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
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. Gulliver 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 Gulliver. 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
1. I am grateful that Gulliver 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
1. I am grateful that I am able to stay home and work full-time at keeping Gulliver 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
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
1. I am grateful that my cough seems to finally be going away AND that Gulliver 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
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
1. I am grateful for rubber gloves to wear when cleaning and washing dishes.
2. I am grateful for wash clothes and bars of soap. Sometimes it seems like I'm the only person in the world who still used them (I could just never get on the body wash/puff bandwagon) and I am always happy when I'm away from home and the place where I am staying provides them.
3. I am grateful that I decided to go to Dallas. I was able to visit with family that I haven't seen in a long time, shop at IKEA (three times in two days), and enjoy a new city.
"As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them." -John Fitzgerald Kennedy
1. I am grateful for my mother. Today is her birthday and I wasn't there to celebrate with her, but when I talked to her on the phone she said she had a good day. I love that my mom and I are friends and have so many common interests. Happy Birthday, Mom!
2. I am grateful for extended family and reasons to see them.
3. I am grateful that even thought I came to my cousin's wedding unannounced (I decided only two days ago to come) that everyone welcomed me with open arms and seems genuinely happy to see me.
“If you never learned the lesson of thankfulness, begin now. Sum up your mercies; see what provision God has made for your happiness, what opportunities for your usefulness, and what advantages for your success.”-Ida S. Taylor
1. I am grateful that I decided to just say no to non-essential activities today. I needed to relieve some of my stress and give myself a few more hours, and staying home instead of going out to playgroup was just what I needed to stay sane today.
2. I am grateful that I receive inspiration to guide me in accomplishing the things I have stewardship over. I feel every day that the Lord is helping me be the best mom for Gulliver, the best (usually) wife for Somebody, and really steering the things I do to fulfil my church callings. I feel very blessed and watched over and know that I don't have to do any of the hard (or easy) things alone.
3. I am grateful that my cold has eased up enough that I am able to go down to Texas with my dad for my cousin's wedding. Also, I'm grateful that I braved Priceline today and scored a night at the Hyatt for $45.
“Think to thank. In these three words is the finest capsule course for a happy marriage, a formula for enduring friendship, and a pattern for personal happiness.” -Thomas S. Monson, Pathways to Perfection [1973], 254
1. I am grateful that there are women who have gone before me and learned all the tricks to being a mom. Well, you know, as much as you can learn "tricks" to being a good, competent parent. It is so comforting to have women I love who are there to give me advice when I encounter something new and confusing.
2. I am grateful that Gulliver is back to his seven-hour-each-night sleeping. The last two months of his frequent awakenings, and then last week when he reverted to getting up every two hours, just about put me over the edge. I'm sure he needs the sleep, too, but mostly I'm thankful that I am finally getting more sleep.
3. I am grateful that Heidi sent me home from her house with a baby-proofing starter kit. Heidi, how did you know? Oh, that's right, you have gone before me and know some tricks. On a related note, Gulliver can climb all the stairs now. It is trouble here in River City.
"The grateful man sees so much in the world to be thankful for, and with him the good outweighs the evil. Love overpowers jealousy, and light drives darkness out of his life. Pride destroys our gratitude and sets up selfishness in its place. How much happier we are in the presence of a grateful and loving soul, and how careful we should be to cultivate, through the medium of a prayerful life, a thankful attitude toward God and man!"-President Joseph F. Smith, Gospel Doctrine, 5th ed. [1939]
1. I am grateful that we didn't have anywhere we needed to be when we had our first snowflakes of the season today. Not that it was any substantial amount of snow--if you didn't see it falling you would not have known it snowed--but we were able to go outside several times today and watch it fall. I love the quietness of snow falling.
2. I am grateful that Somebody wanted to put a wall of bookshelves in our office/guest bedroom. While I wasn't ever opposed to the idea, it was certainly something that he wanted a lot more than I did. Now that the bookshelves are up and filled with books and framed photographs, I love them and couldn't imagine this room without them.
