The Divine Gift of Gratitude

This thanksgiving weekend I was again reminded of all I have to be thankful for. Honestly its the simple things that fill my heart with comfort, peace, love and gratitude.... my kids, being a stay at home mom, my home, great friends, Ryan has a job, my talents, Ryan, and my family, the gospel, the Atonement, and the fact that I know God is acutely aware of me. My wonderful friend and visiting teacher, Natalie Collins, delivered a message to me this week that was inspired in the way that she shared her testimony of it. The message came from President Monson's conference talk, The Divine Gift of Gratitude. In it he talks about about the 10 Lepers being healed by the Lord and only one returned to thank him. He was so "disappointed" that the others didn't come to give thanks. Natalie reminded me that, " These can be trying times thinking of the economy, scrapping funds together for Christmas, or unexpected situations. We might feel trapped, overwhelmed, or like things will "never" get better. We really have SO much to be thankful for and would "disappoint" the Lord if we didn't recognize and celebrate the blessings we do have. We need to live with gratitude in our hearts." President Monson said, "Do we remember to give thanks for the blessings we receive? Sincerely giving thanks not only helps us recognise our blessings, but it also unlocks the doors of the heaven and helps us feel God's love.... My beloved friend, President Gordon Hinckley said, "When you walk with gratitude, you do not walk with arrogance and conceit and egotism, you walk with a spirit of thanksgiving that is becoming to you and will bless your lives."
Lets be honest... the past 2 weeks have been more trying on a level that I never wanted to know existed. But Heavenly Father knew that I was going to be going through a difficult time and put people in place to be there and pick me up. He put friends and family in place and gave them promptings to check on me when really they had NO idea what was going... all they knew was that Camille needed help, love and friends. My testimony of KNOWING that God KNOWS me, KNOWS my trials, KNOWS my life's goings on increased immensely. He picked me up, He softened my heart, He taught me, He showed me the way to get through this next trial. And for that I am more grateful than I know how to express. I thank all those FRIENDS who listened to the spirit and showed me a kind hand and a loving heart.
The Thanksgiving festivities were fun this year... it was my family's "off" year so my mom had dinner the Sunday before... and was one of the most fun dinners we have had I think. Mackay and Karen announced they were pregnant! Which means that we will now have 3 new babies next year so far... Dal and Lisa are due in January, Bro and Tiff and Mac and Karen are due in May. We just laughed a lot at how stupid we were when we were little... all the family jokes and stories came out in full force. We discovered new talents of my parents... They can make some crazy faces!!! My dad is the Grinch in re-incarnate and my mom is just crazy! (I need to get those pics up). It was lots of fun to hang out with my family and eat good food!!!! I think my favorite dish this year was one of mine... my sweet potato casserole!!! YUMMY!!
On Thanksgiving we went to Ryan's parents which was also a very YUMMY dinner!!! Jeni and Johnny announced they are pregnant and due in JULY!!! Hooray... so happy for them! And we also just sat around and hung out with he family, looked at ads and played sheraids. It was a great day and by the end of it I was totally stuffed with good food!
BLACK FRIDAY!!!! Yes I am one of the craziness who participate in Black Friday! This year it started early for me when I went Thanksgiving night to Toys R Us with Tiff and her sisters. I have always hated that store and was surprised that I actually decided to go in the mad house for the 10pm opening. And let me tell you... NEVER again! I lost Tiff and her family in the middle of it all, couldn't find everything I went for and waited 1 hr 30 min to check out. And during that check out time got into 2 fights with ladies who think cutting in line and then lying about it is OK... ahhh no way! But I made it through and wasn't scarred to badly because my mom and I were at Target at 3:30am for their opening! Which meant only about 1 and 1/2 hrs aof sleep for me. It was my moms first Black Friday experience.... I think Target scared her a bit but we got in and out quickly and moved on to the next. We went until 1pm that day hitting a bunch of stores and getting GREAT deals. It was a lot of fun. I loved going with my mom and just playing! I love BLACK FRIDAY... the craziness is great, the people are hilarious, the deals are fabulous! That night I crashed by 9pm... could not keep my eyes open any longer even with the Jazz game on and they were beating the Lakers and I still could not stay awake!!! Now that is tired!
Saturday might seem kinda simple but it was rivalry week for college football and Ryan and I layed on the couch all day and watched the Ohio vs Michigan game and then the BYU vs Utah game... we even took a nap together on the couch! It was HEAVEN!!! My kids played great together all day. And later that night I put up my tree!!!! What a GREAT day!
LOVE Thanksgiving weekend! It always grounds me and centers me and helps me focus on what is important! Happy Thanksgiving!