Grateful beyond words...

I know it just so happens to be Thanksgiving, however, even if it wasn't, I have reason to be so grateful! The list is a mile long...and so it begins! Where to start? I feel like I have just won an academy award and need to pull out my piece of paper with names. First, I am so thankful for a healthy body! Boy, it doesn't take much to make you appreciate the miracle of your own human body! I am grateful for modern medication and modern science--which absolutely baffles me when you really start looking into it! I am so thankful for my family and by my family I mean a definition that surpasses "blood." Of course my own ma and pa (Norm and Rosie)--incredible beyond words. I would not be alive (on a number of occasions) if it wasn't for my mom and dad--always stepping in at just the right time--to SAVE me! Abraham Lincoln once said, "Everything I am, or ever hope to be, I owe to my angel mother!" (and I'll add father) but it's the truth and always has been! My other parents, Dave and DeAnn who are incredible people who have taken me in and unconditionally accepted me! I feel so comfortable around them. My sisters--Melinda, Inger, Kristen, Michelle, Laurel, and Alicia who are truly my best friends--"Sisters by birth and Friends by choice!"--Talking to them is like having my own cheering section in the crowd that gets more excited about my own, personal achievements than I do! My baby brothers--Norm, Jonny, Brett, and Matt (and their wives--Lisa and Mendy! I think I talk to their wives more than I even talk to my own brothers--girls just rule!) But always knowing that my brothers have my back--means so much to me! I am so thankful for our grandparents, DonnaBelle Kempton and the Colonel Jack and Marjorie Tueller. How grateful I am that we have three generations alive and well. I am so thankful for the bond of family and the loyalty and support I feel that comes from them! My extended family has been such a strength to me! I can't believe people love you enough to include you in their very personal prayers. I have to thank Shellie, who has been my stable rock since the summer of 1997! I am grateful for Wendy who has so much of the same "situations" as me that I feel bad for her!:) I am thankful for Angie, my friend in Washington who, through her own struggles, gives me strength. I love my friends April and Lesa and am so grateful for them! They have sent me multiple emails of an hysterical nature to get me through life! They have been solid, best friends since 1981, after my family moved from Hawaii. I am so grateful for my sister's friends who have turned into a complete blessing to me: Rachel, Kim, Devon, Jenny Lloyd, Virchow, Kirsti, Tara, and Misty. I am grateful for my neighbors who are such good friends: Hannah, Jenn, Anna, Joanie, Jean-Marie, and Ashlee. I love the girls I work with and am so grateful for them: Denise, Lorell, Mindy, and Ashley. I hesitate in mentioning names for fear that I have forgotten someone, but these good friends and family mentioned have specifically gone through something with me recently that I could not have done without each one of them! I have such reason to rejoice in Thanksgiving! Most importantly, I want people to know I am SO THANKFUL for my Heavenly Father--I love Him so much and I know He loves me! He is very aware of my situation and is completely on top of things!:) He knows better what I need than what I think I want! I also realize, however, that He expects me to do my part...the big question is what is that? I think He expects us to do all within our power (financially, emotionally, physically, etc.) and then turn it over to Him. I think you can do all that you can possibly do and the Lord's will is what will prevail, and gratefully so! He knows all the parameters of what is going on and knows what would be best for all of his children. The atonement covers more than just mistakes and sins, it "makes up the rest...." of whatever that might be. It also says in Alma 7: 11-12 (in the Book of Mormon--for my non-LDS chums--Jer, be nice to the missionaries!) that Christ suffered these things that "He would know how to succor His people." I have researched the word "succor" and it literally means "run to." Jesus Christ did what he did so that He would know how to "run to" his children in their time of need! It brings me to tears to know that there is someone who completely understands with empathy, not just sympathy. The visual I have in my mind of my Elder brother, Jesus Christ, running to me to "make it better" is something I hold dear in my thoughts and heart and I recall that image often! Last but certainly not least, I am so grateful that Heavenly Father knew better than myself and blessed me with my wonderful husband! In Genesis it reads: "And Jacob worked 7 years for Rachel, and they seemed unto him but a few day because the love he had for her!" I waited 30 years, 4 months, and 24 days to be blessed with Scott as my husband and as long and hard as that seemed, I would do it a thousand times over. Without him, well, I shudder to think what my life would be like. So there you have it...some of the things I am so thankful for! I love you all!