Dropped the Ball

I feel like I dropped the ball this year. I haven't stopped feeling gratitude the whole month. We have loved saying Thank You and enjoying little minutes here and there.

But tutoring is starting to really pick up---between my eight students getting ready for finals, all available minutes are taken up with tutoring. I love helping them and I am really grateful that my business is expanding, but it leaves little time for things other than taking care of my family.

I am grateful for the Friendly Hero. He is kind and loving. He loves to play with the Peaceful Hero. He loves spending time with friends and he loves to help me out. He is starting to play pretend, and he loves to be the pretend daddy and friends are the pretend mommy. He is a great kind. There are days when he acts older than three, and there are days that he reminds me that he's three and we try to laugh through the temper tantrums. (Some days it doesn't work, and we do all we can to make sure that there isn't everyone in the family crying at the same time....and that usually works.) But he is a sweet heart and extremely loving. I love him dearly and am grateful for him and his playful spirit.

I am grateful for the Peaceful Hero. He is funny. He is getting into playing a lot. He has a concentrated face and he will sit and play with something for a lot longer than the Friendly Hero. He gets obsessed with things. Like the past two days, he loves to watch the furnace when the fire comes on, and is constantly checking to see if "Fire All Gone" or if "Fire Back". I have a little pyro on my hands....he is definitely my son. He also likes to play with friends, but is still the Peaceful Hero, it takes a lot to upset him and then a lot to calm him down. He also loves trains. He knows which of our friends have trains, "Jane Train?" "Fry Train?" "Ry-Ry Train?" and wants to go play at those houses all the time. to play with the trains. I love him and love his tender spirit and his joy in playing. I also love that he doesn't smile near as much as his brother. Our family pictures--I will share them in a little bit, are sooo funny. He is just sitting there being chill, and his brother is making the funniest faces, thinking that he is smiling. I love the Peaceful Hero.

I am grateful for the Christmas Season. I love this time of year. It is fun to go to the parties and to send out packages and Christmas Cards. I was double checking addresses for several of my friends who I was sure had moved, and everyone told me that they loved my Christmas Card. It was really flattering, that everyone looks forward to my card. The first wave is on it's way, so look for it soon.

I am grateful for the Savior. I am grateful for His sacrifice and His grace. I feel closer to Him this year, and I know that He cares for us. He watches over us---no matter how dark it appears, He's there, comforting and helping, as long as we let Him in.

I am grateful for this pregnancy. I am really excited to have a little girl, or Girl-la as the Friendly Hero says. (We think he thinks he's getting a gorilla. which wouldn't be as cool for me.) I am excited and happy that she is healthy and growing--even if that means that I'm growing a lot too. She sits a lot lower than the boys, which is nice, since she doesn't play with my ribs. But she kicks and punches my bladder, so it's just pregnancy. There's ups and downs and it's never 100% comfortable, but it's worth the sacrifice in my book.

I am grateful for the balance and peace I am gaining from meditating daily. I feel better physically--I have more energy, more focus, less pain from a low sitting baby, and better sleep. I feel better emotionally--I freak out less (about once a week) and then it's gone from my system pretty quickly, and I am just happy and mellow---not intensely hyper like I tend to get--which I can still get hyper, but I don't have the extreme high followed by an extreme low. I just am happy at a higher level, and not as stressed. I feel better spiritually--I feel closer to Heavenly Father, to Jesus Christ and I can feel them working through me. I feel like I have a lot more charity for my children and for my husband and for my friends and neighbors. I see that they are trying their best and I can still love them, even if there is poop in the underwear not 5 minutes after someone uses the potty. (Was I pleased about it---no way, but I was calm about it because I could still feel love for the child.) I feel like I'm becoming more like them, and that brings me peace.

I am grateful for the scriptures and prayer. I get more out of it since I've been meditating and it's like I suddenly have these awesome tools that just got even better. Like it was a Swiss army knife that I suddenly found a power attachment for it. I am grateful for all the places we have to connect with Heavenly Father and  His Son, Jesus Christ.

