Gratitude Day 8:
I'm so grateful for the nice people who read this blog. I was really frustrated and worried yesterday when I wrote that post (and not even 1/2 of what I was worried and sad about it made it into the post - some things are better kept to myself). I'm so grateful for everyone who took the time to share their ideas and their support in a comment and who wrote me emails. Thanks for caring. Thanks for helping me feel better. Thanks for offering fresh perspective.
Since my first blog post over 5 years ago, I've shared a lot here. This little spot in cyberspace has been great therapy for me and has helped many others. As I share my good stuff and bad stuff, I process what's going on, realize my blessings, and come up with solutions. Sometimes my blog is the way I pat myself on the back when my best efforts seem to go unnoticed or when my work feels invisible. And always, when I hit a hard spot and blog about it, there's at least one helpful comment that really strikes a chord and helps me see what I need to see.
And I guess I'll add one more related thing that I'm really grateful for today - technology. You and I wouldn't be here on this blog without it. And last night, the whole extended Eyre family did a technology-assisted Family Home Evening using Google+ Hangout (Ashton set it up - I'm still not totally sure how it works but once it was up and running it worked beautifully!). We had 8 screens showing each family in their homes all over the country plus we had my sister Charity on a speaker phone with my Dad (she was at work so that's what worked best for her). My dad gave a 2-minute lesson on Gratitude and challenged us to each come up with at least 300 things on our Thankful List this year so that when we put it all together, we'd have at least 2700 things we were collectively grateful for (to read about this tradition, click HERE). We got a tour of Tal and Anita's new apartment in NYC and Jo and Aja's new place in Hawaii. Everyone had a chance to make any announcement they liked - we heard about different kids' sports victories, trips planned, new pursuits. Kids got to share a talent. Baby Poem showed how she can stand up by herself. Claire showed one of her cheerleading cheers. Ashton played a guitar song. The twins showed the latest models they've built out of magnets. Kristi and Anita showed off their matching pregnant tummies (they're due in a month - due dates just a day apart) and everyone oohed and ahhed about their new cousins. Everyone was talking over each other and it was all pretty wild - but great. We ended up having a great virtual dance party at the end. It was almost like we were all back at Bear Lake together! How awesome is it that we can do stuff like this thanks to technology???
What are you grateful for today?
Oh, I need to learn how to do that!! I have so many children that are grown and 9 grandchildren with two more on the way. I miss them all and I really would love to do something like this at least once a month. It might even help my few rebellious ones to come home!!
ReplyDeleteI love reading your blog, Saren. How smart is Ashton?! I would love to learn how to do that thing to. I know my college daughter at BYUI would love it and my married girl is only about 40 minute away but it would still be good with other family--parents, siblings.
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