Onion breath

The other night Matt and I were laying in bed, getting ready to go to sleep when I noticed he had onion breath. When I told him he had onion breath he said something like "that means one good thing." I couldn't figure out what the good thing was until he told me that it meant my nose wasn't stuffed up anymore. I had been suffering from a pretty bad cold; and of course was very aware of this fact. When he brought it to my attention that my cold was gone it made me realize that I hadn't even noticed when it had gotten better. This got me to thinking about how it seems like it's easier to notice bad things (like onion breath), than the many small blessings we have in life (like not having a stuffy nose anymore!). God wants us to give thanks in everything; even the bad things. And it seems like that even through trials there is always an upside and someway to be thankful for that very trial.

I've never watched the old movie Pollyanna until recently. In it Pollyanna was always playing a "game" where when something bad happened she thought of someway to be glad about it. I would like to be more like that. In honor of Thanksgiving I would like to make this list of things I am thankful for. I'm sure there's more than what I can come up with here, but here goes...

1. I'm thankful for my husband's onion breath, because that means I can smell.

2. I'm thankful for all my dirty dishes because that means we have food to eat.

3. I'm thankful for the times my children keep me up at night because that means I have children.

4. I'm thankful for all the laundry because that means we have plenty of clothes to wear.

5. I'm thankful for the tears I cry because God is always there to dry them up again.

6. I'm thankful for the times I feel lonely because God reminds me that I am never alone.

7. I'm thankful for the concrete dust in my bathroom, in the laundry room, on the floors, bed etc because that means my husband has a job.

8. I'm thankful for the messy diapers because that means my children are healthy!

9. I'm thankful when my children misbehave in church because that means we are free to assembly ourselves together.

10. I'm thankful for the times our vehicles require maintenance because that means we have vehicles to take us where we need to go.

11. I'm thankful for the house work I have to do because that means we have a roof over our heads.

12. I'm thankful for the many trips up and down the stairs I have to make each day because that means I can walk.

13. I'm thankful for the daily routine of clothing, feeding, and picking up after my family because that means I have the health and strength to do these never ending tasks.

14. I'm thankful for my trials because God and the brethren are always there to help me through.

There is so much more I'm thankful for that's not necessarily connected to a bad thing, but my point is I would like to look past the discouragements, frustrations and the mundane aspects of life and see the joy and blessings that are always there to be thankful for.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I will be very busy the rest of this week; so you probably won't hear from me. Hopefully I can look beyond the stressfulness and see that there is so much to be thankful for that I have no reason to be stressed out!

After re-reading my blog I have uplifted myself somehow!! Now on to the messy house, noisy children, and the never ending to-do list!!