15 Days of Thanks

I was watching KBYU this afternoon. Marvin J Ashton was giving a devotional, reminding us to be a thankful people. I got lost in what he was saying. I started realizing that at times I am not as grateful as I ought to be. I have been blessed with many things, all given to me by the hand of the Lord.

His talk motivated me to think of one thing I am truly grateful for each day. So, I thought I would share with you guys and keep track all at the same time. From now until Thanksgiving it is my goal to record one thing each day.

What I am thankful for today:

I am thankful for family. I know it sounds a little cliche, everybody is always thankful for their family. But I feel it is so appropriate for family to be #1 in our lives. The family plays a HUGE role in our becoming who we need to be.

I am thankful for parents who taught me correct principles. They led by example. My parents supported me in all I ever attempted and in the end were my biggest advocates growing up (we don't ever realize that as teenagers). I'm sure, I KNOW, I did some things they did not agree with, but they loved my anyway.

I am grateful to now have a family of my own. I have a GREAT husband. He loves me. Anything he does I know he does for our betterment. He is a WONDERFUL father. He has a strong testimony of the Gospel and i love that he is so willing to serve the Lord.

I have been blessed with 5 INCREDIBLE kids! I feel very blessed to be able to raise them. I feel a lot of the time I am learning from them. They are so obedient and always want to do the right thing. We have our moments. i have many bad mommy moments, but we work it out together and become stronger.

I am thankful for my in-laws. I hear many people complain about the family they married into, but I do not have 1 single complaint! They are loving, caring people who treat me as part of their family. I have never felt out of place... ever! When I married Dustin I gained another set of parents, 2 sets of grandparents, 3 sisters, and another brother. I love them!

The family is an inspired institution. I can not think of a better place to learn patience, forgiveness, tolerance, compassion, any virtue, you name it, you will learn it in family life. I believe this is not by coincidence! It's all part of the plan and I am thankful to be a part of it!

Neal A. Maxwell said, (I know this is long, but it's good and true)

"A good member of the Church must understand the implications of his beliefs with regard to the home. This different commitment will mean, among many things, knowing—

—that because the home is so crucial, it will be the source of our greatest failures as well as our greatest joys.

—that home is the one place we will be in that will require us to practice every major gospel principle and not just a few, as may be the case in some temporary relationships.

—that the pressures of life in a family will mean that we shall be known as we are, that our frailties will be exposed and, hopefully, we shall then work on them.

—that the love and thoughtfulness required in the home are no abstract exercise in love. They are real. It is no mere rhetoric concerning some distant human cause; it is an encounter with raw selfishness, with the need for civility and taking turns, of being hurt and yet forgiving, of being at the mercy of others’ moods and yet understanding, in part, why we sometimes inflict pain on each other.

—that family life is a constant challenge, not a periodic performance we can render on a stage quickly and run for the privacy of a “dressing room” to be alone with ourselves, for the home gives us a great chance to align our public and private behavior, to reduce the hypocrisy in our lives, to be more congruent with Christ.

Thus, to commit oneself to home and family is to do a wondrous thing. It is a high adventure. It is not a task for those who wish to run away, nor for those whose human causes are chosen because the cause is distant and makes no real demands of them. It is the same for all the basic teachings of Jesus that constitute that solitary path to salvation."

Family, it's not for the weak!!