3. I am grateful that I have someone else to share parenting responsibilities with. Man, I wouldn't want to be doing this alone.
"Thanksgiving comes to us out of the prehistoric dimness, universal to all ages and all faiths. At whatever straws we must grasp, there is always a time for gratitude and new beginnings."
-J. Robert Moskin
1. I am grateful for the ability to control my climate. In the summer I am thankful every day that my house and my car (and, previously, my office) were air conditioned. Now that the weather is turning decidedly colder, I'm so thankful that I can turn the heat on and stay warm.
2. I am grateful for weekends when we can spend most of each day as a family. Between his job (and his 60 minute each way commute) and his evening classes, I feel like I hardly see Somebody during the week. I always look forward to Saturday and Sunday because all the projects and errands that we need to do we can do together. Also, I think that Gulliver enjoys those days the best--probably every Saturday morning I say, "Wow, Gulliver is SO happy to have both his parents home today." And he really is a much more smiley, happy baby on the weekends.
3. I am grateful for really soft Kleenex tissues. Both for myself and for the poor, tiny baby nose that I have to constantly keep wiping these days.
"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
1. I am grateful for cold medicine that can kind of make me feel better.
2. I am grateful for fresh oranges that are peeled for me.
3. I am grateful for Disney classic movies and cartoons that are fun to watch over and over again.
"Saying thank you is more than good manners. It is good spirituality."
-Alfred Painter
1. I am grateful for a well-maintained highway that makes traveling long distances safe and comfortable.
2. I am grateful for the comforts of home.
3. I am grateful for yummy smells coming from the oven.
"Life without thankfulness is devoid of love and passion. Hope without thankfulness is lacking in fine perception. Faith without thankfulness lacks strength and fortitude. Every virtue divorced from thankfulness is maimed and limps along the spiritual road."
-John Henry Jowett
1. I am grateful for bonus naps.2. I am grateful for eternal families. I would be sad if the only time I was going to know and interact with my family members was our time on this earth. 3. I am grateful that finally, after being here for three days, I was able to do something helpful for my sister. Good thing, too, because I was almost out of time and would have felt very guilty leaving here without being useful in some way.
1. We took three of the children (in two strollers) and walked the mile over to the post office to mail a few letters. Sadly, the post office was closed (hello, veterans!) and so the letters didn't get mailed, but I am grateful that we got out of the house for awhile and enjoyed the cool morning air.2. I am grateful for ponytail holders. I thought I used them a lot before, but then my baby grew into a professional hair puller and now they are practically a necessity.3. I am grateful for lotion to ease my dry, irritated winter skin."Happiness cannot be traveled to, owned, earned, worn or consumed. Happiness is the spiritual experience of living every minute with love, grace, and gratitude."
--Denis Waitley
1. I am grateful for genetics. I love being able to see pieces of the parents when I look at the children. Right now I'm watching my sister help her oldest daughter with her homework, and, wow, that cute little girl is just the spitting image of her mother. And besides the physical resemblance, I enjoy seeing the personality traits that the children have picked up from their parents. It makes me excited to see what parts of me Gulliver will exhibit (since we already know he didn't get my fingernails. Poor kid).2. I am grateful that my dad is always willing to take all the children outside to play so that the other adults can work on dinner. Gulliver just loves being outside with his grandpa.3. I am grateful for warm, fresh-from-the-oven rolls."Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow."--Melody Beattie
1. I am grateful that twenty years ago today my family happened to be in Berlin and was able to witness the opening of the Berlin Wall in person.Even though I was a young child, I can still remember the drastic difference between a people who were caged and then were free.2. I am grateful that I get to spend the next few days with my sister and her family and learn from her mothering expertise.3. I am, well, to say it nicely, not really a dog person. I'm not an animal person generally (Ginet, it's like we are the same person), but am especially not a dog person. My sister has a dog. I'm grateful for this reminder that I don't ever want to have a dog. You know, just in case I was reconsidering the option. "Gratitude is a state of appreciation, an act of thanksgiving, which causes us to be humble because we recognize an act of kindness, service, or caring from someone else which lifts us and strengthens us." --Elder Robert D. Hales
1. I am grateful that Somebody forgives me and continues to love me even when I am stubborn, irrational, and mean.
2. I am grateful that books come in paper format and audio format so that Somebody and I can "read" the same book at the same time and then discuss it.
