Christmas season

Okay, so I am not the best about keeping up with this journaling thing. I have no excuses, I just dont do it as well as I should.

Today, i just wanted to jot down a few reminders to myself of how thankful I am at this time of year for the wonderful spirit that just seems to be everywhere. It seems that everyone tries a little harder to be nicer, more giving, more caring, etc. I love this Christmas Season and the best that it brings out in everyone. The Spirit of Christ seems to constantly be flowing from so many people. I love the lights, the carols, the Christmas tree and decorations, and all that comes with this time of year.

My one wish every year is that we could just extend Christmas through until July. If only we could live in such peace and happiness throughout the whole year and not just at this time. I try to maintain these wonderful feelings throughout the year, but I know that I do fail at it alot of the times. It is so easy to get caught up in the world and go along with life, forgetting to be nicer, kinder, etc. I am grateful for the reminder at the end of each year of how we should treat each other throughout the upcoming year. I will strive harder to be kinder, friendlier, happier, and more grateful this next year.

Grateful for my children

I have to say that today I am very grateful for all these wonderful children. I have to keep saying that over and over to myself so that on the bad days I have something to remind myself of why I am doing all of this.



Being the mother of 6 children definitely has it's challenges. Most of the time I have a long list of things that need to be done that seems never ending and impossible to finish. The one bright spot in all of it though is the happy smiling faces that greet me each day. Why not have so many kids, I ask? That is 6 times the laughs, 6 times the hugs, 6 times the "I love you Mom" and 6 times the fun.



I found this little quote that just makes my eyes tear up each time I read it. It rings true to me in every way:

I love them equally
But not the same -
for each is different
in their own special way.

Everyday I thank God for
the blessings I received
in having children
as wonderful as these.

My children

Today I am grateful for my children. It is Jacob's birthday and that is always a great reminder of how important each of these little beings are to me. I love them all so much and enjoy each one of their different personalities. It is an extreme joy and pleasure to be their mother and to be able to share my life with them. I am supposed to teach them, but more often than not they are teaching me some important lesson of one kind or another.

Today, I am grateful for

Okay, So I have not been the best about keeping a gratitude journal on a daily basis. My goal is to shoot for weekly or a few times a week to add a post.

Today, I am grateful for a wonderful husband who loves us and works hard to keep us happy. James and I celebrated our 13th anniversary this week. It was so much fun. We kept it very low key, but had a great time. On Monday we had a family home evening dedicated to our anniversary and watched our wedding video with the kids. It was fun to watch that and see us and our friends so young. LOL. The kids thought is was funny to see mommy and daddy like that.

On Tuesday, our Anniversary, Jim and I just had a simple lunch date. My mom and dad came down and watched the little kids, while the big kids were at school. It was nice to be able to spend that time together. We dont get that too often, so it was an extra treat.

Anyway, I am grateful for family and the love of my life. He has taken such good care of us and works hard for all of us. It has been a great 13 years. There have been some very rocky roads, but it has all been fun and well worth it. I am grateful to you my Love for all you do for me and our little family.

For our Quarterly activity we had an Evening of Gratitude that turned out to be a very spiritual and wonderful night. It was a great evening with lots of talents shared. I am so greatful to the various participants, singers, etc that blessed us that evening with their different talents.

I have been asked to post the program, so here it is in its entirety. So today, I would say that I am grateful for the blessings of such a wonderful "ward family" so willing to participate and create such a wonderful night to share with the Relief Society.

Evening of Gratitude Program

Picturing with nice soft, intimate lighting: Our evening would begin with a 15-20 minute gathering time where people can snack on Sweet breads, goodies, and hot apple cider. We would then usher folks to their seats that would be arranged around a piano with a table nearby holding a drink fountain.

Opening prayer

(Performers would rise and come to the front carrying nice goblets of water)

D&C 136: 28 "If thou art merry, praise the Lord with singing, with music, with dancing, and with a prayer of thanksgiving."

MUSICAL NUMBER: I Thank Thee Dear Father

(during or after musical number-those who performed would empty their goblets into the fountain which is not running)

Narrator: We are here today to enjoy an evening of Gratitude.

Gratitude is a feeling of appreciation and thankfulness for blessings or benefits we have received. As we cultivate a grateful attitude, we are more likely to be happy and spiritually strong. We should regularly express our gratitude to God for the blessings He gives us and to others for the kind acts they do for us.

