Gratitude

Gratitude is a sincere appreciation for blessings or help we have received.



Today, I taught a lesson at church to seven 6-year olds about gratitude and showing thanks to others, especially our Heavenly Father for all that we have. Their list of things that they were grateful for ranged from Pokemon to food and shelter to Jesus' birth. I am grateful for the opportunity I have to teach them each Sunday.

When I came home from church, I watched the above video and felt that I should write down some of the things I am grateful for.

There are the obvious ones like my husband and 3 daughters, our home, good health, and food to eat.
I am also thankful for my sisters (all 8 of them). I am grateful for telephones that I can call and talk to them whenever I need to and that I was able to get a phone call a few weeks ago at 11pm hearing the news that I was surprisingly a new aunt.

I am thankful for my moms and dads and the relationship they each have with my children. I love watching and hearing them interact in person and on the telephone.

I am so thankful for Chuck's job. When we know so many of our family members and friends that are struggling with work, I am grateful that he loves his job so much.

I am thankful for free stuff. I know that may seem silly, but when we are trying to pay off debt it is so nice to do something fun with and for our kids that is free. For example, Lowe's Build and Grow or "dining" at Sam's Club. I love how excited the girls get when we do something like this with them and how they remember it later. Last year, I got a box of winter girl's clothes from freecycle.org for Leland and now that Lucy is almost wearing Leland's size, I have enough clothes for both of them.

I am grateful for our mini van that fits our 3 children safely. I am grateful that I have enough room in a van to take others places too, along with our family. It allowed me to take care of my 2 nieces this week, so their parents could go on a vacation. I am grateful that we were blessed to be able buy the van just weeks before Charlotte was born while Chuck was unemployed.

I am grateful for nap time - my own and my children's. I feel rested, so I can make it through the rest of the day and I am able to have some me time and write blog posts.

I am grateful for blogs. Having a blog has allowed an outlet for me to finally get excited about record keeping. Tracking our families joys and struggles, creating a history of our day to day lives. I have already been blessed by going back and reading things that we have written. My girls love to look at old pictures on our blog and our family and friends' blogs. It has allowed me to feel connected to those that we do not live close to, but wish we did.

My list could go on and on, but I will end for now and say that I am most grateful for my Heavenly Father and the relationship that I am able to have with Him through prayer. It is a feeling of great comfort to know that He is there and that He is listening. He is from which all good things come. Prayer is a powerful tool to show our gratitude and also ask for help.