Gratitude

While Lilly has been gone, I have been able to catch up on my reading. I feel like I never get to read anymore during the day. Every afternoon while Claire is sleeping I have been able to go outside and read...I love it. I am still reading Lonesome Dove (looks like Anton might win that bet!), but I also have been reading the latest issue of the Ensign. A lot of the articles were focused on the family, and the importance of family. As I read the articles I, of course, found many things that I want to strive to be better at. While at the same time, I had such a huge feeling of gratitude come to me. I am so grateful for the opportunity to have my own little family. For the opportunity I have to bear children and raise them. Gratitude for my marriage. We fall short of many things, but the one thing we seem to be pretty good at within our little family is love and respect. I was able to attend a sealing in the temple this morning. I couldn't help but think back on the day Anton and I were married. I remember details of our dinner, but I remember almost every detail of our ceremony. I feel so lucky to have found him. He is so respectful of me, is so good to me, and such a darling father. He is a good man, and an honest man. I see how often he is in service of others, and it amazes me. His parents taught him well. Not a week goes by, no joke, without him doing something for someone else. In fact, he has plans this Saturday to help someone out. And, he does it quietly. No one ever knows. He is so humble about it, and yet so willing. I adore that about him. He is not perfect, but neither am I. I feel comfort in knowing we are in this together...that we can learn and grow together. We have plenty of that ahead of us, and I am glad I get to take the journey with him. How can I talk about gratitude without mentioning my girls?! For the gift of being a mother?! My love for them is unmeasurable. And, it will be everlasting. My gratitude and my love of the concept of eternal families grows each day. The only word I can describe on how I feel about my little family at the moment: Gratitude.