MUSICAL NUMBER: My Grateful Spirit Sings

Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin tells us

"Gratitude is a mark of a noble soul and a refined character. We like to be around those who are grateful. They tend to brighten all around them. They make others feel better about themselves. They tend to be more humble, more joyful, more likable."

We are commanded in ALMA 34:38 to "live in thanksgiving daily."
Elder Wirthlin asked these questions of living in Thanksgiving daily:

• How would your life improve if you lived in thanksgiving daily?
• How would your life improve if others lived in thanksgiving daily.
• Would the world be a happier place? Less stressful? Less angry? More spiritual"

Elder Wirthlin encourages us to

• Open our eyes and see all the beauty around us.
• Open our hearts and fill it with love for others.
• Open our arms and bless those around us.

STORY #1 Elder A. Theodore Tuttle shared this story
(Sister Birch on piano playing Families can be Together Forever softly in the background while narration takes place)

"There sits a young man here today in whose home I was a guest at a stake conference. Since he had recently left for the Y [Brigham Young University], I was to sleep in his room Saturday night. As his gracious mother showed me the room, she opened his closet where I saw a handwritten letter taped to the rod in the closet. It read:

"Mom, Thanks for all you've done to make this a 'special summer.' You are a very 'special mother' and I thank the Lord for the blessing of being your son.
I love you and appreciate all you do in my behalf. See you in November.
Paul.

"As she paused while I read it, she said, 'Hope you don't mind hanging your clothes out here. This note is still kind of precious. You know, every time I open this closet I read it again, and I would like to leave it there a little longer'

~Musical Number - God Created Us

STORY #2 Lisa Ray Turner, "The Song of Gratitude," Ensign, Jul 1992, 51

I knelt beside my three-year-old and listened to his scrambled bedtime prayer: "I'm thankful for Mommy and Daddy, snow and clouds. I'm thankful for Santa Claus. I'm thankful for pizza and my big brother. Thank you for food. Thank you for everything." . . . He then finished his prayer with an emphatic amen.

I tried to remember the last time I had thanked the Lord for such things. Certainly my life was filled with small blessings. Like my son, I thought pizza was delightful, but I never included it in my prayers. I enjoyed snow and clouds, too, but I never mentioned them either.

How much he had packed into his prayer! If only my prayers were so sincere. If only my heart were filled with such gratitude for simple aspects of everyday life.
I liked to think I omitted such items because they were too insignificant to include among important adult acknowledgments and appeals. But I knew that in reality I no longer noticed them. I had become so entrenched in "to do" lists and responsibilities that I no longer paid attention. . . If I wasn't even aware of these pleasures, how could I be thankful for them?. . .

Of course I was grateful for the "big blessings." I constantly thanked the Lord for health, family, and the gospel. These gifts were impossible to ignore.
As I thought about childlike gratitude, I remembered Christ's injunction to become as little children. Perhaps part of becoming like a child would be to hone my abilities to feel gratitude and give thanks. My sense of grown-up "busyness" had assaulted my sense of gratitude for too long. I no longer wanted to be so busy that I failed to notice my blessings—whether great or small—and the people who enriched my life. So, I made a conscious decision to practice gratitude, in much the same way I had practiced the piano as a child—daily, conscientiously, persistently.

Wonderful things happened. Not in the worldly sense, or on a grandiose, obvious level, but in small, everyday ways. I saw the world with new eyes.
I began to see sunsets. Had they always been there? I started to haul my family outside to watch the sky's extraordinary hues of purple and pink. I began to see the beauty in my baby's face—even when it was covered with mashed green peas and congealed chicken gravy. I watched my husband tenderly tuck our sons into their beds at night and remembered how much I loved him. I began to play in the sandbox with my boys and relish the texture of the grainy, white sand. I began to feel gratitude. . .

I'd always thought gratitude was a feeling like love or anger—something that came naturally. But gratitude is more a virtue, like hope or faith—something that may not come naturally but can be learned (or relearned) by becoming as little children. It can be practiced, and like a difficult passage in a Chopin étude, it becomes easier with practice.

MUSICAL NUMBER: I’m Thankful To be Me

O Remember, Remember
President Henry B. Eyring
October 2007
Story #3

When our children were very small, I started to write down a few things about what happened every day. Let me tell you how that got started. I came home late from a Church assignment. It was after dark. My father-in-law, who lived near us, surprised me as I walked toward the front door of my house. He was carrying a load of pipes over his shoulder, walking very fast and dressed in his work clothes. I knew that he had been building a system to pump water from a stream below us up to our property.

