To be thankful

All I have to do is look at my Instagram posts or my blog posts through the years to remember what I am thankful for and feel immense joy to have the life that I am living. And then there are the million other things in between.

Today a few things that are on my mind:

I am thankful for the spirit which whispers to me simple ways to improve. If anyone but the Spirit told me to change, I fear I am too proud. And the words of the Spirit seem to stay with me longer so that I can remember to change. For example, we all have parenting struggles (at least I sure hope we do and I am not alone!). As I was having a particular rough day with one of my children, I wanted nothing but to have space and run errands by myself after dinner. But as I sat at the dinner table facing my inner turmoil, I remember something the spirit whispered to me not too long before as I had pondered and prayed how to be a better mother to this particular child, "spend 15 minutes with her". So I invited her along to run errands with me. Nothing fun but we walked, held hands and talked. It is something I need to remember everyday.

I am thankful for the opportunity to see tithing as sacrifice. So many times I pay it and think nothing of it. But as I have found myself wanting more and feeling like it was something out of our budget, the thought came, "Man, if we didn't pay tithing we could afford it." A scary temptation. However, it is a sacrifice that has and will continue to bring the blessings of heaven.  Yesterday, I listened to a talk "Becoming a Disciple of our Lord Jesus Christ" by Elder Hales from 2017. He said people practiced what he called "selective obedience" and the line that stuck out to me "They gave alms to the poor but offered only heir excess--what they did not need for themselves." I don't know this sacrifice. I don't know how to give what I don't need. Anyway, I'm glad I could see an opportunity of a way I can and have sacrificed as I learn to give more freely.

I am thankful for life. I feel that I am recognizing the mortality of the people around me. A sister in my ward was diagnosed with cancer-She has an amazing fighting spirit. A brother in my ward passed away last night- GG was there in the hospital with their family. A few days ago, they probably had no idea anything big was going to happen. Facebook fills my feed with the struggles of my friends. At stake conference last week, I looked around and saw a number of gray haired and older people.  I realized these were my friends parents. Another generation is raising up and another moving to another season of life. I'm in the middle right now but it won't be long before I am that older generation. How does time and life seem to slip by like a dream?

I am thankful for my ability to exercise. I love it. It feels good to be stronger. It feels good to do something I don't think I can or even want to in the moment. It is wonderful practice for life.

I am thankful for food. I am thankful for comfort, security, love and belonging.

I am thankful for 4 children who call me mom.

I am thankful for a wonderful, devoted and serving husband.

I am thankful for my upbringing and the sacrifices my parents had to raise a family. They gave up a lot to have as many children as they did.

I am thankful so many things. It's easy to feel thankful. The real test is to BE thankful, to act thankful. To be so thankful, that I would give even in my want.

Happy Thanksgiving!

years

okay, just a quick note (I make no promises).

I know I have been away from my blog for a long time now and have only made a post or two in the last several years. I happened to look at the side bar of my blog at blogs I used to follow. Do you remember the NieNie Dialogues/diary(?? something like that).  I clicked on it, not realizing she still blogged while in my absence from the blog world. Her post had her 18 year old daughter!! Shut the front door! Her kids were all little, moving into a nice big house as Utah bloggers do and now she has an almost adult.
It makes me sick. Why do the years fly by so quickly. Right now, I have two children pulling on a cord of a disco light fighting on who will plug it in, neither willing to give in and to reach the same goal of dancing with the lights--this is why the years have to fly by quickly or we might not make it.  But this stage in our lives will be gone so quickly. I find it hard to even remember day to day life when Boo was little.  And it 10 years I look back it will all seem to be a dream. And then where will we be? I realize I am no longer 27 and I should start accepting my age and my body, while stronger does not look like a 27 year old anymore.  And that the idea of being a grandma, yes I just said grandma, is not a completely outlandish idea for my future-it is a little but not completely.

Making progress

I was driving home from the Y and I somehow the thought of my old blog  came to mind. I could barely recall the web address, thankfully I remembered the original blog name and found my most current one.
I feel like I am more of a complete person when write and share my life. I have been sporadically writing in a journal but I never look at it and its not nearly as fun to look at without pictures.  So I am once again going to attempt to blog again. Out of curiosity, is there anyone who isn't a professional blogger out there still?

So what to share?
I have been a member of the Y for a year and a half and I can say I have improved my running, mostly in the last 11 months, from a slightly 9 something minute down to 8  1/2 minute mile. Yay! Still working on running for longer. Slowly but surely. I can at least say I don't hate it and that I don't  feel like my heart is going to race right out of me.
We are contemplating finding a bigger house. We found we like but there a few things holding us back. Until we ready we went into full get the house ready to sell mode. I am tired. Its amazing what you can get rid of when you arw trying to declutter the appearance of your home while making it liveable. I was amazed how games made it into at least 4 different  places, toys and books in so many rooms and places. Marie kondo is onto something when she  says to organize by like things versus by room. Huge difference in assessing what you have. And it makes a huge difference it how your house looks and feels.

And because pictures make things fun here are a few:

 Our kitchen update

 A little gem from our come follow me lesson the other night. It came from a scripture in Hebrews. Not letting our testimony become slippery and holding tight to the word of God so that we don't slip when hard times come...dad got an arm workout. 😁

 Ta-ta for now.