Gratitude List!

I have been purposely putting my gratitude list off for a while now, because I truly wanted to reflect a few events that have recently happened in my life. It seems that I look back over my last month and I always feel like those last few weeks have been the most spiritual and progressive moments of my life, and then the next month happens. This post will be extremely personal and some of you may skim over and read it and be on with your day and maybe some will read it and comprehend it's deeper meaning and will be inspired in your own lives. Either way, the headfake of this post is that it is mainly for me! Here is my list and they are in no particular order:

1. I am thankful for Brother Christensens' Isaiah class. Brother Christensen is a retired institute teacher from the University of Utah and BYU who comes and teaches us CES classes to our stake on Friday nights. He has been coming and teaching for the past couple of years. Brian and I have been off and on, but never really made the commitment to go consistently.

This year and for the next little while, he is teaching on the book of Isaiah, which is his specialty. Let me repeat myself, he specializes in the study of Isaiah! First of all, why not take a class from a man who has dared specialize in Isaiah. There are very few people out there when they get to the Isaiah chapters in the Book of Mormon that read it and go "Ah, yes!! That was fulfilling, I fully got that! Loved it so much, I am going back and reading it again." No, if you are like me, you read through it as fast as you can to get through the uncomprehendable section. This man chose to specialize on Isaiah and let me tell you he is GOOD! In 3 Nephi 23:1, the Savior actually commands us to study the words of Isaiah! (Go ahead, stop reading and go look it up! 3 Nephi 23:1, I can wait!) After seeing that commandment, Brian and I have commited ourselves to go every week.

I wish I could express to you in words the incredible miracles that happen in this class. In studying Isaiah, we have found peace and answers to questions we have been feeling during these turbulant times. And I am talking about personal prayer questions and Brother Christensen answers it very directly. When he speaks, it is not him. The spirit is overwhelming with him and we always leave feeling uplifted, hopeful and happy. And happy is the understatement, Brother Christensen is hilarious!! I am laughing and chuckling all during his class. He is wise, witty, smart and hilarious and I love him.

Those of you that have attended his class are nodding with me. This class has been a huge blessing in our home and I encourage any that can to attend then they should. I always have a babysitter here with Shae and I am inviting anyone to leave their kids with her and come and join us! Come and be enlightened! Come!

2. I am thankful for inspirational blogs. Some blogs are fun to read and some blogs are truly inspirational. I am so thankful that there are women that take the time to share their life moments. Yes, some will mock us or try to discourage us because of the cheesy things we say or post, but my personal opinion, anything that is happy, uplifting or shall I say virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy then we need to share and seek after these things.

It kills me when I hear people who mock blogs that are always posting positive moments in individual lives or say that women are bragging on their perfect lives.

Who has a perfect life? Nobody I know!

Perhaps, we post the positive to reflect the happy and joyous moments in our lives so when the bad comes (and oh how it ALWAYS comes) we can open our blog and be in our happy place. Yes, I agree, I do like when people share some of their trying times also. It makes them relatable, honest and tender. But if they choose only to recognize the positive, then good for them!

My favorite blog right now is the Nieniedialogues (see side bar for link). This is the couple who were burned very badly in the airplane accident. Huge publicity hit all of our blogs to help raise money for their recovery. I started going back through all of her posts and I instantly fell in love with her perspective on life. She was always so appreciative and creative and loving. She had a HUGE following of readers before the accident and I figure that lots of people fell in love with her romance of motherhood and being a wife. She cared about a lot of people and now they are caring for her. I am blown away by the positive attitude of her family and how uplifting they are to others during their crisis!! Amazing - simply inspiring! I am so grateful for the example the Nielsens and the Clarks post on a daily basis. It is beautiful and it inspires me to be a better woman, wife and mother.

3. I am grateful for the ANGELS in my life! General Conference was so Awesome this year and I have a list of favorite talks. One that really stood out to me was Jeffrey R Holland's talk on Angels. I wept as he spoke about the angels around us that are there to lift us and help us. I can personally testify that there are angels among us at all times. Both sides!!

I have had angels call me and email me. I have had angels visit me and watch me. Not just about bad days, but about things we have in common, uplifting compliments, questions about stories, and missing each other's companies. I have had angels who have made me laugh through our similar trials and find joy in this life. I have had angels teach me and show me MY POTENTIAL in this life and who my spirit really is. I have had new angels come into my life and bring such a happy spirit about them. I have angels who teach me and show me life lessons that are beautiful. I have had angels embrace me! To my Angels, I love you and thank you!

It is hard not to look at others and see the beautiful spirits that God sees. You are all so brilliant and amazing and your light shines brightly to me. I am trying to be more like the you, my angels, and listening to the still small promptings of reaching out and helping others. I am trying... I am trying.

4. I am so thankful for my weekends, especially weekends with beautiful weather!I was looking at my calendar and unitl 2009, we have some type of event happening every weekend. I have loved my weekends. I think my new favorite day of the week is Thursday afternoon through Sunday evening.

My work week ends Thursday at noon and then the fun begins. Shae day to Brother Christensens class to temple visits to date night with Brian to meetings to church....... Sounds exhausting, but they are my most energizing days. The icing on the cake has been my weekends with the beautiful weather. I am not a gray skies kind of girl. I like the sunlight and especially the warmth. My last weekends have been so blissfully sweet because of the warm weather that has been mixed in. I am so looking forward to my weekends in the next couple of months. Life is so much more fun when you have something to look forward to.

5. I am extremely grateful for Priesthood blessings. This one is extremely personal and sacred to me, but I need to express out loud the appreciation I have for the Priesthood power in my home and especially how grateful I am that my husband is worthy of carrying it. My sweetest experience was waking this morning to the song in my head "Mine is a home, where every hour is blessed by the strength of priesthood power." (Love is Spoken Here). I know that I would not be where I am without the gospel in my life. We have seen dark days this last year, but have heavily relied on the Light to help us out. I am so thankful for the many rich blessings and tender mercies that have been granted to me and my family. I truly love this life experience!