I'm grateful for my extended family. I love all my cousin's blogs. I feel edified and close to my family that I get to see once a year, if I'm lucky. I am grateful for my family and how we can support one another. At times I feel like I'm the one who gets the most out of this extended relationship--I'm the one edified and I don't know if I get to help them as they have helped me.

I am grateful to be alive. Life is wonderful and awesome. Even if I disagree with politicians, policies and family members. I have peace, love and gratitude spilling out of me.

I am grateful for my new van. I love it. I really love it. I love driving it. I love sitting higher. I love climbing in and out of it. It's a lot easier than Lance, our Ford Taurus. I love my new car. I am really grateful for it. The boys love it too. Which makes it nice.

24th

1. I am grateful we were able to travel safely. We had a lot of fun with our extended family, and it was good to travel in safety back home again.

2. We set up our Christmas Tree and it was a lot of fun to do that. The boys got really excited to see the lights and two presents underneath it.

3. I am grateful for friends. I can't count the ways that my friends have helped and blessed my life. I am grateful for them and I love them dearly. We had one friend get our mail, and then another saw that we got a package today and decided to keep it for us until we got home, so that it wouldn't be taken. Little things like this bring smiles to my face.

4. I am grateful for gloves. It is suddenly very cold again and I am grateful for gloves and the ability to bundle up.

5. I am grateful for books. I love books. I have a wall of books and they bring me great happiness and joy.

Cars

1. Today I am grateful for rest stops. Michagin has really pretty rest stops and it has great playgrounds for the boys to run and play with.

2. I am grateful for our new car. It's so comfortable and nice and great!

3. I am grateful for kicks. I am grateful she is active, healthy, and happy.

4. I am grateful my boys are good eaters.

5. I am grateful for the peace that comes from living close to Heavenly Father.

the 20th

1. I am grateful for my health. I was busy today cleaning, and I am grateful that while I am big enough to notice the baby, she didn't get in my way and I could still vacuum and scrub.

2. I am grateful for "Shower Power." It's my new cleaning chemical love. I do fall in love with cleaning supplies when they make it really easy for me to scrub away soap scum and work well. Our tub, knobs and sinks all look great.

3. I am grateful for a clean kitchen sink. Ours is an old porcelain sink and so after a few days it starts to look like I never have cleaned it. It's pretty gross, but it's clean now! And it will stay that way for longer than two days.

4. I am grateful for my vacuum. I love it. It's so powerful and fun. I also am grateful that my boys love to try to vacuum and that they run around like it's chasing them. That makes vacuuming fun for me too.

5. I'm grateful for peace and ways to find peace. I am grateful that I could feel stillness and love, even when life is crazy, because life is crazy. Finding peace amid the storm helps me love the storm.

Can you tell that most of my day was spent cleaning and deep cleaning certain areas? I certainly can.

November 19th

1. I am grateful for my big brother. It's his birthday today. Happy Birthday Bob! We love you. He has made me a better person.

2. I am grateful for granola. We are having a lot of fun making it and eating it. The Friendly Hero calls it gran-no-no-nola!

3. I am grateful for the pilgrims. I finally got Friendly Hero to listen to their story, and he calls them programs. He is a lovely delightful child!

4. I am grateful for the Peaceful Hero. He went with me on an errand, and he charmed everyone there. He is so cute! He was happy and loves spending time opening and closing doors.

5. I am grateful for jet airplanes. Whenever we see the contrails, both boys go crazy! They love that. And I love their joy.

Refocusing

I missed a few days because my dear Bug Hero needed our computer to do work and play. So I'm not putting this off until the end.

1. I am grateful for baptisms. We have a very special young lady in our ward who was baptized yesterday. She has fought off brain cancer, and is having some problems with her brain communicating with the rest of her body. She turned 8 on Friday and on Saturday she was baptized. I am grateful for her example, her smile and her love. She has the biggest smile on her face whenever I see her and she radiates the love of Christ.

2. I am grateful for the spirit at her baptism. You could tell that she is there, even if it's hard for her to communicate  but she was able to sing with her siblings, and she giggled as she came out of the font. There wasn't a dry eye in the room, including a lot of the little kids. The Friendly Hero talked a lot to me about how he was really happy because he felt that Jesus was happy with K***. I am grateful that he felt the spirit and knew where it came from.

