It's the biggest gratitude day of the year!!

You'd think I'd plan something majorly awesome to celebrate Thanksgiving Day on my blog.


You'd think that...and you'd be mistaken.

I was far too busy enjoying time with family today to get on the computer and do a grand post.

And I'm far too worn out tonight to attempt anything.

Today I am thankful for Jesus Christ. I am so looking forward to the oh-so-close Christmas season. A time of year when for an entire month so many people are thinking more (even if it's just a little more) about the Savior. Such things create a great energy and it just feels like the whole world is a happier in December.

I'm so excited:)

Happy Thanksgiving! I hope you take some time to count your blessings!

Music

I love music.

I especially love music in the kitchen.

And today's post is dedicated to my under-the-cupboard cd player/radio and my awesome husband who bought and installed it for me (then dismantled and installed it again when we moved:)).

If you were ever thinking of getting one- you totally should.

It doesn't take up any counter space and you get quality music sound right in your kitchen to enhance your baking-cooking-cleaning activities.

I'm doing all my Thanksgiving baking today and having music is making it so much fun!...in spite of the back pain from standing in the kitchen all day.

I LOVE music.

And I love that I get to listen to music in the kitchen.

What are you thankful for today??

Sisters know

Disclaimer: I am not pregnant, nor am I trying to become so. The experience I will relate later hasn't happened for at least eight months.

As such, I figure this is the best time to ask a question I've been wondering for some years now. I'm hesitant to ask this question. Mostly because I don't want anyone who reads this and knows me in real life to start speculating on my reproductive conditions, hence the disclaimer.

This isn't a graphic question- more of a feeling question, but I don't think any men would quite understand this. Let me save you some time, male readers, this might be utterly too female for you:)

A woman in my ward recently read us a poem at our last RS meeting. She wrote it about her experience breaking her arm and how the women in the Relief Society took care of her. Her last line was, "Sisters know." I love that.

So when these memories popped into my head last week and I desired to know if other women have ever experienced the same thing, I hemmed and hawed about actually asking. But then, "Sisters know" popped into my head and I'm just gonna ask!

Enough beating about the bush for you?

Yeah. Me, too!!

Have you ever-

Taken a pregnancy test and while waiting those two minutes prayed for it to be negative, while longing for it to be positive? Or taken a test, prayed and prayed and prayed it was negative, only to feel so sad when it does come up negative?

I have and it kinda boggles me and make complete sense all at the same time.

(Motherhood seems to mean never feeling one emotion at a time; there must always be at least two battling each other.)

I've only ever taken the test once with that feeling. But there's been at least four times when I was on the brink of taking that test and the natural answer showed up. All five times I battled the competing thoughts of "please, let me be pregnant" and "please, no more pregnancies yet."

Have you ever felt like that? And if you have, why do you think that is?

All I can come up with is that once that possibility is planted in a woman's brain, that there is a child growing inside of her, she's in love. And no amount of "I can't handle another baby" will lessen that.

And how does this tie into gratitude? Well, I am so thankful that it is inherent in me (and I suspect women in general) to love a child so deeply before I even meet them face to face. Sometimes I feel silly for loving something and "losing" it when it never even existed. In the end, though, I am so blessed to know that aspect of motherhood; that instant, deep love.

Family History

This past week I revisited an "issue" I have.

Sometimes, I feel gypped in the grandma department.

I have three women in my past who (whom?) I call Grandma.

The woman in my family that I best consider in every essence of the word, "Grandma," died when I was 13, before I was old enough to really be cognizant of other people's personalities. I know we lived with them when I was quite young, but Grandma K appears in only one of the few memories I have of the time in that house. There are snippets of memories with her from more recent times in my life, but nothing that tells me who she was. The ways I know her best are by the things she made for me and the stories I hear about her (which I decided last week are not sufficient, I want more).

I've never met my other grandmother. She died when my mom was a teenager. However, I feel a strong connection to this woman I never met. A feeling like, even though I've never seen her, she's been here the whole time.

