I'm happy because

I am happy because:         

• This afternoon I had some company from out of state, and while they were here, the kids decorated the tree entirely on their own!  (Well, I placed three ornaments, but the rest was all them!)  It was a lot of fun to chit chat with our company and decorate the tree at the same time!
• The kids and I went to see the Christmas lights at the Temple.  It was gorgeous!  Even prettier than last year!  And the grounds were practically empty, so we didnt’ have to fight the crowds for a great view!  It was nice!  And we warmed our chilled bones with hot cocoa when we were done!  Mmmm!
• When we came home from the lights, I found a box on my doorstep, and an bag on my doorknob!  The box was from my visiting teachers, there were some great hand-me-down toys in it that look nearly new (polly pocket toys) that will be great to give as a Christmas gift, so I’m saving it!  The bag was anonymous, although I have my suspicions, and has two yards (I think, I haven’t measured it yet) of pretty Christmas fabric inside!!!  Oh my goodness, I can’t hardly wait to dive into it!!!

I am happy because:         

• I turned on the heater for the first time about 10 minutes ago, and it works like a charm!
• I am incredibly thankful to have a job right now.
• My out-of-state company just filled up my gas tank!  Yay!

I am happy because:    

• I had a lot of really great thoughts that I wanted to jot down here, but now I’m sooo tired I can’t think clearly enough to word what I have been thinking.  It was about music, and was triggered by what someone said in church today about music being different.  I know exactly what she meant, and I wanted to write it out.  So I’ll do that later, but it’s definitely a happy thought for me right now.
• Today I had a pleasant visit with my ex-in-laws.  (I dunno what else to call them.)  I am *gasp* getting along with someone who I have never been able to get along with in the past, too, which is totally blowing my mind!  And I got to visit with “Granny”, probably one of my favorite people on earth, as she came down from Utah with the rest of the ex-in-laws.  I miss her so much!  She treats me exactly as she has always treated me, which was a surprise, a happy one.  It’s always difficult to know how you are going to be treated by people who used to be family, before the divorce.  I love Granny, and am happy to know that she still loves me, too.
• Today someone observed to me that the kids look good.  This is someone who once criticized my parenting, so the compliment was a total surprise!  I guess today is a day of happy surprises!    Of course, I don’t think my value as a person depends on that someone’s opinion, but still, a compliment is a compliment!  And now, after a day full of excitement, I am ready for bed.  I’m too tired to write anything that will be comprehensible later.

I am happy because:         

• I choose to be.  And I feel so very blessed that I know that being happy is a choice to be made.  That it doesn’t matter your circumstances.  That it only matters what you do with those circumstances.  And what you do, how you react, and so forth . . . all of that is what makes you happy, or unhappy.  Perspective.  And I’m happy that, right at this moment, I (seem) to have the right one!
• I spent the entitre day helping someone, and was rewarded with a smile, a hug, and a “merci beaucoup”.  It turns out, that’s french for “thank you very much”.  And it made my day!
• I am about to take a nice, hot shower and put on some nice, comfy jammies, and curl up on the couch with a nice little book until the kids get home from their “playdate” with their Aunt Jen.

I am happy because:         

• As of today I have two definate on-going clients.  Both by request.  Awesome.  Plus, the shifts that I will work will get me off work by 3:30 more often than not, so I won’t be gone all hours of the night (unless I accept another shift, tbd at a future time).  I like getting off work that early because then I have more time with my kids!  This job is such a good thing for me!
• I took Becca shopping for her siblings’ Christmas gifts, and we kept it just under $25!  Woot!  I love it when we can find gifts that are less expensive, but still likeable! 
• I think I’ll put up the Christmas tree tomorrow!  And dig out my pretty nativity stuff!  And all of the lights!  And, and, and . . . everything!  I love Christmas!!!

I am happy because:    

• Today I spent Thanksgiving with my mother, my grandmother, my step-father, and my sister.  I got to eat a lot of turkey with some of my favorite people, and chit chat with my mom for a while afterwards.  It was pretty good!
• My ex has been unusually . . . courteous to me lately.  So strange!  It’s a good thing, really, it’s just too bad he couldn’t behave this way while we were married!  Regardless, I’m thankful that he has been this way now, because it is good for the kids, and good for him, too.
• Even though I love my new job, I’m glad my shift today was cancelled.

