Grateful.

      I realize this post is late. As I read all of the social media posts during November, I myself felt that I needed to express my gratitude. I started this list, but it took me longer than I would have liked to complete.  30 blessings - for 30 years of my life, or 30 days in November, whichever you fancy.

     The happiness of being grateful is real. It's amazing what an attitude of gratitude does for you!  So, read it or don't, but I am grateful!

1.     I am so grateful to live in a country where I have the freedom to choose for myself.  Though it is far from perfect, it is divinely appointed!

2.     I am thankful for a beautiful home. I could never have dreamt that one day we would own such a grand house. We are so blessed, and so grateful.

3.     I am so grateful for my education, for the process of gaining it, and what it has taught me. I see and am grateful for the resulting blessings everyday.

4.     I am eternally thankful for the opportunity to serve a mission. What I learned in the process is priceless beyond measure, and the people I was blessed to meet have changed my life for better.  Halas vagyok Magyarorszagert.

5.     I am so grateful for Ken’s family. They have been my saving grace these last nine months. I am so grateful for their hospitality, their friendship, their acceptance, their love and their support.

6.     I will forever be grateful to my Heavenly Father for telling me no, and guiding me to my incredible husband. He knew far better than I what I needed, and He blessed me far beyond what I thought I could have. 

7.     I am grateful for my dear Ken. He is the best decision I ever made, and that I keep making every day. I love him more all the time, and I am so grateful for his patience, his love, his support, his longsuffering, and his fun-loving soul.

8.     I couldn’t be more grateful for my son. He is a precious little light in my life. His sweet little spirit lifts my soul and keeps me going. I am so blessed to be his mom. I am so excited to watch him grow, help him learn, and to be his mommy forever.

9.     I am so grateful for technology. I know that I couldn’t have survived this move across the country without it. It is so amazing to be able to talk to my family, have them see my son grow, and be able to keep up with my family and friends from so far away.

10. I am grateful for this beautiful earth we live on. I love nature, its peace and the joy I feel in reveling in God’s creations. I marvel at the painstaking care he put into this world where He sent us to live. He loves us so much to send us to this incredible world.

11. I am so grateful for my parents. Though we are a real family with all the problems that come with family, they are the best parents I could ask for. They know how to buoy me up, give me strength, calm my fears, and help me be what Heavenly Father needs of me. They never doubt I can accomplish what I dream, or what is expected of me.

12.  I am very grateful that my fabulous parents taught me the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I am grateful that they helped me keep the standards of the church, that they instilled in me the difference between right and wrong, that they worked hard to teach me responsibility and how to be a good member of society.

13.  I am very grateful for my brothers. I love them each so much, and I am so proud of the men that they are and are becoming. They are always there for me, they are incredibly supportive, and they give me a bad time. Love you guys!

14. I am grateful for my extended family. I have the best network of aunts, uncles, cousins, great aunts and uncles, second cousins, grandparents and my “adopted” family. I am so blessed to have such a close-knit family who loves me.

15. I am truly grateful for amazing friends. So much of who I am I owe to the angels embodied who have stood by my side, whether for a brief moment, or for years on end, I have been so richly blessed by those I am honored to call my friends.

16.  I am grateful for the principle of work. I have been blessed to have many jobs, wearing many hats. I love being a nurse, but even more, I love being a mom. While I have much to learn, work is such an important principle in life, and work is a great teacher!

17. I am grateful for my physical body. Though it is flawed, I am blessed with health.  I am so grateful for a Heavenly Father who created our bodies to function so well.  It is such a gift of God that we are endowed with this creation of a body to house our immortal spirits.

18.  I am grateful for the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I am so grateful for the Plan of Happiness, and my knowledge of it.  I cannot being to express my deep gratitude for the knowledge that I can be together with my family forever one day. Losing loved ones is not so despairing with this bright blessing of truth.

19.  I cannot express my gratitude for the blessing of a testimony of my Savior, Jesus Christ. I am so thankful for His life and His earthly mission, His example and His Atonement. I truly know that my Savior lives, that He loves me, that He died for me, and that through Him I can be made perfect and return to my Father in Heaven. My brother, Jesus Christ is my friend and my Savior.

20. I am grateful for the restored church of Jesus Christ on the earth today. I am grateful for my membership in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. I feel overwhelmed with gratitude for the blessing of being “called to know the richness of His blessing.”

21. I am thankful for a fourteen-year-old boy, prepared by God, and courageous enough to ask the hard questions though prayer. I am grateful for the revealed truths that have come as a result of that boy, Joseph Smith, and each latter-day prophet who followed him. I feel so blessed to know that God still speaks to us today, in the form of His servants, the prophets and apostles of Jesus Christ.

22. I am incredibly blessed to live in a home where God’s priesthood power resides in my husband. I am thankful that this power was again restored to the earth through Joseph Smith by the wisdom of a loving Heavenly Father.

23. I am grateful for scripture, ancient and modern, restored and revealed. God so loves us that He has preserved His word to many groups of people that we can learn from it. I am so blessed to learn more about my Savior and my Father in Heaven, His plan for me, and the way He speaks to us. I am thankful for the Bible, The Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants, The Pearl of Great Price and for modern revelation to God’s chosen servants on the earth today!

24.  I am so grateful to my mom for all that she taught me.  Some things were very intentional: she taught me the gospel, to cook, to clean, to love children and care for them, to treat others with respect, to write thank you notes. Other things were more by example: to love my Heavenly Father, to love music, to enjoy reading, to love the arts, to enjoy the holidays (all of them), to pray and read my scriptures, to give thoughtful gifts, faith in times of trial, family loyalty, to honor my covenants, to love clothes, to love pretty things and to love nature. I am truly the woman I am today because my mother is who she is. I am her only daughter, and I feel so honored to hold the title. She is the best woman I know.

25.  I am so grateful for my dad. He has instilled in me so many important traits and concepts. I am forever indebted to him. He taught me to be an athlete- to throw, to run, to hit and to compete- NOT like a girl. My dad taught me obedience, courage, the value of education and a love of learning, perseverance, hard work, generosity, and probably the best thing he gave me: a sense that I could do absolutely anything I set my mind to, even if I had failed a million times first. No matter how hard dating was for me, he always told me that I was the kind of girl he would date- and he meant it. I sure love my dad.

26. I am so grateful for things I never learned growing up. I never learned to compare myself to other women.  Though it seems to happen regardless, I never learned to put others down in order to feel better about myself. I didn’t learn that parents should be my friends (though that has come in my adult years). I never learned that life was fair.  I didn’t learn how to quit, or how to back down. I never learned how to allow others to dictate to me how I feel about myself. I never learned that things would be given to me. I am as grateful for the things I didn’t learn as I am the ones I did learn.

27. I am really grateful that the Lord doesn’t allow me to settle too much into a comfort zone. Though it’s horribly painful each time He places me in new circumstances, I know that I need the remodel each time I am moved about. I’m grateful that the Lord moved me to Utah at 16, that He moved me here to Texas at 30. Who knows what else He has in store. I’m sure it will hurt, but I’ll be grateful in the end.

28. I am so grateful for my forgiving Father in Heaven. He is ever patient with me, so very persevering in His love and forbearance. I am grateful for His mercy and the principle of repentance. I am so grateful for the atonement.

29. I am grateful for always having enough. I have never truly wanted for anything really in my life. I am so grateful for the things I have. I am richly blessed with material things. I have so much more than I need, but I am truly grateful.

30. I am grateful for this season of gratitude and thanksgiving. It is such a fabulous segway to the celebration of Christ’s birth. I love the reminder to be grateful- it breeds happiness!