Happy Thanksgiving To All My Family and Friends~

I do have a heart full of gratitude for all of my Family and Friends through the years. I am so blessed to have the family that I have. I love with all my heart my dearest husband, our children, grandchildren and great grandchildren. They have all brought great Joy into my life. We have the best of extended family through our siblings and posterity and Uncles and Aunts. We were blessed with goodly parents who blessed our lives in so many way.
Through the years we have moved several times and lived in 4 different states. In each area we have had choice friends that have deeply touched our lives in a multitude of ways.
We have had the blessed opportunity to serve in our faith in many different ways. We have grown and learned so many lessons from those we have loved so dearly.
Through the last few years I have added to my list of friends all of you in blog sphere and Face Book and other social networks. You have lifted my heart through good times and bad. Your pictures and thoughts have enlightened my mind to various written truths. I have prayed for many of you when you have been in difficult circumstances. Some of you I have met and had lunch with and grown even closer to each of you. I would love to meet all of you. Thanks you for your posts on the days I needed to hear just exactly what you have written. You are all a great blessings  in my life.
Finally, but number one in my life is the deep love I have for my Heavenly Father and I feel I have a Heavenly Mother, also. I have been so blessed to come before My Father in Heaven in prayers in times of need and also in times of joy. I love my Savior, Jesus Christ with all my heart and I am so grateful for His loving kindness to me. I am deeply grateful for the Holy Ghost who guides my steps.
May all of you have gratitude in your hearts on this Thanksgiving day. May you feel love for one another and have a thankful heart for all that you have been blessed with.
Thanks for being my loving family and friends.

I Have Deep Gratitude Today~ I know MY Heavenly Father Loves Me~

Meet my three Great Grandchildren; Jadyn, Sagan and Lilly~

I have been thinking about this beautiful earth which was created just for us. We are a part of his creations - God's supreme creation.(See Genesis 1). We truly are a daughter or son of God. He is the Father of our spirit. I believe there is also a Heavenly Mother.
President Boyd K. Packer, President of the Quorum of the 12 Apostles in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints stated; "Spiritually you are of noble birth....However many generations in your mortal ancestry, no matter what race or people you represent, the pedigree of your spirit can be written on a single line. You are a child of God."
As the beautiful fall colors appeared on the mountains tops and in our yard; I thought about what a glorious and beautiful world we live on.
I am so grateful to know that I am indeed of royal birth. I do have a Father In Heaven. I know that our Savior, Jesus Christ is always there as our mediator and advocate with the Father. I love that I have a Savior that knows and loves me too. We also have the Holy Ghost to be with us and whisper's to us the things that we need to know and do. He brings comfort to our souls when we have trials, He warns us if we are in danger physically and spiritually, and He loves us too.
This time of year when we are all grateful for so many things. Let us be grateful for this beautiful earth and that we are indeed part of that creation.
This is one of my favorite songs that are sang by children throughout the world in our Primary Classes.
Enjoy!



The Simple Woman's Daybook - A Peek Into My Day~

FOR TODAY
Be sure and drop by other Simple Day Book Entries here.
Enjoy reading and perhaps join the fun!

Outside my window...it's a beautiful fall day. The sun is shinning and the sky is a clear blue. We have had great weather for the past few days. Temperatures have been in the high 50's and lower 60's. It is predicted to change later today. I think today will be the last of the beautiful warm fall weather.

I am thinking...Actually, I am trying hard not to think; mainly because I have an appointment for a repeat ultrasound of my breast today and blood work. I am working on having faith not fear. Faith cannot coexist with fear. It isn't easy to not have fear of the unknown

I am thankful...for so many blessings in my life. They really are countless. I have a loving kind husband that I love with all my heart and soul. I have wonderful children, grandchildren and great grandchildren. At this moment of time they are all healthy and strong. Most of them are active and involved in our faith.
Working in the temple each Saturday is such a huge blessing in my life. I am grateful to have been able to serve an Inner City Mission with my husband. We have learned great lessons of patience, love, kindness and forgiveness. We will return to our home ward this week and I look forward to being with many friends that I love dearly and have missed the close relationships.

