Latest Edition: Tender Mercies

(any and all Christmas-y goodness)

MoTab concerts

Lord of the Rings inspired gingerbread houses

visits with friends

delicious smelling/tasting gifts from my students

not dying on the exceptionally choppy airplane ride home

the "Polar Express"

brothers wearing sweaters

"It's a Wonderful Life"

Mariah Carey Christmas music

real Christmas trees

my mom's 40-some-odd nativities

the Christ-centered Christmas focus

Chuy's fajita chicken salad

Texas winter weather

(and missing the beginning of the Utah snow)

finding the perfect shirt for family pictures

Cousins, and cousin-in-laws, and cousin's babies

sweet grandparents;

and especially a kindred spirit in this grandma

the movie, Music of the Heart

seriously, wow! Juuust what I needed.

Also, Into the Woods;

and really,

pretty much any movie with Meryl Streep,

am I right??

And those people;

plus these besties;

A new apartment to come soon...

...and just a whole new year,

ready for all my New Years resolutions

#ilovethegym

#andveggies

#GradSchool ?

#scriptureseveryday

But most especially,

consistent realizations that life is good,

and I have been and always will be

helped in the direction that I need to go.

"We should certainly count our blessings,

but we should also make them count."

--Neal A. Maxwell

Because I've gotta keep track of them....

...lately tender mercies have come in the form of;

how much my parents really do love each other
#ThanksgivingAnniversary #29years

my sassy baby sister, Emma Grace

a coworker randomly stuffing two cough drops in her pocket

for no apparent reason one morning,
and she then just happened to have them available to give me

on the day I was the sickest this week

Nyquil

my dad making sure my car is in ship-shape

(this is literally one of my dad's love languages,

and it makes me feel so cared about)

words of gratitude

"temple trips" with my sister Sophie;
to temples a whoooole 25 minutes away!

Melty Way gluten free grilled cheese sandwiches

missionary stories

gospel doctrine lessons

Family

a new, closer teaching location

finding out that I'm known as the "tutor with

tiger glasses" by the kids at work

the mountains
(I know!!!!!
What's happening to me??)

Cousins

words of the Prophets and Apostles


"As I would cast my mind over the day, I would see evidence of what God had done for one of us that I had not recognized in the busy moments of the day. As that happened, and it happened often, I realized that trying to remember, had allowed God to show me what He had done. More than gratitude began to grow in my heart. Testimony grew. I became ever more certain that our Heavenly Father hears and answers prayers."
--Henry B Eyring