What I Am Grateful For...

So you may have noticed how rare a post is made for this blog...yes I'm very bad at it, but my New Year's Resolution is to be better at keeping this blog up to date so hopefully it will stick!

A lot has been on my mind recently.  I've been thinking about decisions I made and second guessing that they were the right ones for me to make.  After much reflection I have come to this list of things I am grateful for that help dispel any doubts I have had:

1)  I am grateful that I know I am a daughter of a loving, generous, caring Heavenly Father.  I came to this knowledge when I was 11 years old and it has never, ever left me.  This knowledge helps me get through any challenges I face in my life.  I know it will continue to do so.

2)  I am grateful for miracles.  Miracles happen everyday and in different sizes.  Greg and I have been blessed by God with miracles that may seem like nothing to someone else but mean the world to us.  Through our faith we have been able to see the miracles of God performed in our lives.  Through these miracles we know that Heavenly Father is always watching over us and cares about us.

3)  I am grateful I married Greg.  I can't imagine myself being with any other man.  Greg is kind, considerate, funny, caring, worthy of the Priesthood, spiritual, faithful, great with kids, smart, willing to follow the Lord's will, thoughtful, respectful, and my best friend!  I feel so blessed everyday that I get to wake up and see him next to me.  It is hard to describe in words the love I have for him.

4)  I am grateful for the opportunity to become a mother.  This is the role I've been dreaming about and have always desired!  I'm super excited that in August my dream will come true!  I'm even more excited that Greg will be a father.  I know he'll be a great dad and I can't wait until I get to see him play with our son/daughter.

5)  I am grateful for my parents and my siblings.  I have felt their love for me ever since I was little.  They teach me every time I'm with them and I love them so much!  I hope they each know that I love them!

6)  I am grateful I spent time living with my in-laws.  When Greg and I got married we moved into his parents' house until one of us got a job.  I'm grateful that I got to know them better and become more comfortable around them.  They now truly feel like family to me and I don't think I would've gotten to that point yet if we didn't live with them.

7)  I am grateful we lived in Wisconsin for the time we did.  We met so many wonderful people in Madison, especially in our ward.  We made some great friends who provided advice and love to us since we were both so very far away from our own families.  During this time I served as a Young Women adviser in the our ward.  I loved that calling!  I was able to share a bit of my testimony with the 12-13 year olds every Sunday and Wednesday.  By spending time with them I was able to see how much I've matured since I was in Young Women's.  I miss those girls.  Greg and I learned so much from our time in Wisconsin and we wouldn't trade that much needed experience for anything else.

8)  I am grateful for the jobs I had and have.  I spent some time babysitting part-time, processing claims at a fitness equipment manufacturer, and now I'm working as a product assembler.  Each job taught me some lessons that I don't think I would have gotten anywhere else.  I learned more business smarts, how to be more professional, to own my mistakes as soon as they happen, how to treat others in general, and  that every job no matter how menial is essential to the business it's in.

As I was thinking of the above things I'm grateful for, I realized that if my various decisions had been different I probably wouldn't have had the above experiences at the time of my life that I needed them.  I know the Lord has a plan for me and Greg.  I've tried to follow His plan for me and yes some things have been hard but that's what life is for!  Without the hard things, we wouldn't learn how to become more like our Heavenly Father.

One last thing I'm grateful for is that I can say I'm HAPPY!  I'm happy because I married the love of my life in the temple and that I have a testimony of the Gospel.  I know that if Greg and I strive to continue living the Gospel that we will always be happy and have true joy!  I hope each of you will be able to have some happiness today and thank you for reading!