He smiled, spoke softly, and then rushed past me into the darkness to go on with his work. I took a few steps toward the house, thinking of what he was doing for us, and just as I got to the door, I heard in my mind—not in my own voice—these words: "I'm not giving you these experiences for yourself. Write them down."

I went inside. I didn't go to bed. Although I was tired, I took out some paper and began to write. And as I did, I understood the message I had heard in my mind. I was supposed to record for my children to read, someday in the future, how I had seen the hand of God blessing our family. Grandpa didn't have to do what he was doing for us. He could have had someone else do it or not have done it at all. But he was serving us, his family, in the way covenant disciples of Jesus Christ always do. I knew that was true. And so I wrote it down, so that my children could have the memory someday when they would need it.

I wrote down a few lines every day for years. I never missed a day no matter how tired I was or how early I would have to start the next day. Before I would write, I would ponder this question: "Have I seen the hand of God reaching out to touch us or our children or our family today?" As I kept at it, something began to happen. As I would cast my mind over the day, I would see evidence of what God had done for one of us that I had not recognized in the busy moments of the day. As that happened, and it happened often, I realized that trying to remember had allowed God to show me what He had done.

More than gratitude began to grow in my heart. Testimony grew. I became ever more certain that our Heavenly Father hears and answers prayers. I felt more gratitude for the softening and refining that come because of the Atonement of the Savior Jesus Christ. And I grew more confident that the Holy Ghost can bring all things to our remembrance—even things we did not notice or pay attention to when they happened.

The years have gone by. My boys are grown men. And now and then one of them will surprise me by saying, "Dad, I was reading in my copy of the journal about when . . . " and then he will tell me about how reading of what happened long ago helped him notice something God had done in his day.

My point is to urge you to find ways to recognize and remember God's kindness. It will build our testimonies. You may not keep a journal. You may not share whatever record you keep with those you love and serve. But you and they will be blessed as you remember what the Lord has done. You remember that song we sometimes sing: "Count your many blessings; name them one by one, And it will surprise you what the Lord has done."2

We are encouraging you sisters in the same thing. Here are some gratitude journals to start you on your way of keeping a gratitude journal (Hand out journals). Write down those things that you notice as a blessing in your life. Henry B. Eyring has said that we will be blessed if we remember and write down those things that the Lord has done for us directly and through generous acts of kindness from others.

Musical Number: Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing.

After song, pianist keeps playing through next narration:

Throughout this program each participant has filled our blessing fountain as they blessed us with their talent. We can see that our blessings as a ward family are truly great. Each of us have hundreds of goblets to add to our own personal fountains. Let us write down these wonderful blessings so that when it is hard to see the positive, we too can see that our "cups" runneth ore with all our blessings and take the time to stop and "give thanks in all things."

As pianist is playing and narration begins, narrator pours final goblet of water into the fountain as someone plugs it in and it 'springs' to life, pooring over all blessings that have been shared with us that night.

Closing Prayer

I am grateful for music in my life

We just had the program practice for our Evening of Gratitude and I have to say how much I am grateful for music in my life. I, myself, am not very talented music wise. I can carry a tune, but nothing spectacular. I enjoy singing and music, but what I enjoy most is listening to others. The Spirit that can be brought to any meeting just by adding a song is amazing. I have had the pleasure of attending many meetings were I was touched not only by the speakers, but also by the music that was shared. We are such a blessed people to have so much talent in our Ward. I am grateful to those participating in our meeting and adding to the Spirit of what the Enrichment Committee has created in this program. I will post a script of the whole program at some time.

I am grateful for Fast and Testimony Meeting

When I was a child, I remember not liking Testimonay meeting too much. It was just hard to sit through all the people "spilling their guts." I just really did not get it at all.

Well, at 33 years old, I guess I have learned a few things or maybe I have just grown up a bit. LOL. Today was Fast Sunday. We have had some sick kiddos in our house, so we slept in quite a bit this morning. I was the only one to make it to church as a result. I have to say, going from 6 kids to just one little baby that I can hold the whole time adds to the spirit of the day.

Well, I could tell that I was feeling the spirit during church today cause as usual I was crying my little eyes out. The testimonies given were just so sweet and simple. I am all about simple and I enjoyed listening to the others sharing their spirit with me. What a change in attitude toward this meeting. I use to dread it and now I really enjoy it. I need to "fill my cup" on Sundays and it is so easy to do on Fast Sunday being able to listen to all the wonderful testimonies.

So, today, I am grateful for Fast Sunday and Testimony meeting.