Count your blessings

I have so much to be thankful for lately. Last week I was feeling a little down and that day I picked Caleb up from school and the first thing he said was, "Mom, my snow pants were stolen today." That was enough for me. I had my phone on me so I sent off an email right there and told him teacher about it. She emailed back and said that she thought Caleb just wasn't looking hard enough. I went home and locked myself in my room for a "time out" and just cried. I picked up the phone to call Aaron but thought that I shouldn't bother him about stuff like this so I got on my knees and took it to my Father. I just started praying out loud for the help that I needed. As soon as I ended my prayer the phone started to ring, it was Mrs. Anderson. She said she had thought to call Caleb's cubby buddy and ask him if he accidentally took Caleb's pants and he had. She gave me the phone number to call the kid's mom and 30 minutes later we were happy at home with snow pants. I then had to go back into my room and say more prayers of Thanks because it just amazes me that Heavenly Father would answer such a simple prayer. My friend Jodi called and she could tell that something was wrong. She lovingly brought her husband over and he gave me a blessing to help me get through that day. Of course it wasn't all about snow pants but just the pressures of being apart from my husband for so long and raising 4 kids by myself and the trials that come with it. I'm so grateful for Jodi's guidance.

Then the other day someone, who doesn't want to be known, came to my house and fixed my roof. We had a huge wind storm (80 mph winds) and it ripped off part of our shingles on our roof. I had called the insurance company and talk to the adjuster but with so many houses damaged he still hadn't shown up after a week and the snow was coming- it had to get fixed fast. It was starting to become a huge stress to Aaron and I because 1) it's a $500 deductible that of course comes at the worst time (Christmas coming and paying for a airline ticket for Aaron to come home) and 2) when the snow melts it would cause more damage than what was there. So Monday night we're eating dinner and all of the sudden we hear all this racket on the roof. Santa? A huge duck? No it was this man fixing out roof and not just any roof but a roof with ice on it. I hurried and finished dinner, put Jackson down for bed, and stood outside to watch him. He finished and I asked him if I could pay him and he said," I didn't come here for money." I then asked him if I could at least pay for the supplies and he just smiled. I just started to cry and thank him. This past conference Elder. Jeffrey R. Holland gave a talk about Angels. He said that angels are sometimes people that surround you. That night that man was definitely my Angel.

I'm so unbelievable thankful. Yesterday I was working around the house and when I think of how many prayers have been answered lately I just break down and cry. I really can't believe that my Father loves me that much.