gratus majerus

i am thankful for people who are brave enough to go out of their comfort zone and share the gospel. big T is a convert to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints of 12 years this past august. the people who shared the gospel message with him are dearer to my heart than they will ever know. they opened their mouths by inviting him to church the first time. they opened their homes each time thomas had questions that needed to be answered. they opened their hearts by sharing the love our Savior Jesus Christ has for each one of us with him. i am forever grateful and indebted to them. i would venture to say that they did not know what would become of big T, that they were just doing their duty as Latter-day Saints. but i have been a beneficiary of their faithfulness and their boldness. they are a force for good and my life has been impacted and changed for the better because of them.

jessica and heather, sisters and supermodels.
i am sure that it wasn't an easy task. big T talks a lot and he likes to be right all the time. and now he is.

tastes real, looks great!

i am thankful for cool autumn afternoons when el presidente refuses to be pacified by anything but cookie making. unfortunately, this afternoon i had approximately zero ingredients for cookies and i had to sort of make it up as a i went. the finished product turned out as about as good as i expected: irregularly shaped cow patty lumps. and to add insult in injury, we ate so much cookie dough that only 7 cow patties could be made. nevertheless, the afternoon was a success. and this totally took me down memory lane. growing up we had a ward cookbook in which one sister had submitted a cookie called the "cow pie cookie" with the caption, "looks real, tastes great" and my brother dave would always say, "tastes real, looks great."

in other thankful for food news: i am thankful for gigantic hunks of pepperoni that somehow make it into my pepperoni package and i am forced to eat them. i love me an obnoxious sized piece of pepperoni.

and i am thankful for cheap dates and mcdonald's 99cent twisty cones.

and my houndstooth hat.

oh mother, where art thou?

being that november is the month of thanksgiving, i felt it only fitting that i show my thanks for the many blessings in my life.

1. i am thankful that i am a mother.

did i just type that??? shocking but true. motherhood has been a blessing that i didn't know i wanted or needed. i am grateful not only that i am a mother, but that i have survived this very difficult and time-consuming task thus far. i try really hard to be a "good mom". i want to teach my children important skillz and help them develop a healthy self-image. successful, educated, non-incarcerated children will be my greatest reward. someday. but as for today, clean faces and smiles and laughter really take the cake.

the lessons that motherhood has taught me are invaluable. i now have a small vision of the love that our Heavenly Father has for each one of us. the best advice i ever received regarding motherhood was that each night i needed to pray for forgiveness from the mistakes that i made that day, and to pray for strength to be able to make it through the next day. this simple bit of advice reminds me each day how dependent these children are on me and how dependent i am on my own Father in Heaven.

i read a few months ago on another blog this quote has stuck with me ever since. "motherhood is a celebration of life". this quote has inspired me to do more for my children and more for my husband and to do more for myself. life is good, life is difficult, life is challenging, life is wonderful, life is simple. i hope to meet each day with enough enthusiam to ensure that each day is a part of the celebration.

my personal motto is "lengthen my stride". i love/hate running. it is a tiresome, time consuming activity that i look forward to. as i fell asleep last night, i felt a small thrill that i was going to put on my kicks in the morning and runrunrun. the same goes for my kids. they drive me nuts. they scream. they cry. one still poops in her pants on a regular basis. scarlett is constantly defying death. some days i think reagan is channeling kriss kross by putting his clothes on backwards each day. but each morning their little boogery faces make me smile. i love when they go to bed at night and i love when they wake up well-rested the next day.

and you, other bloggers out there, you are also my inspiration. some people hate reading blogs that are all sunshine and roses and vegetables grown in backyard gardens and perfect homemade popsicle stick crafts. sometimes i hate them too. but i know those moms have their bad days. i rejoice in your accomplishments and i feel sorrow when you feel sorrow.

so, kum ba ya to motherhood.

mothers who know

are we not all mothers?