WHEN I COUNT MY MANY BLESSINGS

Happy new year to all and happy birthday to Pete, Rob, Will, Katlyn and Natalie!
I just want all of you to know that I have now written twice in this blog and both times I have erased it! I had two wonderful thoughts that are floating away in cyberspace! Oh well!
What an exciting time in our family! Lanelle has a wonderful new job and Will is coming home and Katie is leaving for Argentina! Happy and sad times, happy for LaNelle and happy to see Will and sad to see Katie go, but happy for all the fun she will have and the things she will learn. What wonderful blessings I have in my life. As a little girl, I prayed that I would have a big family! and soon it will grow larger when little Chloe arrives! how exciting!

If someone would check my bank account they would probably say "what has she accomplished?"very little by the world's standards! But I have so much! Each day when gramps and i wake up we thank the Lord that He has allowed us to live another day in this wonderful world of ours! We are so gratful that we can be a part of your lives. This past Sunday Emily spoke in "new Beginnings" and I was impressed not only with her talk but by the depth of her testimony! What greater blessing could I have than to know that my grandchildren are living the gospel because of their OWN testimonies!

I wish that I could be there when Kim takes Will in her arms and once more she knows he is here on our soil, what a glorious reunion! What a wonderful blessing!

Yesterday I sat in my car(had been to dr.s) in my driveway and watched the many birds in my backyard, busy scratching working away for their food. What a wonderful blessing just to watch them as they worked. Most of them were little grey birds; there was a beautiful red cardinal and his mate, a brown and orange one(the males have all the bright color)I thought as I sat there that most of us are like the grey birds-but yet our Father in Heaven loves each one of the grey just as much as He does the bright colored ones. Think about it, if it was not for the grey birds, the cardinal would not be as pretty because he would not stand out! So if you think you are a grey bird, just think how good you make the cardinals of this world look!Ha! But in Father's eyes each of us is his special child and has our own purpose and finding joy in that journey is the greatest blessing of all. And each part of our life isunique! When i was younger, I did not have time to sit and watch the birds or listen to the rain or ponder but now I do and I am thankful for that blessing! As I approach 70 I have so much to look forward too! Waking up each day and knowing that I don't have quite as many days left on this earth as I did once is a special blessing in its self for I can take the time to enjoy each moment, i sure wish i had known this at 30!

Thank you for all you posts( see,I am learning the computter language)it is a wonderful blessing to keep up with your lives this way.

And andrew, if you are reading this, you better get busy writing a deep apology on the "myspace" that you set up in your granny's name for I am losing friends because they think i don't want them for a friend on myspace, your days are numbered!

And yes, Andrew you are one of my many blessings too!

lov