I have a third woman in the mix. My Grandpa B remarried before I was born. I grew up calling her Grandma. I considered her my grandmother, even though we share no blood. I think I still do. She's the grandmother I have the clearest memories of. She died only a couple years ago. I learned a lot after she died. Every once in a while I think about what I've learned, like last week. And it led me to some refreshed gratitude, which is why I'm blogging about it:)

Here's the thing. My Grandpa and Grandma married after her son was grown and most of his children were, too. I rarely saw Grandma when I was growing up. They'd split up for family visits. Grandpa would come to visit and Grandma would go visit her son and his family. When I did see her, she was always nice. I especially remember the time when I brought boyfriend-Bret to a family function at Grandpa's house. She pulled me aside at one point with bright eyes and a wide smile and whispered, "He's such a nice boy. Grandpa and I like him very much." It was sweet:)

Then the funeral. Grandma's son has four sons of his own and one daughter. His daughter spoke during the funeral and mentioned how Grandma would hold her face and say, "Bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh, you are my only granddaughter."

I'll admit. I was shocked. So much so, that my laughter response was triggered. One of those, "hahaha! Oh wait...you're serious!" My mom scoffed and put her arm around me while I tried to rationalize in my head. "Sure, I guess maybe she could just be talking about blood-wise. Then she really does have just one granddaughter...but did she really think that? I always considered her Grandma...should I not have? What was I to her? What were my cousins to her?...Really?!?!"

Some conversation with a cousin who grew up living quite close to Grandma and Grandpa confirmed that, yes, we weren't really considered her grandchildren. Now, let me interject- she was a good woman and I'm positive that she loved us on some level.

And I've realized it kind of went both ways. I didn't cry when I found out she had died. I cried at the funeral when they closed the casket for the last time and I watched her son say goodbye and I thought, "how awful to have to say goodbye to your mom and close that lid until who-knows-when!" I didn't really cry because she was gone and I've since realized that I pretty much just felt she was a nice elderly woman in my life.

Still. It kinda stings.

And so began my feelings of gypped-ness. I realized (shame it took me 24ish years to realize this) that of the three women I call Grandma, I only really got to spend fleeting time with one who fulfilled the role and I really didn't don't know any of them.

BUT!

Thanks to family history, I can get to know my grandmothers better even though they aren't here anymore.

I have pictures. Pictures of smiles, laughter, hard work, family gatherings, etc.

I have dolls and things that were made just for me.

I have stories shared by relatives who knew them.

And I have a testimony that one day I'll be able to see them, talk with them, and spend time with them.

So, yes, I still feel like I've been gypped of what I've missed with my grandmothers. But I will be forever grateful for the family history that has been shared with me. I may not know them well, but I know enough of them and of what awaits us after death to feel like they are a part of my life; women who have gone before me and are cheering me on to the finish line.

And in the meantime, I have two of the most remarkable grandpas ever:)

Will the near midnight postings never end?!?!

I am a fan of the Thanksgiving season.

I love that there is a holiday completely devoted to gratitude...although it's been somewhat eclipsed by gluttony and football.

Pity that so many people miss how awesome this time of year can be.

One thing I dislike seeing every year is the onslaught of Christmas as soon as Halloween is over.

I totally understand. Christmas. Is. Awesome. But if we're going to start so early, how about we flop Halloween and Thanksgiving so that the glanced over holiday is Halloween?

All that said...I started to long for Christmas today. I was doing laundry and the Charlie Brown Christmas movie theme song popped into my head and I got sooooo excited for the ever nearing official kick off to the Howser Christmas season. It will be here on Saturday:)

I love Thanksgiving. And part of what I love about it is the anticipation-for-but-not-going-to-start-juuuust-yet Christmas celebrations. Delayed gratification has its perks!

This week I will focus even more on celebrating and being thankful with loved ones.

But in the back of my head I might just be humming Christmas music:)

In the knick of time

Or is it "nick of time?"

Anyway, 11:59 pm still counts:)

Given that I've been posting in the ending hours of the day for the past four days, can you get a feel for how things have been going?

Busy, busy, busy! My computer is missing me and I'm afraid to face my neglected email inboxes. Or is it inboxi???

