for health and strength and daily food

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