grateful

Today.

i am grateful for a healthy baby.

i am grateful it has been SO easy.

to get pregnant. to stay pregnant. to give birth. to sustain life.

sometimes, the gratitude for those things is overwhelming.

i try to never take it for granted.

Oh, and random other thought

I am grateful the people who read this blog. I feel this kinship with some strangers who, for some crazy reason, feel like my life is interesting enough to continue reading. I have gotten some of the greatest advice and encouragement from "friends of friends" etc. amazing. Like this quote (courtesy via Heidi Rose):

"You have walked the sometimes painful, sometimes joyous path of parenthood. You have walked hand in hand with God in the great process of bringing children into the world that they might experience this estate along the road of immortality and eternal life. It has not been easy rearing a family. Most of you have had to sacrifice and skimp and labor night and day. As I think of you and your circumstances, I think of the words of Anne Campbell, who wrote as she looked upon her children:
You are the trip I did not take;
You are the pearls I cannot buy;
You are my blue Italian lake;
You are my piece of foreign sky.
(“To My Child,” quoted in Charles L. Wallis, ed., The Treasure Chest [1965], 54)
You [mothers] are the real builders of the nation wherever you live,for you have created homes of strength and peace and security. These become the very sinew of any nation.”
Gordon B. Hinckley, “Women of the Church,” Ensign, Nov 1996, 67"

i appreciate your raw, candid, honesty. i hope i can offer the same. i personally find so much strength and enlightenment through others' experiences. maybe you disagree or find blogs too "public", I for one, am gateful.

xoxo