Thankful

I wake up in a house with a heater warming the things I want warm and a refrigerator cooling the things I want cool. I have a teenaged son who goes to early-morning seminary to study the Bible and he does this without complaint. I am married to a funny, kind-hearted person who stays up late making pies for his home teaching families and then wakes up and puts on his scrubs to work at a job that we're so thankful he has, in an office that we'll never take for grated, and with a staff that he loves.

I get to live with a curly-haired preteen who stumbles down the stairs each morning groggy but beautiful. She's always pleasant and eager to be of help. I get to be called Mom by a black-haired girl who's currently sporting an unusual haircut and bounds into the kitchen each morning in a carefully chosen outfit and always compliments me on something: I love those pajamas, You look beautiful today, Nice hair. I go upstairs to find the straggler, the snuggly blond-haired girl with twinkling blue eyes who buries herself completely under her covers every night and has to be extracted every morning, always with a yawn and a smile. She has the best laugh and fiercest temper and gives the warmest hugs.

My kids attend schools where teachers care about each one of them personally. I am so thankful for their teachers. My kids play sports, sing, go to scouts, play the piano, and still have enough energy to bicker with each other any hour of the day. They have doctors who keep them healthy and we have insurance so we can pay the doctors who keep them healthy. The kids eat big meals that are always available and sometimes they even take their plates to the counter.

We attend a church that nourishes our spirits and gives us hope for a life together in the eternities. We have a Savior who has felt all of our pains and loves us and set an example for us to follow. We live in a country that allows us to worship as we choose. We have friends and extended family who uplift us and would be at our doorstep in a moment's notice if they were needed.

I'll go to sleep tonight in flannel sheets with plenty of blankets and tomorrow we'll eat turkey and make toast with our glasses of cranberry juice/7-Up mix and we'll thank our Heavenly Father for our abundant blessings.