The Gift Of The Comforter

This week, we had a lot of things that really brought the spirit. With it being the week of Christmas, we were often with family and often speaking of Christ. What a blessing to have this wonderful time of year to singularly remember our Savior's birth and life. 

We also had moments of silent, individual time which allowed for reflection and introspection. Regretfully to recall, I also in these moments had times when I was overcome by sadnesses. Don't worry, nothing bad actually happened this week, but while going through my files of memory, I was reminded of sad things, such as the passing of my grandfather. With regrets of "what I could have said" or "what I could have done", tears would begin flowing and the dark feelings arise. How thankful I have been for the blessing of the comforter, for in these hours when I felt overwhelmingly alone, I was able to call upon my Lord in prayer and ask for his comfort to protect me. It was a very powerful testimony to me, as I lay crying alone, that immediately upon my asking, The Lord blessed me with peace. 

Later in the week, I was with my husband's family, celebrating Christmas. I had a beautiful opportunity to share the peace of the spirit with my Mother-in-love (no, that is not auto correct, that's what we call it.  it's not the law that binds us, but love), Becky. When I was 5, my maternal grandmother passed away. Even though I was very young an didn't really know her in this life, I have always felt a very strong connection to her. I always wished that I could have known her better. Becky's mother passed away while she was in only her teens. In about a week an a half, she will have outlived her mother. For Christmas, she gave all her daughters, including me, a book called "Christ's Gifts to Women". Inside, she wrote an individualized message to each daughter. Being the only daughter-in-law, I was surprised to receive one as well. She had written these notes, thinking of her mother, and wishing her mother had written something for her. The sweetness of this act overwhelmed me as I thought of my own grandmother and the wish for tangible memories of her love. Becky and I shared in that moment, a sense of connection that was far beyond the boundaries of mortality. I am so thankful for her attention to the spirit as she reached out to me as a daughter and as a sister in the kingdom of God. I am so thankful for the blessing comfort through the spirit and for the connections that exceed this world. 

At church yesterday, we had two little girls, who had been baptized the day before, receive their conformation and the gift of the Holy Ghost. What a blessing it is to know that have this gift, to have his spirit with us at all times. 

I pray that the Comforter with always be with you in this coming year. I am so thankful for that blessing. 

Let There Be Light

This week, I am thankful for light. There isn't really a reason for this gratitude. I suppose I did have a couple of really gray days as well as several light bulbs burn out at the same time. Perhaps it was that or some other internal version. 

I am grateful for the ability to see with the light. Thankful for the clarity that it brings both to my eyes and to my heart. I am also thankful for the peace that it brings. I wouldn't have thought that the light could bring pease in a literal sense, but I was shocked at the comfort of having a bright day or a working lightbulb. 

I am also so very grateful, especially at this time of year, for the light of my Savior. What a wonderful blessing to have the light and truth of his gospel. How wonderful it is to have it shine the way for us to see. It amazes me the comfort an peace it brings to know why we are here and where we are going. 

I love my Savior so much and thank him for the light. 

Merry Christmas, everyone!

Mother, I Love You. Mother, I Do.

This week, I am thankful for my mother.  I have had several experiences and moments this week that have shown me first of all how much I miss my mother, and secondly how grateful I am to have her.

Although there wasn't really anything that blatantly said "this week should be about your mom," there was just a lot of little things that made me think of her.  I am so thankful that I have a mother who is not just my mom, but also my friend.  I greatly enjoy being able to call and converse with her about day to day things without feeling that I will be reprimanded or judged by what I tell her.   What a blessing to know that I can trust her with my deepest secrets and littlest feelings.

I am so blessed to have a mother who expressed her love for me.  I am thankful that she would hold my hand and give me the "I love you" sign from across the room.  Those little things really helped me know that my mother loved me with all her heart.  My mom had 8 children; there's not a lot of time in the day to get all the work done, everyone taken care of, and then have any extra time to make anyone feel special, but my mother always did it.  I never had a day that I didn't think that my mom loved me.  I was just as special to her as anyone else.  What a blessing.

I am so thankful for all the work and effort that she put in for me.  There are so many lessons that I learned from her throughout the years, and I only plan on continuing to learn from her.  I can't even count the times that I have called her for advice or direction.  I am so grateful for a mother who cooked and taught us to love to cook.  I may not be as wonderful a chef as she is, but at least I have a vague idea of what I'm doing with a measuring cup!

On top of it all, I am so eternally grateful to have a mother who is strong in the gospel.  It is so wonderful to be able to lean on her when I need strength.  I'm thankful for the many lessons and the patient hours she spent trying to teach all of us kids about the gospel of Jesus Christ.  Each of those lessons are infinitely and increasingly valuable to me as I grow older.   What a strength and an example she has been to me for so long.

Thank you mom for all that you do!  I love you a whole big monkey Michelle bunch, and that's the biggest!

