Thankful

This week is Thanksgiving and today being Sunday I've had some time to ponder. We filled out an ABC Gratitude list tonight for FHE. I was surprised that Addison was able to participate and get the right words for the letter I asked. She really is growing up and becoming a smart girl and I love watching her do it! Halfway through Addison wanted to start writing the responses. I told her what letter came next and got almost all of them correct. She has a thing right now where she writes the letter "M" upside down so it is of course a "W". She thinks you can just turn the page upside down to look at it correctly:) I love her innocence and it always makes me laugh when Dave tries to reason with her and she just tells him, " It's fine!" Here is what our list consisted of:

A- Addison & Avery
B- Baby in mommy's tummy
C- Cousins
D- Daddy
E-Eggs
F- Family
G- Grandparents
H- Heat
I- Ice Cream
J- Jesus
K-Kisses
L- Love
M- Mommy
N-Nice
O- Olaf (Addison has named the horse in the back yard Olaf)
P- Prophet
Q- Quiet Time (this was my favorite!)
R- Resurrection
S- Scriptures
T- Trampoline/Temples
U-Uncles
V-very shaky (Dave and I weren't sure what this was, but the girls were cracking up laughing so we went with it!)
W- Water
X-eXtra Clothing
Y- Yummy Food
Z- Zippers ( which meant we have warm coats to wear)

We ate brownies while we complied our list and then hung it on the fridge. This has been a tough year for me in different ways than any other. Our little family has learned to grow and rely on each other for strength and comfort. Dave and I seem to always be going to opposite direction lately and I feel like with the holidays coming up it isn't going to slow down. I often feel bad that I am always toting the girls to meetings or to give people rides. I hope what they do see is that we're giving service and that they come to have a love for it like it do. My heart is especially full of gratitude this week as I've complied a wish list from needy children/youth in our ward for christmas. Our ward is doing an Angel Tree and giving christmas to 7 families. Most of the items are things like coats and church clothing. I've realized how much I have and how I've truly never gone without. This assignment is normally done through the relief society president of the ward. Our president wasn't able to take on the task this year and so it was going to be put aside. I sat in ward counsel on the week that it was announced and felt prompted to volunteer to do it. I've been trying to define what the word "charity" really means to me. This has been an opportunity for me to add to my list of what it is. I feel blessed to have the gospel and I'm realizing it makes me feel safe. Stepping out of my comfort zone has taken on a new meaning, but through acts of charity it's becoming easier to do.