3. I am grateful that we were able to enjoy so many vegetables fresh from the garden this summer, and that the late summer items--the squash and sweet potatoes--were ripe just in time to be made into Oliver's first baby foods.
"Don't wait to start. Open your eyes, open your hearts, and open your arms. I promise that as you do so, you will feel greater joy and happiness. Your life will have a new level of meaning. You will forge relationships that will transcend this life and endure through the eternities."
-Joseph B. Wirthlin, "'Live in Thanksgiving Daily'," Ensign, Sep 2001
1. I am grateful for yummy, dried cranberries to mix in with my oatmeal each morning.
2. I am grateful for slow cookers so that I can put food in it in the morning, then go about my day with errands and chores, and know that when I return home and am ready to eat there will be something hot and (hopefully) yummy just waiting for me.
3. I am grateful for weekend mornings (okay, really just Saturday mornings) when Somebody is home and can take Gulliver downstairs to play and allow me to get just 15 more minutes of sleep. Somehow that makes a big difference.
"Gratitude is a mark of a noble soul and a refined character. We like to be around those who are grateful. They tend to brighten all around them. They make others feel better about themselves. They tend to be more humble, more joyful, more likable. Gratitude turns a meal into a feast and drudgery into delight. It softens our grief and heightens our pleasure. It turns the simple and common into the memorable and transcendent. It forges bonds of love and fosters loyalty and admiration."
--Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin
1. I am grateful that I live near my parents. I always thought that living an hour away from family was the perfect distance--you were close enough that visiting for the evening or weekend wasn't a hardship, but far enough away that there was no obligation to see each other every day. I was wrong. My parents live just 10 minutes down the highway (a significant distance compared to how close they have been the last couple of years) and I am grateful every day that it is no inconvenience at all to go over to visit them. I love them. Somebody loves them. Gulliver loves them. Being near them continues to bless our lives in countless ways.
2. I am grateful that Gulliver knows my parents and loves them almost as much as he loves me and Somebody. I love watching him with my parents, love watching them adore him, love watching his face light up when he sees them, love watching them play together.
3. I am grateful that we decided to move to Kansas. Leaving Utah was difficult for us because we were leaving behind amazing family and friends, and because we both had such wonderful experiences there. Utah was where our story began and we were afraid to move away from the warmth and security we knew there. Kansas, though, has been more than good to us. I feel like we, as a family, belong here in ways we never belonged before. I have been especially blessed with friends who enrich my life (I can't say enough good things about them, but I can't say anything more about them here because this gratitude is about Kansas life and not about friends). We are finally growing up and this is the perfect place to do it. I can't even think about how challenging it will be to leave.
"Reflect upon your present blessings, of which every man has plenty; not on your past misfortunes of which all men have some."
--Charles Dickens
1. I am grateful for times when I get together with friends and we are chatting and laughing and the time just flies by. Not that I'm grateful for the time passing quickly, but, you know, when the conversation just keeps flowing and then you look at your watch and are surprised at how much time as passed. Those times = awesome.
2. I got my hair cut and colored today and had to take Gulliver with me and am so grateful that he did not wipe his now not-all-that-runny nose on any toys that did not belong to him. He was a trooper and I was glad that he was so well-behaved. I am also grateful for how great my hair looks after a professional has styled it.
3. I am grateful that right now, as I type this, Somebody is scratching my back (you know, because I needed to relax after my long, hard day of getting my hair cut and having dinner with friends). I helpfully suggested to him that maybe that was what he wanted to be doing, and while he didn't necessarily agree, he still obliged.
