A Child's Prayer

Lately Boo has decided that she wants to be the voice for Family Prayer. It has been interesting to hear her go through her prayer from start to finish without any help.
She has some set phrases that she is using but I do not think they are vain repetitions since she truly means them.
Here are a few.
Bless Mommy, daddy, carterman, jo, josh, jaxon, ian, carterman,randy misty, baby quinn, baby addie, chloe,ally, papa, mimmi, cody, heidi, spencer carterman, wyatt.(this sentence is repeated at least twice) and yes Carteman gets blessed the most.
Bless them to follow the prophet and love Jesus. (Follow the prophet is mentioned at least twice)
Bless our family, bless Jesus and the prophet. Bless us with the temple

Last night she said "Bless Cody to go to the temple and feel the spirit and bless Randy misty to drive safe (they were heading to Ceder City and I didn't think she picked up on that but...)

How I love this little girl that never ceases to amaze me and her mom that still rocks my world every time I see her same as she did the first time she walked into that meeting room.
I am grateful for a child's prayer and the tears it brings to my eyes each night, (even thought my knees sometimes kill me cuz she will not end it. She prayers longer than some High Priests I know)

No real problems, really.

I work in a call center environment. I have 9 people who work for me here in the US, some are on the phones others doing other tasks. I have 5 people in Juarez as well as 18 more in India. The office where I work is in Sandy and in a building that has over 1000 call center employees on various contracts.
I worked for 10 years int he full call center world, I am grateful I do not do so now.
I say all this as a preface to the comments I will bring up now.
As I walk the halls at work or over hear my own employees I hear all sorts of stories. It seems that the younger cell phone ease generation thinks that if they are yelling on their cell phone no one else can hear what they are saying. I have over heard things ranging from, dead beat spouses refusing to pay their share, excuses why payments will be late, check in calls with the probation office, calls to Doctors, Dentists, Baby sitters, family members and even a judge.
Personal problems range from spouses under arrest, family being sick, kids not listening and on and on.
I am grateful that my problems pale in comparison to those I over hear. My wife loves and supports me and wants me to come home when I can. My kids are decent members of society.
My health and that of my family is basically good.
For all these blessings I am grateful.

Small and Simple things

Last night Boo wanted to say family prayer all by herself, and she did. She went from Start to Finish without any help from Nat or I. She stood up at the end and was so proud of herself, her smile was a perfect one of self joy.
Now before the prayer, we had come out and said lets do Scripture reading, Nat was so so with it since we were interrupting her show but she agreed. Boo wanted to read so Nat would read then Boo would repeat. Hearing her say the big words of Jerusalam, Ama;ekites, Lamoni, Middoni was priceless, she did OK on most. She did 3 verses then it was only Mommies turn then the last 4 verses were Daddy's.
Then we had prayer. The feeling of, "We have to do this and no mater the pain we have to do this" from a few moments before was gone. Instead the sweet spirit  filled our home from a 4 year old doing the small and simple things we all should do.
For that i am grateful

A Fresh Start

So March 1 brings with it a review of how well I have done since Jan 1 on goals and such.
The report Card..."Can use iimprovement"

But never fear! As long as I am still breathing I can still strife to become better. I am grateful for that.
I am also grateful for a 4 year old that keeps me on my toes. last night before going to bed she had to actually watch me brush my teeth. ( No Drink dad BRUSH!!! she demanded referring to mouth wash I use to get rid of a metal taste form a prescription)
She also gave me a scolding since I did not do the dishes. All this without being prompted by mom.

Well, one goal I had was to post more grateful items here and as you all know I failed there...here's to the future

Little AJ

So I now have a grand daughter and could not be happier.I will not post pictures of her on her out of respect for her parents wishes.
She came in at 7lbs even and 21 inches long. She is a real cutie and Boo loves her. Boo is a bit nervous but that will pass.
I love the idea of being a Papa. I love the family growing.

4 Years of Boo!

 

Fours years ago my life was forever changed.

After alot of years trying to increase our family and 3 years working/praying/waiting in the process of adoption. We finally got our miracle.

Boo came suddenly into our lives. She was born on a Friday, On Saturday afternoon we got a call that still makes me tear up thinking about the events that followed.

We got the call that a very courageous and special birth mother had picked us to be the parents of her daughter and that she had been born the day before and was waiting to meet us.

We drove up to the hospital and met Boo and her special birth family. There was a immediate connection that still is there today. It is hard to explain unless you have been through it. Other families touched by adoption fully understand what I am saying.

Well we met them Saturday night and the plan was for Boo to go home with them for Sunday and placement to happen Monday night.

Those memories of that weekend are sacred to me and always will be.

Feb 1-4 is always a touching time for me because of this.

I am so grateful for a birth mother and her family that are true heroes in my eyes for allowing their love for this little bundle of energy out weigh any needs of their own. For placing the needs of Boo ahead of their own and allowing her to come into our family.

It is very hard to remember the many years before Boo came into our life and what we did day to day.

We were happy but still something was lacking.

I am so grateful for this little 4 year old that attaches herself to me the moment I come into the house and doesn't want to leave mine or Nats sight at times.

So is truly a blessing to me.

I have special and sacred memories of all my kids and grand kids. I am so excited to be PaPa (grandpa) as well as a father of a toddler.

We are about to welcome another grand child any day now (Misty I still say it is 2 more weeks) and this will be a girl to go with the 2 boys we already have been blessed with.

People give me a funny look when I tell them that I have 4 kids 28, 25,22 and 4 as well as two grand kids 2 and 1 and one more on the way. The look is "oh my" quickly followed by a smile.

My family means everything to me and is forever.

For that I am grateful most of all.



A Busy Time

Working in the Accounts Payable world I have come to dread January.
We have to create and send out the 1099's for my client and it never fails to be a anil biting few weeks as we push to get them completed before the 31st.
The main problem is that so much is out of my control and in the hands of people I have hired and who have the access.
I am grateful for inspiration in picking a great team to work with me. I am also grateful that they have been created, printed, folded, metered and are in the mail. (one day before the deadline too!!!)
I am really grateful for an very understanding wife who has put up with coming home a bit later than normal only to bring a grumpy attitude at times, not to mention the sighs  that I give off as i think of all the things just waiting to go wrong.

Also, it is a new year and I have started to read toward my goal this year. Last year was 100 books this year it is 50. I have a lot of writing I want to do as well as some very large books on my list to read this year so do not want to be worried about not making my goal.

It is hard to believe that in a few days Boo hits 4 years old...more on that to come