Today was a fantastic day!! Last night and today I got to experience Time Out for Women with my sister in law. I'm already trying to figure out how to get next year's event planned and executed:)

I got home and was whisked off to drop the kids off with Bret's sister while we went to dinner with his parents. Then I was surprised with a trip to the theater where we got to see the latest Harry Potter movie!!!! We had some trouble getting to the theater in time and ended up in the front row on the end. Even with the awful angle, it was a great movie!

What an incredible day:) Great times with great people!

What can I say?

It's been a crazy coupla days. And here I am, six minutes to midnight, squeezing under the wire.

Given the time, here's another short list of what I'm thankful for today.

-Fellow women
-the sanctity of life
-chocolate
-Sisters!
-The Plan of Salvation
-A living prophet
-warm coats
-cough medicine
-to finally be feeling like this sickness is on its way out
-sweet smiles from sweet sons
-homemade spaghetti sauce

What are yooooou thankful for?:)

Thankful Thursday

Once again the day has gotten away from me and I am required to keep it short and simple.

Today I am thankful for the simple mom things I get to do. I was going to say "homeschool mom things," but realized that would be silly because lots of moms do these things without homeschooling.

I recently made some laminated worksheets to help Jonz practice writing numbers. He gets particularly frustrated writing numbers and this makes it fun for him. He likes being able to erase so easily and do it over. It's delightful to see him enjoy something I made to help his education along.

We also colored and cut out turkeys and scarecrows today in honor of the season. I simply printed some stuff out and colored with him. He was so proud of his crayon and scissor ("I did it caaaarrefully.") skills and we have a beautifully decorated and festive closet door now.

And I love the feeling of seeing a completed something slide out of the laminator and seeing the smiles and giddiness from my boys whenever we do something slightly out of the ordinary.

I love these simple little things that result in the biggest perks in my life.

What are you thankful for?

Showers

I had a superb idea for a post today. But I lack the time and brain power to post it. I'm exhausted and sick of coughing.

I want a hot, steamy shower to calm my lungs and throat.

How thankful I am for hot, steamy showers:)

A nice place to live

I have a long wooden sign that sits on a ledge in my house. It reads, "A nice place to live."

I had to buy it when I saw it last year. It was pretty beat up though so they gave me 50% off when I got to the register. Meant to be:)

Doesn't look beat up to me though, just that sanded-edges-rustic thing going on.

I haven't left my house since Saturday morning. Between a busy day on Saturday and falling ill Sunday through...still, I haven't been out.

As I get ready to put the kids to bed, the thought keeps coming to mind, "I've been here since the weekend. I've got to get out and run some sort of errand tonight."

I don't know why that thought keeps coming. I have no desire to leave in my current condition. I do have some of my energy restored, but I don't feel up to getting into normal clothes and going out in the dark cold night to do something that could just as well wait for another time. I'm still sick, after all.

I don't want to leave.

And part of me thinks that's strange after three plus days in the same place. I do love a change of scenery.

So why am I not dying to get out of here?

I think it's because I've got a nice place to live.

I love my home.

I am super thankful that I have such a nice place to live. A place that doesn't feel like a cage after three or four straight days inside.

Home can be a Heaven on Earth even when one is sick:)

Sick days

I am thankful for sick days.

Not necessarily the "sick" part. That's no fun at all. And honestly, I'd rather just be healthy and have normal days.

But if I'm doomed to be sick, I'm glad that occasionally a sick day comes along with it.

Days like today when I melted out of bed and down the stairs trying to get there before the kids did any damage, put cereal and bananas on the table for them, turned on a movie, and crashed on the couch.

I'm thankful for easily prepared meals like cereal and pb&js. I'm thankful for a television and lovely collection of kids and family movies. And Nyquil.

These things made it possible for me to have a sick day on the couch. Sure I'd have to get up to "fix" meals or chase down a misbehaving boy. But for the most part, the kids played around the couch and watched movies while I was down for the count.

It was nice. As nice as anything can be when you feel awful:)

Niceties notwithstanding, I'm beyond ready to be done being sick.

