Thankful Me

Some weeks, I have plenty of free time.  I blog regularly, I stay on top of the housework, and I have time to think.  This was not one of those kind of weeks. I did think, "Well, at least I can get a Wordless Wednesday post up," but when I sat down to do that, I realized it was Thursday.  Despite being a day behind, I did steal a moment here and there to take some photos of things that brought a smile to my face throughout the week.  

Compassion  has been on my mind lately.  I participated in 1000 Voices for Compassion .  I read some of the other posts about compassion.  My facebook feed has been exploding with links about compassion, and my twitter account has been notifying me almost non-stop about compassion.  And that is just my virtual life. 

Link to the link-up When Lizzi first invited me to join in the 1000 Voices of Compassion event, I did not jump in with enthusiasm.  I doubted, wondering if "compassion" was code for political policies or social agendas that I did not support.  Fortunately, I came to my senses and realized that, yes, I most definitely did want to join with other bloggers in writing about compassion.  Compassion is an admirable character trait, and one I hope to develop more fully.  My mom was my first teacher of compassion.   I've  written about her teaching methods in a previous post .   

Christine recently posted "20 Lessons in 20 Years" as part of a blog hop called, "Learning Love: A Lesson a Year in Marriage."  I admired her post, loved the idea of celebrating marriage, but thought, "If I want to participate, I have to come up with 27 things (and I'm grateful our anniversary is later this year, so I don't have to come up with 28!)."   I eventually came to the conclusion that my whining was ridiculous, and I should just sit down and start writing. I decided to copy Christine's format, and relate an incident from each year of our marriage. Obviously, I have left out many events, including some major changes, but to expect to thoroughly cover 27 years of marriage in one blog post is unrealistic. 

Despite what the groundhog predicted, here in my neck of the woods we have been enjoying balmy weather.  I think the nation needs a west coast groundhog to provide the local forecast.  I've spent time in my backyard this week, pruning palms and roses, pulling weeds, and planting raspberries and lilacs.  For those of you still buried in snow, I offer a hopeful glimpse of weather to come:

Last month, I mentioned that I was joining in 1000 Voices for Compassion , and I said I'd tell you why on February 20th.  Well, as I've considered the topic, I've realized that I have too many thoughts on the subject to write only one post about compassion.  

Thanks for balance and harmony. 

I'm thankful I think of you every time I see (or hear, as the case may be):  1.  Transformers 2.  A trumpet 3.  A song from The Fantasticks 4.  A red felt hat 5.  A Pink Floyd CD 6.  Jelly bellies 7.  Anything Japanese 8.  A statue of a lamassu 9.  Anyone talking about med school 10.  Anyone talking about their first baby Happy birthday to you, my first-born. We might have been  were all sleep-deprived those first few months, but you opened our eyes to this wonderful thing called parenthood.  We love you and are so proud of you! <div align="center"> <a href=" http://summat2thinkon.wordpress.com/?s=Ten+Things+of+Thankful" rel=”nofollow” title="Ten Things of Thankful" target="_blank"><img src="http://summat2thinkon.files.wordpress.com/2014/05/d8fc4-tenthingsbanner.jpg?w=700" alt="Ten Things of Thankful" style="border:none;" /

Lisa of The Meaning of Me  recently tagged me and the other co-hosts of the TToT to participate in the. . . Acceptance of the award involves answering 10 questions.  TEN. She set me up perfectly to multi-task!  

Thanks for the beautiful, peaceful, romantic full moon--the one I was trying to capture when I took this spooky shot!

Yesterday, I showed you how to set up a familysearch.org account, and get started on your family tree.  If you missed that post, you'll want to go back and read it.  You will need a familysearch.org account in order to play your own version of 6 Degrees of You.  

John and I enjoy watching movies together.  We often leave a movie asking, "Where have we seen him before?"  Sometimes an actor might resemble another; other times, an actor's voice or name might remind us of another.  For example, I constantly confuse one particular actor with both the host of Antiques Roadshow, and the director of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.  The names Mark Wahlberg , Mark L. Walberg , and Dr. Mack Wilberg are just too similar! 

February's visiting teaching message is all about the sinless nature of Jesus Christ.  Elder D. Todd Christofferson said,  … The power of His Atonement can erase the effects of sin in us. When we repent, His atoning grace justifies and cleanses us . It is as if we had not succumbed, as if we had not yielded to temptation. We can have hope that when we err, we can be forgiven.   Christ's atonement can give us strength and enables us to carry on during difficult times. I'm thankful for the perfect life of Jesus Christ, and for His atonement, which brings peace to my heart.