I am Thankful.

Well as you can see from my sidebar, I read Nie Nie. Today she had a post about the things she is grateful for since it is the American Thanksgiving coming up. So I decided to put up a few things I am thankful for in order to lift my spirits, overlook the bad, and show gratitude for all the wonderful blessings we have.
1. I am thankful for a Heavenly Father I can pray to and for this amazing plan of happiness He prepared so I'll be just that...happy.
2. I am thankful for Jesus Christ and that He suffered and died for me, but that He was also resurrected. To know that one day, because of Him, I will be resurrected and have the opportunity to live with my family forever.
3. I am thankful for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, for a living prophet President Thomas S. Monson and for my congregation right here in Saint John...for the good friends I have there.

4. I am thankful for my amazing family. Not one of us is perfect, but we all love each other and stand by each other through the roughest of times.

5. I am thankful for Jason and how every morning he gets up early to head off to work for 7am. He loves me and all my emotions and psychoness! Well, he probably doesn't love those but he sees the real ME through them all :) He is a steady and devoted man. I am thankful for the amazing father he is and for the love he gives those two little girls. I am thankful for his good example in his devotion to God.

6. I am thankful for the best two little girls in the whole wide world! Ada and Mia and their personalities and all that came in each little package. I am thankful to carry them around for nine months, cry and sweat to get them out, and then hug and kiss them everyday. They are worth everything!

7. I am thankful to live in "Oh Canada" (as Ada would say). This place is great. I am thankful for the patriotic example of my mother and how she would cry whenever we sing "oh canada" on Remembrance Day or at church.
8. I am thankful for the power of repentance and to know that prayer and the Atonement of Jesus Christ can repair all wounds, wipe away all sin, and lift up even the darkest and lowest of souls. It is real.
9. I am thankful for good friends who like to go for walks and talk and have little children just like mine :)
10. I am thankful for music and the role that it has played in my life; for the deep emotions it has stirred with its amazing ability to reach inside my heart. I love good music and all that it has done for me and to me.

Please, if anyone is reading this, maybe you could count the blessings in your own life and even make a list of them on a blog if you have one. Let me know if you do. It's amazing what positive feelings we experience when we choose to count our blessings rather than mourn over our troubles.

Back Home Once Again

I recently turned 29. I felt it was a very significant birthday for me in that I feel I've grown. Well, not just in years but spiritually and in what I understand my purpose is as a mother and a wife, a daughter and a sister.
I've returned to Saint John, but I am not alone. I have brought with me my faithful and devoted husband and two amazing girls. Jason is in his new job as a skilled parks worker for the city of Saint John's leisure services. He is enjoying it and I believe will go far with it. Ada and Mia are loving the city and the closeness of friends and family. Although we have left behind some amazing people that we love, we have also begun to renew some of the relationships that were once at a distance.
So here we are and hopefully for a while.

ada: mommy, I don't want to leave this world.
mommy: you mean in Truro?
ada: yes.

I know the move was a bit of a change, but our children are young and adapt well. They find the good in life and go with it. As long as they have love and care they do just fine.

***

Sentimental, I know, but I find it hard to wash the windows and mirrors where little hands have left their mark. On the mirror of Ada's dresser is a little hand print that I've left there since she was less than a year. Can't wash that!! And last night I noticed how dirty our front window is, but quickly realized it was from all the little hands that supported little girls trying to look out at the Grampy they love and the Papa they love. Probably should wash that...and will eventually. But if my windows are a little smudged with finger prints it's out of love and it brings a warm reminder of my love for my little girls.

***

I recently found the Nie Nie Dialogues which if you don't know is the blog of the woman in the new "Mormon Messages" video "My New Life". She and her husband were in a plane crash and she was burned severely. I have found her perspective and experiences, the way she copes and sometimes finds it hard to, a very refreshing and motivating example and have drawn from her strength. And even before her accident she kept her blog and reading it has helped me and have enjoyed reading about who she is, how much she adores her husband, her children.

Another resource I have drawn from is a book my parents gave me for mother's day called Contentment: Inspirational Insights for LDS mothers. This too has given my view of motherhood a fresh perspective I continue to work away at studying the scriptures and making them my priority. They are the ultimate guide for whatever you need. I know that's true.