So I am sad to say that I did not take any pictures this Thanksgiving. I must have been too busy stuffing my face with all that yummy food! Anyway I wanted to take a few minutes to list just a few of the things that I am thankful for...
1. My Family--They mean so much to me. I have a great family with 3 brothers who have all married and given me sisters. I have amazing in laws who I love dearly. With marrying Chris I got two extra brothers and two extra sisters. I have 4 nieces and 3 nephews with an additional nephew on the way.
2. My husband--He is amazing and loves me through everything. He puts up with a lot and lets me shop til I drop. :)
3. Noah--Noah made me a mother 10 years ago and I love being a mother. He is so sweet and affectionate and really really smart. Oh and SUPER CUTE!!!!
4. My Heavenly Father--I love that whenever I am thankful or having a hard time he is always there to answer my prayers.
5. My Savior Jesus Christ--His Atoning sacrifice has made it possible for me to repent and return to live with him some day.
6. Adoption--This year we have started the adoption process and are hoping to add to our family through this wonderful miracle. I am grateful for all that I have learned through this process and I am grateful for how close it has made Chris and I as we have gone through it together.
7. Shelter/Food/Clothes--Sometimes we may take these things for granted but some would be grateful for just a little of these things.
8. My education--I have completed my Associates Degree with the help and support of my amazing family. I am halfway there. :)
9. Living in Utah--The past 2 1/2 years have been amazing and so many opportunities have been opened up for us while living here. Most of all Chris got his dream of going to BYU.
10. Great friends--I have great friends here in Utah and I left many great friends back home. No matter how far apart we are we are always friends.
There are so many other things that I could add to this list but we would be here forever. I can honestly say that this month I have pondered a lot about what I am thankful for and have realized that I am truly blessed.
OH MY GOODNESS........... I had the opportunity to go to Time Out for Women this year. For those of you who do not know what it is, it is a weekend conference with inspirational music and speakers for my church. This was my first year going and after the experiences I had I can promise I will try to go back every year. So Friday we had music by Hilary Weeks (who is amazing). If you have never heard her music you should totally google her and listen to it. You will fall in love. She is super funny and very very talented. We then had two amazing speakers. Brad Wilcox spoke to us about the Atonement of Jesus Christ. One thing that really made a lot of sense to me and totally got me thinking was "We should be thankful for what the Savior has saved us FOR not what he has saved us from." A lot of times we think about the things that he has saved us from when in all actuality he has saved us for much more. Another quote from Brad is "One who chooses Christ chooses to be changed." I love this because if we want to be like our Savior and become like him we have to be willing to change bad habits and other things in our lives so that we can become like him. Brad was an amazing speaker. Sherri Dew was the other speaker. WOW!!!!!!!!!! She is a phenomenal woman. She talked to us about Testimonies and how we can strengthen them. She used a very great story and analogy about our testimonies. The analogy she used was that plants can be dug up if the roots have not been attached to the ground yet. Like with plants we need strong roots that are planted to the ground so that it can grow. Our testimonies are very similar. We need a strong foundation of the gospel of Jesus Christ and with proper nurture it will continue to grow and grow. She was just great. Then my friend Robin and I went to Olive Garden and had lots of talk and laughs. It was a lot of fun. We got home a little after midnight only to be up and on the road at 6:45am. So we got to the event and they had another great day planned for us. Jericho Road wer the musical performers for the Saturday event. THEY ARE AMAZING! Google them too. You will love them, PROMISE! Stephanie Nielson was our first speaker! There are not words to describe the spirit that filled that room. She is such an amazing woman and has overcome a horrific ordeal but remained faithful and her outlook on life is just amazing! Check out her story...http://abcnews.go.com/2020/stephanie-nielsons-story-tragic-crash-mom-lost/story?id=13574901#.TshpwPKwUso
There was not a dry eye in the room! We then had the privilege to hear from Emily Watts. She was great. She is a funny woman and shared so many stories that were just great. Her talk was about Habits and what habits we should try to become happier women. She had 5 ways we can learn to develop happy habits...
1. Develop thick skin. She said that we cannot choose how people judge us but we can control how we let it affect us.
2. Expect hard things from yourself and your family. She said that we can not progress if we are not challenged.
3. Few well Chosen traditions. She said that traditions do not have to be hard or expensive. They just need to be something that your family will enjoy and remember.
4. Learn to think of yourself as a person. As women we often find ourselves very busy and tend to forget about ourselves because we are taking care of our families.
5. Catch your children doing something right. Instead of always focusing on what your children are doing wrong, find the good things they do and let them know how proud you are of them. Each night tell your child 3 things that they did right before you sing or read them to sleep.
She was great and gave me many great things to think about. Then we were able to hear from Wendy Ulrich. She is hysterical. She talked about what we should not do if we are trying for happiness. She gave us 7 great tips....
1. Stop worrying about your weaknesses. Instead focus on your strengths.
2. Don't try to get motivated to exercise. If you wait to get motivated you will always be waiting. Motivation follow action. You will be more motivated to exercise after you have worked out.
3. Stop trying to find friends. Instead learn how to develop the skills of friendship. This will help you become better friends.
4. Don't try to be happy. Instead try to be grateful. That will make you happy.
5. Celebrate failure. Learn from failure and see how you can learn and grow from your experience. Rely on the Atonement.
6. Don't get help with your problems. Instead serve someone and your problems will seem not so bad.
7. Don't endure to the end. Instead enjoy life. Savor everyday delights.
She gave me some great things to ponder about. Then we were able to hear from Laurel Christensen. She was another wonderful speaker. We talked to us about faith. Don't be the one thing standing in your way. Pray with Faith, think with Faith, and Live with Faith. What a great things to think about and apply in our lives.
I know that with this weekend my testimony has grown so much and I have learned so many great things to apply in my life. I can't say how close I felt to my Savior this weekend and felt of his love for me. Im so grateful Chris made it possible for me to have such an uplifting and inspiring weekend.
Does excited even describe how I feel right now? I just got the email from our case worker and we are officially approved for adoption. Now we just have to wait for the right birth mother to choose our family for her baby. I AM GRINNING FROM EAR TO EAR AND CANT STOP. This was such a fast approval process for us and we are so excited to expand our family. Check out our profile on itsaboutlove.org
https://itsaboutlove.org/ial/profiles/27006829/ourMessage.jsf
