more than sunflowers and sunsets

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