Time to express thanks

This is how I feel most of the time.....like my kids are running around me so fast that it is all just a blur. READ ON.

Well it is only one week away from Thanksgiving. I love Thanksgiving but I hate that it gets overlooked because of the excitement of Christmas. I am one who likes to take things a step at a time. I couldn't believe that the stores started putting out their Christmas items around Halloween. NOW THAT IS JUST WRONG. I love to celebrate each holiday for what it is and not to rush them so we can get on to the next. There is a time for everything (in my opinion).

The other night as we were eating dinner we started talking about why we celebrate Thanksgiving. The kids all knew that it was to give thanks. But only the older ones knew why it was now considered a holiday. I love taking this time to reflect on all of my blessings and all of the things I am grateful for.

I have so much to be grateful for and sometimes I get so busy that I tend to only reflect on the 'things' I have to get done or this and that. That only leads to frustration and my gratitude turns into negativity. OK so does that even make sense?

1. I am grateful for my healthy and loving kids. OK so an example of my gratitude turning into negativity. This is a bit long and probably doesn't even make sense.

I have been blessed with five kids. Who could ask for anything better right? Well, at one point, when it was so hard for Don and I to get pregnant in the first place and with two miscarriages, I wondered if the blessing of being a mom would ever come. It seemed, in my eyes, to take FOREVER. And now we have five. So with five young kids under the age of 11 can be alot sometimes. And as most of you know with the ADD/ADHD in our family it seems to mulitply this by five thousand 2 hundred fifty 8 times. And this noise can get to me sometimes (ok more often than not). BUT how can I not be grateful. I always prayed to have a large family. And God blessed us with such. There will always be chaos in our home. That is truly us. I don't like it. But it can't be helped. Don and I attended a meeting tonight at the school. They had an ADHD coach come speak. The example he used was imagining yourself in a really fancy restaurant with white carpets and beautiful china. As you are enjoying your meal you notice a mom come in holding her childs hand. The child breaks lose and starts running around knocking chairs over and causing a huge scene. What do most people think? What is wrong with that mom? Then he said, imagine that same scene. A mom comes in with her child and he starts to run around but then abruplty falls to the floor in a seizure. What do people think now? They think, oh that poor mom.

The difference? The child with ADHD is a silent disorder. NO ONE knows that someone has it. It isn't like being in a wheel chair where people can actually see that there is something 'wrong'. It isn't like being blind where people can see that there is something 'wrong'. It isn't like having a missing leg where people can see that there is something wrong. When you see a child acting up and running around in a store or unable to sit still in school it isn't always a result of bad parenting. This coach told us to be sympathetic to those around us because you DO NOT always know what is going on. And he said that it is not always a result of a parent not doing their job. And no matter how many times someone thinks a child with ADHD should just try harder...they can't. They cannot help it. And the coach said that if you don't have ADD/ADHD or live with someone who does...you don't understand and probably never will. I am sure this is with any struggle or disorder that someone has.

SO when it gets crazy around here and I start to get frustrated I am not actually thinking, at the time, that I am grateful for these five wonderful kids. But now that it is midnight and they are all alseep I can say that I am thankful for them. LOL.

2. I have a wonderful family. I was blessed with two very loving and caring and amazing parents. They have been together for many many years and even though there has been tough times they have gotten through it together. And they have shown that marriage works if you stick it out. It isn't always roses but it is always worth it. I am thankful for them.

3. I am grateful for a warm house. I am grateful for a soft bed. I am grateful for a vehicle that gets me around. I LOVE to go places.

4. I am extremely grateful for my Savior. I truly am. I am in awe of what He did. And I know He did it for me and everyone else. His unconditional love is amazing. The gospel has brought me a lot of joy and alot of understanding. I know that it makes good people better and what a blessing it is to KNOW of it truthfulness. I have no doubts. It is peaceful. It is right. It is real.