I am happy because:         

1. I have been blessed to have a loving mother.  She sees the best in me when I can’t, and reminds me of how far I have come.  I have never known a stronger woman.  I have never known anyone more giving of herself.
2. I have been blessed to know my dear friend, Stacie.  She never shoos me away when I’m talking too much, and she takes such wonderful care of my children for me when they get out of school and I am working.
3. I have been blessed to know Alan and MaryAnn. They took me into their home and made me a part of their family when I was a new convert to the church.  They gave me many, many chances when I didn’t deserve them.  And they have been there for me always.
4. I have been blessed to have Sicely as my good, good friend.  She gave me strength and courage during a very difficult time in my life.  She encouraged me, reassured me, that I was not crazy, and helped me begin to find my own backbone.
5. I have been blessed with a dear friend in Liz.  I love her, and I know she loves me, too.  She’s always willing to listen, and she “gets” me, probably better than anyone.  Whenever we get together, which seems rather rare anymore, we always pick up right where we left off.
6. I have been blessed with two wards full of wonderful people.  The Mesa 61st ward, and the Falcon Hill ward.  The people in these two wards, there isn’t room enough to list everyone, have blessed me in so many ways.  Because of the wonderful people of these two wards, my children and I have never had to want for anything.  Someone is always looking out for us in one way or another!
7. I have been blessed to know and love Rosa, and her dear family.  When Rosa was just a little girl, she was braver than I’ll ever be!  I owe her so much, as her simple testimony helped to soften a tough girl’s heart.
8. I have been blessed by Elder Johns and Elder Reil.  Who knows where they are these days.  But they taught me, even when I was poking fun at them and provoking them in every way I knew how.
9. I can see where God has placed good people along my path, all through my life, that have helped to lead me to the gospel.  My mom’s good friend, Kathy, who took me to primary on occassion when I was little.  My Aunt Margie, who taught me to love God and Christ in whatever way I could.  Heather, an LDS girl back in Illinois who thought I was “Someone Special”.  Sensei Clarkson, who loved me when I was a lost and scared teenager, who believed me, and believed in me, when no one else did.  Sterling, who bravely invited me to tour the temple repeatedly, who noticed I was worth inviting.  And all of the others, too many to name.
10. I have wonderful friends who have loved me without really knowing me, and have supported me without needing a reason.  Shelli G., Sonya K., Lerin W., and so many others.  Some of them I have “known” for years, online through old blogs, and they have seen me through some very difficult times in my life, each in their own way.  Some I have been lucky enough to meet.  Some have extended themselves in ways one would never expect from a “stranger”, and have reached out and touched my life, touched my soul.  I am so grateful for them all.
11. I am grateful for P.J.  He isn’t with us anymore.  I knew him so long ago.  He saved my life.  I wish I could have saved his.
12. I am grateful for my dear Grandfather, George Phillips.  He was a wonderful man, and a good husband to my Grandmother.  He never ceased to treat her like a queen, and always called her “doll”.  He always had a knee for me to sit on, and didnt’ mind when I tugged on his ear lobe while we watched the Cubs game together.  I miss him.
13. I lost you, but I have your twin sister and she feels you and has spoken of you.  I know I will know you someday, and I can’t wait.  You gave me a gift, in your own way, without ever having been born into this world.  You have taught me more than anyone can know.
14. I was blessed to know “Grandpa Edwards” before he passed away.  He came down from Utah to perform my temple marriage.  I will not soon forget the words he spoke that day, no matter the outcome of that union, his words were truth.  He was not a perfect man, many would like to point out his faults.  But I admire him all the same for the things he taught me about the temple.
15. I loved our dear prophet, Gordon B. Hinkley.  My heart was not so willing to hear his messages of optimism when he was here, but now my heart has changed, and his words are some of my favorites! 
16. Michael Landon, what a cutie-patootie.  I am so thankful for that man.  I don’t know much about him, besides how adorable he looks in suspenders, but I do know that he made wonderful television shows that families could enjoy together.  Like Little House on the Prarie.  I grew up with that show, and now I watch it with my children.
17. I loved Mr. Rodgers, the world is a better place because of that gentleman.  I always loved his program on television, and would watch it with my own children when they were very small.  He loved children so very much, and he knew just how to talk with them.
18. We have all been blessed by the men and women who have given their lives  for our country.  And by those who have fought, and survived to tell about it.
19. I am also grateful for those men and women who have served our country in times of peace.
20. I am thankful for the founding fathers of this great nation.  I feel so very blessed to have been born here.
21. I have been blessed with the ability to see such wonders!  I have seen the Effiel Tower brilliantly lit up at night.  I have seen cannon-blasted castles.  I have watched the edge of the sky turn a brilliant fushia in the wee hours of the morning.  I have watched my daughter as she came into the world.
22. I have been blessed to listen to every kind of beautiful music, from the perfect harmonies of The Mormon Tabernacle Choir to the chills-down-the-spine, hauntingly beautiful voices of Andre Bocelli and Josh Groben.  I have heard my children playing the piano, singing, and saying sweet prayers at night to their Heavenly Father.  I have listened to the testimonies of others, and heard babies laugh.  These ears have witnessed to me the beauty that exsists in this world, if you seek it.