"As with all commandments, gratitude is a description of a successful mode of living. The thankful heart opens our eyes to a multitude of blessings that continually surround us. President J. Reuben Clark, formerly a First Counselor in the First Presidency, said: 'Hold fast to the blessings which God has provided for you. Yours is not the task to gain them, they are here; yours is the part of cherishing them.'"
James E. Faust, "Gratitude As a Saving Principle," Ensign, Dec 1996
Labels: attitude of gratitude 2009
1. I am grateful for clean floors. Somehow the whole house looks better when the carpets are recently vacuumed and the floors are swept and mopped. (I learned this from my mother who ALWAYS has the most clean floors.) My back is sad that it all that cleaning had to happen in one day, but, man, it was time.
2. I am grateful that the internet is like one bottomless pit of new recipes just waiting for me to try them. And that sometimes the ones I try turn out really well. Sometimes not so much, but at least I can learn from my cooking mistakes, and Somebody is a good sport to eat whatever it is that I serve him for dinner. (And just in case you were wondering, the new ones I tried tonight were mostly successful. It was the first time I've cooked with leeks--I used them in a potato/leek/bacon/corn chowder--and now I'm not afraid of them anymore. The bread bowls I attempted turned out more like enormous hamburger buns. Delicious hamburger buns, but hamburger buns.)
3. I am grateful that I feel comfortable enough in the kitchen to make my own changes and substitutions to recipes to tailor them to fit what we like to eat. I come from a family of competent cooks, and I have been taught well.
"If gratitude is due from children to their earthly parents, how much more is the gratitude of the great family of man due to our Father in heaven!"
--Hosea Ballou
Labels: attitude of gratitude 2009
1. Gulliver is sick today. More noticeably sick than he was yesterday. Today I am grateful that we didn't have any plans and were able to just stay warm at home. I'm grateful that we have already been to the doctor and that he is already taking antibiotics. I'm grateful that I could stay in pajamas because then I didn't mind when someone wiped his nose on me over and over and over.
2. I am grateful that I got to talk to so many friends and family members today. Getting to talk to the people I love is one of the best parts of having a birthday.
3. I am grateful that the cabinet guy finally came today to install the lazy susans in our kitchen corner cabinets. We've only been living here six months, and I only call him once or twice a week to remind him. He must have gotten tired of avoiding my phone calls. I am optimistic that this will help us feel like we have much more space in our kitchen.
"My plea is that we stop seeking out the storms and enjoy more fully the sunlight. I am suggesting that as we go through life, we 'accentuate the positive.' I am asking that we look a little deeper for the good, that we still our voices of insult and sarcasm, that we more generously compliment and endorse virtue and effort."
--President Gordon B. Hinckley
1. I am grateful for fun surprises. I was totally on to the game with the first location, but was completely thrown off by the venue change (obviously, because who shows up to her own surprise birthday party wearing her pajamas and house slippers?)
2. I am grateful that I decided to get up early and beat the rush to the walk-in clinic at the pediatrician's office this morning. I was the first in line (ten minutes before the office opened, and, no, they didn't open the doors early to let us in from the cold) and pretty much disliked standing there holding a cold baby, but SO happy to basically walk in and then go straight back to see the doctor. Also, somehow the visit and filling a prescription for antibiotics cost me a whopping $0.80. For that I am very, very grateful.
3. I am grateful clean bathrooms. Clean ANY room, really, but the bathroom is the only one that fits that description today.
"We often take for granted the very things that most deserve our gratitude."--Cynthia Ozick
Labels: attitude of gratitude 2009
It's that time of year again (can you believe that it is November already?). Time for pumpkins and gloves and long-sleeves and the November Attitude of Gratitude Challenge. For those of you who have not played before, the challenge is outlined below.
Here's how it works:
Each day during the month of November I will post three things I am grateful for. You should, too.
Definition of "things"- the term "things" is used here to encompass a myriad of stuff including, but not limited to:
Labels: attitude of gratitude 2009