For pity's sake

I've been sick for the better part of a month. Attacked by different colds, or perhaps different forms of the same cold.

Head cold. Sore throat and stuffy nose. Chest cold. Junked up throat and cough. And now today I've moved back to head cold.

The good news is I think I coughed so much last night that whatever was bugging my throat last week is finally gone. Yay.

But it made room for this current ailment.

Thanks to my wonderful husband, though, I got to sleep until 9:30 this morning. So did the Jonzter, who is also sick.

It was awesome!

I would very much like to just spend the whole day in bed. For that matter, I'd like to be healthy and at church right now.

But no go. Moms who get sick don't really get sick days. It's my own darn fault. The only reason I got out of bed this morning was to get dinner in the crock pot. And the only reason I did that was because I announced yesterday what Sunday dinner would be and I didn't want to shoot down that expectation, especially when I'm fully capable of getting out of bed- sick or not. And once I'm out of bed, no sense going back when I can conceivably take care of things.

I suppose this is just a really long way of saying-

I'm thankful that even though I've not been at peak health for a month, I haven't been put out of commission. *knock on wood*

I just have to keep reminding myself of that since a box of kleenex is suddenly my best friend:)

Families and Independence

Family gatherings are delightful.

I love getting together with family. I love playing together and talking together.

I adore family gatherings. Especially since Bret is so awesome about doing the dishes when there's a bunch of people over. I might not like it so much if there was a pile of dishes to do once everyone was gone.

On the flip side I also love doing special things with my little nuclear family. Sometimes I wish that we could celebrate holidays or birthdays with just the five of us.

It occurs to me though, that perhaps the way to have my cake and eat it to would be to create our own family traditions separate from special occasions. Then we could do special things together as a family while still enjoying the traditional larger gatherings and celebrations with extended family...I ought to put more thought into that.

I love having family close by. And I love having space and being free to be our own family, too.

It's a good life:)

A steady diet

This week I've been on a steady diet of ibuprofen.

Okay, maybe not a diet of it. But I've taken two every day this week. And if you knew me well that's unheard of. I don't like taking meds. I save my consumption of pain killers for when I really can't stand it anymore.

But this week I've had this headache attack. Every afternoon for the past five days it hits. And it hurts. And I'm left feeling sluggish and slightly nauseated until the ibuprofen kicks in.

Not fun.

But hooray for the drugs that take the edge off and let me get back to work.

I suspect that I would have been just another child death had I lived a hundredish years or more ago. Guess how grateful I am for modern medicine...L-O-T-S, lots:)

What are you thankful for?

Celebrating the day formerly known as Armistice Day

Also known as- Happy Veterans Day!!!

I learned today that Veterans Day has only existed since the 1954. It used to be Armistice Day and celebrated the WWI vets and end of The War to End All Wars. Someone in Kansas (holla!) campaigned in 1953 for it to be changed and honor ALL veterans. Congress and President Eisenhower agreed in '54.

You learn something new everyday:)

I took my boys to the local Veterans Day parade today. I had hoped to take them to a ceremony after, but no go. We'll make more of a day of it when they're older. I love going to the Veterans Day parade. It's not super crowded and full of annoying things like fast food restaurant ads. It's a small, sweet parade full of veterans, American Legion members, color guards, flags, bands and bagpipers, and motorcycle riders. It's small enough that you can shout out a "thank you" and they'll look right at you and wave and smile, some even say "you're welcome.":)

I am so thankful for the brave men in my family who have fought to protect people of this nation and others. Both my grandfathers are WWII vets. My dad served in the Navy during the Vietnam War and my uncle in the Air Force. I hear I have WWI and Civil War veterans in my ancestry, too! What an amazing heritage to have and teach my boys about.

What I am even more thankful for is that they all lived through those wars.

I usually get teary during Veterans Day parades. I was pleasantly surprised that I didn't today! Except for that one time...I had bent down to take care of one of the boys and got back up to resume clapping and cheering in time to see the "Gold Star Mothers" car going by. With everything in me I wanted to shout out a thank you. I couldn't. My throat had closed up.