3. I am grateful for family pictures. We took them yesterday and I haven't seen them yet, but I know that they are going to be awesome!

4. I am grateful for being kicked. I am feeling our girl move around a lot and I am grateful that she is healthy. I am grateful for her kicks, even though they are starting to become sharp and painful.

5. I am grateful that I know how to clean. Sometimes it doesn't look like I ever clean--but I do, and I am grateful that we are teaching the boys how to pick up their toys.

6. I am grateful for trains. The Peaceful Hero is on a HUGE train kick and loves to play with the trains. He will play with them for an hour--with minimal disruptions. I am grateful that he can focus on something like that. He's adorable as he plays.

7. I am grateful for family. I love talking to my siblings, to my parents, and to the Bug Hero's family. I consider them all to be my family.

8. I am grateful my Sunday School lesson went well. The kids responded to the group questions and were willing to share, even if they said that this was an awkward and uncomfortable topic. We talked about the Law of Chastity. But they were as mature and respectful as I could have hoped for. They are 13 and 14. And it was a much better lesson than last week.

9. I am grateful for the Friendly Hero. He says the funniest things! Yesterday, on our way to family pictures we told him that we were going to Purdue to get them taken. He responded with, "My daddy's work, I presume!" We are still laughing about it!

10. I am grateful for the Bug Hero. He is back from his conference, and it's so amazing to see things get done that I didn't do. He is so loving and helpful! I love his smile and his enthusiasm for toys and games. He competed in another tournament for his new game, and he won again! He got a prize gift card for winning. He's really happy about an inconsequential thing (his words, not mine).

11. We are grateful for extended family! We are going to go see an Aunt and Uncle for Thanksgiving and we are really excited about it! We love to expand our family circles!

Grateful 14th and 15th

Once again I missed a day.
Yesterday:
1. Some days I think to myself, that I'm really glad that I'm pregnant because there is a reason why I'm so disconnected. I can forget things very easily and I hope that I can get some back--or just adjust to my new memory.

2. I am grateful for the new "Come unto Christ" curriculum. My lesson this week--I am going to try to teach with a lot of the principles. I am really excited for it, because that's how I was trained to teach math--engage the students and let them do the talking, testifying and teaching. It's really powerful when it works, and totally flops when it doesn't.

3. I am grateful for the Stake President. I had an appointment scheduled to see him, and he went home as I was driving there, and so then I went to his house. I've practically been adopted into that family on the account of the cuteness of my boys and that I tutored their daughter for two years, so it wasn't as weird as it sounds. And he was very gracious and interviewed me for a temple recommend.

4. I am grateful that days end. The boys woke up on the wrong side of the bed and it felt like we spent half the day in the penalty box and the other half in time out. (two different locations, because if they went to the same place then they would have continued fighting.)

5. I am grateful for the Peaceful Hero's desire to learn. As we spent several times in the penalty box or the time out chair he got to practice learning the answers to the questions. "Do we hit our brother?" His response, "Yes!" said very emphatically. I told him "No. We don't." He quickly changed his answer to a long, "Nooooo." And then when I asked him if Jesus hit other people, he responded emphatically, "Yes." My correction, "No." and then his quick change, "Nooooo." His responses were the only reason why I could keep going.

6. I'm grateful that the Bug Hero had a good time at his conference and then came home last night. I was especially grateful that he came home on the day that was especially taxing because the kids were grumpy and non-distract-able.

Today:
1. I am grateful for my testimony. We had a scare this morning--I started bleeding, but I knew that Heavenly Father was aware of us and He was going to take care of us. I got to share that with the Friendly Hero, because he could tell that Mom and Dad were worried about something, and I was able to share with him that Heavenly Father loves us dearly, and He knows what is supposed to happen and will take care of us.

2. I am grateful for priesthood blessings, and for a husband who honors his priesthood and a great neighborhood of friends who are also worthy priesthood holders and are happy and willing to serve. God's power is priesthood power.

3. I am grateful for friends. After I had made an emergency appointment with a doctor, I had friends offering and willing to take care of the boys so I could go to the doctor. And then I knew that they were also praying for me.