23. My legs are sure and strong.  I have often lamented my body’s weaknesses, complained of this ailment or that one.  But as I walked the isles at a Fresh & Easy store yesterday, my arm around and supporting an elderly woman with a shuffling step, I realized just what a blessing it is to be able to stroll down the isles, whining child in tow, and purchase a handful of items, all without aid.
24. I have tasted some of the finest foods available to mankind.
25. I can hike up a mountain, or climb a small hill, with little difficulty.  And once at the summit, I can take in the view, and appreciate what I am seeing.
26. I remember, after my son was born, what it was like to be unable to walk in a straight line without a walker.  How frustrated I felt when I could not walk from one room to the other while holding my newborn son, because I had to push that stinking walker in front of me, and therefore didn’t have hands available to hold him with.  I’m so grateful I can walk without the use of a walker, that the injury was not permanent!
27. I complain about the elephant flaps I’ve got going on, boy do these arms jiggle!  But they are strong enough to carry so many bags of groceries into the house at once, that I can often bring most of the groceries in with only one trip.  And they are strong and steady enough to assist an older person who needs a little help getting from one place to another.  And then can reach high over my head, and can be swung to and fro, without paining me.
28. What a blessing it is to be able to crawl around on the floor with your children.  How many games we can play!
29. I have generally nimble fingers, and can use them to do such things as sew and embroider and lace my own shoes.
30. I can read!  How many books have I read that have enriched my life?  How many times have I turned to the scriptures for guidance?  How many people in this world struggle with this very thing?  I have been so blessed!
31. I own hundreds of books.  I love reading, and having many books to choose from is something not every person has!
32. My dryer is busy tumbling right now.  I love my dryer, probably more than I should.  I am forever grateful that I have one.
33. I am very blessed to have a computer, and the internet.  I don’t have to go to the library to check my email, or look for a job, or read back-issues of Ensign.  I can just sit at my own desk!
34. I have a great little dining room table that we can all gather around for meals!  It was given to me by Ashley when we first moved into this apartment.  It fits perfectly in my dining room, and has a cute green tile top.
35. I own a car, free and clear.  It is in great working condition, and has excellent gas mileage!  Plus, it’s cute!
36. I have a great bed.  For a long time I had to sleep on a couch.  That really stunk!  It was an old, beat up couch.  Not at all comfortable.  But now I have this great little bed!  It’s a twin, and has a pillow-top.  I’ve had it for almost three years now, and it’s still very comfortable!
37. I have a television and a DVD player, and about 300 movies (most of them are cartoon series’ for the kids).  It’s nice to have these things on a rainy day when you are too tired to do a whole lot of anything else.
38. I own nearly all of The Living Scritpures movies!  I bought them many years ago, and it has been a wonderful blessing for our family!  We watch them most often on Sundays, or for FHE, and there are these great workbooks that go with them, and it makes planning FHE easier for little Denise.  Heck, it makes it easier for ME too.
39. I have these awesome white boards.  I love white boards.
40. I have a bedside lamp.  Bedside lamps are soooo nice, because you can read in bed and reach over and turn it off without having to get up.  This helps me to fall asleep at night, because getting up wakes me right back up.
41. I am thankful for my cat’s purr.  She has this really great motor, it just keeps on going!  She will curl up next to me at night, and that purr will vibrate in my chest, and in some odd way I find that very soothing, and it helps me sleep.
42. I am so glad Heavenly Father created the giraffe.  I have seen a giraffe running, so graceful, so breathtaking!  I have seen a giraffe drink, legs all akimbo, so vulnerable and clumbsy.  Who couldn’t relate to a creature so like us in grace and awkwardness?
43. I am thankful for the chocolate mountains of Arizona.  I love to spend time in them.  Watch the little critters as they go about their days.  Smell the beautiful flowers, even if they make me sneeze.
44. I especially love Arizona just before a storm.  The air is so heavy with anticipation!  You can smell the rain in the air!  Sometimes there is an electricity, a static buzz on your arms.  I love to walk outside, or just sit, just before a storm.
45. Have you ever watched a bee, busily searching for nectar in a grouping of flowers?  His little furry bum poking out and wiggling around and he works his way into narrow spaces on flowers?  It’s so cute!  I wish they weren’t so deadly!
46. I love horse lips.  They are so velvety soft, and smell of sweet hay.  They twitch when you tickle them, and make hilarious expressions when a horse is feeling goofy.  I know it’s a weird thing to love, but I can’t help myself.
47. Early morning roses covered in dew, delicate petals opening to the day, such a beautiful flower to see, to smell, to touch.  There are some roses that are valued for their beautiful thorns, rather than their petals.  Roses are my favorite flower.
48. I love “kool-aid clouds”.  Years ago, while we were driving west during a sunset, my daughter shouted “Mom, look!  God spilled his kool-aid!”, and that expression has stuck.  Lovely streaks of red “spilled’ all over the horizon, saturating the clouds with color.
49. I love the smell of autumn leaves in great big piles.  I remember making piles of them as a kid, buring myself in them during hide-n-seek games with my little brother.  As a child, my favorite fall leaves were those on the mapel tree.  I loved the shape.  The colors.  I pressed many in the pages of books.
50. I love to see the delicate shells discarded by a new hatchling bird on the grass underneath a tree where there is a  nest.  So very tiny, holding a little animal that is so full of spirit and song!  I love seeing this sign that there is new life, that there will be new songs.

