Things I am Thankful For Day 30

DAY 30. Unexpected phone calls.  I got a call from a good friend back in Utah this morning and it was a great surprise. We got to talk for about a half an hour, wish it could have been longer, but what a nice talk it was.  I am so thankful for friends that you can pick up with right where you left off no matter how long it has been since you last talked to them.  It really made my day.

So I am at an end of my 30 days of thanks.  It has been fun and brought me insight.  There were days when I wasn't sure that I could find something to be thankful for, but I managed to get through all 30 days.  And I am so glad that I did. 

Things are beginning to look like Christmas around here so we shall press forward towards my favorite holiday, trying to remember to be thankful for all that we have been blessed with.  Oh, and thank goodness for the post options feature that lets you post things in the past and have them ready for the future I could have never made it through all 30 days without it!  :)

Things I am Thankful For Day 29

DAY 29.  Chocolate.  I love chocolate, it almost always make things better.  Any kind of chocolate will do.  I especially like chocolate and peanuts or peanut butter.  I had to get some peanut M&M's at the store tonight because I was in need of a good chocolate fix.  Now the trick will be to not eat them all in one day!!

Things I am Thankful For Day 28

DAY 28.  Homemade cookies.  I love being able to make cookies with my kids.  And I think my kids really like to help me make cookies (and other things too!)  I like being able to choose what goes into the cookies and I try to make them a healthier treat.  Abbie and I made peanut butter cookies today, it was really fun.  I love the times when we get to do things like this.

She liked being able to smash down the balls of dough.

Things I am Thankful For Day 27

DAY 27. Family Dinners.  Because of circumstances with our family we haven't always been able to eat dinner together as family every night.  Since moving to Red Wing it happens almost every single night and I LOVE IT.  I love cooking and preparing good, healthy food for my family and watching them enjoy it.  Sometimes the conversation is a little crazy, how can it not be with three kids, but I enjoy that almost as much as the food.

Things I am Thankful For Day 26

DAY 26.   Patience.  I am thankful that my husband has been infinitely patient with me these last few weeks.  When I haven't been very patient with anyone.  I know that it hasn't been easy for him, and at time I have left him shaking his head and wondering where in the world the wife he married went.  But he has been there by my side the entire time.  Comforting and listening.  Calming and steading me.  Helping me through a dark and trying time.  He has been there when I needed him the most.  Thank you sweetheart.  I love you.

Things I am Thankful For Day 25

DAY 25.  Prayer.  I am so thankful that I can go to my Father in Heaven whenever and wherever I need to and He is always there for me.  Today has not been a great day at all.  I have been moody and grumpy and all sorts of out of control.  I don't know exactly why, but it has been an emotional day.  Then I read a post on a blog I follow that helped turn me in the direction that I needed to go.  She talked of prayer and how sometimes we are too busy trying to do everything by ourselves and can't stop and let the Savior in because we don't want Him to see us at our worst. So we shut Him out until we are perfect.  Never letting Him in at all.  When in reality He wants to be there for us all day every day and we just need ask.  It was just what I needed and after some time spent on my knees I felt better, not wonderful, but enough in control that I could ENJOY the rest of the evening with my family, not endure it.  Which was what I had been feeling.  What a great blessing.

Things I am Thankful For Day 24

DAY 24.  Thanksgiving.  I really like this holiday, and not just for the food, although I do have to say that I love the food.  I hate how it can get skipped right over and forgot in a rush of materialism of Christmas.  Not to knock Christmas because I think it is my favorite holiday of all.  But I like being reminded of all of the things that I am thankful for, all of the things I have been blessed with.  I love the simple restful day that it can be.  This is our first Thanksgiving away from family and while I am sad not to be with family I am thankful that my family is together to celebrate this day.  I loved cooking a whole big feast for my family and watching them enjoy it.  Then having no agenda or places to go for visits, just being able to hang out watching movies with my family is so much fun.

Things I am Thankful For Day 23

DAY 23.  Our furnace.  From the mouths of babes...  For family home evening this week we made a thankful tree and all of us took turns listing the things that we were most grateful for.  I wanted to be able to write everything because the leaves were small and I wanted to be able to read them later.  And maybe I get a little crazy wanting everything perfect.  Ashton insisted that he could write his own and even got out his own marker.  I went a head and let him because he seemed so determined, but it was grudgingly.  I have to say he did a great job and there was only one we couldn't figure out what he had written.  I thought it said "friends" but he said no it says "furnace".  And I have to agree that I am also thankful for our furnace because it keeps us warm and cozy all winter long, but also because it taught me that I need to let the kids do more.  They are capable.  That sometimes the journey is more important that the destination. I insisted that I wanted it pretty and neat, but now the leaf I will treasure the most is the one I can't quite read....

Things I'm Thankful For Day 22

DAY 22.  Cell phones.  I carry my everywhere, which can be a burden sometimes because I always feel compelled to answer it even if I am busy.  But they are so convenient and make is possible to talk to loved ones back in Utah whenever I feel the need to talk.  I am grateful that I can call my mom anytime I need to and don't have to wait for a special time to call her.  If only she would answer hers today!! 

Things I am Thankful For Day 21

 DAY 21. Pomegranates.  Sort of a silly thing to be thankful for I know, but I bought one and the store the other day and didn't tell the kids.  Not for any real reason, I just didn't think about it.  Tonight while Jake was getting his lunch ready to take to work with him tonight he saw it mentioned that it was still in the fridge and did I forget about it?  Um, ya or it wouldn't still be there!!  My kids were so excited for that silly pomegranate.  That couldn't wait for me to get all the little seeds out of the shell and were eating them as fast as I could get them out.  I barely had enough time to take a few pictures of it before it was gone!