"What you pay attention to grows."
Putting energy into things that bring you down or make you angry just cultivates a garden of noxious weeds that suck the nutrients from a potential harvest of happiness.
I love hearing ideas from friends about how they are improving and enriching their home and family lives. I was recently inspired by something my friend Carly is doing and am going to do the same thing with our family. I share because the idea is awesome, and it might be something one of you readers might like to try…but I have to say first that I am only a participant in an experiment, and credit for the idea is not mine at all. Carly is the creative genius behind this idea and deserves all credit for it's origin.
The idea is simple: We will cultivate good qualities by paying attention to and practicing them. Perhaps instead of or in addition to year long goals, focus on one attribute each month and pray for experiences to help us grow that quality in our home.
We discussed a lot of qualities our family could work on and a few suggestions that we came up with were:
obedience, patience, being positive and cheerful, hardworking, selflessness, loving, gain knowledge/more studious, and forgiving
We talked about this at family night and decided and after some discussion and prayer, we decided that our attribute this month needs to be gratitude.
I like this little definition from lds.org and will use it as part of our next FHE lesson:
Gratitude is a feeling of appreciation and thankfulness for blessings or benefits we have received. As we cultivate a grateful attitude, we are more likely to be happy and spiritually strong. We should regularly express our gratitude to God for the blessings He gives us and to others for the kind acts they do for us.
A few scriptures we will focus on this month:
Doctrine and Covenants: 59
7 Thou shalt thank the Lord thy God in all things.
Psalm 100
3 Know ye that the Lord he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.
4 Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name.
4 Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name.
Application:
To put our study into practice, I've made a few things I am grateful for today:
-kid artwork. Masterpieces of scratch paper and crayon.
-neighbors who are friends
-the new librarian at story time busted out a ukelele. What the awesome? She was quirky and fun and the boys loved it. 
-a friend volunteering to watch the big kids while I take Soren to a checkup today. There's something about taking 3 healthy children into a doctor's office waiting room that just makes me itch. I just know they would've come home home with strep and the flu as party favors. Huge blessing that they were able to have a playdate with friends instead.
-my church calling and the many opportunities I get to grow.
-Sudafed, Benadryl, and alcohol free fiaming germX are my friends.
-leftover cheesecake from our pre-gringo fiesta the other night
-the sun blazing through my living window
-my favorite hat, because I didn't take a shower today and it's less obvious how nasty my hair is when it's shoved under a hat.
-phone calls to my mom and sister.
-Aaron's job and that he is able to take the girls to school or to the bus stop about 4 of the 5 school days a week.
-that the chickenpox, flu, and strep have all somehow passed over our family despite multiple exposures to all of the above.
-in addition to that, a clean bill if health for the baby guy at his appointment today
-possible snow days in the 10 day forecast. I mean, if it's going to be freezing, then let's have ourselves some winter and enjoy it. Otherwise, we're just cold and there is no fun in that. I'm happy to see one more big snow headed our way before spring marches in.
-29 cent avocados
-a best friend who sincerely cares about my family
-a wonderful pediatrician who is dedicated to Soren's health and development
-an early night run for me and a late night basketball tournament for Aaron
-boots that feel like slippers
-Soren said, "banana" today
-fresh eggs
-as of today I have a waiting list for my preschool. Happy.
-enough clean underwear in everyone's drawers that I can ignore laundry until Monday. Boom. Awesome.
-lotion and chapstick for my crazy dry skin and always cracked lips.
-tulips on my table
-laughing with Aaron at a Jerry Seinfeld/Brian Regan video he found over lunch.
-living 7 minutes closer to bentonville than we used to. I didnt mind the drive before but now that it's shorter I feel a huge difference in the convenience of living so much closer to places I love.
-and a little unexpected nap with this guy in our sunny corner. Those cheeks. Yum.
I have so much to be grateful for and look forward to a month of intentional appreciation of all that I am blessed with. And if you catch me being ungrateful, poke me with a stick and tell me to snap out of it. :)
