I was checking out some blogs this morning. I read Sara and Isaac's blog. She was saying how lucky she is - her great, talented, handsome husband - her perfect (so far) baby - and I had to agree. Then I got thinking, and I decided that she isn't lucky. She is blessed. I don't believe in luck, except in the lottery. I believe you work for what you get, and if you work hard enough or well enough, you are blessed with things you can't work for or things that Heavenly Father thinks you deserve, even if you don't think you need them or deserve them.

I am blessed. I don't know why, but I am. I have a super terrific husband that works hard at a job that he hates, so that we can have the things we need. I get to stay home and try to take care of things here. I totally get that that is a HUGE blessing. Not everyone gets to do that. Very few people get to do that. A lot of women have to go to work everyday, somewhere outside of their homes, and put their kids in daycare. Someone else gets to spend more time with their kids than they do. Most of my kids are in school all day, so others get to spend more time with them than I do, but when they were little, I got to spend all day with them. I am so grateful for a husband that thinks that is a priority and makes that happen.

I am blessed to live in a country where I have the choices that I do. I'm glad that I can choose for myself and live how and where I want. I'm grateful that I was born into a family that already knew about the Gospel and had been sealed together. Out of the billions of people who have lived on this earth, why am I blessed enough to live now, here, with the Gospel already in my life? I don't even have to go find it. It's always been there, and I've always known it is true. What are the odds?

There are lots of things about my life that I wish were different, but I realize that they are my challenges to deal with, and I know that there is something for me to learn in each of them. Not to say that I don't wish that someone could just open up my head and pour in the knowledge without going through the trials, but that's how we learn.

I love my house (although we are changing some things about it for the better), I love my neighborhood, and I love my ward. I have the best calling ever, for me anyway. I am the Primary Secretary. It's all about numbers and files, and ideas and organizing lists. Perfect for me. Those are things I love, and things I'm good at.

I've been doing my project 365 (for a whole year you take at least one picture a day and write a sentence or two about it) faithfully. I just got a bunch of pictures yesterday in the mail (I signed up at Shutterfly and they gave me 25 free prints) and they reminded me of what a great family I have. They also reminded me of some of my talents. I'm grateful for that. Some days I NEED those gentle reminders.

Enough rambling on. I have things to do. Want a list?

wash walls so we can paint, laundry, clean the kitchen, clean both bathrooms, change some diapers, fix lunch, re-hang a towel rack in the kids bathroom, put up insulation in the basement, fold the laundry, put the boys for naps, vacuum the whole house, figure out something for dinner, clean out the spice cabinet, clean the fridge, etc., etc., etc.

Have a great day!