Thankful #16-18

#16 - I am thankful that my husband is getting to see cousins that he hasn't seen in years today. And meet their spouses!

#17 - I am thankful that Bobby has a good job that supports our family. We have everything we need.

#18 - I am thankful for Monica. She has a place set up at her home for working on food storage. She welcomes everyone from the stake to use the canner and sealer anytime. She finds great deals on rice and beans and orders tons (literally). Her husband drives to Houston willing to pick up food in bulk for anyone who orders it. I don't know how she keeps everything organized, but she does a great job!

One word Tag

TYPE ONLY 1 WORD.
1. Where is your cell phone? here
2. Your significant other? loving
3. Your hair? brown
4. Your mother? sick
5. Your father? retired
6. Your favorite thing? family
7. Your dream last night? devastating
8. Your favorite drink? OJ
9. Your dream/goal? happiness
10. The room you're in? living
11. Your fear? kidnapping
12. Where do you want to be in 6 years? graduated
13. Where were you last night? in-laws
14. What you're not? artistic
15. Muffins? blueberry
16. One of your wish list items: a miracle
17. Where you grew up. Louisiana
18. The last shopping you did? milk
1 9. What are you wearing? blue
20. Your TV? off
21. Your pet? fish
22. Your computer? slow
23. Your life? blessed
24. Lost any Emails? probably
25. Missing someone? yes
26. Your car? gone
27. Something you're not wearing? shoes
28. Favorite Store? sale
29. Your summer? kids
30. Your favorite color? blue
31. When is the last time you laughed?yesterday
32. Last time you cried? my dream
Now it's 4 answers
34. FOUR PEOPLE WHO E-MAIL ME: Mom, Emily, Jen, Laura
35. FOUR OF MY FAVORITE FOODS:chocolate, shrimp, fajitas, lasagna
36. FOUR PLACES I WOULD RATHER BE RIGHT NOW? cruise, Hawaii, Disney, California
37. FOUR PEOPLE I THINK WILL RESPOND. ????

Thankful #13-15

#13 - I am thankful for the nice weather we've been having. Sure, it gets pretty chilly in the morning, but the afternoons are perfect.

#14 - I am thankful for our Stake President. He has faithfully served in the church for years as Bishop, member of the Stake Presidency and now as our Stake President. I'm sure his family has sacrificed a lot of time they could have spent with him. I just want them to know how much I appreciate everything that he has done.

#15 - I am thankful for Primary. I was having a rough morning and was not in a very good mood. The Primary children are so sweet and have such beautiful spirits. They truly helped lift my spirit. I left church this afternoon happy and smiling.

Thankful #10-12

#10 - I am thankful for Brian. He enjoys a good day's work. If we have a project to work on, he is right there ready to learn and help out. He loves to work with his hands and can keep us motivated. He also says exactly what it on his mind.

#11 -I am thankful for colors. They make everything much more interesting. Could you imagine if we only had shades of gray?

#12 - Bobby's fortune cookie tonight - "The reward for having feelings is great joy." I read this today after leaving the hospital visiting a friend whose husband is in critical condition. This was a timely reminder that without pain and sorrow we can never feel pleasure, happiness and joy. It is the tough times that make the good times so much sweeter.

Quote of the Day

Okay, so that none of you think that I can actually play the piano, I will share a story from earlier this week.

I took lessons as a child, but could never play with my left hand. I have tried over the years to teach myself more. I feel like I have gotten okay with my right hand if there aren't very many sharps or flats. I have been trying to include my left hand in a couple of songs. I can even play a couple of hymns in the simplified version.

This Saturday is the Primary Talent Show and Sis. Morris really wanted some of the teachers and leaders to participate somehow. Brian has had 3 lessons now and wants to play one of the songs that he has learned. I thought he was being incredibly brave and maybe I should try a song also. I started practicing a song this week. I feel like I am doing pretty good with the right hand only. When I include the left it goes slower and with more mistakes, but I am improving everyday. Really I am.

A couple of days ago I was practicing when the kids got home from school. My niece walked in a listened to me for about a minute and said, "I feel like somebody died!"

It couldn't have been that bad!! Could it?

Thankful #7-9

#7 -I am so thankful that Spencer's surgery went well yesterday. He slept for hours and hours afterward, but then woke up a happy boy. Today he is running around and having a good time. :) (He had 2 preauricular tags (ear tags) removed from just in front of his right ear. They used general anesthesia because of his age.)

#8 - I am thankful to know that my friend Angie is surrounded by family and friends who love and support them. Her husband is not doing very well right now. Their family has been wonderful to us and I wish I could do more to help her right now. Bobby has known them a very long time and rushed to the hospital as soon as he heard.

