Appreciation

Day 334

OK. Sometimes I miss my evenings off, and I don't mind when I am not able to meet with my client for editing.

But it is nice being able to help my client.

And humbling while gratifying to know that what I feel isn't helpful is viewed as so by the client.

I am grateful that I am able to use skills often overlooked by others in order to help someone and see how grateful they are for those skills I possess.

Knowing what to do

Day 333

I know I talk about my programs, and how happy it makes me when people come to them. It is something I am grateful for. But there is something else I'm grateful for concerning programs--when I execute them well. I know it is never me alone succeeding there. I know the Lord helps me with that. His Spirit inspires my mind to know how and what to do when I encounter various situations. No, I don't think it is silly that the Lord would help me know how to read a book a particular way. Or to how to involve the children in the program. I think He knows that I want to do my best in serving the patrons, and give them a worthwhile and worthy experience in fun and learning.

I am grateful that nothing is too small or menial for the Lord to take notice and to help me.

Friend Supplied Movie Happiness!

Day 332

My roommate is fabulous. She gave me a Thanksgiving present. The movie musical Puss in Boots. I grew up with this movie. I love it. So many memories. And she remembered me talking about it and bought it for me! Don't you agree she's fabulous?

And I am loving the sweet nostalgia and happy smiles that this Sunday night movie has brought.

Home for the Holidays

Day 331

I traveled safely. I didn't completely fall asleep with any of my nodding offs. I had good weather. My stomach stopped trying to decide if it wanted to be sick. I did not get any headache or migraine. (Miracle right there.) I enjoyed the books I listened to. And I managed the trip to be an hour less than I had planned.

I'll miss vacation. I'll miss relaxing. I'll miss my friends. I'll miss the ability to de-stress. And I'm so not ready to go back to life and work and all.

But I am happy to be "home."

La, la la

Day 330

I got to sing today. As in, a real recital performance. With some one accompanying me instead of me struggling to play for myself while singing. And there were people in the audience, listening to us. And there was a microphone. My worst enemy, but I still used it.

And got to sing 3 songs from Broadway musicals. (How Could I Ever Know, Think of Me, and I Cain't Say No)

I rarely get to do that any more. But it is one of my favorite things to do. So, I was very grateful to have that opportunity--especially as it was my friend who accompanied me (and all of the other singers).

I loved it.

2010 Joy OF Gratitude, Every Day

Day 329

I think my Facebook statuses (not enough room to type all 3 in one) sum up today's overall thoughts and feelings.

Writing my "gratitudes" daily this year has pulled me through some difficult things. A deep gratitude to and for my Heavenly Father and my Savior for this marvelous blessing.

"How careful we should be to cultivate, through the medium of a prayerful life, a thankful attitude toward God and man!"-Joseph F. Smith

‎"To express gratitude is gracious and honorable, to enact gratitude is generous and noble, but to live with gratitude ever in our hearts is to touch heaven." -Thomas S. Monson

I am grateful for gratitude and the joy which I can testify that it truly brings.

Bundles of Joy

Day 328

This is definitely a season for thanks and gratitude!

*A joyful congratulations to my musical-loving, pottery-making, announced-her-engagement-on-my-20th-birthday undergraduate college roommate on her 2nd miracle baby: a sweet baby girl, such a long time in coming. A week ago was a very blessed day and I could not be more happy for her and her husband.

*A wonderful congratulations to my L.M.Montgomery-loving, takes-one-hour-to-say-goodbye, oh-the-Freshman-adventures-we-had undergraduate college best friend on her 3rd baby: their first son, and another long time in coming that brought a happy rejoicing on Monday.

*An excited congratulations to my sweet, supportive, understanding, knew-when-to-give-me-a-hug graduate college roommate on her first baby: a little boy that brought great smiles yesterday.

Wonderful joys for wonderful friends!

Dreams with Friends

Day 327

I've been to Disney World. Twice. Both times with family.

I've been to Disneyland Paris. Once. With choir & band tourmates.

I've been to Disneyland. Once. With me. (And with a stuffed turtle, too....)

But now I can say I've been to Disney World (Epcot) for a third time.

With two great friends.

(And two stuffed turtles.)

Home is where the love is

Day 326

I'm here! My home away from my family/parents' home!

I love it here.

I love feeling the Spirit.

I love feeling the love.

I love feeling at home, and like I belong.

"If this room would stop spinning..."

Day 325

Well, if one is going to be sick, and it has to be on vacation, at least it wasn't while on the road and that I had a loved one's bathroom to be sick in.

Yep. It's the little things.

(And working with little kids at church is quite the fun!)

