Sunday, February 13, 2011

JOY OF FAMILY - A TRUE VALENTINE GIFT !


This has been a very sweet Sabbath Day as I take a moment to write some thoughts. I have been thinking about the deep joy that I receive from being a mother, grandmother and great grandmother. Just today I was thinking about what joy my husband and I felt when we welcomed into our home each of our dear children. What exquisite joy there was in our hearts as we held in our arms our sweet gifts of joy. Then it was a continued joyful experience to hold each of our  grandchildren and great grandchild. Just think for a moment the joy of a child as you have held your own wondrous gifts from Heaven. This is one of the greatest joys of our lives.
How I savor the moments that I have with our children and grandchildren. I marvel at the intelligence and ability that I see in each of our precious grandchildren. These children come to us with their own unique personality, natures and talents. Today's children are even smarter and more faithful in their quest for truth and knowledge. Their beginning testimonies are stronger and truer of our Heavenly Father and our Savior Jesus Christ at younger ages than every before. It becomes even a greater challenge to our parenting and grand-parenting skills. 
The truth is that we just need to love them, and tenderly guide them. Give them opportunities to feel the spirit of the Holy Ghost in their lives. Bless them with your love, time and devotion.

 Grandchildren
A grandchild is so special
full of love, laughter and joy.
A little girl so coy,
A little boy with all his ploys.
They give us their trust,
and our love is a must.
There's nothing to compare
with all that they share. 
-Norma L. Bowling

OUR GRANDDAUGHTERS

OUR GRANDSONS
OUR GREAT GRANDDAUGHTER
Our Kids Sammy and Suesue are our children too!




6 comments:

Marie Rayner said...

What a beautiful family you have Leann!! You are so blessed! Our talks in church yesterday were all about families. I so with that Todd and I could have had a family together here on earth. Nevermind . . . we have Mitzie! xxoo

Susan Anderson said...

You are definitely blessed with grandchildren so numerous! (And they look wonderful, too...)

=)

Barb said...

Hi LeAnn!

I love your thoughts about the joy our families bring to us! All your little grands really are all sooooo special! I am so looking forward to holding my two "almost" here babies, nothing like the smell of a baby straight from God's arms.

I know what you mean about our little furries being our children - Cole is my biggest baby!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Hugs and Love,
Barb

Darlene said...

Oh my gosh, LeAnn, I can't believe your have such a wonderful family. They are all so very beautiful and to have 30 grandchildren? Were some of them missing or did I just miscount? And to have such a mix of each. You are very fortunate. I have 15 grandchildren and only 3 of them are girls. My 19 year old granddaughter is autistic and doesn't really relate well. She knows who we are and is very affectionate, but we can't communicat with her at all. She talks a blue streak but only to herself and lots of times she just says words that sound good to her. She loves music and listens to all her CD's. But really, I only have the two that I can communicate with. Kristin is really a sweetheart and very intelligent. She works for an advertising agency and has one of my darling great grandsons. Karin, the other girl is married and wants children badly, but hasn't been able to conceive in the three years they have been married. She wants to adopt but her husband still wants his own child..very stubborn. All of my grandson's are great achievers and I adore them all. My oldest grandson, Matt (Sue's oldest) has three of my great grandchildren. I do have one other greatgranddaughter that I'm longing to see. She is just over a month old and we haven't seen her yet. My grandson would like us to come over. They live about an hour and a half from us, but it is never a good time for her mother for us to visit. Isn't that sad?

You are so fortunate to have had six children. I wanted more so badly, but it just didn't work out. My first husband and I adopted our first child after almost six years of marriage and the other four came naturally. I love that you have such a large wonderful family and I'm so glad that you posted about them. I admire you so much. Thanks for being my blogging friend.

Darlene said...

I don't know why I have such a hard time making a comment on your blog. I wrote a very long involved one on this and it just went away as I was trying to get it posted. Anyway, I did enjoy reading this and seeing all the neat pictures of your family. You are truly blessed. And I do admire you so. I'm glad you are my blogging friend. Thanks.

Darlene said...

Now I know what happened to my first comment. It went away so you could approve it. Sorry. Maybe one of these days I will get used to commenting on your blog. It is different from the ones I am used to.