This is for you!

I am so thankful right now. Why is it overflowing right now? I'm not sure because my kids have toys strewn all over the floor, it's cloudy and chilly outside, I have a big day ahead still with all of the tasks required of the mommy, and yet I can't contain the joy that I feel.
I am thankful for my children. They are amazing to me. Even though each one of them drives me crazy somehow each day, I still can't get enough of them! They are beautiful and strong. They make me so happy. Hailey lost her tooth a little bit ago and the new one is already showing. It is SO crooked. It's coming in at an angle. YIKES!!! Isabella asked me and John to watch her do her Nah Nah dance last night at the dinner table. We were not sure what she was talking about but she stood up on her chair and sang and boogied to the Nah Nah Nah Boo Boo dance (you know...the typical teasing chant!) Talon just keeps falling on his poor head. Everyday...it's a new scratch or a new bonk or bump. Oh....John is so worried for his little brain (that's the Neuropsychology coming out in him!!)

I am thankful for dear friends! I have people who are special all over the country. What would life be like without you? I love to read your blogs. I love to see the challenges that you have overcome and find strength for the challenges that I face. I love to watch you progress and find ways to better myself through your example. I love to watch your children grow (most of them I have never even met!!) Thank you for letting me be apart of your life! My friends that are near...what would I do without you. You fill up the spaces in my days that need filling. Those moments that would otherwise be filled with loneliness and sadness. You make me so happy.

 

I am thankful for my family! I love you so much. I love my brothers like crazy. We rarely talk. Not because we don't like each other...but because we are all taking care of our families and don't have the chance to chit chat very often. But I am so grateful for them...for their wives...and for their children. I hope that we can all live closer someday. Mom and Dad, you are amazing. The most amazing parents that a child could ask for. You did it all right. Everything. Even if you feel like you didn't always know if you were making the right decisions...you did. I can feel your love from 3,000 miles away. Not from luxurious gifts. From you just being. You being alive and breathing and loving us so much. Thank you for always being kind. You may not die...ever...I love you and need you to be doing what you are doing everyday. Even if it is not doing anything with me. Just knowing that you are living and praying for us and thinking about us.

I love John's family. I have enjoyed them from the moment that I met them. I received a letter in the mail a short time after John and I were engaged, from a future sister-in-law who I had never met, and she was welcoming and kind and so glad to have me in their family. She'll never know what that meant to me. All of John's sisters are so creative and are wonderful to be around. One of John's sisters sends handmade cards for holidays and she makes us all so happy. She does it because she loves us...not because she is getting praise for doing it!  My mother-in-law is so wise. She knows so much about so many different things. I love to learn from her. She is always so full of compliments. I love to play games with his family. My father-in-law loves his children so much. He is one of our biggest fans!

I am so thankful for John. We have learned so much together. I was supposed to marry this man. He is a hardworker. He is loyal. He is dedicated to me and to our children. His time is either spent on his calling, on his education, or on us. He loves to be with me. At this moment I am extremely grateful for his desire for me to go and have a girls night tonight. My evening will be filled with "New Moon" excitement and I am SO EXCITED!!! Thank you John for being excited for me!!!