Be Thankful

So what does it mean to be thankful?

Today Marie and I went to Jeff and Britt's ward to help with the children while they gave talks in their new ward. I came away from that meeting with a renewed thankfulness for the things that I have. But when I think about what I have it becomes hard to really list them.

But I will try.

Well I have been a half an hour just typing into excel and I have not even scratched the surface.
I would love to be very specific but that gets hard to do when listing friends or trees and animals.
Here's the starting list:

Family	Home	Work
Marie	My house	use of my hands
Ben	The home  I grew up in	talents
Cat	My friends homes	knowledge
Gabe	A Roof	teachers
Sam	walls	co-workers
Jeffery	floors	student employees
Lori	bedrooms	past bosses
Kasia	family rooms
McKinsey	kitchen	Trees
Hayden	storage room	pine
Cheyenne	queen sized bed	fruit
Hallie	bathroom	decorative
Leilah	shower	shade
Greyson	soap	aspens
Tia	shampoo	walnut
Scott	razor
Baby girl Underwood	bath towel	Animals
Loren	cold water	Elk
Rachelle	hot water	deer
Brooklyn	hand towel	dogs
Kade	wash cloth	cats
Kyle	toilet	Bald Eagles
Brittany	sink	snails
Jeffrey	toiletries	butterflies
Alex	tooth brush	worms
Kate	floss	buffalo
Family	tooth paste	cows
Alma's family	bandaids	horses
Stan's family	lip gloss	goats
Clair's family	fingernail clippers	pigs
Lynn's family	comb	chickens
Leesa's family	hair brush	moose
Marsha's family	mirror	pronghorn
Kermit	medicine cabinet	Golden Eagles
Ilean	medicine	Swallows
Grand Mothers	lights	Seagulls
Grand Fathers	light swith	ducks
Ancestors	electrical wiring	Canadian Geese
Children yet to be born	power company	Swans
Christ	gas company
Heavenly father	furnace	Food
Heavenly mother	ceiling fans	fruit
	smoke alarms	nuts
Friends	windows	candy
scout friends	window shades	vitamins
work friends	carpet	food coloring
school friends	tile flooring	flavorings
church friends	acrylic flooring	sugar
mission friends	paint	milk
people I have photographed	broom
	dust pan
	file cabinets
Yards	drawers
grass	pens
decorations	pencils
flowers	erasers
tools	computer
lawn mower	software
4 wheeler	boxes
snow	tins
ice crystals	pictures
garden hoses	candles
clothes lines	desk
paly house	scissors
storage sheds	tape
pavillion	paper
surface well	tape dispensers
water pumps	hole punchers
	binders
	back packs
	camelbacks
	wrapping paper
	plastic bags
	sleep
	chairs

See I have a long	way to go but at	least you know  that
I am thankful	for all that my	Heavenly Father has
done for me since	done for me since	I would have and be
	nothing without
	Him and Christ.

Regional Conference 10/26/2014

Notes from Regional Conference 10/26/2014

BYU married and Single Stakes held at the Marriott Center

These are only notes from a couple of the talks. (I wrote these notes since I was there supporting the custodial department for the conference.)

Sister Ashton - Provo Temple Matron

“What are your intensions? The intensions of your life?”

Possible examples:

         Know God, know His voice

         To be a good parent

         To be in the temple

         To return to Heavenly Father

Your intensions become your character

A good T-Shirt might read: I am living my righteous intent.

Elder M. Russell Ballard—Quorum of the Twelve Apostles

Find a quiet place / with scriptures. Read in preparation for an interview with YOURSELF. Ponder and Think  -- Where am I? What are my intensions?

Write down the things that come into your heart that you need to change and to do to become a powerful child of God.

Hang in there – see yourself deeply- if you have some things to correct- fix them.

Take today as a day to fix it – it’s called Repentance.

Elder Ballard said when he was called to be an apostle:

“If I had known – I would have been better at it studying the scriptures. I had some catching up to do.”

Fix it- by determining: I will draw a line today over which I will never cross again.

Make goals, set objectives, have personal intensions of where you want to be. Set goals so that you know if you are progressing.  Make them realistic, obtainable, personal goals. Don’t set too many. Don’t set too few. Don’t set them too hard or too easy.

Talking about money:

Be frugal. Don’t spend for things you don’t need. “Live to become everything Heavenly Father has for you to become.

The world needs you. The world needs your testimony. Stand and say your testimony with conviction.

Interview yourself regularly so that you can say; “Here am I Lord, send me.”

Stay close to your family. They are your parents, they are precious just as you are precious. Stay in touch with your parents at least once a week. Stay close to those that love you.

Do not drift – stay anchored to those things you know to be true.

SO what matters right now?

Are you on your knees every night? Report into your Heavenly Father. Don’t drift from the simple things. Read the scriptures every day.  “Do inspections in righteousness.”

Don’t say I am too busy. I wish I could put a video camera on you and then set you down and watch how much time you waste.

Get sufficient rest and exercise.

You young men got to be looking to find your partner. Young women need to be attractive, look nice. You can be part of the problem. Young men always be respective. Open the door for your date or wife.

Don’t be captured with video games. You can be addicted to them. “Master technology – don’t let it capture you and destroy your ability to serve when called.”

If you want to be a disciple of Christ then follow His example. He was always reaching out to the one. Blessing the one. Comforting the one.

Have meaningful prayer morning and night. If it slips away you will loose a marvelous privilege. Ask HF to help you overcome, to be what He wants you to be.

He then left an Apostolic Blessing upon those present and advised.

See yourself as only you can. Change your life and increase your intentions to be the best that you can be. If you do it you will be happier. You can have fun. Have righteous good times together. Prepare yourself to be ready to serve where HF will need you to bless the lives of His children.