Attitude of Gratitude

Today is #ThankfulThursday!!!!  Woot woot!! I know usually just jump into all the things I am thankful for!!!  But, lets change it up a  min.  I wanna share with you a little from the talk "Grateful in Any Circumstances" by: President Dieter F. Uchtdorf Second Counselor in the First Presidency April 2014:

"But some might say, “What do I have to be grateful for when my world is falling apart?”

Perhaps focusing on what we are grateful for is the wrong approach. It is difficult to develop a spirit of gratitude if our thankfulness is only proportional to the number of blessings we can count. True, it is important to frequently “count our blessings”—and anyone who has tried this knows there are many—but I don’t believe the Lord expects us to be less thankful in times of trial than in times of abundance and ease. In fact, most of the scriptural references do not speak of gratitude for things but rather suggest an overall spirit or attitude of gratitude.

It is easy to be grateful for things when life seems to be going our way. But what then of those times when what we wish for seems to be far out of reach?

Could I suggest that we see gratitude as a disposition, a way of life that stands independent of our current situation? In other words, I’m suggesting that instead of being thankful for things, we focus on being thankful in our circumstances—whatever they may be."

(continue reading this talk here)

I am Thankful for so much!! I really am!!!  You know, I really don't have a lot! Or people may look at me and wonder what I have to be thankful for.  I have a car, but that car has not ran in 2 years now.....lol.  So, I do a ton of walking!  But that's OK with me!!  It sucks, yes.....but, it is better for my health and I am actually saving money on insurance and gas!!  I don't have a HUGE house like I see all my classmates have.  You know, new everything!!  I am not envy, I am happy to see people succeeding!! Do I wish I had a nice, new, big house??  Well, of course!!  I am human!!  But I am thankful for my little, basic, four room house!!  It is a roof over my head!!  Do I get annoyed that I feel like I am cleaning up after a 2 year old 24/7......yes, but, I am thankful that my grandson is here.  Do I feel like I am ALAWAYS going through something???  And that I am stressed all the time!?  Yes!  But I am thankful for these hard times, because of them.....I have a closer relationship with my Heavenly Father!!!!

I am trying to approach things in life now with that attitude of gratitude, not just being thankful.  I wanna teach my kids and my grandson now to approach life like this as well!!  And this isn't just a "Mormon" thing y'all!!!

I was just reading an article from the Wall Street Journal online.  Its by Diana Kapp from December 2013.

HEALTH & WELLNESS

Raising Children With an Attitude of Gratitude

Research Finds Real Benefits for Kids Who Say 'Thank You'

Continue reading the full artilcle here

In this article they did some research on kids in middle and in high school......

"The mere act of giving thanks has tangible benefits, research suggests. A 2008 study of 221 kids published in the Journal of School Psychology analyzed sixth- and seventh-graders assigned to list five things they were grateful for every day for two weeks. It found they had a better outlook on school and greater life satisfaction three weeks later, compared with kids assigned to list five hassles.

Another study examined 1,035 high-school students outside New York City. The study, published in 2010 in the Journal of Happiness Studies, found that those who showed high levels of gratitude, for instance thankfulness for the beauty of nature and strong appreciation of other people, reported having stronger GPAs, less depression and envy and a more positive outlook than less grateful teens."

Also in this article it states how we can do things to help teach our kids to be grateful.  I remember as a girl growing up. my step mom would have dinner on the table at 5pm......everyday.  And everyday we would be at the table, but we would not touch the food until my dad was at the table.  After we were done with dinner, each one of us kids(5) would thank my mom for dinner before getting up.  We were grateful that my mom made sure we had dinner every night. never missing a beat.  I really think things have become so convenient that we forget to be thankful. Or, not forget, but maybe not recognize it as much??  I mean, to buy anything now days all you have to do is click a button on our computers or smartphone and within a few days its at our door!!  Right??

I guess my point in this blog is to challenge you to have an attitude of gratitude.  We should practice this every single day!! Not just "thanksgiving" or #ThankfulThursday....  Lets raise our kids to be less stressed. less depressed, Happy adults!!  

Before I wrap this up, I wanna say........

"I am thankful for this life here on Earth!  I am thankful for my earthly family! I am thankful That I have a Heavenly Father who loves me and supplies me with the strength I need  to make it through hard times and I am thankful for our Church Leaders who Give these talks and are here to help Counsel us! I am thankful that I am a daughter of a loving Heavenly Father!  I am thankful for all my readers and I am thankful that I have a place were I can write about anything and express how I feel!!!  I am also thankful for my parents who have taught me to be thankful for everything!!

I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ

Amen"

I hope y'all didn't mind me getting off of beauty for a min!!!  Now  I'm fixing to curl up on this rainy Sunday here in Ga!!  Have a great #sundayfunday and stay #blessed!

Muahs!!

Manic Monday!!!!! anything goes!!

Hey Y'all!! I know, I know, once again........looooooonnnnggggg time!!! NO MORE!! I really swear. lol  How have my lovely beauties been??  I pray y'all have been doing just fine!!! 

So, #manicmonday!!!!??  Y'all know that means I am free to right about anything and in any order that I want!! This is my day to release anything that may be on my mind at any given time hahahaha!!

First thing first.......

                                                                       RIP Punk!!!!!

