Happy New Year! 2010.....

It has been forever since I have blogged, so I hardly know where to begin.
It has been a peaceful and nice holiday season. All of our kids were here for Christmas. The Lord's blessings in our lives are so apparent that I feel unworthy to have all that I have. Gratitude is a virtue that I feel on a daily basis. I can't even begin to enumerate all of my blessings.
On the Sunday before Christmas, a sister in our ward at church gave a talk that touched me in a deep way. She shared a story of a family that had been experiencing hard times. One older brother was working away from home and had been sending home his earnings to help his family. On Christmas morning, when everyone was together and opening the few meager gifts that they had managed for one another, the father of the family sat thumbing through an old Scout journal that he had received. Then he called his family to listen to what this gift was that he had received. He said that it was probably the best gift he had ever received. It was from the older son who told him that he didn't have anything else to give him that year except this journal. On each page there was a "gt" in the cornor, which stood for "good turn." On each day of the journal, the "gt" had been crossed out to represent the good turn this son had done each day of that passed year. What a beautiful gift it would be for any parent to know that their child was living their life with the intent to give service each day and that they had been successful at it. Since that day, I have tried to be aware of intentionally doing at least one good turn each day. Hopefully I will do more that one, and that has already at times been the case. But, I want to be intentional about my service and not accidental and not just coincidental and not just when it is convenient, because real service many times is inconvenient. This awareness has already made a change in my heart and in my relationship to my Savior. I'll let you know how the year goes.