Let It Snow

This week I am thankful for two very wonderful blessings. 

Firstly, I am thankful for the snow. We just had a couple of days of snowfall here and there was so many times that I would be walking through the snow as the sun glinted on each flake. What a beautiful site!  What a wonderful feeling it was to just stand there in the snow in amazement of what our God has made for us! 

I am thankful for the moment of introspection upon this snowy day. Each snowflake is individual and different, but since He knows the grains of the sand and each sparrow that falls, perhaps even each flake. What a glorious knowledge to know that he loves me and thinks of me as the beautiful shining snow. Perhaps one day, I can have his light shinning through me showing to others how glorious his works are!  What a precious gift to know that I am a child of God, whom I love and who loves me. That I might be the beautiful snowflake that bring the gift of moisture to the ground and the joy to those around it! 

Secondly, I am thankful for the safety of my car. I know it sounds funny, but what I'm thankful for is also what I'm thankful against. It can be very dangerous out in the snow with fast moving hunks of metal flying by. I was told the story of my husband's grandmother's passing from years and years ago. I had been told the aftermath part, but had never heard the whole story. It was a bittersweet to share that moment with my husband. To make the story short, it was about this time of year in about the same place we were driving through that she was in a 5 car accident. This was back before protective things like air bags and such.

I am so thankful for the modern inventions of protection. There are so many tedious things out there that sometimes we don't realize are for our good. As much not fun as it is to say it, I'm thankful for inspections, regulations, and requirements. What a blessing to know that me and my family are being protected. 

I am so grateful for the blessing of protection that my Lord has provided my family these past few days with all of the ice and snow. 

I pray that you and your loved ones are safe and protected this winter. I also pray you remember your worth as the glorious shinning snowflakes fall overhead!

Let it snow! Let it snow! Let it snow!

For Dirty Dishes

As we begin December and thereby the Christmas season, I would really like to make this a special Christmas kickoff blessing. Sadly, however, that's not going to happen. 

This week I am thankful for my dirty dishes. As we finish up the thanksgiving season, we realize the amount of dishes that come with it. Now, usually, I would be rather put out at the fact that I have done two loads of dishes everyday for the past two weeks. However, this week I am thankful for all of them.

It's been a lot of work to clean them up and more work still to make then dirty, but each dish means that I had friends and family in my home, I had a home to have then in, and I had the friends and family to come. What a blessing it is to have family and friends at this wonderful time of year. 

I am also, on the more temporal side of things, thankful for my dishwasher. Web Matt and I were first married, we lived on an apartment without one. I am so very thankful not to have to wash all my dishes by hand. We have some friends who had their dishwasher break and have been weeks without it. It just made me realize how wonderful these devices are. I have the blessing of letting the machine do the work so I can spend more direct time with my family and friends. What a blessing it is! 

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! 

Over and Over Again

We often complain about repetition. There are so many things that get old quickly and become a very large frustration the more that we do them. However, this week I am thankful for routine.

This week, we had quite a few days that were super busy and out of our normal. I was in charge of a craft night for our Relief Society and had so much to do. My poor little girl was left for many days to play quietly by herself as I prepared packets and cut letters. By the day of the activity, she was plenty done with the whole thing. Although the activity went well and Evangeline was very patient, we still didn't get home until well past bedtime. The next day, therefore was only an attempt to recover from the night before. We slept in late and never caught up. 

That night, we had a special thanksgiving activity to attend. Although we got home at a reasonable hour, there was a terrible storm that evening that lasted all night long. Evangeline fought going to bed because the wind was so loud. She woke several times during the night when the wind was at its worst. Eventual, around 4 in the morning, she was done with trying and refused to go back to bed until the storm all but subsided at 7. Again our day was spend simply recovering and trying fruitlessly to catch up. 

Finally, this coming week, we will (hopefully) have the needed time to return to normal. What a blessing it is to have things be predictable. We often forget that some people live everyday on the whim. Some people don't know where they will sleep or IF they will eat, let alone when. What a blessing it is that I can wake up in the morning and be prepared for the following day. What a blessing to be able to have so many thing like a home, food, and family that I know will still be there when I wake up. Even though we often dot care for it, what a blessing to know what's going to happen each day. 

The predictability of routine is such a blessing. I pray that those who currently don't may someday have this blessing. 

For Friends in the Family

This past week, I've had a lot of opportunity to spend time with my family.  My mom had a layover in Salt Lake, so I got to see her for about 2 hours. The next day, I went to my brother's house to play games. Yesterday, I went to visit my aunt for the evening, and i get to spend all day today with my wonderful husband and daughter!  To add extra icing on the cake, my sister who has been living in Kansas for the past 2 years is moving back to Utah in just a couple of weeks!

