This has been the best Thanksgiving ever!

I'm up and about - and while I was contemplating the talk I've been asked to give Sunday and the events of the last month I realized it had been almost a month since I did anything in my blog. I'm going to have to watch that because I almost couldn't remember how to do this!
This last Month has been so busy! - Dad came to visit and very soon realized the best thing for him to do was stay. He spent a weekend in the hospital and has had a doctor's appointment almost every day since. Granted many of those appointments were for IV therapy - but still this last month has been basically going from one appointment to another. Dad is suffering now for the hard work and heroic deeds of his "youth". His kidneys aren't doing well and his back is fractured and pinching nerves which is causing a lot of pain. Through it all he is stoically persevering. When the pain makes him grit his teeth and turn pale and green he says, "one thing's for sure - it will start feeling better when it stops hurting!" He bears more without complaint than I would be able to bear and remain conscious. His heart aches for his beloved wife. All in all I wonder which pain is the hardest for him to bear.

Where this last year has been hard - it has not been the hardest year of my life. in many ways it has given me some of my most precious memories. It has also given me the best perspective and appreciation of life and its challenges and blessings. I am so grateful for all the blessings I've been given. For my family, my parents, my brothers and sisters, theirs spouses and children, My husband and children, and their spouses and children. I love the gospel and its teachings. I love the promise it gives that we can be together forever if we but endure. I love the gospel teachings that we are to bear one another's burdens that they may be light, because in that I know that I will never be alone to face the difficulties in my life. That my family and my gospel family will always be there to help and strengthen me. I am grateful for the country of my birth. I am grateful that as Americans we are willing to stand up for what is right and good and true and help others less fortunate in the world. That we are willing to protect those who a more vulnerable from the terrorists and dictators and really bad people that are out there. I'm grateful that as a people we don't just sit back and say it's their problem or their fault that the evils in the world are targeting them. I'm grateful that as a people and a world we are realizing that no one exists in a vacuum. That we have one world and we need to treat with everyone as though we were brothers, as we indeed are. Most of all I'm grateful for a kind and loving Heavenly Father, who planned for it all. Yes I can really say with all my heart this has been the best Thanksgiving ever!