I am grateful for our siblings. There are some health issues with our extended family. I am deeply grateful that my brother has made it through most of his cancer treatment. He has had chemo, radiation, and surgery. He is now going to have another round of chemo just to make sure they got it all. He is my only living brother. Both our parents and my older brother have passed on. I am so thankful to have him as my brother.
I am so grateful for my two Aunts. My sweet Aunt Della who just turned 100 years old recently isn't doing well. I am not prepared to lose her yet; she and my other Aunt have brought such wisdom and joy into my life.
In the Kitchen....nothing is cooking at this point. I wonder if it is a good night to go out for dinner.
I am wearing....a red sweater, black pants, black socks and shoes. I am totally ready for the day.
I am going....to my test and then I hope to make a couple of visits to sisters in our mission area.
I am wondering....if I will get this post off today.
I am reading...The Book of Mormon as always. Right now I am in 2nd Nephi in the chapters on Isaiah's writings. I am reading this area slower because it is more difficult to understand. This is taking some prayer.
I am also reading a fantastic book entitled: "The Triumph of Zion - Our Personal Quest For The New Jerusalem" by John M. Pontius. I am  learning more about the different meanings of the word, Zion. Along with a lot of thoughts on how to become a Zion person, a true Christ like person. This is a personal quest.

I am starting to read the Book entitled: " Everbound" by Brodi Ashton who is the daughter of one of my closest friends. This is her 2nd series book and another one will come out in January. I really enjoyed the last one so I am looking forward to reading it.



 

I am hoping...that this will be a week of good things to come.

I am looking forward to...having lunch with a dear friend tomorrow. Our birthday's are close and we have been friends for many years. I love all of my friends so much and they have brought so much happiness into my life.

 

I am sure we will share a chocolate dessert~

I am learning...old lessons over and over again.

Around the house...we found a leak in our bathroom so now we will probably have to get our toilet replaced. I dislike having things in the home wear out and then we have to replace them with money we could have used elsewhere.

I am pondering...on our Inner City Mission that will end on Thursday. I have enjoyed working with several individuals and families through the 2 1/2 years we have served. It has been a wonderful opportunity and I am grateful for this calling. It will be hard to leave. There is so much poverty. So many are unemployed and have great needs. So many have mental and physical illnesses that prevent them from working. Always there first request for help is for food and then rent and utilities come next. I would say that the majority of the people we serve have had some kind of abuse in their lives.  Due to this fact there is a lot of mental illnesses; like Bi-polar, various addictions and etc. Many of them don't know how to budget what little money they have or how to get help so they can survive. 
 The mission goal is to help these individuals to become self-reliant. It's sad because most of them don't even have a clue where to begin; that is where we step in to help. The success rate of actually getting them into a better situation is not high. Most of them can't even understand what it is to have a middle class life. Their habits are hard to break. These are our dear brothers and sisters and we must be aware and help where we can to lighten their loads of care. They are found throughout our neighborhoods and areas.
Our church has four missions proclaiming the gospel, perfecting the saints, redeeming the dead, and caring for the poor and needy. Our greatest example of caring for the poor and needy is of course our Savior, Jesus Christ. Our Prophet today, Pres. Thomas S. Monson is well known for his many acts of kindness and care for those who are poor and needy both spiritually, temporally and physically. His counsel is to seek out the poor and the needy.

A favorite quote for today...

 

One of my favorite things...is to cuddle up with my husband with a cup of hot chocolate of course and watch a good movie.
A Pet Peeve.....is I dislike having to go through a phone menu when calling a business. It would be so nice to just talk to a real person.

Something New About Me...I love hats although I don't wear them much. I wish they were more in style. When I was in High School we always wore a hat on Easter Sunday.

 

One of my guilty pleasures...I really love chocolate as you all know but one of my favorite candy bars is a Mound. I don't have them very often because they have so much fat and calories. I did have one today. It was a  have to have chocolate day.

Totally unhealthy of course~

A few plans for the rest of the week: Lunch with my good friend tomorrow - On Friday going with my dear husband to a Doctor appointment for his impending surgery next week for a Trigger finger - Another beautiful day in the Temple on Saturday - Back to our home ward on Sunday or up to Heber for our Grandson's ordination to the Melchizedek Priesthood as an Elder. He also is ready to send his papers in for a mission and we are looking forward to that.
A Picture I wanted to share.....

PS My ultrasound is unchanged so another mammogram in 6 months. They think it is a cyst. This is a great blessing~ 

 

Temporal And Spiritual Storage~

In The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints we are counseled to become self- reliant. We are encouraged to stay out of debt, save for emergencies, have a 72 hour kit for any severe crisis and to have a year’s supply of food and water.