4. I am grateful for understanding medical staff. I called and I was trying to hold back tears and everyone I talked to was understanding and patient and genuinely concerned with helping me see a doctor to make sure everything was healthy and fine. I am grateful for doctors who are willing to make time for me. I saw a doctor in my doctor's office since my doctor is on vacation. I know it put their schedule out of wack, but they were willing to check me out and make sure everything is healthy. I am also grateful for medicine advances--I also got my rhogram shot, because we have the Rh factor, and I am so grateful for technology and for advances in medicine.

5. I am grateful that everything is fine. My cervix is responding differently to the hormones this time, (probably because I'm having a girl) and it's healthy. It's staying closed and it's doing it's job to keep the baby in, it just can bleed if the baby kicks it, or it gets knocked around. Apparently this is in the normal range, even though it was extremely scary to see a blood this morning. I am grateful that the bleeding stopped.

6. I am grateful that I had wonderful news to share with the few people who were there with me on the emotional and scary ride this morning. I am grateful too, that I knew that I would have been taken care of if I needed to go on bed rest or anything else, my ward is awesome and I would have only needed to tell one person and they could have gotten the rest of the ward mobilized with out me having to tell five or six people and cry about it.

7. I am grateful that I am still considered low risk and both of us are healthy and growing well. I am also grateful that if it happens again, I know what is going on.

8. I am grateful for this picture. It has made me smile all day long. I really am totally and madly in love with this boy.

November 13th

1. Cleaning. I am grateful for deep cleaning certain areas in my home. I let a few areas that no one sees but me get out of control, and I cleaned them today and I feel so much better. I feel like I can create a good atmosphere in my home because of it.

2. I'm grateful for toys. The boys pulled out three sets of toys while I was deep cleaning, and it kept them occupied. You couldn't walk in the home, but they were happy.

3. I'm grateful I got to help teach my boys how to clean up today. We spent about twenty times the time it would have taken me to clean up, cleaning up with their help. I told them I would pick up one toy for every toy they picked up (I picked up what they picked up combined). When they moved fast, I moved fast, and when they moved slow or stopped working, so did I. The Friendly Hero loved it when I helped pick up, but when he stopped working so I would do it, I stopped working too....he found that frustrating, but we got it done.

4. I'm grateful for leftovers. I didn't want to cook today and we had enough in our fridge that I didn't have too.

5. I am grateful that the Peaceful Hero has only had one accident in the last week. I am starting to call him potty trained. He is so proud of his new skills. So am I.

Silly Friends

Today I am grateful for Friends.

1. The Friendly Hero has a great group of boys that he does Joy School with. Today they talked about what to do to take care of their bodies. He has taken pretend naps all day so he can grow as he sleeps.

2. The Peaceful Hero is getting into playing. he LOVES trains. He gets down on the floor and lays on his belly and hordes trains. It's cute to see him have five or six trains in his arms and reach and fending off others. But he is always willing to share one or two if you ask him to. It's really sweet.

3. I am grateful for my friends. I was able to support some of them by attending a meeting about moving the bus stop to a safer location.

4. I am grateful for The Bug Hero's friends. We laugh that most of his friends in the ward are the 11 year old boys that play with Legos and Pokemon.

5. I am grateful for the friendship we have with the Savior. It is an honor to be considered one of His friends, because I'm trying to follow His footsteps. I don't do it well on my own, but He is willing to help me, and I'm grateful for His help.

Cooking

1. I am grateful for my kitchen. I love Sundays that I get to spend time in there making a wonderful meal. I don't always get to do that, because of tutoring right before or little boys wanting to 'help' me cook. I like to let them help--but it limits what I can do. On Sundays, The Bug Hero lets me spend as much time in the kitchen as I want, usually hours making and baking and it's great!

2. I am grateful that the Bug Hero does the dishes. I like to do dishes, but if I've spent several hours cooking I usually don't feel like doing dishes for an hour. And he cheerfully does them.

3. I am grateful for our Sunday Tradition. We got to share it with another family, and it made it new again. Most of the kids mentioned the baptism on yesterday as when they were happy and felt the spirit. It's a great way to talk about the gospel and the spirit again.

