Late night gratitude

When my house is quiet and everyone else is sleeping, is the time when the thoughts that tumble around in my brain are the most loud. It has been a rough winter for my family health-wise, our unexpected move in the summer is something that I still have not fully adjusted to (or finished unpacking from) and spring was scary trying to get my potassium level balanced after having it suddenly drop to life threatening levels. I still feel tired most of the time but tonight I am just thankful. I'm thankful for my husband that loves me and serves my family so tirelessly. I'm thankful for my children. They have been fighting over my lap all through the four day weekend and while I am tired, it is nice to be loved and nice to be needed. I'm thankful that we have a place to live and enjoy being together, even if it isn't always as clean as I wish it was. If I am going to choose between vacuuming the floor or reading to my kids at night, books will win every time. Reading through old blog posts tonight has my heart so full of gratitude to my Heavenly Father that it is overflowing and spilling down my cheeks. Every thing I am thankful for has been an answer to prayers that I have prayed. Each of my children a miracle that was prayed for, yearned for, pleaded for. My husband David...where do I even start? He has been my anchor through the storms that have shaken me to my core. He has been strong when I am weak, told me I'm beautiful when I feel most ugly, kissed me and told me I am loved each and every morning when he leaves for work. I never could have imagined when we met over ten years ago in a bar that we would be going to church and be sealed in the temple to three beautiful children we would have. Or that we would read scriptures every morning at breakfast. It is only reading my posts during some of the most painful times of my life that I fully comprehend the blessings of today. So I write this post. After five years without one. So I know when I read it later that right now, life is good. There is not a day that I don't get to read with my kids...or dance with them around the kitchen to their favorite songs. There is not a day that I don't get to laugh with David. Life is not perfect but today I focus on the joy that it affords me and I am thankful for it. IMG_8939.JPG