Give Thanks

Thanks to my friend Rachel, I want to share this beautiful quote...

“Both abundance and lack [of abundance] exist simultaneously in our lives, as parallel realities. It is always our conscious choice which secret garden we will tend … when we choose not to focus on what is missing from our lives but are grateful for the abundance that’s present—love, health, family, friends, work, the joys of nature, and personal pursuits that bring us [happiness]—the wasteland of illusion falls away and we experience heaven on earth.”

- Sarah Ban Breathnach

Here are some things, in no particular order, that I'm choosing to focus my gratitude on today:

TEMPLES:  Friday, while Adam was home with our Littles, I went to the temple in Bountiful for the first time since having Ava. After my time there I left feeling so blessed to be a woman! I feel such peace there, and I'm grateful for the guidance and direction I get from going to the temple. 

A GOOD MAN: Adam is an incredible father to our children. He works hard for our family, and when he's home, he's home. Brooks and Ava adore him, and I love being able to witness my best friend thrive as a Dad. We are so blessed he's ours! 

OUR HOME: Making our house our home has been quite the journey. It's far from "finished" (whatever that means) but we are so blessed to live in the home and area we do. And I treasure the memories we've made and will make here with our growing family. :)

CLEAN WATER: The ability to turn a knob or lift a handle and have seemingly-endless, clean water come pouring out is honestly a miracle. I take it for granted, and have been reminded how blessed I am when I read and watch coverage of the devastation back east from Hurricane Sandy. Whether I'm drinking it to keep up my milk supply for Ava, using it to cook dinner for my family, taking a hot shower to relax and rejuvenate my tired body, or give my sweet babes a bath in the sink...I am grateful for water. 

FOOD AND FRIENDS: My sweet friends Nicole and Kira came over last week to learn how to make braided French bread, from scratch. :) Nicole was the head chef, thank you for teaching us! It was a fun afternoon with those lovely ladies and their kids...and the bread was perfect with the curried pumpkin soup we had for dinner that night. :) ... And the other day I was driving home from a friend's house and saw an older, homeless man walking up Main Street near our home, with a large beaten up backpack and a cardboard sign with words I can't quite remember strapped to it. My heart broke for him, and I wished I had something to give him! (Brooks loves when we drive to Daddy's work to bring him lunch, and sometimes see a homeless person at the off ramp's intersection light, we'll give them an apple or chips or something we had packed for lunch that we didn't really need, but would put a smile on the face of the person receiving it, and Brooks yells his version of thank you through the open window, "Tee-too!!")...and when we got home I opened the fridge to get Brooks a snack before naptime, he looked and said "Gapes! Mee-ook! Eggs! Cheeeeese!" (grapes, milk, eggs, cheese...he's a little indecisive;) and as he ate his grapes and cheese I said a prayer thanking Heavenly Father for blessing our family with nutritious food. We are so, so fortunate. 

LAUGHTER: Being a stay at home mom can be monotonous at times...but one thing is for certain, my children make me laugh daily. Goodness I love them!! Last weekend at Adam's cousin's wedding reception, I couldn't help but laugh as my little bow tie-wearing Brooks kicked off his shoes and danced the night away...his moves are killer. ;)

What are you grateful for??