, but I am glad that I can stay in touch with friends and family easier.  I'm grateful that I can learn about "stuff" - important stuff and unimportant stuff. lol  I am grateful that I can shop from home.  We don't need these conveniences, but I sure love them!

The internet makes distance shorter.  We still miss being able to see and visit family in person, but e-mails, IMs, videos and photos shared on-line, etc. all make it a little easier.

Modern day conveniences sure are... convenient. :)

A Month of Thanksgiving Day 6

I am grateful for sunshine!

I love where we live and I don't mind the rain, but I do still love the sunshine.  We've reached the time of year when it becomes more rainy, less sunny, so when we have beautiful, bright, sunny days like today, it feels wonderful!  We never know when it will be our last for awhile, so we certainly appreciate it when it's here. ;)

The sun is cheery.  It is bright.  It brings warmth.  It just feels good, inside and out. :)

A Month of Thanksgiving Day 5

I am grateful for books.  I really like a good book.  And I love that my family loves good books, too.  We all love to read.  We all love to share what we read.  Sometimes we read the books together, sometimes we just pass the books around, and sometimes we just tell each other about the stories we are reading. 

If I were asked what my favorite books were, it would be hard to answer because I have a lot of favorites.  And, that list is always changing a little, depending on time and mood.  One that always stays on top is the Lord of the Rings (as a whole), of course.  But right now, the one I am anxiously waiting to get back (I loaned it out), so I can reread (again), is Darcy's Voyage.  I also have a whole list of books that I haven't read yet but really want to.

I think my appreciation for books comes from my mom.  When we were little, she would read to us before bed.  She always took us to the library for story time and to check out our own books.  We would come home with a huge stack!  The two books I remember her reading to us the most (not that she did read these the most, just that I remember them the most) were any of the Encyclopedia Brown books, where we would always try to solve the mystery, and of course, Black Beauty.  There were others, too.  I remember Amelia Bedelia, Bunnicula, and even  some James Harriot. 

I am so glad that my kids like books and reading as much as I liked it as a child.  In fact, I'm pretty sure that Acadia likes it even more.  And that is a good thing. 

Books are great.  They entertain us, educate us, inspire us, and give us a little bit of an escape. 

In something of a related way, let me share this with you... (our family is also a big Julian Smith fan, lol)