I am happy because:    

• A sweetheart and her hubby came by tonight with a suprise! . . . .  Great Thanksgiving fare that I can prepare for my family’s Thanksgiving dinner (on Sunday for us this year)!  Amazing!  The fridge was pretty empty, and now it’s looking much less so!  Yay!  I can’t wait for Sunday’s dinner!
• We finished our thanksgiving turkey (scripture turkey) tonight!  The kids and I had to do a few extra tonight to get all of the feathers used up, but it was great anyway!  Denise said the cutest family prayer tonight, saying thank you to Heavenly Father for thanksgiving, and for scripture feathers.  So sweet!
• A really great thing about my new job is that I am forced to work through my fear of introducing myself to new people.  I’m usually really . . . reserved?  Shy?  Terrified?  Yeah, terrified.  I hate going up to new people and introducing myself and all of that.  This really forces me to deal with that fear, because every client is new (to me) and I need to introduce myself and so on.  It’s good.  Very good.

I am happy because:         

• I survived my first day at the new job!  I did well enough that the two clients I worked with today called my employer to request that I become their regular caregiver (on-going)!  I’m so flattered, and so pleased!  I’m glad they found me a likeable person, and I’m glad they found that I was competent at what I was doing.  (Little did they know it was the first time I’ve ever done this sort of work!)
• I just ate an extremely delicous cupcake with the most fabtastic frosting I have ever eaten!  Oh my goodness!  I love it when good friends give you tasty suprises!
• Big Brothers Big Sisters called today to tell me that they (finally) have a potential match for Robbie!  We are working on setting up a meeting.  It’s been such a long time, I figured we would never find a match!  This potential “big brother” is LDS, an RM (Peru), and an ER PA (works only 14 days a month).  There’s lots more I know about this guy, but I don’t wanna list it all.  Suffice it to say, it would be a great thing for the booger boy to have a guy to hang with once in a while!  I’ll try not to get my hopes up TOO high, but at the same time, I’m prayin’ it’s a good match!

I am happy because:    

• Today was orientation/training for my new job.  It went very well, and I was the only person who left with caregiving assignments already, all because I’m okay with the client(s) having cats/dogs/pets.  Awesome!
• My Quiltmaker’s 100 Blocks Vol. 2 came today!  I’m so excited!  I can’t wait until things settle down so that I can attempt some of these neat-o blocks!
• I think I am the most blessed person I know!  In so many ways, I can see the Lord’s hand in my life!  Through good people who extend a helping hand, an understanding heart, a listening ear, or a crying shoulder.  Through opportunities that seem to come so frequently, as I know they do not always for others.  Through so many ways, I could spend the entire night listing them here, or I could spend the entire night kneeling in prayer of thanksgiving.  (I think I’ll choose the latter.)  I may have a lot of “wrong”, a lot of “drama”, a lot of “trial” in my life, and sometimes I get quite a bit tired of it, sure . . . who wouldn’t?  But I’ve also been given the better part, been blessed beyond measure, and that is something worth remembering!