52 Blessings Project: Weeks # 41-46

As keeper of this blog I reserve the right to keep my posts dated 2008 until I wrap up some unfinished business. I started keeping track of a blessing a week back in January. Somewhere around the end of the summer and beginning of the school year I started falling behind in my 52 Blessings posts, not that I didn't have things in mind though. I just didn't get them posted. So I don't feel like I failed, I'm going to wrap it all up in a couple of posts. :)

#41 Girls Camp

Going to Girls Camp this year was full of blessings.
Mommy/daughter bonding time for Jillie and I.
Daddy/child bonding time for Greg and the rest of the kids.
Even a little bonding for Nikki and quiet time . :)
I was so excited to go to camp as a leader for the first time. So nice to get away from the rigors of everyday life, get out in nature, get spiritually uplifted, and have some introspective time. It was a great experience and I hope to be able to go again next year.

#42 Sump Pump

Who'd have thought a little machine in a hole in the corner of my basement would be so important to me. Our sump pump started having problems this fall. It would just not shut off and started making a noise you could hear throughout the house. Sometimes I would just unplug it for a while to free myself from the noise. One night I unplugged it and forgot to plug it back in. Luckily Reagan went to the hardly-used-because-it's-such-a mess basement and reported back that it was flooded. It would have been a much easier mess to clean up had the floors not been covered with miscellaneous toys. Not a fun day. We finally gave in and bought a new one. What a blessing to not have our home filling with water on a daily basis.

#43 Traditions

Whether the big holiday traditions like Christmas Family Home Evening with friends, decorating the Christmas tree together, big Thanksgiving dinners, Easter Egg hunts, designing birthday cakes & planning birthday parties, Disney trips... or the small ones like playing basketball, Family Home Evenings, going to church, attending school events... these are the the things that help to strengthen our family. This is where many of our memories of good times together are made. This is what helps us want to be a Forever Family.

#44 The ability to create

I had never thought about this until President Uchtdorf's talk at the Relief Society broadcast last fall.
He said, "The desire to create is one of the deepest yearnings of the human soul. No matter our talents, education, backgrounds, or abilities, we each have an inherent wish to create something that did not exist before."

I have had a few opportunities to create some things with my hands this year- and it was really nice to do that again. I suppose I have created many things over the years- most notably my children! This year I got a little crafty again doing things that 'd never really tried before like invitations for a Relief Society birthday party,

a vegetable garden, andsome Christmas presents. It feels good to be creative . Since President Uchtdorf's talk, I feel like creating is something I should try to set aside some time for, not something to feel guilty about spending time on.

#45 Reagan

This daughter of ours has blessed our lives, as have the other kids, but I haven't singled her out yet. She has a nice, easy going personality. Lately she's been a little more emotional (hormones kicking in already?) But overall, she's so even tempered. She is a great helper, has a natural talent entertaining small children, can do anything she sets out to do, and she tries many things- except foods! She blesses our lives as Jillie's best friend, as Kobe and Jackson's big sister, and as our sweet daughter. She's growing up fast. I can't believe she'll be going off to Middle School in the fall!

#46 Kobe And then there's Kobe. What a character! He can be so sweet and sensitive. He still sometimes asks if I can snuggle with him when he's going to sleep. Melts a mom's heart! He can be annoying little brother sometimes too though! He blesses our family by making us laugh, reminding us to say family prayers, making his artistic creations, and melting all of our hearts with those dimples!

52 Blessings Project 47-52 to follow soon (I hope!)