Thankful Sunday...

I'm thankful that the government is up and running again. I hope that the powers that be can continue to work together.

Thankful Sunday: Rexburg, Idaho

I just got home from a fabulous weekend. Traditionally this is my girl power weekend. For the past 3 years, I have gone to Bryce Canyon with a dozen women who are brilliant, successful, happy, and inspiring.  We have skied, snow shoed, and hiked. We play games and laugh and learn and grow from each other. It's one of my favorite weekends of the year.  Due to the current government shutdown and some crazy schedules, we opted to not go to Bryce this year. One of these dear friends of mine just purchased a house in Rexburg, Idaho.  She teaches at BYU-Idaho. We decided to go check out her new home take advantage of the great Idaho snow at Mesa Falls and Harriman State Park.  It was a fabulous weekend. Somehow, in the planning of this weekend, I missed the fact that I was going BACK to Rexburg. It didn't hit me until we got off the freeway. I went to Ricks College and BYU Idaho. I started the process of defining myself as an adult.  I learned how to live with people who were not immediate family.  I made new friends, some of whom are still my friends 17 years later. (It's mind-boggling that I can say that.) I learned how to think for myself. I learned how to find people who agree with me. I learned how to deal with people who disagree with me. I was hit with a wave of nostalgia when I saw the hill. There's a temple on the horizon now and there isn't a place in the world that isn't more deserving of it.
This weekend only made my love of southeast Idaho stronger. We snowshoed in a beautiful storm, clear air, and with great company. We ate good food (Big Juds!!!), played games, and new to the weekend, we did yoga (one of the girls is a counselor for battered women and children and a therapeutic yoga instructor. She wins ALL the points.) I came home relaxed and rejuvenated. I'm so grateful for a Heavenly Father who loves me. He sent me to Rexburg when I needed to be there so I could meet the people that I needed to meet. He has given me the friends that I need now to get me through my current set of trials. I am watched over and blessed and grateful for it.

Thankful Sunday: Books. Good books.

Yesterday I woke up without an alarm clock and planned to not leave my bed until I finished reading a book that I had had been given for Christmas.  I did leave my bed briefly to eat pancakes, (shout out to the roommate for that one!) but returned quickly to finish TASTING THE SKY: A PALESTINIAN CHILDHOOD. Not going to lie...this is not what I typically would have picked off the shelf at the library or the bookstore, but I'm grateful for friends with different taste from my own. The protagonist found a friend as a refugee during the Six-Day War in a piece of chalk.  Her friend was Alef, the first letter of the Arabic alphabet.  As time went on and she learned and grew, she realized that Alef had other friends and that she was able to find another world in letters and words.  How many times has this happened to me?!  Throughout my life, I have found many friends through letters and words, the March sisters, the Alden siblings, Huckleberry Finn, the Bennets and Darcys and Bingleys, Reuven Malter and Danny Saunders, there are entire worlds...I think I could literally list a thousand friends that I have found through books. I have found strength in their struggles. I have found peace in their wisdom.  I am grateful that I found a love for them all at an early age and that love has continued with me into adulthood.

Thankful Thursday...

As I thought about goals that I would like to set for this year, one thing that kept crossing my mind was gratitude.  I've been doing a lot of thinking and studying on the power of positivity and the changes that gratitude cause in my attitude.  I had a friend that for a couple of semesters had a "Thankful Thursday" every week and posted one thing that she was grateful for.  I wanted to do that this year however Thursday came and went and I was too busy to put my thoughts on paper (or screen as the case may be). Instead, I think I am going to take advantage of an extra hour on my Sundays and organize my thoughts then.  That being said...

I am thankful for appreciation.  It is much easier to serve and work when you know that your efforts are appreciated. I am not a front and center kind of girl. I don't want to be an MVP, but it sure is nice to hear, "thanks for always being dependable and doing it right the first time and making sure that it all gets done." I should probably say things like that more...

Happy Sunday!