Many years ago my husband was given a setting apart blessing for a calling in which he was told to look for the signs of the Savior's Second Coming. We can now see many of the signs of the coming of the Lord according to Biblical prophecy.
In addition to being temporally prepared we are to work on having spiritual storage. A few years ago I wrote to my children some thoughts on becoming more self-reliant both temporally and spiritually. Here are some of those thoughts. Twice a year we have General Conference where the Prophet, Apostles and other general authorities give messages on these subjects.

We all need home storage; but more important we need spiritual storage. I pray you will read these thought from the leaders of our church and feel the spirit of their messages.

1. Nurture your testimony. Faith is not only a feeling but a decision; choose faith. Fear and faith can not co-exist in your heart at the same time.

2. Seek to receive the spirit into your lives; live worthy for it. Everything depends upon having the power of the Holy Ghost in your lives.

3. Be unified in your families. Contention is of the devil. The spirit can not dwell in a home of contention. Be tolerant of others and learn to walk away from contention. Choose your battles, most are not that important. It's up to each of us to be patient, kind, and loving with one another. Speak kindly with one another. Remember that your family has tender hearts, do not bruise them. Families are the learning ground for life. We are not perfect; but we can always be working on being better. Be a peacemaker. Be merciful. Be forgiving. Respond in a Christ like way. Never give up in learning how to be more Christ like in your family relationships. Remember always that our family motto is "No Empty Chair" in the Kingdom of God.

1. Pray morning and night as an individual, as a couple and in family prayer. In today's world we need to utilize the gift of prayer. Pray for others. Be grateful in your prayers. Take time to listen for the spirit when praying. Pray always and be believing. Heavenly Father and the Savior will never leave you alone.

4. Prepare each week for partaking of the Sacrament. Ponder on the things that you need to work on in your life. There are great blessings through the sacrament covenants.

5. Put your trust in Heavenly Father and your Savior Jesus Christ. Come to know them. Open your hearts to them. Realize that the one way to happiness and joy in this life is through Jesus Christ and his atonement. When you have a hard time believe in the love of the Savior. Read and Memorize Proverbs 3: 5-6.

6. Read the scriptures everyday; especially The Book of Mormon. This is one of the most important of all to do. Both my husband and I have been doing this for a long time and we feel and know the value of the scriptures. Try reading, pondering and writing your feelings while reading; you will be surprised by the messages you will receive from the spirit. I call it spiritual journaling. Don't be too busy to read the scriptures.
Read the scriptures as a family everyday; this will provide them with the strength to face the world they live in.

7. Attend the temple as often as possible. It is one of the few places that you can find peace. Prayers are heard and answers given to life questions in the Temple. Keep your baptismal and temple covenants.

8. Have love and selflessness in your marriage. Nurture your love for each other. Decide now to always treat your eternal companion with kindness, love and respect.

9. Love your brothers and sisters; care for them, pray for them and support them.

10. Serve others; when you have a hard time find someone that is having a harder time and lift them up. This works! Serving your family and others is a great blessing and a source that will bring great joy into your life.

11. Be true at all times. Be a disciple of Christ. Have moral courage. Be meek; meekness is the badge of Christian Courage. Have a loving heart.

12. Follow the Prophet always.

13. Live the Word of Wisdom. Choose to become more healthy. Your body is your temple; take care of it.

14. Dress Modestly. Be and example of modesty in dress and behavior. Teach your children this principle.

15. Get rid of debt. If you have debt work on getting out of debt.

16. Find joy in the moment. Have Joy in the journey. Have gratitude for all of your blessings.

17. Stay on course. Regardless of the trials you may face be faithful and true. Through your trials, endure them well. There are great lessons learned through the hardships you will face. Look to Christ in all of your trials and believe in the atonement. Remember always that Jesus loves us, lifts us up and leads us today.

Every night we pray that you as our children will teach our grandchildren the gospel of Jesus Christ and that they will learn to feel the spirit of the Holy Ghost in their lives. President Brigham Young had a vision of the Prophet Joseph Smith. The Prophet Joseph Smith told him that the most important thing that he could teach the people was how to know and feel the Spirit of the Holy Ghost. We need that spirit now more than ever.

Dad and I love you all beyond measure and are pleased that you are active and engaged in the gospel of Jesus Christ. Be faithful and true.