4. I am grateful for the new curriculum for the Youth. I'm excited to really get into it. I'm nervous about it, especially after this week--Sunday School was just about as crazy as it could possibly be. I don't know where it went wrong, but I trust that next week it won't go bad again. We have good days and bad days. I look forward to being an even more powerful teacher to lead them to conversion.

5. I am grateful for the spirit. I am grateful that I get to feel it daily and that I take opportunities to share the gospel with my boys, and help them feel the Savior's love.

Friday and Saturday

I missed yesterday because we have had 2 crazy days here.

Yesterday:
1. I am grateful for friends. I was having a hard time trying to get something worked out at Walmart. I spent 45 minutes at the service desk, 30 of those minutes on the phone with my bank trying to get things worked out with my credit card and with the machine, only to find out at the end that I couldn't get done what I wanted to get done because it was too large--they couldn't handle it, but they couldn't tell me that until I'd been there for 45 minutes. The two boys were as good as they could be, but it was a long time and I was trying to be patient, and they had lost it. I was so grateful that a friend happened by about a half hour into this crazy experience and took the boys to look at the fish. They were so happy and I was so happy and grateful. She really saved my sanity.

2. I am grateful for food. I am grateful for my fridge and freezer that hold food and store them well.

3. I am grateful for nap time. I was able to put both boys down and have a little bit of time to recover from the stress of Walmart.

4. I am grateful for the playground. Once nap time was over, we went outside, because it was 68 degrees outside and we got in one more day at the playground. We love being outside, when it's sunny and playing with all our friends.

5. I am grateful for the Bug Hero. He beat us home, because we went tutoring and he vacuumed and got dinner ready--that I had put out on the counter. He is amazing!

Today:
1. I am grateful for our new arrival. We don't have a gender, or a name yet, but at 2 plus tons and 202.9 inches long and 68.4 inches tall we are in love! All day I have been smiling. (not that strange) I am really excited and so proud of our new arrival. The color of "polished metal" is awesome! (Even if it's not green like the Friendly Hero requested.) The Friendly Hero loves the hatch back, and the sliding doors. The Peaceful Hero loves the four wheels. We are all happy with our new arrival!

2. I am grateful for friends. We had a friend watch the two boys while we drove almost 80 miles to get our new arrival and then sign all the papers to get everything cleared out. It made the whole experience one I could really smile about, because we didn't have two active boys waiting around for us, and driving us crazy while we talked to really nice people.

3. I am grateful for great sales at the grocery store. I love it when the turkeys go on sale before Thanksgiving.

4. I am grateful for baptisms. We were able to go to our dear neighbors (practically family) baptism. He asked me to give a talk about baptism and I was honored to be a part of his big day. The Friendly Hero said his baptism was his favorite part of the day. When further questioned, he loved it because he got a peanut butter bar at the end of it.

5. I am grateful that crazy days end. We had two crazy busy days back to back, and while everything worked out and went mostly smoothly, it's nice to know that we have a day of rest tomorrow to worship Heavenly Father and to relax and enjoy each others company.

Tutoring

1. I am grateful for tutoring. It is so much fun for me to sit around with some teenagers, and explain what they need to do and find ways to connect to them. I just started tutoring a new student that I also teach in Sunday School. He cracks me up! But his biggest problem is that he goes so fast that he doesn't show his work or if he makes a mistake he can't catch it. So I told him that showing your work is like the prophets writing down their revelations so that we can follow God's commandments. He agreed that it was important. Then he pointed out that Moses didn't write the 10 commandments, God did on the stone. And I replied that Moses wrote down all the other revelations that comprise the Law of Moses. And we both smiled. It was great!

2. I love spending time explaining math concepts. It's great to see understanding dawn and grow in people. I am grateful for tutoring and helping others grow.

3. I am grateful for The Friendly Hero. He makes me so happy. Today, he came in on me and said, "Mommy, I love you. You sound like happiness."

4. I am grateful for the Peaceful Hero. He woke up so happy and he and the Friendly Hero started laughing and playing right away. I was sad to miss a snuggle, but I was so excited to listen to them laugh and play together.

