Blessings - November 15

1. For some reason, Sundays always make me grateful for music. Our choir performed this today and in my opinion it was the best performance we've had since I moved here. We have some amazing, amazing talent in our ward, including a violinist and flutist who did the obligato part today. I thought it was so pretty. Then, I had the privilege to help some of our young women learn this, which they will perform on Tuesday for Excellence Night. Such beautiful music and wonderful voices to perform it! Oh, and we sang at the nursing home too, which somehow always make me sad and happy at the same time.
2. My sweet 6-year-old. That kid just does something every day to make me smile. You probably think I'm biased towards her as opposed to my other kids - I'm really not, it's just that her personality just totally cracks me up. Today she performed a dance for us to various songs from "Wicked". She had it all planned out which songs she would do, in which order, and certain moves for different parts of the song. She would dance with her "partner" (again, the tripod from the white board) and spin him around, throw him in the air, do kicks and twirls, dips and bows. It was completely adorable. I might have her do it again tomorrow for FHE and record it...but I still don't have the cord I need to upload video.... Anyway, the best part about it was that she would stop occasionally and say, "it's okay if you clap during the performance if there is something that you like!", so we just sat there and whooped it up every time she did a fancy move. She brings joy to my day. All of my kids do, and I'm very grateful for each one of them.
3. Again, adoption. Tonight was the FSA fireside for Adoption Month, so we attended a fireside where they read a letter from Pres. Obama declaring this National Adoption Month, then heard some stories of families who have gone through this process. I think every adoption story has it's own miracles, and it's just awesome to hear about them! Doug was one of the speakers too. Afterwards, we had a great time having YUMMO refreshments and visiting with friends from the adoption world. It was nice. And I got to meet the cutest little baby that I had heard about because all of the drama that was involved in his adoption which took up a lot of time for Doug...but it was so great to see him with his family tonight and see that he is just right where he belongs.
4. Last but not least - Sunday phone calls from "home". I look forward to them each week and am never disappointed. I miss my family but I'm so grateful for technology that allows us to stay in touch. We do 80% of our communicating online now, but those Sunday phone calls add a personal touch that is really nice once in awhile.