Thornton Mom

It really was delightful to be with my family for Thanksgiving.  Aunt Mary and Uncle Kyle were so sweet and kind, so accepting of our little kids.  They seemed to bask in the joy of family and that was contagious.  We felt a huge outpouring of love from them and felt so welcome. As we visited with cousins and my sister that we had not see for a while my heart grew and desired even more to be around these wonderful family members more.  My testimony of families increased.  I realized that it is so important for us to get together as families and strengthen this bond. It amazed me that here we were a pocket of family scattered over the East Coast but united in love and friendship.  We all wanted to be together for Thanskgiving to bask in the love of family.  This year I truly was thankful for family. One of my cousins had just moved to the east and had a 9 hour drive to come to Thanksgiving with all of us.  But he and his sweet wif...

Today I was enjoying talking to my mom on the phone as I drove to the temple.  She asked me, "How are you doing?"  Without thinking I replied, "Great!"  That answer caught me off guard.  Over the past several months if someone asked me how I was doing I would reply a half hearted, "fine."  But today I replied "Great," which had been my common answer for years of my life.  I had noticed that it was gone for a while, I just couldn't lie to people, I was not great. As I pondered this statement today I thought of several things that have made me "Great!" My Heavenly Father loves me.  He is happy with who I am.  Yes He is guiding me in my change to be a better person but He loves me.  The other day I was reminded of some special experiances I had had that let me know He is aware of me and loves me.  I was reminded that "I am enough."  When I am about to give myself a hard time for not doing or being _____ I remind my...

Okay you ask, "Why do you have a picture of your sink?"  Let me tell you.  About 2 weeks ago I started a program called the Flylady .  It is a cleaning program but goes so much deeper than that.  It helps with my protectionism, shows me why I have been living like I do, fills in a lot of questions about myself, teaches me to accept me for who I am, to enjoy life, to not get angry at the little things . . . in other words, I really do like the program.  I feel like it is helping me to be a better person for me and my family. Well the Flylady's signature 1st step is to clean your sink, to make it shinny.  This you are supposed to do every night before you go to bed so that in the morning you are greeted with a clean sink.  And so for the past 2 weeks before I go to bed I have shined my sink.  Last night I was tired,  I had not slept well the night before, was not myself all day, had the kids help me clean up before dinner because they we...