The Most Needed Vacation Ever

Day 324

I'm packed!

It's all in the car!

It's just waiting for the work day to be over and then I'm off!

Family, Friends, Fun, and Florida--Here I come!!

A "real" Friday

Day 323

In case you were wondering, Harry Potter was done so well as far as staying with the book. Quite rushed and cramming stuff in, but that is not surprising since they had to make up for all the clues and development left out in the other movies. There was one particular part in the movie that I shall forever be furious about. Totally unnecessary, uncalled for, and...well, what audience were they trying to reach with that and what a horrible message it sends to so many! Furious, I tell you. Absolutely. If I ever get my own copy, I will find a way to edit out those 2 minutes. (I know. Two minutes. But it was a big enough piece of dog poop in the fudge brownie!)

So while seeing a movie stick close to a book I love was great, I had other happinesses. I had this Friday to myself. I don't usually get that. But I told my typical obligation that I had something else to do. (Which was loads of fun.) And I loved just lounging around with movies and nap spurts. And then my Visiting Teaching turned out very well (after an hour of traffic).

It felt like how a Friday off should be, and I loved it.

Tolls the Bell

Day 322

Another unexpected evening granted to me, in which I was able to get all sorts of things accomplished. It helped, too, as the end of work practically tripled in stress.

But you know what the best part is?

Deciding to go see Harry Potter 7 part 1 with a co-worker--at midnight!

I love random, occasional sillinesses with friends/co-workers who enjoy the same sillinesses!

Weaving Hearts

Day 321

I've been a crocheting fiend.

Fiend sounds evil.

Let's say a crocheting friend.

Our branch's goal for the stake's blanket project this year had originally been 12. A change in presidency and suddenly we were being asked to give 24. I had set a goal to make 2, hoping that I might actually get 3 done. And today I finished #4!!! (And if I have time on vacation, I'll be able to complete the one I'm in the middle of and be able to donate a total of 5.)

I am grateful I was taught to needlework skills, that the Lord has helped me accomplish much with these skills, and that He helped me complete this many with my limited time in order to bless some other lives.

(And with the new Presidency hoping we could at least muster 20, we managed to make 25 blankets.)

Amazing Man

Day 320

This morning I read the assigned Conference talks for tonight's Institute class. And one of them was Elder Cook's--where he mentioned William Wilberforce. It made me happy when I heard it then, and it made me happy when I read it this morning.

A very inspiring life of a very inspiring man, which I'm grateful I was able to learn about.

And they're STILL coming!

Day 319

I know I've mentioned it already this year. (Probably more than once.)

Yet I get so happy when patrons come to our programs.

It makes for a successful program and it is wonderful.

But I cannot get over it.

Especially when it is teen patrons.

And you have SIXTEEN--the most that have ever come to a teen-only event.

And they loved being there. And they loved the program. And they want to come again.

And...

It brings an incomparable joy when teens come to programs--maybe because I love working with the teens, maybe because I love seeing happy teens in the library. Not sure why, but I'm grateful for that joy.

Friends and Music

Day 318

I love my Stake Choir friends.

I love how they are happy to see me. I love how I am happy to see them. I love how we joke around. I love how we help each other with notes, rhythms, beats, tunes, etc. I love how we all share the same values and beliefs, and that it is reflected in the testimony of our music.

I love my Stake Choir friends.

P.S. Ever seen so much beauty all around you, and then hear a song that reflects that very beauty? it is so wonderful and beautiful, it makes the heart ache and soul cry. It is a singular happiness, and I'm so grateful I had it this morning.

"Bananas Unite!"

Day 317

I edited all day.

All.

Day.

Well, OK. Not the whole day.

But for 5 hours of it.

And that's a lot.

Especially on a Saturday.

So I was thrilled to afterwards have my National November Night and try my first efforts at Banana Pudding (for Banana Pudding Lovers' Month). They were both good. If I liked chocolate and peanut butter together, I would have loved my invention of Banana Pudding with Chocolate Peanut Butter crust. But I loved the regular one. I don't remember liking it much when I was younger. But something says it was rather coconutty, and mine was not.

But best of all--beyond the yumminess of the banana pudding--was that people actually came to my party! OK, so it was my home teacher and my visiting teacher. But they came. And that was the most thrilling of all.

I love good things!

After the Darkness

Day 316

Things are looking up much more. Fridays are typically very slow at work. Today was no different. Yet the co-worker I was with all day is one I work with very well. We do well with work things, but also in understanding each other's personal lives. It has helped me a lot having her to work with since I began as a Children's librarian.

