I am Thankful for...

I am thankful for my family. Fred makes me smile daily. Have you ever heard his laugh? It is a deep belly laugh that will crack you up no matter what kind of mood you are in. I have been listening to his laugh for the last 17 years (14 of which I’ve been married to him). I still get tickled every time he starts laughing. Everyone should have a laugh like that. Jonathan is such a mama’s boy. He likes for us to sit in Fred’s recliner together and snuggle. At bedtime he will request that I sleep in his bed. He doesn’t understand why daddy gets a roommate and he doesn’t! Jessie has such a sweet soul. She cares about others and will go out of her way to help anyone in need. She tries to make sure that everyone feels loved.

I am thankful for our extended family. We love our grandparents, great-grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins. I think it is wonderful that my kids have a great relationship with all of these people. I think that it is rare for kids to have a relationship with their great-aunts and uncles. They adore my aunts and uncles and cousins and see them as regularly as possible. We are blessed to have so many people that love and care for our children.

I am thankful for our friends. We have friends that we’ve known since our college days. We think of them as family. Jess has anointed them as her honorary aunts, uncles and cousins. We are fortunate that they include us in some of their family get-togethers.

I am thankful for the knowledge that I am a child of God. I teach the 9 year olds at church and we were in charge of the Sharing Time lesson last Sunday in Primary. The topic of the lesson was “I am thankful to know that I am a child of God.” The kids did a great job and I went home truly grateful for this knowledge.

I am thankful for the Visiting Teaching program. In our church there are two sisters that are companions. They are assigned 2-3 other sisters to visit and share a short message each month. I have wonderful visiting teachers that come see me the first Tuesday of every month. They are so sweet and they are wonderful cooks. They have spoiled my kids, because they often bring treats.

I am pleased to have a wonderful visiting teaching companion and we have two great ladies that we visit. At one point, we had 3 sisters that we visited. Due to the growth in the ward, they reassigned one of our sisters. We miss her so much!

I am thankful for a sweet family member who is always thinking of me. When she is done with something, she has often sent it my way. I think she must know that I am cheap and usually won’t make a big purchase until it is absolutely necessary. Even then, I’ve been known to limp along way beyond necessary. My friends at work were so glad that she sent me clothes. I had lost weight and refused to buy new clothes. I just kept synching the old ones with a belt. The latest item was a headboard/footboard and comforter set. Our house is tiny (see the part above about being cheap) and as a result, my bedroom is the dumping ground for everything that doesn’t have a home. I have never updated the furniture in our bedroom. Our headboard was falling apart and I didn’t even have a comforter. Fred doesn’t like comforters on the bed, but I held tight and successfully argued (or maybe begged) to use the comforter that I was given. So far, he has been pleased – the comforter is much lighter than our last one. It is very exciting to have something almost-new in our bedroom. No lie, I’m using my Grandparents dresser and night stand. I’m pretty sure it was purchased in the late 60’s or early 70’s. Thankfully, it is just basic oak – nothing crazy from that time period.

I am thankful for so much. These are just the things that are top-of-mind right now.

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. I will recap ours soon!