Punk was my kids paw paw on their dads side.  My ex-husbands dad.  This man right here.......y'all!!  I love this man like he is my own dad!!  I went through so much with this family but this man right here NEVER once judged me or treated me any differently no matter what me and his son were going through!!  He loved everybody and was a typical southern preacher.  He knew what our purpose in life was and his goal was to save anyone or anything he ever came into contact with!!  I have shared his birthday with him for the last 20 years and I am honestly gonna hate not being able to call him and cut up with him and tell him happy birthday anymore, which breaks my heart.  I do know he is home with our Heavenly Father and I know he is gonna be missed by so many!  I just hope my kids know that they have a lot of their paw paws ways and he will continue to live on....through them!



punk(right) and his brother Pete

 

Next, I finally got me a new laptop so I can continue my blog!!  It is the cutest little thing ever!!  I am glad I found this.  I have been looking, trying to find a laptop that I like for a decent price.  I really hate making such large purchases!  Many of the little laptops I have found like the chromebooks and netbooks, have NO memory!! And I am a picture taker!! I need memory!!  lol  I found the HP stream notebook. 
The price? 210.00 after taxes
The memory? 2gb

The memory scares me but, it does come with 1gb with the cloud!!  It also has a place for jump drives and a SD card.  I pray memory will not be too big of a problem!  I also have my ICloud synced with the laptop, so, that's more memory right there!!  It has a webcam.......its really LOUD!! AND super cute!!!  So far I am delightfully surprised!

 

 

My final topic tonight is family, mainly siblings!  Y'all know I have already told u about my grandsons "sperm donor" and how he acted towards his son not to long back, right? Well, we ran into his other babies mommas tonight at Walmart!  These girls were the sweetest and guess what??  Just like Karsyn, these kids do not know their "sperm donor" either!!!!  We did decided to set up a play date because just because their dad isn't around, doesn't mean they don't have anyone.  I mean, in the long run, they will know each either and they will be able to help each other when needed!!  It really bothers me though because not one of these kids asked to be here and I don't think it is right that they have to suffer!!  so.......ladies with kids and your baby daddy has other kids by other women, please! Put your differences aside and let these kids know their siblings!! Cause y'all know what??  I know I am getting old and when I die.....guess who my kids will have???? each other!!!  And after seeing punks family this week at the funeral, I see how important siblings are and how one day, that's gonna be all we have. 



 

 

well, I hope my rambling didnt bother u too bad lol!! Tomorrow?? #terrifictuesday

 

muahs!!!!

 



Christmas eve

Christmas eve was pretty laid back for us.  We were lazy all day!! We watched Christmas shows.....

We played in our pjs all day

Every year we watch "a Christmas story" for the whole 24hrs! We let my son and grandson open one gift each to kick off everything!

Karsyn got a book and kota got a cool knife from his sister.

Kota helped his nephew put a Christmas tree cake out for santa, then took Karsyn to bed.

After a few hours, santa finally got everything set up!!

Once everything was said and done, and all the kids were asleep, d and myself sat on the couch.....listening to christmas carols and just looking at the tree. It was really nice. I felt really blessed that santa was so good to our family this year!! I pray santa was good to y'all as well!! What do y'all do after santa comes??

Muahs!

Melissa aka maduke

Back at it

Good morning y'all!! So sorry i haven't been keeping up with my schedule!! I promise Ya things will be back on track hopefully this week!! I got a few post planned to come up soon. I gotta tell y'all about the best Christmas ever, new years resolutions, I'm turning 37, and many more!! I'm so thankful y'all have been patient with me!!

Today i wanna share my grandson with my s.o.'s cousins horses Christmas day. He was in love!! And i have to say that Mr mudd was pretty fond of Karsyn too!

Then, he even got to go down to the barn and watch the horses get fed and he got to ride!

So, did y'all do anything new and exciting during the holidays?? Wanna see a video of our Christmas eve and Christmas day????  Our very merry Christmas 2014: here 

Muahs!

Melissa aka maduke

I love being a mom

I love being a mom. It's not the easiest job, but it's the most rewarding. Just to see how your children grow into these tiny adults!!

Today was just an example of how proud of the young man Dakota has become.

As Y'all know, a couple of weeks ago, someone stole my purse. Well, i am still waiting on my new cards...so, for the moment, i can't get to my extra money. Which sucks!! All week I've been watching for that FedEx truck....and nothing!! I've been talking to my son, he totally gets the situation and has told me numerous times that he is cool if he gets his birthday late. But who wants to get absolutely nothing on their birthday??

You know? one of my biggest fears in life is somehow letting my children down or disappointing them! It's our jobs as mothers to raise our kids up...not bring them down.

My daughter and i only had about 22.00 in cash. I told her we should do something....even a card. Well, we decided to just go get a bunch of balloons to throw in his room, picked up a few pizzas, and a cookie cake(thanks to some sweet friends).

My son was totally surprised!! And he was very very happy. Even without an actual gift! I am so thankful that my children would rather be with their family over materialistic things.

And this is just one of the things that makes me proud to be this kid's mom!

Balloons all in his room

We told my grandson in the truck on the ride home that if he touched the balloons,they would pop! He crawled beneath them for awhile after We unloaded them😂😂😂

We had a pizza picnic

We got beat up by Karsyn with balloons lol

My baby is  growing up way to fast. But, i don't care how old he gets....I'll always see him as my lil boy....

Happy 12th birthday bubs!! I love you! You never fail to amaze me!

Muahs!

Melissa aka maduke