Sundays!

Honestly, I am usually very stressed out by the time I get myself and six kids to church.  Sometimes I wonder if it was worth the effort.  Every time I am reassured that it was.  I'm so grateful that I go to church and feel the Spirit no matter what class I attend.  I've felt it with the children, the youth and the adults.  The Gospel is true.  Heavenly Father loves me and is watching out for me.  He has comforted me many times throughout my life.  He has answered my prayers today.  I am thankful for prayer.  I am thankful that I can pray with my children.  I love listening as their understanding grows.  I'm so glad they are learning to have a relationship with their Father now.  I am grateful for love -- the love of my parents and siblings, the love of friends, the love of my children, and especially the love of my husband.  Love is my motivation in life.  Thank goodness for Sundays, so that I can be reminded of what really matters.

Today

I am grateful:
I actually had a chance to get on the computer and take care of projects I've been putting off,
E took a really good nap,
Ray magnifies his calling, even when it takes so much of his time.

Count Your Blessings

It's hardest to do, when things are not going the way we want them to.  But it's during those times, that we need it the most. 

I'm grateful to know that my husband is okay.
I'm thankful that my kids are getting along really well today.
I'm glad they are old enough to make their own lunch -- and enjoy doing it.
And I'm happy that my baby is able to crawl and climb and play and laugh :)

Day 6

I'm grateful:
R and C played with E while I was making dinner and kept her happy,
I remembered today that I needed to prepare Sharing Time,
my dishes are done and my laundry is caught up.

Day 5

I am grateful:
for getting to talk to other moms during playdate,
that Lil came to playdate for a few minutes to play with the girls,
that the little girl who wandered off during playdate was found.

Day 4

I am grateful:
Lil came to visit,
my baby slept in,
R and C were willing to sort out some toys to give away.

I Shall Try to Rejoin You:)

I am thankful

1. that I can talk to my husband regularly (and often, even get to see him as we talk),

2. that my kids like school -- are happy to go and usually come home happy to share what they did,

3. for friends who come to let their kids play with mine and stay to talk to me. I love that adult interaction,

4. that I get to be involved with my kids activities -- coaching DJ's soccer team is more fun than I could ever have imagined, despite my extreme lack of knowledge and feelings of trepidation,

5. for cute, new, pink slippers that didn't cost very much and are very warm:)

Day 3

I am grateful:
my laundry is done,
there were fewer tantrums today,
Ray put his project off to go grocery shopping with us, it is so much easier with help.

Day 2

I am grateful:
my baby is usually very happy,
R filled the dishwasher and swept the laundry room all on her own, without being asked,
Ray dealt with the last tantrum of the day, so I could have a break.

Trying again

I am grateful:
for children in Primary who are willing to participate.
that I have a computer--how did I ever survive before I had one?
the my husband will take my children with him when he goes to do things.

I love the holidays! I have been struggling this year, because I am very tired of being pregnant, so I'm enjoying less than I should. I am grateful, though, for all that this time of year reminds me of. I'm so grateful for my Savior. I'm grateful for the beautiful children I've been blessed with. I'm grateful for my husband and that we're together for this season. I'm grateful for my family and friends. I'm grateful for occasional warmer days that help me survive the winter. I'm grateful for decorations and music that make me happy. I'm grateful that I won't be pregnant a month from now:) I'm grateful for the little one growing inside me. I'm grateful for the primary children I get to work with. I have been greatly blessed. (And I'm grateful that my friends and family are still speaking to me, despite my lousy attitude over the last few months:))

My Children

Tonight I had an experience that put a few things back into perspective for me. We were having a rough evening. The girls were wanting to help me get dinner ready but they're not really big enough to be helpful so they were just in the way. I was getting angry. Things just kept going downhill. Then I lost something. It was small, insignificant, we could easily live without it. But R realized it mattered to me and she searched the house over trying to find it. She couldn't and she went to bed still concerned about it. It made me realize just how much my girls really are trying to help. They really want to do things right and they want everyone to be happy. I am so grateful for them and their innocence.

Garage Sales

I'm grateful Ray goes to garage sales with me. I'm grateful for the good deals I can get on kids' clothes. I'm grateful Lil watches the girls so they don't have to go, too.

I'm grateful Ray enjoys the same kinds of things I do. I'm grateful he helps with the girls when we're out, so I don't have to do it all.

I'm trying to get into the grateful habit again

A lot of things have happened lately that have really affected the way I look at life. Especially the way I look at my relationship with my husband. It's been a rough month for some of my very close family and friends. It makes me wonder if something could happen in my family. It's made me decide to do everything I can to make sure nothing tears my family apart, and if something happens beyond my control, to try to make each day I have with my family the best it can be. That means I need to be happier, to focus less on everything that's going wrong and more on everything that is right. I need to be grateful for what I have. I need to express that gratitude every way I can.