#9 - I am thankful that we have a piano in our home. Thanks Mom! Brian just started taking lessons, so I have started practicing more too. There is a man here right now tuning it for us. Brian will be so excited! He has been asking when it will get tuned ever since our first meeting with the piano teacher.

Thankful #4-6

#4 - I am thankful for Matthew. He is a ray of sunshine. Always beautifully smiling, full of energy and excitement, and he will talk your ear off. He says "I Love You" a lot and gives about a hundred kisses a day. After he was born, there were a couple of days that I thought we might lose him. He was very sick. I thank Heavenly Father all the time that he recovered so well and has no lasting side effects.

#5 - Men (in general) who take an interest in women and children's health. I just got off the phone with my husband who called with an odd question.
Him:"What's the name of that shot that pregnant women get if they have a negative blood type?"
Me: "Is someone's wife pregnant?"
Him:"Yeah. Well. Um........I'm not really sure how we got on the subject."
It's funny to think about a bunch of blue collar, plant operators sitting around talking about RhoGAM shots. haha
I do appreciate that this group of guys seem to take an active interest in the health of their families. :]

#6 - I am so thankful for friends who encourage and give good tips about bargain shopping. Now I just need to take a more active roll in that. I ordered a subscription to the newspaper this morning, so that I can have the sale ads and coupons delivered to my house. That's one more step in the right direction.

What a great idea!

Yesterday we were late for church. Again.

It seems like the last month we have been about 15-20 minutes late every Sunday. Since Bobby has been working a lot of Sundays and Spencer will never sit through an entire Sacrament Meeting, we have headed straight to the Primary Room to turn on the speakers and listen from there.

Let me just say that we go to the Primary Room because if we walk in late, we are very disruptive (in my opinion) if we walk into the chapel and find seats. Only to have Spencer start fussing 15-20 minutes later when we have to file back out and disrupt those around us again. You see if we were on time, we would only have to be disruptive once. :) Until the day when Spencer surprises us all and decides to sit through an entire Sacrament Meeting.

Yesterday, as we pulled into the parking lot, Shawn asked me (with a slight tone of disappointment), "Are we going to the Primary Room? Again?"

"Well. We should go to the chapel. But we are late. Again."

Suddenly his face lights up. He has a great idea. You could almost see the lightbulb on top of his head. "Next week we should hurry! We could get ready faster."

I almost laughed. What an awesome idea! I wonder why I didn't think of that! ;]

****A few weeks ago when we were late, I decided to let the older boys go into the chapel without me. I told them they could go sit with Paw-Paw. IF there was room. They walked into the chapel and didn't come back out so I assumed there was plenty of room next to Paw-Paw. Next thing I know Aunt Shannon comes out of the chapel with her two youngest to bring them to the bathroom. But then I noticed that she didn't return to the chapel. She stayed out in the hall with us.
I decided to peek into the chapel to make sure my boys were behaving. That's when I saw that there was no room for Aunt Shannon to sit by her other kids! When I told my boys that they could sit by Paw-Paw IF there was room, they must have squeeeezed everyone into that row until Aunt Shannon lost her seat! Oops! Sorry Aunt Shannon!!

Thankful Hearts

Bro. Dunn, our Stake High Councilman, spoke yesterday about having more gratitude. After hearing his talk I was inspired to join in with listing things I am thankful for each day this month. I am a little behind, so I'll do 2 or 3 a day.

#1- I am so thankful for my husband. Right now I can hear the chainsaw as he is outside cutting down trees so that we can have firewood this winter. I'm so excited, I can't wait to start using the fireplace this year!

#2 - I am so thankful for a neighbor who wanted his trees cut down and said we could have the wood if Bobby did the work!

#3 - I am thankful that Andrew has a great Webelos den leader. Andrew has 3 weeks left to finish working on his Arrow of Light, the highest award given to a cub scout. I am thankful that Bro. Anderson is willing to work with us to make sure Andrew finishes in time.

Ronald Reagan for President!!

The 1984 Presidential Campaign - I was 7 years old and in the second grade. I remember how exciting it was to "vote" at our school for the President of the United States. Ronald Reagan was our current president and everyone seemed to love him. He definitely won the vote at our school and so I was thrilled to find out that we were right! Even secretly wondering in my 7 year old head if we had influenced the real vote!

Three of my boys came home from school Monday with "I VOTED!" stickers. They were so excited they got to vote for John McCain. And "HE WON!" I listened to my 7 year old second grader and remembered how I felt back then. It was almost magical. Too bad, McCain didn't win. I wonder how he feels about that.

I am happy that my state chose McCain. We did what we could. Now we have to live with the rest of the nation's decision and vote again in another four years. But what's done is done. I am glad I have until January to get used to the idea. :)