I can only imagine how awful it would be to see my sons off to war and not get them back. Or my husband. Or my father. Or my brother. And then to rarely see any tokens of gratitude from those who benefit from that sacrifice.

No thank you.

I am so thankful we have a holiday devoted to honoring our veterans. I wish we made a bigger deal of it, though.

I hope you get a chance to thank a veteran today:)

Changes

I love change...while despising some changes.

I love and hate to move, house-wise.

I love changing temperatures. Especially when there's a cold day followed immediately by a warm day. Or sunshiny day followed by a blizzard day (preferably a weekend day).

I love to rearrange furniture.

I love getting new sisters in law.

But I do not appreciate changes to the daily routine. Like getting sick. Or having to work school around a last minute schedule change.

And so today I am thankful for the cold weather with the occasional big snowflake coming down, the desk I just cleaned (again), my husband being home early (that's pretty much the only daily routine change I like), and I nice, normal, busy day.

What about you?

Truth

Satan is a jerk. I'd like to shake some people by the shoulders for falling for some of his tricky ways. I just wish it were possible to shake sense into people.

I read this ridiculously stupid article just now. An open marriage leading to deeper trust and communication in marriage? Right. And all candy tastes like broccoli, 2+2=73, and gravity is a figment of the imagination. And whoever coined the phrase "open marriage" was a moron.

Wait.

That last one's true. Seriously. Did he/she not even look up the definition of marriage before that? Actually, that person was probably surprisingly clever and used it in a disgusting way. Sickens me. Not only open marriage in theory and practice, but with the subtle twisting of language that leads to justification of horrible things.

Here are some truthful things to read about marriage.

It's a divine institution.

Marriage is as easy as 1,2,3; not "something's wrong in our marriage...let's bring random people into this cuz that will make it more exciting and all better."

Or how 'bout this? "Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife..." Genesis 2:24

I'm so thankful for truth. I'm grateful to have this light to shine on things I see, hear, and read; such a bright light that most of Satan's tricks are glaringly obvious. I hope to continue studying truth and making that light shine brighter for me. Now...how to get others to use this light...?

Rainy days

Rainy days are beautiful.

I don't think I could handle living in a place where it rained all the time. But the occasional rainy day is delightful.

Clouds hang low on everything. The air outside smells wonderful. I can wear a comfortable hoodie all day long. My kids get excited about simple things like carrying an umbrella and wearing boots. Warm dinners taste more delicious on chilly, rainy days.

Granted, if I had to spend a rainy day outside, I don't think I would like them so much. But as I have a lovely warm and dry house, these days are wonderful.

It's the simple things:)

A day of rest

Sundays.

Sundays are wonderful. I will be forever grateful that God instituted a day of rest.

Not that they feel as restful as I would hope.

There's a certain kind of stress that I feel on Sundays that I don't often feel throughout the rest of my life. Getting ready for church is stressful.

There are few places in my family's life that we have to be somewhere at a certain time. So getting everyone ready and out the door so we can get to church on time is a struggle that we are not really used to...even though we go through it most every week of every year.

Despite that, I still love Sundays. I love going to church. I love fellowshipping with people in the ward. I love singing together. I love the sacrament! I love teaching my boys about the sacrament. I love Sunday dinners. I love Sunday evenings, especially when we have someone over or are visiting family or friends. I love that Sundays can recharge me for the rest of the week.

Sundays are special. I wonder why so many people are so quick to give up their Sundays to normal activities of the week. This day of rest is a gift and you won't find me returning it any time soon:)

What about you? Do you think Sundays are restful?

Baptism

I got to see my eight year old third cousins (yes, that does sound distant, but we're still cousins:)) be baptized today.

It was beautiful.

It was spiritual.

It was awesome.

I felt slightly teary pretty much the whole time. They asked me to say the closing prayer. I thought I could do it when I agreed to it a couple days ago. But who was I kidding? You know how I am.

I got four words into it.

Four words..."Oh flip." (Seriously. Had those words pass through my brain while praying) And I cried the rest of the prayer. But I didn't make any ridiculous noises. That's something.