I just can't express how wonderful it is to have family that I have friendships with. As I listen to stories of other families, where siblings dot ever talk or get together unless it's a holiday or a tragic emergency, I realize how blessed I am. Growing up, my brothers were always there for me. I am proud to say that I considered them my best friends for many many years, and they are still at the top of my chart (just after my husband). 

I also greatly appreciate the friendship my sister and I have. I can't wait to be closer in distance to have opportunity to grow even closer as friends. :)

I am also so thankful for loving parent, grandparents, aunts and uncles. It meant a lot to me that my mom chose the flight she did so that she could see us even for the 2 hours. What a blessing it is to know how much he loves me. I am also grateful for my uncle and aunt who have been surrogate parents for me when my own have been far away. What a wonderful blessing to know that when I need someone, they will always be there. 

Last, but not least, I am grateful for MY family: my husband and my daughter. What special blessings of joy they are in my life. I am thankful not only for the love, but for the friendship we share. How much fun it is to be first ad foremost friends with my spouse. I don't know what I'd do if he wasn't at my side in all things. I also can't wait to grow a friendship with my daughter as she grows everyday. 

All in all, I love and greatly appreciate my family. Love you all tons! Xoxo

The Gift of Tongues

I had a very good friend of mine, Maria, tell me the other day about her nephew's surgery. The little boy was born with the connection between his tongue and his mouth too short (pardon the plainness, I don't know the words and will probably add then in later). Now, because of this, the little boy had a really hard time being able to latch on to eat. So, at only a few weeks of age, he underwent a small surgery in which that connection was clipped in order to allow more movement of the tongue. 

By the way that Maria explains it, he is now healed and happily enjoying discovering the new abilities of his tongue. Isn't it always adorable to watch when babies discover their tongue? How much fun it must be for this child to have such a discovery after knowing the limits of before.

So, for this weeks blessing, I am grateful for the literal gift of tongues. :)  Our tongues do so many amazing things while doing even more small things while we're not looking. 

How would it be to have the tongue restricted like this little boy? Granted, he had never known any different, but the effects it had on him were huge. First of all, he was starving. I think I take plain and simply the ability to swallow for granted. It just happens, but not without that strong tongue muscle. 

Now, how about talking? I don't know of a verbal language that doesn't involve using the tongue. Not that communication is impossible without speech, but it sure is rather a convenient blessing. I quite possibly talk too much and some would probably appreciate if my tongue were held in a little more, but what a blessing it is to speak, to express oneself at will. 

Our tongues can do so many amazing things and move in so many amazing ways. Think if the rest of your body could more as diversely and freely as the tongue can! There's a reason babies find this body part to be so fascinating. And the fact that we can control it is even more impressive. 

Overall, I am so thankful for the blessing of the wondrous blessing of a miraculously working body. I am thankful that I have a healthy, functioning body. Some problems, such as this little boy's tongue, are correctable, but others are things you have to live with. I am thankful for the blessing of modern medicines and practices. What a miracle this is to that family. 

However, some bodily problems are not correctable in this life. So, i am also thankful for the blessing of the resurrection. What a joyous day it will be in the day of the resurrection when our bodies are made perfect! I was born with a minimal-at-best, practically non-existent sense of smell. I got a minor taste of what it will be like to smell all the time when I was pregnant. What an amazing blessing to know that those who have physical struggles, much much worse than my lack of smell, will have these limitation "clipped" as the little boy's tongue and be given the freedom of function. I am so very thankful for my Lord and Savior who suffered for me so that I can look forward to such a day. 

I will use the blessing of my tongue to praise him all my days!

Stength in the Navel

This week, I feel the need to thank my Heavenly Father for the blessing of Health.  I think I am never as thankful for my health as I am when I am sick.  On that note, I have been sick all week, my husband was sick last week, and now my daughter is starting to show the same symptoms.  I am thankful that The Lord has blessed so many amazing minds to make amazing discoveries in the world of medicine.  Whatever would I do without NyQuil?!  I am also thankful for the healing powers of the natural world.  On top of special thinks like essential oils and vitamin pills, I'm so grateful for Water.  It's amazing what a difference good hydration can make!  I am also just amazed at the miraculous functions of the human body.  The plain and simple fact that my body is designed to combat sickness is incredible!  What amazing wisdom and knowledge The Lord has to have designed such a miraculous body.  All in all, I am thankful that The Lord has blessed my body to be able to grow stronger and healthier day by day.

Blessing of the Week

I decided that I need to show my God a lot more appreciation for the little things. Every week, I will thanks him for a different item that has been a blessing that week. 

This week, I am thankful for music. 

What a great strength can be drawn from nothing more than notes strung together. The sweet spirit that touches my soul is such a blessing. It's so amazing to me to see how The Lord can reach me and inspire me through the simplicity of words and the gentleness of a tune. I thank Him for His gentle, teaching guidance and for the blessing of speaking through music.