Since I refuse to grow a beard and participate in "no-shave November" I had to come up with something a bit different to show my love and appreciation for my very favorite month of the year!
I have been planning to write this post since November 1st.. well that date clearly has come and gone and here I am November .. (oh heck lets get real, like I even ever know what day of the month it is!?)
I enjoy seeing/reading what people post on facebook during the month of November and how creative some can get, how deep some can think and how funny little things are that people take such joy and thankfulness in! I have been blessed with probably the greatest year of my life. Nothing huge happened, I certainly didn't hit the jackpot and no money grew on the trees that were planted. And I don't think I followed through with one little goal I set for myself. However, to sit and think of all that has happened in my life, in my kids life and how friendships have grown and my love for certain things has deepened, I'd consider this to have been a great year.
I read an old LDS conference talk recently and I can't help but remember reading...
President Thomas S. Monson put it this way: “It is not enough to want to make the effort and to say we’ll make the effort. … It’s in the doing, not just the thinking, that we accomplish our goals. If we constantly put our goals off, we will never see them fulfilled.”
Gosh - how I loved reading that. That short paragraph sums me up pretty well. I am one of the best at the "thinking" and "wanting to make an effort" "saying I will make an effort." And I hate to say that I am also the best at putting my goals off... constantly. It doesn't matter if its a personal goal, a spiritual goal, a goal to teach my kids, to be a better wife, a better friend, or a goal to bite my tough and to guard my thoughts... Whatever It may be I give up. Not in a, throw my hands in the air I'm done, kind of way but that I am idle in my actions.
Yet somehow I am so blessed to still be prompted with the desire to become and do more with myself and my time. Some nights I lock myself in my room and tell Rob that he's in charge for the night and I will lay on my bed.. browse some sort of social media app or watch some schmuck tv show that never leaves me with a desire to want to better myself! But I have to say that I have a pretty drama free life so I find great joy watching it on tv ;) reality or not!! And don't bother telling me its a waste of time. Clearly I already know that but don't plan to make any changes any time soon! (just being honest!)
Anyway, point is, goals. And November. I set a goal to write what I am most thankful for this November. A goal, I can certainly accomplish... right now!
(Enter cliche moment here...)
Of coarse, most importantly, I could not be more grateful for my super awesome husband. What a great guy that man is. A man who can say everything without ever saying a word at all! (seriously.. you will never meet a man of fewer words!!) I have been asked by more than one person how he and I make our relationship work. How two people who could not be more opposite can find common ground on anything.. And I think I've come to appreciate that that is the beauty of it all. Its not a fairytale. Its real. Its easy and the only time its not, is when I choose to make it that way! I take advantage of how easy going he is and I expect 100% more from him then I do from myself and that is something I've had to learn to figure out! On the days I want to (and sometimes do) complain or express my frustration I have to ask myself if I have given 100% and if the answer is no, that I have to change my thinking. Rob would do anything for me and for our kids. Not always without asking, but again lets be honest! How many men do much of anything without being asked to do so! (and seriously if you are going to comment about how your man DOES do it all without ever being asked.. dont' bother! I won't believe you!)
And how can I not be thankful for my two wild and crazy kids! What a blast they are. I never knew I could learn so much from two people so small! I watch them and can't help but see so much of my or Rob's personality in them. Sometimes its scary! There are some personality traits about myself I hoped my kids would never have but yet at three years old I can already see it happening! They can be the best of friends or we have days like today when I hear one yell to the other "stop it right now or I will spank your butt!" hmmm..... I wonder who they learned that from! ;) I'll blame it on my super silent hubby! My kids are so awesome. They ARE the joy that keeps our house together. Rob and I always say that even on our hardest days as parents its usually only hard because we have run out of patience or compassion. They are learning and I have to remind myself every hour of that! They can't help that their mom is a giant bundle of hormones right now! Yet, they love me every second! For that I am thankful!
I'm so very thankful for the gospel of Jesus Christ. I know not all will agree with me, but I will never not admit the complete joy I find being a member of the church. How can I ever begin to think that my life hasn't been guided completely by my Savior? The peace that I feel on such a incomprehensible level is because of my love and my desire to become what my Lord and Savior need me to become. Yes, life is hard, but I believe there is hope. I know I will return to my Heavenly Father and I know I want my friends, family and children to always know that I have a testimony and unwavering faith. I am so thankful that my family can be together forver. I am thankful that I believe.
I love you all, and I hope this thanksgiving you can find something or someone to appreciate. Not only because its the month of November or because you are trying to find anything to distract you from the massive amounts of facial hair you have had to look at this month BUT because all is well! And if it's not.. I hope that it will be! I really truly hope it will!