I am thankful for family and specifically today, to know this family. I am thankful for baptism and other ordinances that God has given us to teach us as we make promises with Him.

What are you thankful for today?

Cleanliness is next to-

Today I am thankful that my boys have reached the age that they don't want me around all the time, but still think I'm totally awesome and make sure they know where I am every three minutes.

Don't worry, the motherly requirement to keep an eye and/or ear on them at all times is still in effect.

Confusion aside, what does this mean?

It means I can deep clean my kitchen while they make messes elsewhere in the house and interrupt me often, but still let me get something done.

Still confused? Me, too:)

How's this- all week long the boys have wanted my complete and undivided attention. Constantly. And when they didn't get it, there was much acting out. Factoring in that I have three children who wanted this at the same time and there were always at least two boys behaving in ways they have been taught not to.

But today? Today they want me to be in whichever room they are not. This means they can run up to me at any point and tell me what awesome thing they are currently doing and run out again. This also means I can be in the kitchen, conveniently placed in the "center" of the house, and clean, clean, clean while pausing to say, "That's amazing!" or to break up yet another fight.

My kitchen is a happy place today. Spots are coming off the walls, the sink is shining, the window is clear, the dust and grime is gone from many a surface, and 1/3 of my kitchen is looking new again.

Sadly, it looks as though it may be too big of a job to finish today. I still have the bar to clean, the cupboard doors to wash, two more walls to wipe down, and the microwave, the fridge, and the floor to tackle. Not to mention the fact that I need to dust the ledges above the fridge and cupboards and I should clean the inside of the oven.

But even a partly deep cleaned kitchen makes me happy. And the chicken pot pie my sister in law made for us, thereby saving me time making dinner tonight, gets me all the closer to having a feel-good kitchen.

Thanks, boys, for playing together. Now if you could just stop the fighting, it'd be a perfect day. And wouldn't you know it, that cued another screaming match. Time for a nap, another blessing from heaven:)

What are you thankful for this awesome Thanksgiving season?

Under the wire!

There's still time:)

I am thankful for energy, of which I had none today.

It was a very long day. The likes of which I would not like to repeat, but probably will.

Lots of fun sprinkled throughout the day, though. Just not the energy to enjoy it. And staying up this late is not good for energy tomorrow. I'm off to bed!

I voted

I love getting to wear my "I voted" sticker on election days.

Not so long ago (as ages go) I would not have had the option to vote. If I lived in another country, odds are I still would not have that option what with being female and all.

I enjoy being a girl. Since I live here and now, I can be a girl AND vote.

Awesome!

There are people who would like for that opportunity to be taken away from me.

Sometimes, I would like to give them a good slap across the face.

But that would not be a very Christian thing to do.

Therein lies our problem.

They don't want me to vote because I am religious. I shouldn't slap them across the face because I am religious and subscribe to the "turn the other cheek" belief.

"Now, that's what you call ironic."

People who define the term separation of church and state in the extreme-not-what-it-means way, would have me not vote because my religious beliefs lead me to support things they'd like to see dead and vote against things they think the world would be better off with. They see that as a church infiltration of state.

First off, separation of church and state is a paraphrased statement from the great Thomas Jefferson and is not in the US Constitution.

Technicalities aside, it does not mean any person with any belief that was found in any church is not allowed to have said belief affect their vote. I sure wish people would stop defining it that way.

Because, by golly, I LOVE to vote! I'd hate to be barred from it because of my beliefs or my gender or anything about me. That would be totally against the idea of voting!

"Let's hear what the people want us to do, but only the men. Who think only this certain way, we don't want religion making a mess of things. And they must have this certain type of job to vote. And make this much money. And own this much property. Yes, that will give us a clear picture of what we should do."

Reeee-diculous. And yet, it's been seen many times in this ol' world of ours.

I'm so thankful to live in a time and place where I am allowed to vote. It's very exhilarating...even when candidates win elections I'd rather they lose and propositions pass that I'd rather not. Voting is such a great privilege.

