Thankful

I came home early tonight to go to bed because I am scheduled to work a 12 hour shift tomorrow at the hospital. Right as I was going to bed I got put on call, so I figured I could take a quick minute to write.

It has been a nice Thanksgiving. I have such a wonderful family, so supportive and fun to be with. I was able to see all of my family at one time or another today except my one brother and his wife (we missed you guys!). Jen and I went over to my parent's house early and helped set up and it was nice to visit with them. I sure love my good parents and all I learn from them.

Then the families that were coming for dinner came and we had dinner around 1:30 (yum, yum, I love turkey and stuffing). The rest of the day we played games and talked and ate pie. It was a very low key, but a nice Thanksgiving. One of the biggest things I am thankful for today is a wonderful family who are my best friends.

I especially loved seeing all the cute kids. My neices and nephews are such a comfort to me. I love to talk to them and hear the cute things they say. Today Josh asked me how Fluffy was buried if he went to live with Heavenly Father. It was so precious to explain to him (using the glove analogy) about the resurrection. It was so cute when Annika asked me to come and build a castle with blocks, when Joey sat on my lap as we were playing the game, when Brendan helped me decide what cards to put down... I could give an example with each child. I love that they all love me and want to be with me.

One of my favorite things is when they give me drawings or make some other cute thing for me. My journal has a lot of those precious little drawings from various neices and nephews. I have to add one quick picture here. The other day I went to Emilee's house and Emma, with Em's help, had made cookies that spelled my name.


Isn't she just so cute in her little apron? One of the greatest blessings of still being single after all this time is the close relationship I have with all these sweet little kids!

I wanted to add a few more things I am thankful for. This morning I woke up early with a tender heart. Yesterday was a very difficult day for me and Jen and as I woke up, I laid in bed for a few minutes and prayed and thanked Heavenly Father for comfort in difficult times.

When I opened my eyes the first thing I saw was my favorite picture of Christ, and I thought again of how thankful I am for the Atonement and that Christ suffered for our sorrows as well as our sins. That even though this is a relatively small thing that I am grieving about, Heavenly Father and Jesus care because they care about me and my happiness. What a blessing to have a Father and Brother who love us so much.

I got up and made rolls and while I was making them I listened to October Conference for about two hours. It was so good. I listened to several talks, but my favorites were President Uctdorf's from the Priesthood session about learning from our adversity and President Monson's from the Sunday Morning Session about service. I love the counsel we get from our leaders and how it helps me to ponder ways I can improve and become a better person.

I also listened to some Christmas music. I love music! Here is a line that I heard again this morning from one of my favorite Christmas songs, "The Star of Bethlehem" by Sally Deford: "The star still shines for me... It beckons me through ages past by countless years undimmed. It bids me serve His children now, thus to worship Him." Aren't those beautiful words?I love the lessons I can learn from music.

The other thing I was really grateful for today was the beautiful sunshine! Wasn't it a gorgeous day?

Well, there are many other things I am thankful for, but this post is probably too long already and I'd better be getting to bed. I am going to be hating life tomorrow if I get called in at 4:30 am, but I am glad I was able to write anyway!