My Blessings.

I've had a hard time finding time to blog lately, tis the season I suppose, but I didn't want to let the Thanksgiving season get away from me without giving turkey day the credit it deserves. Poor little holiday, it kinda gets lost between Halloween and Christmas, just stuck in the middle like the white fluff in an oreo, but we all know that's the best part. And the Christmas season just wouldn't be the same if it didn't have Thanksgiving to preceed it. Afterall, the thing I'm most thankful for is...
wait. I'm getting ahead of myself here, let me just back up a minute.

This is my 3rd attempt at writing my Thanksgiving blog. My first started as a list as to all the things I was thankful for, but it sounded so, I don't know, routine. Kinda like the dinner prayer. We're all thankful for the same things. Family, friends, a home, good health, blah blah blah. Not that those things aren't important, they all are, and I'm thankful for everything and everyone in my life. It was just kinda boring, and I have such few readers as it is, I didn't want to lose anyone on blessing #137, the heater that comes on that I occasionally sit on and hog up all the heat when my toes are cold.
So then I attempted to write a silly little poem about my blessings. But got hung up trying to rhyme words with "husband" and "basement" and "family", and I didn't think "shunned" and "replacement" and "absentee" would go over too well with the point I was trying to make.
But then something happened yesterday that gave me a whole new perspective about my blessings. I was fortunate to attend the musical production of "The Savior of the World" with a few of the priests and laurels in the stake. It was a beautiful story that told of the events that led up to the Saviors birth, and the events following his death. The spirit was so strong, and the feeling was one where you wished you could bottle it up and take it out into the world with you. It made me wonder why I don't seek out more opportunities to feel the spirit. Why don't I attend the temple more, why don't I study my scriptures and pray more diligently. Why don't I feel all warm and fuzzy all the time? The feeling lasted for a good 30 minutes, till I came home and had to worry about what to make for dinner, and why did Max Hall throw that pass, and why is my laundry basket overflowing again after only 2 days?
But I put on my happy face, went to the market to buy something for dinner, closed my eyes as I walked past the laundry heap, and cheered with the other shoppers as they announced BYU won the game in overtime over the loud speakers. I came home and turned on my merry christmas music while I prepared french dip sandwiches for the family, and as Donny Osmond sang about Mary, "did you know that your baby boy is heaven's perfect lamb, the sleeping child your holding is the great I Am", those feelings I had felt earlier came back with such force, that I realized, that it doesn't matter how long my list of "Things I'm Grateful For" is, without the Savior, none of those things would even be there. My eternal family, the comforts of my home, the food I eat, the clothes I wear, the very air I breathe, wouldn't exsist if it weren't for the Savior. He created this beautiful world and every bounteous blessing that we receive from this earth comes from Him. He sent me to a wonderful family to be raised by loving parents and wonderful siblings to help me on my journey. He guided me to my wonderful husband and sent me 3 wonderful, beautiful children to help me progress like Him. He took upon himself my sins, my sorrows, my pains, so He could comfort me when sad, hold me when I ache, and save me from my mistakes. He did all that for me, and you, so we could someday be with Him again, and with our families, forever. I am so Thankful for my Savior. I love Him, I want to be like Him. I'm trying, but sometimes, ok, alot of the time, I fall short of the mark. But I know He loves me anyway, and doesn't want me to give up trying.
See, this is why Thanksgiving is so important. If for nothing else, to remind me that all blessings come from Him. And now we get to celebrate His birth and thank Him for all that's he's done for us, by giving back to Him, by giving of ourselves to others.

P.S., in case your wondering what #2 on my most thankful for list is...take a look!



My new storage room is finished! (I love my husband)

#138 on my list is PIE!





Unless it's Pecan Pie, then it's up there in my top 10!