{ Thankful Thursday }

What a week! I'm so THANKFUL Masen's finger is starting to heal its almost impossible to keep a two year old in a bandage all day long so we have to redress it about 3 times a day its a miracle its even healing back together.

Have you ever thought how amazing the human body is?

The things it can do?

SO anyway Lauren is learning to ride her trike everywhere and its her new love she is enjoying freedom on her little wheels lol! Kolten is going to a reading program everyday now and enjoying that {is it bad that I am too, he gets so bored. Yesterday I got him to go clean the neighbors yard of all their tree branches and sticks so he cleaned their yard and they came out while he was doing it and told him what a good boy he was etc and anyway he came in and said it made him feel good that he helped them out!

{considering I had to threaten his life just to get him out there ha ha j/k}
Yesterday we had another house burn to the ground here a huge house that was for sale for $800,000 seriously what are the chances of having 2 homes burn to the ground in less then a month in a town the size of not more then 4000 people!

{Mandy hope you don't care that I stole your pics!}

Sad and about an hour after the fire a crazy hail storm came through. The hail was huge it broke windows around town and about 10 minutes from here it broke people's windshields, dented vehicles, destroyed siding!! It got windy and pelted and flooded in minutes! I thought this was the end-- my kids woke up from there naps scared of the pounding sound it was crazy!! Mandy had this amazing picture of the storm clouds:

Check out the size of those hailstones! Huge & Loud !

I'm thankful we had no broken windows or damage and that it wasn't my house on fire!
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I found a few paragraphs from the book that I am reading {yearbook by Allyson Condie} and just had to use it for today its really a me thinks but I'm doing it today! I love profound things that jump out of a book and make me evaluate how I think and do things.
I am so thankful for the ride of life the ups the downs all of it shapes us into who we are.
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"In our lives we hear a lot about the future and what we should do with it. Those that tell you the the future is up to you are dishonest. The future is not always up to you. But the cynics who would tell us that the future is not up to you are also lying.

What then is the truth?

The truth is that your heart will be broken. People you love will die. Dreams you have will not work out the way you intended. People are capable of cruelty that will wound you deeply. At the end of you life your body will be old and out of control. This is if you are lucky. There are those to whom this happens when they are young, which is one of the saddest things that can happen. You will be scared. In the world in which we live, people will murder and degrade and hurt other people in ways that are incomprehensible. You will wake up in the middle of the night and feel a weight on your chest and in your soul that you don't know if you can shake.

So what makes life worth living?

There is so much that makes life worth living.

The gospel is true. Jesus Christ died for us and HE and our Father in Heaven love us more than we can imagine. You will hear babies laugh. You will love people, and they will love you. One night, you will wake up and hear the quiet and you will feel peace. People are capable of kindness and goodness and they will show it to you, and you will show it to them. You will learn things. Dreams that you have had will come true. Not all of them but some of them. You will have moments of joy at just being alive that will fill you soul. You will have to decide if these things outweigh the others. But you cannot be lazy. You cannot expect good to happen to you and think that you do not have to contribute.

Pres. Hinckley once quoted Jenkins Lloyd Jones saying

" Anyone who imagines that bliss is normal is going to waste a lot of time running around shouting that he has been robbed. The fact is most putts don't drop. Most beef is tough. Most children grow up to be just people. Most successful marriages require a high degree of mutual toleration. Most jobs are more often dull than otherwise......

"Life is like an old time rail journey -- delays,sidetracks, smoke, dust, cinders, and jolts, interspersed only occasionally by beautiful vistas and thrilling bursts of speed.

"The trick is to THANK the Lord for letting you have the ride"

Pay attention to those around you. Do not take your association with others lightly, without thinking about what effect you might cause. Don't let this cripple you, let it empower you and make you think. You can't do things only for other people, you also can't do things only for yourself. It will ruin you either way.

Your life is going to be wonderful if you embrace wonder and worthwhile if you embrace things that are of worth. Remember that one of those things is service.

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I'm so thankful for good books.

Thankful for good people.

Thankful for being able to learn from our mistakes and to try harder each day to be better.

I'm thankful that kids forget easy like when you get so mad sometimes at them and are having a horrible mom day and the next minute they are telling you they love you and giving you a hug.

I wish we all could be so forgiving as a child.

I'm so thankful for the Book of Mormon. I know its true. I love it. I'm so THANKFUL that I know for myself that it is true. That I've taken the challenge and asked and felt and know for myself. That everything that is written in it did happen. That it applies to me like it was written especially for me to use to study and to help me understand so much more in this life and to help me in the times when I really need it.

I am so Thankful to be a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

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This is probably long enough so I should really quite writing. But we are so blessed with so much there is so so much to be thankful for every day.

Especially when it doesn't feel like it.

Have an awesome day!!