Thank You!

The past couple of days we have been having to teach our children to say "Thank you!" Here are a couple of examples. Our youngest could not scoot himself at the table the other night as my husband and I were trying to help serve and get dinner situated for our children and some guests. Our youngest kept impatiently yelling for us to help him. His brother who is usually the arch nemesis came over and pushed him in for us without even being asked, to which the youngest began to wail at the top of his lungs that he had wanted mom or dad to do it. My husband turned and said "Now is a good time to say thank you."

Our daughter asked for a candy the other day after finishing her chores and I gave her a piece. She didn't like what I gave her so I put it back, and took out two more to give her a choice. My daughter didn't like either of them and decided the first piece was what she really wanted. By this point I decided she didn't really need the candy. Later when we were readying for bed and doing our family prayers she was still moping. My hubby asked her what was wrong. As she told him how unfair I was he replied "The better response would have been thank you, don't you think?"

Yesterday our married son and his wife had some extra laundry due to an unfortunate mishap in their bathroom so they asked if I would mind them doing laundry at our house most of the day. I said sure, they thanked me and went about doing laundry all day. In the evening I thought I might try to get a load in so I wouldn't be too far behind today. However the hubby asked if he could sneak a load in so he could have some pants for work.

This morning with the two loads of clothes I didn't get done and two more needing to be done my youngest announced he had wet the bed last night I was feeling like laundry was taking over my day. After taking the kids to school I went to throw his bedding into the wash only to find my hubby's cloths still there. When I went to throw them in the drier I found it full of his pants. I am pretty sure I was a little frustrated and said something under my breath. My youngest over heard and said "Mom, now is the time you say 'Thank you.'"

He was right I should be thankful that my husband helps me with the laundry, and that I have another day to play catch-up.*sigh* Thank you Dear for helping with laundry!

Tender Mercies

Guess what! Our missionary is home and no longer a missionary! I have to share his home coming, because he was blessed all the way home. In turn we were too.

Originally he was scheduled to have a 5 hour layover in Denver. We had tried to have that changed, but in so doing we would have had to drive 5 hours to pick him up instead of 5 minutes. I know. When he arrived in Denver another traveler saw him and asked him where he was headed. He told the gentleman and mentioned his layover. The gentleman suggested that he see if he could catch the earlier flight. When Flights aren't full they will allow it at times. So just for fun our young man headed over and asked. They opened the door and let him on.

When he arrived to our small po-dunk of an airport he asked for directions to a public phone. They didn't have one and apparently nobody had one on them for him to borrow. As he was asking around another mother who had just dropped off her son noticed his name tag and asked if by chance he was related to my hubby.

Mean while at the house we were trying to clean things up some and get ready for his return. Things were a little hectic at the moment, we had had some friends stop by, and suddenly I was getting one phone call after another. When things looked like they were slowing down the door bell rang. It kept ringing. My husband was in the living room and I couldn't figure out why he wasn't getting it, so I ran in to find my husband helping our youngest with something. I went to the door and saw a glimpse of black, looked out to see the car and didn't recognize it, but the driver was one of my husbands colleagues, she was grinning from ear to ear. I looked back to see who was at the door and it was OUR MISSIONARY!!!! home 4 1/2 hours early!!!!(and I got to be the lucky one to see him first!)

The plan had been to go with him the following day to get him released. We were able to make arrangements to do it that very night, instead of driving 2 hours to do it, we were able to go 45 min. After his release we went to dinner and then headed home. when we were about 18 miles form home I thought I saw a plane land half an hour before scheduled. When we got in town we decided to stop by the air port and see if his luggage had arrived. It had not only arrived but had been unloaded and was ready for him.

So the tender mercies were that he arrived home early, was released, had dinner, received his luggage, and was home to shower all before his plane had been scheduled to land. We were able to put in a lot of love'n in that four and a half hours we couldn't have done otherwise. Just saying, it was sweet to have him come home!

A Thankful Post

I have so many things to be grateful for, so lets get started!

1.   First I am thankful for the Savior. He lives and loves me.
2.   I am thankful for my husband! He is my perfect match, my best friends and (I wll keep this PG)
3.   I am thankful for the family I have been blessed to be a part of!
4.   I am thankful for my parents who raised me in the gospel.
5.   I am thankful for each of my siblings.
6.   I am thankful for each of the children placed in my care, be it by birth, or marriage, I am truely blessed!
7.   I am thankful that I am able to stay home with my little ones and watch their firsts and exploration of this
              world around them.
8.   I am thankful for the talents I have been blessed with.
9.   I am thankful for the many friends I have been blessed to have in my life.
10. I am thankful for the blessings of the Temple in my life.
11. I am thankful for a living prophet.
12. I am thankful for leaders who love me.
13. I am thankful for teachers who love their jobs, and the children they teach!
14. I am thankful for men and women who have sacrificed and gave their lives so I could experience the
              freedoms I have to day!
15. I am thankful for answered prayers.
16. I am thankful for inspiration in its many forms.
17. I am thankful for childrens laughter.
18. I am thankful for tender mercies.
19. I am thankful for forgivness.
20. I am thankful for my weaknesses, they remind me I am only human, and they keep me humble.
21. I am thankful for children's insight, it is enlightning, inspiring, and sometimes good for a chuckle.
22. I am thankful for flowers.
23. I am thankful for seasons.
24. I am thankful for naptime, be it for me or the little ones.
25. I am thankful for sunny days.
26. I am thankful for rainbows. They are reminders of promises made.
27. I am thankful for the records found in the Scriptures.
28. I am thankful for moments of meditation, where I can think and ponder as I wish and recieve
              personal inspiration, or revelation through the spirit.
29. I am thankful for the restoration of the gospel in our modern day, the knowledge that God indeed does
              communicate with his children and still loves us.
30. I am thankful for God's eternal plan. It is so complete!