Blessings

"When Upon life's billows you are tempest tossed,
When you are discouraged, thinking all is lost,
Count your many blessings;
name them one by one,
And it will surprise you what the Lord has done.
... So amid the conflict, whether great or small
Do not be discouraged;
God is over all.
Count your many blessings;
angles will attend..."
~ {Hymn:  Count Your Many Blessings, by Johnson Oatman Jr.}

This song pretty much sums up how I've felt this past week, especially because of some events that have come to pass in the state that I live in.  Times are changing, morals are fading, but life goes on and there is still so much good in my life and that is what I need to focus on.

It's so fitting that this is a month that we especially look for those things we are thankful for.

So, in no particular order, these are the happy blessings in my life that I am so very thankful for:

*Christmas Songs in November

*The Book of Mormon

*Hot Chocolate

*My Family (three healthy, beautiful children and a very supportive husband)

*A cozy home

*Prayer

*Clearance racks at Target

*Fall colors & changing seasons

*The Temple

*Electricity

*Chocolate Chip cookies, fresh from the oven

*Fall Scented Candles

*Great Friends

*Cars

*A healthy body

*Extended Family Members

*My Husband's Job

*Food in my pantry

*Thrift Stores

*The Internet

*A Closet Full of Clothes

*Household Appliances (Dishwasher, Washers, Dryers, etc.)

*A Safe Neighborhood to Live In

*My Savior

*Date Nights with My Husband

*Sleep

*The Opportunity to be a Stay at Home Mom

*Classic Chick Flicks

*Modern Medicine

*Cameras to Capture Favorite Memories

*Our Family Dog, Paco

I wish each one of you a month full of blessings! 

Can you believe that Thanksgiving is only two weeks away?  

This month is moving so crazy fast!

A Month of Gratitude - Day 30

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Day 30: You, the readers of this blog.

Holy Cow, I did it! I made it through all of November sharing something I was grateful for each day! This exercise has definitely made me more aware of all the things I have to be grateful for. It has also given me an added measure of happiness each day as I focus on the positive things in my life.

For those of you who have gotten through reading all 30 gratitude posts {or even just half that many!}, I'm grateful for you for sticking with me through this month's posts. I promise that next month I'll be back to sharing some fun new projects and updates from around our fixer upper of a house. I'm especially excited to share with you all the Christmas decorating I've been doing the last few days. So for this last day of gratitude, I just wanted to say thank you dear readers for reading my blog. I also wanted to share a few of my favorite quotes on gratitude that have inspired me. I hope they inspire you too!

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"When you are grateful, fear disappears and abundance appears."
-Anthony Robbins

"Both abundance and lack exist simultaneously in our lives, as parallel realities. It is always our conscious choice which secret garden we will tend... when we choose not to focus on what is missing from our lives but are grateful for the abundance that's present- love, health, family, friends, work, the joys of nature, and personal pursuits that bring us pleasure- the wasteland of illusion falls away and we experience Heaven on earth." - Sarah Ban Breathnach


~ I hope you have a lovely day!

A Month of Gratitude - Day 29

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Day 29:  Reliable Transportation.

Don't get me wrong, I love walking when I have the chance, my destination is fairly close, and the weather is cooperative.  But being able to get from point A to point B quickly is a huge blessing.  My mini van isn't quite as cool and chic as that scooter pictured up above.  However, it does, without fail, get me and my family to where we need to go. 

It's a blessing I don't ever want to take for granted.

A Month of Gratitude - Day 28

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Day 28:  My parents.

I owe a lot of who I am today to my parents. 

I don't know how I got so lucky to be raised by two really amazing people. 

They blessed me with such a loving and stable childhood. 

And now that I'm a parent myself, raising my own children, I realize how much work that really takes.

Through their examples they taught me to serve, to be kind and patient with others, to work hard, to take education seriously, and they taught me who I am and how I should live my life to the best of my ability. 

Now, as I take on the roll of a parent and they are now grandparents, their love and examples continue to bless my life and the life of my husband and children.  What a blessing it has been through the ups and downs of my life, to have such loving and supportive people, within my reach, my entire life. 

Love you mom and dad!

A Month of Gratitude - Day 27

Day 27:  I'm grateful for good, old fashioned, wholesome entertainment for my children.  I'm also really grateful when they play together nicely and get along.  :)

A Month of Gratitude - Day 26

Day 26:  I'm grateful for late night creative inspiration.

A Month of Gratitude - Day 25

Day 25:  Thanksgiving yesterday was amazing.

Great food, family, friends, games, and great conversation made it a wonderful day.

And on this day after Thanksgiving, I'm grateful for some really great money saving Black Friday sales. {I was one of those crazy people who stayed up till midnight and then headed to Target ...and only Target.  It was crazy busy, but being part of the hustle and bustle of Christmas shoppers was kind of fun too.}

Today I'm also grateful for this post.

And...

I'm grateful for Bob's mints in my mouth and Bing Crosby Holiday music on pandora playing in the background as I put away everything fall and Thanksgiving to make a clean slate for everything Christmas.

As a family tradition, tomorrow our family will be picking out a Christmas tree and decking the halls around this neck of the woods.

I can't wait!!!