And after the many things I was able to do and some good conversations while at work, things finally started to look up.

But it wasn't over with that. I was able to talk to a friend on the phone, one who has been busier and more stressed than me. This friend rarely opens up. It's a typical trait of theirs. It is often why I feel unequal in our friendship. That I'm never much of a help to them, and do little in lifting, supporting, inspiring, improving, sustaining, or any of those other positive and wonderful qualities that a friend should do for another. So when my friend opens up and I am able to try to offer solace and am given a task that can help them, I am filled with one of the greatest senses of purpose. I feel useful. I feel like I am doing something to deserve the title of friend. And I love it.

This is the best I've felt in the last couple of weeks or so. It feels nice to feel good, happy, purposeful, and useful.

Thank You

Day 315

Over the last year, the military has played such a prominent role in the lives of every one in this country. I have family members who served in the military. But not until my own friends and then my very own brothers joined military service units did I really think about it. It isn't just "military." They are individual beings. Each one sacrificing something for us. The military is no longer something in the past. It is in the present. My present. My life.

And I hope I can show the gratitude I have for each one who has ever sacrificed in order to serve in the way I live and continue to promote the freedom that we have.

Relax!

Day 314

The phone finally breaks. (I've been waiting for it.)

The phone is able to be replaced.

The new phone now requires some playing with to figure out.

And the city having Restaurant Week and everything going all in the wrong directions just ask for a Date Night. It wasn't bad, either. Great food. Lovely reading material. The environment could have been slightly better, but it was interesting.

It's nice to have a night out (especially before a day off from work that is not typically a day off) to relax when everything else seems to be going in all the wrong directions.

Be Counted

Day 313

I got to vote today.

Ever since 5th grade when I first really started to study global and national affairs, I looked forward to when I would be old enough to vote. I'm grateful that my parents and teachers instilled in me at a young age the importance and blessing it is to be able to have a say-so and let my voice be heard.

I waited anxiously for my turn. My first year to vote was a presidential election. I was in school, and my home state messed up my absentee ballot to the point where a few days before Election Day, I knew I would not be able to vote. I was devastated. And I'm not exaggerating. It was the final straw of a lot of things and I even took sick leave from work, knowing I would have been trying not to cry the whole evening.

So I'm grateful for every chance I have to vote. Of course, in all honesty I have not voted every Election Day. I have not always been able to stay up with what legislation is occurring, or understanding it on my own. But this year I was determined to know what was on the ballot. I also wanted to be sure to vote for the Congressman that I have come to greatly respect in the last couple of years.

Thus, today I am very grateful and happy for my opportunity to be informed and vote for what I feel is best for our city and state.

(Also pretty happy with how preschool storytime went, too!)

Not Alone

Day 312

I'm feeling better.

I think that's a huge grateful thing right there.

I know I'm going to make it through this, and I can feel the Savior with me as I walk on.

Day 311

It is not easy for me to bear my testimony. In words, at least. With music, well, that's my preference and I feel I do much better conveying what I think, feel, and believe there. Still, bearing through my own words needs to be done. No matter how hard.

After this week, I felt I would be ungrateful and undeserving and not fully accepting and acknowledging of the blessings that the Lord has given to me these last few days if I did not bear testimony of the Lord's ability to do so and my witness that He has done so for me. I haven't much of an idea of what I actually said. I usually don't. But I know in my heart that my bearing my testimony today was one of my parts in what the Lord has done for me this week.

I'm grateful I hearkened to the Spirit, and bore testimony of the Lord's Atonement and its/His subsequent power to heal and lift us.

I also wanted to put in a couple of plugs for other things:

*My baby is all mine. Yesterday was Lizzie's Magic Birthday (6 on the 6th). And about a month ago she became all mine when I mailed in my last payment. But I looked at it as being official when I received the title in the mail last week! The title!!! I had so many days when I never thought I'd see a title. Almost didn't know what to do with it.

*I now own one of the coolest Church DVDs around. OK. So I haven't used it to its full capability. I've only watched one thing. But that one thing is worth it. The movie Joseph Smith: Prophet of the Restoration. So glad to own that now for my viewing leisure.

"My Daddy is My Favorite Pal..."

Day 310

Today, I got to hear from President Osguthorpe, President of the Church's Sunday School. An amazing fireside. I felt the Spirit strongly and learned a great deal. So many things I would like to implement to help me be a better teacher and help the students learn much. I loved how he pointed out that education came from a Latin word that meant to bring forth, not to put in.

