More Gratitude

So, I'm finishing the list of things I'm grateful for that I started yesterday. The goal is to end up with 100 things on the list, by creating 10 categories with 10 items in each list.

Ten Things I'm Thankful for Today
1. the left-over Indian food that I get to warm up for dinner
2. KittyCat
3. Fourth grade went very smoothly today. :)
4. I found little foam ornament crafts at Target to make with my students on Friday.
5. I got 80% on my final paper in my graduate class!!!!! I wasn't sure it would even pass...
6.  my new coat (I had playground duty this morning, and crossing guard duty this afternoon, and it was cold!)
7. cold leftover salmon for lunch that was delicious
8. a warm morning shower
9. TIVO
10. got a letter from the Boot Camp Sailor! He's good!

Ten Places on Earth for Which I'm Thankful
1. the beach in Southern California/Pacific Ocean
2. Star Valley, Wyoming
3. The Chesapeake Bay
4. the spring that provided our drinking water for my childhood home
5. Mt. Rainier (it is just stunning to see---all of those Cascade's volcanoes are awesome)
6. Zion National Park
7. The Grand Tetons
8. The monuments on the main mall in Washington D.C.
9. cropland
10. the amazing vastness of the Western USA

Ten Modern Inventions for Which I'm Thankful
1. Running water in my house
2. the computer
3. the Internet
4. telephones
5. cameras
6. penicillin (and all those other antibiotics and vaccines against diseases that people just died from when my mom was a child)
7. foot surgery
8. washing machines
9. refrigerators
10. internal combustion engines (and all the vehicles for which they are used)

Ten Foods for Which I Am Thankful
1. dark chocolate
2. cheese
3. tom yum soup
4. eggs
5. milk
6. chili dogs
7. dutch oven potatoes
8. caprese salad
9. french toast and breakfast sausage
10. fresh fruit

Ten Things About The Gospel for Which I'm Thankful
1. the Mercy of God
2. being able to pray
3. getting answers to prayer
4. going to the temple
5. teaching at church
6. the Resurrection
7. eternal family ties
8. knowing that God loves me
9. reading the Scriptures
10. General Conference

Well, I'm at the end of the game, but I'm definitely not at the end of things I feel thankful for, by any means. When I  heard this proposed yesterday, my first thought was, "That would take so much time; how could anyone come up with a list that long?"  I was surprise how quickly I could cite ten things. And for every list, I discovered that ten items weren't nearly enough. Each thing I thought of just made me think of more that could go on the list, well past the limit of ten.

Try it---do it as a family, or as an individual. You'll be astonished. Then, don't forget to kneel tonight and thank God for helping you to have so many things to be thankful for. You know where all these blessings in your life come from, right??