A Month of Gratitude - Day 24

Day 24:  I'm grateful for a holiday that celebrates families and friends gathering together to give thanks.

I'm grateful for all the food I'm going to get to eat today too.  

Mmmm ...pie.

A Month of Gratitude - Day 23

 

Day 23:  My dishwasher.

I am grateful for anything that makes my life a little easier!

A Month of Gratitude - Day 21 & 22

Day 21:  Oh boy, yesterday was not one of my better days.  {Hence, no gratitude post yesterday.}  I woke up with the WORST muscle spasm in my back.  Oy!  Do I have a lot more sympathy now for people with back problems.  It took everything I had just to sit in my car to take my kiddos to school in the morning.  I will not lie, I cried. 

BUT, what I am grateful for yesterday, was that I had a nice husband who called and got me an appointment with the chiropractor {he drove me there too, btw}.  I'm grateful for that chiropractor who worked his magic to try and mend my back.   I'm grateful for over the counter pain meds, and I'm grateful for fast food.  We rarely ever eat out, but it was so helpful last night to just send my husband out for food and in a few minutes, he came back with a hot, ready, {totally not nutritious} meal.

Day 22:  Today I am grateful that my back is feeling about 25% better and  I'm grateful for this yummy soft sugar cookie recipe that I found on pinterest.  I am currently groaning my way {because my back is still causing so much pain} through baking 26 unfrosted sugar cookies for my little boys first grade class.  And then I'm going to do my darnedest to go and help out in his class for an hour this afternoon as they do a little Thanksgiving celebration.  Oh boy.  Wish me luck!  {My husband is trying to convince me to back out of helping out today, but I just hate backing out of something at the last minute!}

A Month of Gratitude - Day 20

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Day 20:  Today, I am grateful for {THIS} inspiring talk.

A Month of Gratitude - Day 19

Day 19:  Today I'm grateful for...

lazy Saturday mornings...

 and snowy Saturday afternoons.

A Month of Gratitude - Day 18

Day 18:  I'm grateful for my eyes so that I can see beautiful things like...

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Changing Seasons.

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Beautiful sunsets.

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Christmas lights.

{Fall 2009}
And my sweet children.

Have a great weekend everyone!
I'll be back tomorrow with another grateful.!

A Month of Gratitude - Day 17

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Day 17:  Today I'm grateful for a silver lining. 

I found out early this morning that my facebook account has been hacked.  And because my personal familiy email is connected to my facebook account, it got hacked too.  I couldn't get into either.  I still can't.    So...needless to say, when all this hub bub gets completely taken care of {and we're working on it}, I will no longer be friends with facebook.  Although I'm sad about this, because I do love staying in contact with people through facebook, there is a silver lining behind it all. 

The amount of time I do spend online has been weighing on my mind.  {Not that it keeps me from getting things done or spending enough time with my family, but I could do better.}  Now that facebook is bye bye from my life {at least for a while}, I have one less excuse for being on the computer or online.  The time that I would have spent on facebook, I can now spend doing other more important productive things in my life.

Sometimes it's hard to find something good about something bad that happens.  But if you look hard, the good can be found.

A Month of Gratitude - Day 16

Day 16:  One on one time with my children.

My sweet eight year old daughter started her homework as soon as she got home from school.  She fell asleep in her bed last night with two pages of homework still undone.  {Talk about too much homework for someone this young!  But hey, that's just my opinion and a whole other topic for another day.}

I set my alarm early for the next morning.  The house was nice and quiet when I tiptoed up the stairs to her room.  I woke her up and told her that I would sit with her at the kitchen table while she finished her homework before school this morning.  I poured her a cup of hot cocoa...with marshmallows.  Although the reason we were up this early in the morning wasn't very fun, it was fun just being up together alone.  {She works faster when it's quiet too!}  She's such a sweet heart.  She's my first born and has the key to my heart.  I love having one on one time with my children.  I think it really helps us grow closer.

A Month of Gratitude - Day 15

Day 15:  Warm Clothing.

A Month of Gratitude - Day 14

Day 14:  Love notes from my children.

A Month of Gratitude - Day 13

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Day 13:  Everyday seems to be getting colder and colder outside.  I'm so grateful for the warmth I enjoy inside my home on cold November days.

A Month of Gratitude - Day 12

Day 12:  Modern Day Businesses/Technology like Netflix

Hope everyone had a great Veterans day yesterday!  We took our little family to a nearby cemetery, searched for some veterans graves and got a chance to talk with our children about how awesome the people are who serve our country. 

The rest of our weekend will include checking a few errands off the to-do list,  a few friends over for dinner, church, and a couple of Netflix movies.  We cancelled our cable connection over a year ago and have been doing the Netflix thing ever since. {By the way this isn't a plug for Netflix.  We just really love using it.}

I'm grateful to pay a little every month to enjoy commercial free TV shows and movies any time we want.  It makes for fun Friday movie nights at home with the family, and fun week night hang outs on the couch with the hubby.  The kiddos also look forward to checking the mail when a new movie is due to arrive. Netflix is awesome and saves our family a bundle on entertainment!

A Month of Gratitude - Day 11

Day 11:  Guitar songs at bedtime.
My husband rocks!