Giving Thanks

November has slipped right past me, and Thanksgiving right along with it!  We made our Thankful Turkey earlier this month, and hung it on our kitchen wall.  I love having a daily reminder of some of the things I have to be grateful for.  

I think it's been a great year for our family, and I feel so much gratitude in my heart for our many blessings.  Some other thankful items that I need to mention that weren't on our turkey are--

• Buying our first house and turning it into a lovely home.  We are very happy here, love our town and our ward.
• All of the growth and development in Eli.  His speech has just taken off, and I'm so grateful he could receive therapy.
• Our good health.  It seems that so many people and families are dealing with major health issues.  While I do not know what our future holds, I am so very grateful for our three strong, healthy bodies (though they are not very healthy right now...).
• Having both sets of grandparents close-by.  Eli is just the luckiest little boy to get to grow up around all of his grandparents and have them be such a big part of his life.  And WE are so blessed to have all their love, help, and support.  Don't know what we'd do without them!
• David celebrating his one-year anniversary at Duke Realty.  For the first 2 1/2 years of our marriage, David had several different jobs and spent quite a bit of time unemployed.  We are so blessed that he is in a permanent job that he likes and continues to learn and be challenged.
• My siblings, who all have unique aspects about them that make them each such strong, inspiring individuals.  I'm so thankful we enjoy being together and could spend this Thanksgiving as an entire family.
• Seasoned mothers who seem to have mothering "figured out" and provide so much inspiration and guidance to us youngin's.  I'm so grateful we can all communicate so much more freely and easily through the use of blogs.
• The Gospel of Jesus Christ.  While we people are so far from perfect, the Gospel IS perfect.  I'm so eternally grateful for every aspect of it.  I'm grateful that I can pray to my Heavenly Father and that He listens and answers my prayers; I'm grateful that I can draw closer to Him by reading the scriptures and trying to keep the commandments; I'm grateful that because of the Atonement I know I can repent and try again to be more like my Savior; I'm grateful that if I keep my covenants I can have my family live with me for all eternity.

Happy Month of Gratitude!  Let's all try to keep the thankfulness in our hearts year-round.