But what I am most, most grateful for today has to be my father. It is his birthday. And you know how nostalgic and emotional and sentimental I can be. Yeah. Birthdays of my parents are very special for me. Without them, there would be no me. And my father's birth was vital, as it affected my physical birth in this life, as well as my spiritual birth. And that spiritual birth was two fold.

1. His choices in life brought him to accepting the Gospel, which many years later would lead to an eternal marriage with my mother and the two of them working together to raise us children in the Gospel. So I acquired the beginnings of my knowledge and testimony from my father and mother until I was able to move on with those in my own progression. Of course, they are still there to help me with the Gospel.

2. My father is also the one who performed the actual ordinance of my baptism. This was very special for me, and a day I will never forget. It became even more special to me a few years ago when I realized I was his last child to baptize for their own ordinance (since the brother just older than me baptized the brother younger than me). That doesn't make me any more special, it just makes my baptism more special to me. Hard to explain, but when can a sentimental person explain themselves?

I love my dad in so many ways. I don't really know how to tell or show him without it feeling overly mushy or silly. But I hope he knows all the same.

I love you, Dad.

Sunny Day!

Day 309

I went to a Sesame Street Seminar this morning. It was work-related.

I loved the books we got dealing with milestones and "gauges" of early child development. Made me think of my mother and how she studied that in college and did so well in raising her 8 children.

I loved seeing what other librarians do in their storytimes or with their teens. Great ideas. Fun enthusiasm. Reminding me how much I love being in the youth services area!

But mostly, I loved remembering how awesome Sesame Street was for me as a child, and fully grasping just how well suited it was for me when I was little and how I can use something I know so well from childhood to help me in my job as an adult.

Sitting Quietly

Day 308

It is fun to hang out with co-workers in a non-work setting. Not always happy why we get together. But to to be together all the same. I enjoyed the table I where I was sitting at tonight's festivities. It was with people I don't usually get to just sit and talk with. At least, not any more. And rarely do I see all of them together. It was also fun to sit and listen to them.

I think it's funny how so many people think I'm always a talker. No. Not really. In large groups, I'm often the observer. A habit I picked up from growing up in my family. I would consider myself one of the quieter ones in the family--if at least when we're all together. Part of that being for the frequently misunderstood factor and my avoidance of getting in those situations if I can. In large groups outside of the family, it's still a foreign concept to them that I might actually enjoy being quiet. I am a people watcher by nature. So it can be upsetting when people tell me to cheer up--when I already am!!

Thus, it means a lot to me when I can be an observer in a group where I'm not worried to speak up occasionally, and where I'm not accused of being in a bad or sad mood because I'm being quiet.

She Knits? Crochets.

Day 307

I started a new blanket for our Blanket Service Project. And it is easy, fast, and lovely.

I love blanket patterns like that!

Especially when I'm trying to make 3 blankets in two weeks!

It truly was a wonderful thing when Sis. A. E. taught me to crochet--much good and joy has come to me because of that skill.

"He leadeth me"

Day 306

Things are difficult. I'm working through a lot from what came about yesterday. But I can already feel the Lord blessing me.

-Making it possible to go to Institute

-Comfort in my scripture study, prayers, and personal thoughts

-Comfort and support from my friends at work and church, whether they know the reasons or not

And the daily quote was so perfect. What I needed to hear, remember, and do.

"Turn to the Lord. Exercise all of the faith you have in Him. Let Him share your burden. Allow His grace to lighten your load."

Donald L. Hallstrom, "Turn to the Lord," Ensign, May 2010, 80

And I am determined to do so.

I am grateful the Lord never leaves me alone and knows what I am going through.

Always There, too

Day 305

In every honesty, this was a most wretched day. One of the worst in quite a long time. Leading to much self-doubt, injured self-esteem and self-worth, and loss of trust in myself and others.

I even cried at work.

Twice.

That's not a common occurrence. Especially crying in front of others. There are few who see me cry in public, and only because I am close to them and cannot hold the tears back. But overall, I am rather insistent about not crying in public, in front of others. It's kind of how you know that things are really "bad."

But how wonderful it is to have my mother. So patient. So strong. Because I cannot tell you how many times she has to sit on the phone listening to me cry and babble incoherently, whether for good reason or not. So much like Heavenly Father and the Savior.

I don't deserve such an amazing woman as my mother, but I'm so grateful she is mine.

I thought this daily quote that came to be quite appropriate and true:

"Your parents, with their maturity of years and the experience you have not had, can provide wisdom, knowledge, and blessings to help you over life's pitfalls. You may find . . . that life's sweetest experiences come when you go to Mom and Dad for help."

Ezra Taft Benson, "To the Rising Generation,' " New Era, Jan. 1986, 6–7