Gratitude

I am currently in a recovery period from my last treatment, and I feel a need to express gratitude for the many blessings in my life.  I was reading a book the other day when I came across this quote from Cicero, one of the greatest philosophers from ancient Rome "Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all others."  I started thinking about gratitude being the parent of all other virtues and how it truly is a key to our happiness.  Without gratitude we feel bitterness, resentment, selfishness, discontent, and entitlement.  With gratitude for God and His blessings we feel appreciation,  thankfulness, humility, and best of all, love.  It is my goal to cultivate more an attitude of gratitude and to help my children do the same.  This is ironic that I want to help my children do this because they teach me a lot about gratitude.  One night, Chad and I were having a conversation about our current trial of dealing with breast cancer, and it must not have been a positive one.  I don't remember what we were talking about, but I do remember what Bennett, our 9 year old said.  He interjected into the conversation and said emphatically, "Mom, Dad--look at the good!  We have good health insurance.  The (lymph) nodes were clear.  We caught it at stage 1.  We have good family and friends who are helping us--we've got to build on that!"  I was grateful for his innocent expression of gratitude and hope as it helped us snap out of a downward spiral.

I like this picture at the right.  When I first looked at it, I just noticed the black flowers.  It is easy to focus on the black flowers or the things that are not right in our world and fail to notice the other beautiful flowers, the mountains, and the beautiful sky in the background.













I have much to be grateful for and I will just name a few from this past week!

*A wonderful husband who truly treats me like a queen and is considerate of me and loves me despite my many weaknesses

*4 fabulous children that make me laugh every day

 ---Emerie:  "Mom can we play Toy Story?  I will be Jessie and you can be.....Mr. Potato Head!" To which she quickly added "Because you are balden."   (she says balden instead of bald)

---Eden had lost one of her two front teeth a couple weeks ago.  The other front tooth was just dangling in her mouth for days and she wouldn't let us try to pull it.  Last week she had a dance recital and the tooth was still hanging in there.  She came home from the dance recital and told me that she had asked a younger girl (that she didn't even know) about something concerning the dance recital.  The girl was at about eye level with Eden's mouth.   Eden said that instead of answering her question the girl look at her mouth, mesmerized by her tooth, and with wide, staring eyes said, "WHOA....your tooth!"

--Carson teasingly accused Bennett of having a crush on this 60 something woman that we know.  Bennett was bothered at Carson's teasing and said "Carson!!! By the time I am 20 she will probably be dead!"  Without skipping a beat Carson turned to me and said, "See?  He's thought this thing through."

*Apple TV and Studio C--apple tv allows us to view things from our I pad on our TV.  With our BYUtv app we can watch some of our favorite shows whenever we want.  A new tradition is to pile into my bed and watch Studio C at nights when we can.  I think the reason I like this is because I secretly wish I could be on the show and help write the skits.  However, if my prior experience trying to make funny videos is any indicator, I am better off watching and not participating in these things.  Just ask Chad--he has suffered through many a home video where my friends/cousins/siblings and I would try to come up with something that was remotely funny.  (I have attached a Studio C video entitled "Facebook Philanthropy"--it made me laugh)

*I am grateful that I felt well enough to go on a family bike ride this week.  It felt wonderful to be active and outside!

*I am grateful for my sister and sisters-in-law who have helped me by cleaning our bathrooms.

*I am grateful for my immediate and extended family

*I am grateful for nice neighbors and friends

*I am grateful for the scriptures and lds.org

*I am grateful for my knowledge and testimony of the Plan of Salvation and our Savior's central role in making it all possible!

I look forward to be able to add "I am thankful for hair" and "I am thankful for a working immune system"among many others, in the coming months:)