America's favorite pastime

You might wonder why today's post is not about voting. If that is the case, don't worry; I'm very grateful for the opportunity to vote and will be posting about such tomorrow:)

But today? Today it's about baseball. I married a second generation Giants' fan and am currently raising generation three.

Last night the Giants won the World Series. I watched the exciting game with my husband, uninterested sons, parents in law, and brother in law and his girlfriend.

I've almost always like baseball. I remember going to a few professional games as a kid and enjoying them. I never really tried to understand more than the basics though and such led to a teenage dislike of watching baseball, though I always enjoyed playing. I even considered joining the high school softball team, but the girls on the team and the annoyingly large ball they played with led me to stick to only soccer.

Annnnyway, in college (the one year that I wasn't married), after some observation, I decided that I did not want to marry a sports fanatic. I liked my Sundays to be sports-free and my guys to care more about going on a date with me than watching the game (of which there was ALWAYS one to be found on tv). But then, I also wanted to find a man who would enjoy playing sports. What's a girl to do?!?

I found the perfect combination in Bret. He'd play soccer with me on the weekends and come to my intramural games if he could. He found enjoyment in sports without feeling the need to watch every game. We'd go to school basketball, volleyball, and football games and have all sorts of fun. But he would do his homework instead of watch a game. He'd plan a date that did not involve sitting in his apartment to cheer on an obscure team on the other side of the country. He loved baseball. But most importantly, he clearly showed me that his love of the Lord was greater than his love of baseball.

Long story short, we're married and I recommend baseball fans as good marriage partners:) In the last seven years I've really come to appreciate baseball myself. I'll never be into all the stats, know the players and their positions on every team, or understand all the rules. But this is a sport that I can get behind. A sport I can feel good about my boys playing.

I love the pace of baseball. I love the suspense. I love the finesse. I love that pitchers will bean a batter for doing something stupid. I love that there are extremely few professional players that I would classify as "thugs." Lots of family men play baseball. I love the moment after a batter gets a hit before they drop the bat and sprint. I love watching an outfielder line up under a fly ball and wondering if he'll catch it or not. I love watching infielders fancy work in getting the ball there in time for an out. I love going with my family to the local minor league games. I love that there is actually a definable season, unlike the basketball season which seems to never end. Baseball is a great sport.

Though society seems to be gravitating toward the more stupid forms of entertainment, I hope baseball will always be America's favorite pastime.

It's the tops

Top Ten Reasons being a parent of young children is awesome.

10. Holidays become magical again.

9. You are forced to put someone else's needs before yours. And let's face it, that's good for everyone.

8. You suddenly have superhuman emotive powers. Never before have you been able to feel six unrelated emotions at the exact same time!

7. Soft cheeks you can smother with kisses any time you want.

6. For a handful of years, a few people think you are the most amazing person ever.

5. You regularly hear awesome things from little mouths. Like a two year old tugging on the neck of his shirt complaining, "Look! My paper!" (translation: help, my tag is bugging me). Or a young mind refusing to call them blueberries because they are obviously "purpleberries."

4. Everything is cuter in smaller sizes. Socks, shoes, clothes, toys, dishes, hands and feet, etc. Surrounded by cuteness, sometimes cluttered with it;)

3. Praises are sung to you for simple things. Serve chicken nuggets for dinner and you are the hero of the day. However, serve something you spent an hour in the kitchen making and be met with "yuck!"s, "gross!"es, and "disgusting!"s (which is especially shocking coming from a two year old, albeit surprisingly cute). Best to stick with the simple!

2. A miraculously changed perspective. Quiet evenings become sacred. An uninterrupted sleep becomes a treasure. Trivial things are seen for what they are. Your spouse becomes even more amazing. You find yourself praying for forgiveness for all those parents you've previously judged as inept. The world is simultaneously brighter and scarier.

1. Your hardest days are made easier when waist-high heads crash into your stomach, little arms hug your leg, shining eyes looking up at you, and a sweet voice says, "I luh loo," before running off again.

It's November! Thanksgiving season is here. 'Tis the season for giving thanks:) So I'm going to post gratitude-esque posts everyday through Thanksgiving.

How about you? What's in your top ten awesome things about being a parent?