5. I am grateful for wool felt. I'm working on some Christmas Decorations and I'm refalling in love with wool felt. I love how it feels, and how it looks. I have a crafting crush on wool felt.

America

1. I am grateful for the American system. I am grateful that I got to vote yesterday and that our country will be lead by someone. I will pray that he will do the best for the country and I will pray that congress can make compromises. I get frustrated when parties deadlock each other--because then everyone looses. I want cooperation. That may be too much to ask for, but that's what I will continue to ask for and hope for.

2. I am grateful for our mailman. He is awesome! My friends and I often joke that he knows more about us than we would want to. But he knows our boys names, and jokes with me that all my husband gets in the mail is Legos. He also goes above and beyond the call of duty. He knew one of my neighbors was looking for a trike or a mini car for their kids to ride in and he brought one by that was on the curb, waiting for the garbage truck. He waves to us when we go grocery shopping, and he drops packages off for us at our neighbors if we are not home, because he has seen us at their house enough. He is awesome! We love our mailman.

3. I am grateful for friends. The Friendly Hero is starting a very interesting stage...he is grumpy and refuses to listen unless there is a friend over and then he is the best listener. He will clean up and put shoes on and not jump on his bed, etc if he has a friend. So we are playing with friends a lot more. If there isn't a friend over, then he is usually throwing a temper tantrum--constantly. I'm not sure where this is all coming from, but I am grateful that friends are an easy, good fix for his happiness and willingness to listen.

4. I am grateful for naps. This afternoon I couldn't make it back downstairs after putting the Peaceful Hero down for his nap, and I fell asleep on my bed. Two hours later, the Friendly Hero woke me up and I feel great!

5. I am thankful for our mini trampoline and timer. The two boys love to jump on the trampoline and if they are holding the timer while the other one is jumping then both of them are happy. They love to push the start and stop buttons and they love to jump and get energy out. It keeps them both happy in 3 minute intervals for about a half hour. Then they both sleep better and are happier because they got exercise. I foresee this being a lifesaver this winter. I am grateful for their friendship and love.

Meditation

Today I am grateful for Meditation. And all of my items are going to be about it.

1. I am grateful that I am a part of a 40 day meditation group. I love feeling the support from others and learning from them and from the teacher. 40 days is a celestial number for transformation and for communion with God. (Christ fasted for 40 days in the wilderness before He began His ministry. The Hebrew spies were gone from the twelve tribes for 40 days. etc.) So we were challenged to do 40 consecutive days of meditation to see where God would lead us. Today is day 36, (I'm geeking out a little bit that tomorrow is day 37) and I am really loving the closeness that I feel with Heaven.

2. I'm learning tons about meditation and about breathing. I am grateful for this knowledge. Meditation has two parts--the thinking part, or stillness, and the controlled breathing part. I am grateful for learning more about controlled breathing--because controlling our breathing helps us become more holy. We have in us the Breath of Life, Moses 3:7, and becoming aware of our breathing helps us to be aware of the holiness that we have in us. So I am grateful for the new insights and knowledge I am getting. 

3. We are doing Kirtan Kirya, which is an ancient Indian form of meditation. I really like it. There is a ton of symbolism that points to Christ, but there are two parts that just make it an ideal fit for me. As part of Kirtan Kirya, we chant Mantras, and we preform Mudras. Mantras are sayings that we recite again and again, to help move the thoughts into our subconscious -and as they all point to Christ, then when I am chanting I am placing Christ in my mind and removing all other distractions. The Mudras are finger actions that we repeat with each word, and I love them. I am really like a teenager still, where I can't sit still. I'm always either fingering a bookmark as I read, twiddling my thumbs as I listen, or tapping a foot, or doing some small movement--especially when I'm focused and engaged. The Mudras and Mantras are just enough to help me focus and be still. I don't think I could be still and feel God's presence without them.

4. I am grateful for The Bug Hero for helping me take care of the boys so I can meditate every morning. It makes the biggest difference in my day to take time to be still, and listen to God before I start everything up. I am feeling more patience, and more love because of the time I have to allocate to God in the morning. I'm only doing it for 19 minutes and it is powerful.