My goal is to start blogging here every day, again. I need to focus on the positive. A major part of this for me is to focus on the positive things I'm grateful for about my husband and in our relationship. To begin, I want to state what I hope is obvious: that I am grateful for my husband. He means so much to me and I know that too often I take it for granted that he is here. I know he does a lot for me and I know I don't always show him how grateful I am. I am also grateful for my children. I'm so grateful I get to spend my time with them and watch them grow. My family really is everything to me.

I need to be more grateful

The reason I started this blog is pushing me to come back to it. Adversity makes you stronger -- right? It tends to make me a much stronger complainer...

Heavenly Father has blessed me so much. Looking back over my life, I can see no period where His hand was not lifting, guiding or gently correcting me. I need to see those blessings at the time, so I'm going to try to return to this blog regularly.

Today, I am so very, very, very grateful that Heavenly Father put me amongst people who would become wonderful friends almost immediately. He knew how much I needed that and He took care of me. He also blessed me with wonderful friends for my children. I never thought I would be lucky enough to find another place where I felt as supported and loved as I did in Oklahoma, yet, here I am, blessed again in like manner. I am so grateful.

I'm Grateful, even if no one reads this anymore

Today I am so grateful I was able to make a trip to the Temple. It has been way, way too long. I'm even more grateful that I didn't get in an accident on the way there. I came very close -- sliding in snow straight towards a van, but somehow I didn't hit it. I really think it was a miracle. I really think there is no way I should have not hit them, but I didn't. I am more grateful than I can put into words that there was no accident.

Travels and such

Another month has slipped by and I'm just getting back to this blog. I guess summer is just too busy to keep up with blogging very well.

I am grateful for the many things I have to do. It's nice to keep busy. It's also nice to be able to travel to see friends and family. I'm grateful Lil and I had a good trip to Utah and back. I'm very grateful I was able to see my good friend from Alaska. I'm also grateful I was able to spend some time with my great aunt.

I'm grateful Lil has found a job and will be staying with us. It's been so nice to have her here. I love to have my family close by. I know it's a relief to her to have found a good job, too.

Blessings

It's been an awfully long time since I've gotten on here to post. Mostly because I haven't had the time for blogging that I once seemed to have. But I wanted to take a quick minute to post this, because I've been thinking about it constantly and am just feeling overwhelmed with gratitude right now. As you all know, Spencer and I chose to move to Idaho last year for reasons we weren't necessarily sure of. He had a good job there and we both hated to see him leave, but for some reason, we felt we needed to. We took a $10,000 pay cut...that's huge. But since we've been here, we've seen little reminders that we did the right thing. First off, he got a job working in hydropower, which now is the best field to be in as an engineer considering land development has come to a hault and the government is all about alternate sources of energy. Second, a few months after making the move here, his old job had do lay offs. At first it was just a few, but as the year progressed and things got worse, he had more and more old co-workers finding themselves without an income and needing a new place of employment. And now, a co-worker of his that was the same level as Spencer, just told him that he's down to 13 hour work weeks. 13 hours!! I can't imagine how any of them can survive on that! And there aren't many places hiring either, so he does not have any prospects or second jobs. Spencer is one of two at his workplace now that is approved to get overtime, and he gets it quite often. He's always busy and I just am so grateful to my Heavenly Father for watching out for us. He has blessed us with a beautiful home, living near family, with a good job that is able to provide for us and now that $10,000 pay cut has turned into a pay raise, considering where we could have been had we stayed there. I'm just so blessed!

It's Been a Long Time

For a myriad of reasons, some of which were out of my control, I've had a hard time getting to the computer lately. I've still been grateful for things, I just haven't had time to write them all down. Here are a few.

I'm grateful for my grandpa. He passed away last week, which was very hard on all of us he left behind. But I'm grateful he was able to live for ninety-six years. I'm grateful I got to see him just two months ago. I'm grateful for all the wonderful memories I have of him.

I'm grateful for all the family who came to Grandpa's funeral. I'm grateful I was able to visit with cousins whom I haven't seen in years. I'm grateful for the wonderful support system a family makes. I'm grateful I was able to spend a little time with my parents and all of my siblings and their families (we did miss Derek, he was the only one who couldn't make it).

I'm grateful we were able to travel without any problems. I'm grateful Lil rode back with us and entertained the girls so well. I'm grateful we were able to enjoy the beauties of Yellowstone.

I'm grateful Lil is here. She is so helpful and I love having her around. I love that she enjoys spending time with my children. I greatly appreciate when she plays with the girls so I can get something done. I love just being able to talk to her, in person.

I need to stop, but I am grateful for so many things right now.

Organization

I am not an organized person. I really struggle with keeping things neat. So I am grateful for things that force organization on me. With Lil here I have had to empty out the spare bedroom. I don't have enough space to just move things, so I've had to organize. It isn't fun, but I do love the results. It is so much easier to find what I want and to know what I have.