Chocolate Chips 'n Sprinkles

Tuesday Tell-All ... Gratitude

A little disclaimer – I did in fact create a list on Tuesday that has, somehow, disappeared from my hard drive completely, and of course I decided it was some kind of omen and figured I’d better just create a different one. So, here we go. Our grand list of gratitudes for the year 2007.

Interviewees:

Audrey is grateful for her binkies – one in each hand, if possible. This will likely be the last year she can say that, so it’s bittersweet.

Erick is grateful this year for his home and family, and for his kindergarten teacher and his friends.

Izzie is grateful this year for the missionaries and for her family and house.

Justin is grateful for a sense of stability in our life this year. We’re where we’re going to be, doing what we’re going to be doing, for the next couple of years. In fact, we even know where we’ll be next summer for an internship, and it’s somewhere we’re already familiar with. When compared with the general uncertainty we faced a year ago and for much of this year, this is truly a blessing of peace in our home.

As for myself… well, I’m going to have to go into a little more depth. I’m long-winded that way, and have had more time to think about my response. So, in limited order of importance, here goes:

Another year with my favorite people in this world. Family is kind of a generic thing to be thankful for, I know, but I’m grateful every day for another 24 hours with the ones I love. I’m also especially grateful this year to be nearer to many of them because of our move back to Utah. We’ve attended baptisms, holidays and family home evenings, trips to Scofield and Lake Powell, and Sunday dinners with the grandparents. Each of these memories is priceless and we’re so grateful to be home again to make them.

My faith and the Gospel. Everything on this list would lose some of its luster and meaning without the things I know to be true. My grandmother passed away this year. I had two brothers married in the temple, my brother is serving a mission in Mexico and my sister gave birth to her first child. Every one of those major events was shaped by my understanding of life, its purpose and what is ultimately our destiny.

My children’s health. Last year at this time we had a lot of questions. Izzie had just been diagnosed with Rheumatoid Arthritis, and Erick was almost simultaneously dubbed Asthmatic. We were in the midst of testing and wondering, and a year later my kids are healthy and happy, and both diseases seem to be under control. Izzie takes gymnastics and they both participated in soccer this fall. I am so grateful for health.

I know I said family, but I’m grateful for my parents. We had a relatively tumultuous year this year, padded considerably by my parents and their extreme example of generosity. We brought the entire family to stay in their home for a few months over the summer, and they helped us in innumerable ways from storing our stuff (us included!) to house hunting to providing supplemental transportation so Justin could work to hosting evenings outside playing croquet at the cabin. They were a huge reason we were able to make it financially, emotionally and physically this year, and we are so grateful for their help and for the time we were able to spend with them.

I’m grateful for good neighbors and friends. We’ve been blessed with the Bays and Georgia Faux as our neighbors, as well as many friends from Erick’s and Justin’s school programs, and are so grateful for them, their examples, and their friendship as we’ve dearly missed the good friends and neighbors we left behind in Missouri. We’re grateful for the small army of people who helped us move and those who’ve helped us feel at home and settled. I hear horror stories all the time of terrible neighbors and the grief they can cause, and we feel so blessed to have no horror tales to tell.

And for a few honorable mentions: I’m grateful for Erick’s wonderful kindergarten teacher, Mrs. Stewart, for Izzie’s love for gymnastics, for a large enclosed grassy backyard, for Justin’s internship with Nestle, for the BYUMBASA and for our comfortable home with carpet and new windows. I’m grateful for my Grandma J and the book my mom put together of our old newsletters, and I’m grateful for the beautiful fireplace mantle we found on craigslist and how nicely it will decorate with stockings this year. I’m grateful for for Erick’s “thumbs up” signs and for Izzie’s mischievous looks. I’m grateful for Audrey’s loves and kisses and for her cute chubby baby toes.

I’m going to stop there for now, but only because this post could go on forever if I don’t. But we are greatly blessed and have had a wonderful, eventful year. Here’s to many, many more!