5. Today I had an incredible experience while I was meditating, and that's why today is all about meditation. I tried meditating in the morning, but it didn't work because The Bug Hero wasn't there to watch the kids. So I wasn't really worried about it and knew that I would do the meditation while The Peaceful Hero was taking his nap. 

The past few weeks have been hard, because The Bug Hero has been working on his PhD Proposal, and he's been gone a lot, and then stressed out when he's home. I have been picking up a lot, and I've been happy to do so. But today as I went up to meditate I was feeling like it was hard. I had a lot to do for the rest of the day, and I wasn't sure how I was going to get it all done. 

I started meditating and as soon as I was in my meditative state, and I felt an overwhelming sense of Love for The Friendly Hero and for The Peaceful Hero. I felt how much I loved them, and how proud I was of them growing, and then I could recognize that I was also feeling the Love the Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father have for them. As I felt that love I could feel it changing direction and moving towards the Bug Hero. I am proud of him and I am very blessed by him. I am willing to make a lot of sacrifices for his education and even when it gets hard, he is a very good man and I felt my love intensify as I felt Heaven's love for him. Then I felt the love that is felt for me. And I felt completely cherished and divine. I could feel that I was awakening the Goddess within me. And as I felt this I realized that even if The Bug Hero is very busy and we are helping him, that Heaven is helping me and taking care of me. And I felt humbled. That I am that important to the Divine. And it was powerful. I felt so much peace and I realized that patience is founded upon love, that I can be patient with all the shortcomings within myself and within the other family members because I love them.

6. I am grateful for how close I am feeling to Heaven and how meditating is helping me bring myself to a place where Heavenly Father can talk to me. My favorite metaphor for meditation is that you bring yourself to Heaven's Door and knock and are willing to take whatever is offered, whenever it is offered. And you are offered more than you can imagine.

If you are interested in learning more about meditation, I would be happy to answer any questions. The 40 day meditation webinar is starting up again on November 13th, and it's amazing how much closer to God you can feel. 

Cars

1. I am grateful for Gasbuddy.com. I was watching the gas prices, and as I went out tonight to go tutoring, gas had jumped up 27 cents a gallon. I was able to call the Bug Hero, and one station hadn't jumped up that much and I was able to get the cheaper price.

2. I am grateful that I am the favorite parent right now. The Peaceful Hero decided this afternoon that only MOM could take him to the potty. (We did have two accidents over it). It warmed my heart to hear him tell Dad, "no,no,no,no,no,no,no Mom" because I'm no longer the favorite parent once they are weaned.

3. I'm grateful for Nature. We went on a nature walk, and it was great to spend time walking with the boys. And playing red light, green light with the Friendly Hero. Even when he didn't announce the change in colors and I ran him over.

4. I'm grateful for my bank. It's pretty much awesome. We are looking at getting a new car, and they have a car buying process that guarantees us a no hassle price that is a great deal! It's pretty awesome.

5. I'm grateful for my students. I'm tutoring a lot right now and I love going to hang out with teenagers and talk about math. And they pay me for it. It's pretty much awesome that I walk away with all the benefits. (Sometimes I think they are going to say, you had too much fun to get paid for this.)

Sunday Gratitude

1. I'm grateful for the Sunday tradition we took from my Aunt. Every Sunday Dinner we share a time we felt the spirit that week, a time that we were prompted and something we are grateful for. The Friendly Hero and The Peaceful Hero are beginning to say things and it's sweet to hear what they say. (The Friendly Hero was grateful for his Thumbs today.)

2. I am grateful for my calling. I have the best calling for myself right now. I teach Sunday School to the 12-14 year olds. I have a hoot every week. We laugh so hard every week, and the best (most amazing) part is that they all love to have fun and be silly, but when it's time to feel the Spirit and be sensitive, they calm right down. It's the best! (Last week one of the 14 year old boys was telling us about how much he loved babies. I then told him that I loved that a 14 year old boy loved babies and he responded that anyone who doesn't love babies has NO SOUL! Just awesome.)

3. I am thankful for Daylight Savings Time. I got to sleep in the extra hour (Thanks Bug Hero!) and I think that was the turning point for my cold. I am grateful I am feeling better.

