memories

I'm going to make a compilation of family stories/events. My students are doing an assignment for their final in one class where they wrote out interview questions for a family member and then interviewed, wrote down the answers, and put it into a paragraph. It made me think about how much I don't know about the way my parents grew up or what my children won't know about how I've grown up if I don't take the time to remember and write it down. I'm hoping my family will contribute some of the things that I don't really remember or that happened before I was born that are important or memorable from our own little family's history.

Being part of a new family with Luke has helped me realize how important it is to do things right from the very beginning. By this I mean, if I want my children to grow up in a home that has Family Home Evening, we need to start having it now, making it part of our Monday nights from the very beginning. Last night Luke and I read The Living Christ together and talked about evidences in the world that Christ in fact lives today. We talked about the way people's hearts change during this time when we celebrate His birth, being more willing to sacrifice and to give of their excess to those who are need. We talked about how some people may not realize how Christ has influenced their hearts, but we know that the light of Christ is real and that it is in everyone. It gives people the discerning of bad from good. It motivates people to do good if they will just listen or choose to act on it. We talked about a lot of things and I think it's so important to just take time to remember or we won't let it be part of our everyday thought.

I'm grateful for so many things and know that I owe everything to my Savior, who has allowed a life for me that is so much greater than anything I could have achieved without him.

I'm grateful for challenges and trials that make me stronger and that allow me to grow closer to Luke, as we strive together to work through things and move forward.

I'm grateful for the feeling that I get when I look at Luke and can't help but smile.