4. I am thankful for being able to see progress. Even though the Peaceful Hero had two nasty accidents today, he started telling us when he needed to use the Potty--so we are making progress---and he told us successfully several times throughout the day that he needed to go. Up until today, he would have accident free days only if you took him to the potty every hour. He will continue to have days forward and backwards, but he is making progress every day.

5. I am grateful for the prophet. We watched part of one of his talks and I loved watching my boys watch him. They know that he is the prophet and they are trying to listen to him. The Friendly Hero was able to tell me that he heard the prophet say "Happiness." And The Peaceful Hero said, "Mon-on" which was very tender to see him learning.

November 3

1. I am grateful for a clean house. Cleaning everything always helps to make my attitude and the spirit in our home a lot better.

2. I am grateful for opportunities to serve. We were assigned to clean the church today with one other family. It was great to serve.

3. I'm grateful for my eyes. I love seeing the beauty in the world around me and the delight on my children's faces.

4. I am grateful that the Friendly Hero is curious. He is constantly asking questions. Sometimes it trys my patience, but I love that he wants to learn about the world. But today he said, "I'm sorry I lost my temper. Mommy, where is my temper? Can we find it again?" Pretty cute.

5. I am grateful for colors. The Peaceful Hero is learning his colors and he loves to point out colors and I love to see all the different things that he spots. (Any large truck, van or bus that is school bus yellow is a school bus. It's adorable.)

Boilermaker Express

Today I am grateful for the following:

 1. The Boilermaker Express. There is a free train ride every Friday before a home game here at Purdue. I am grateful that we were able to ride it twice today. The boys were in heaven!

2. I'm grateful for the Peaceful Hero. He had so much fun, but he insisted that we get off and go to the bathroom between the two rides. He had another accident free day. I am grateful he has the desire to learn how to use the bathroom and is learning how to do it!

3. I am grateful for libraries. We went to our library right after the train and we got some more books. It was great to see the two little heroes sliding around the colored rocking chairs and looking at train books.

4. I'm grateful that Purdue's mascot is a Boilermaker. This means we see A LOT of trains around our hometown. Which these two little boys love.

5. I'm grateful for the Bug Hero. He is working on his PhD research proposal and is putting in quite a bit of time to do that. But his professor is pleased with his work, and he is getting really excited about the research he will be doing the next two or three summers.

Gratitude Posts

It's November! I love November, especially my gratitude tradition.

1. I'm grateful for this holiday season. I love spending time being thankful.

2. I am thankful for our Awesome Halloween Costumes. I almost said, "I'm grateful I'm incredibly talented for making all the costumes...." but I can't claim credit for all of them. I made Peaceful Hero's costume from a pattern two years ago, and I had help for Friendly Hero's--I followed this tutorial. http://kthix10.hubpages.com/hub/How-to-Make-an-R2D2-Costume So I didn't come up with the idea, but I did do everything else. Friendly Hero loved it, and it was one of the best we saw that night---everyone really appreciated it. I wish I could claim the Bug Hero's costume, but I did make the vest. (The white part). I did make mine, and it's my own design. (And mine is only cool because I told everyone to look for an announcement for the gender of the baby.) But I'm grateful for the costumes and that we all had fun!

3. I'm grateful for little kicks. I am feeling this little girl move around a lot. It's so much fun! At least for a month or so and then she'll be making big kicks and those are not as fun.

4. I'm grateful for meditation. I've started doing Kundalini yoga and meditation, and I love it! I start every day with about 20 minutes of meditation and time to put God first in my day. As a side note, I am grateful that the Bug Hero takes care of the boys in the morning during that time so I can be uninterrupted in my personal time to worship God.

5. I am grateful for two towheaded boys. These boys make me so happy! Their joy and enthusiasm spreads and I love it!

And it's a....

Girl for those of you who missed the costume!

We are excited to have a baby sister. But the Friendly Hero was in denial for a long time (about a week) and told his friends we were having a brother to be like the Prophet Alma. I had some inspiration and told him that President Monson, our prophet today, has two boys and one girl. And then the Friendly Hero was happy to have a sister!

The Peaceful Hero loves babies and comes up and pats my tummy and says, "Hi! Baby!" and then he runs away. We are so excited!