Gratitude Journal - April

April 1 - holidays - celebrations

April 2 - my home

April 3 - my garden

April 4 - general conference 

April 5 - respect for all people 

April 6- Easter 

April 7 - our new outdoor environment 

April 8 - the truth 

April 9 - The Atonement

April 10 - Jesus Christ

April 11 - bishop and stake presidents talks 

April 12 - rain

April 13 - my vegetable garden

April 14 - my flower and tree garden

April 15 - time with Mark

April 16 - airplanes

April 17 - family

April 18 - The Sabbath Day

April 19 - baby blessings

April 20 - Beaches

April 21 - the sunshine

April 22 - the pool

April 23 - fruity alcohol free drinks

April 24 - time with Marissa and Michael

April 25 - freedom

April 26 - Mark's job

April 27 - roads

April 28 - new job

April 29 - new opportunities

April 30 - missionaries

 

Gratitude journal - March

January 20 - my daughter Jessica 

January 21 - my daughter-in-law Sierra

February 25 - my son Robert

March 1 - sunshine

March 2 - a wonderful home

March 3 - good jobs

March 4 - wonderful children and spouses 

March 5 - education

March 6 - our new back garden patio and wall

March 7 - my son-in-law Tate

March 8 - my sisters

March 9 - my dad and Alison 

March 10 - my son Devon 

March 11 - my talents

March 12 - my husband 

March 13 - temples and family history

March 14 - my daughter Marissa

March 15 - any ancestors 

March 16 - the scriptures, church, leaders, prophets and the saving gospel of Jesus Christ 

March 17 - good luck - blessings 

March 18 - my mom for giving me life and teaching me the gospel 

March 19 - celebrations of the little things

March 20 - new friends 

March 21 - our friends over time

March 22 - our sealing as a family

March 23 - technology that allows communication 

March 24 - ability to write, talk, see

March 25 - my five senses

March 26 - spring

March 27 - stars

March 28 - trees and flowers

March 29 - nature and the outdoors 

March 30 - Facebook and FaceTime 

March 31 - daily calls with Jessica and Cayson 

Letter from Peterson's

Dear Mr. and Mrs. Lowe and Mrs. Ray:

Your sons have been very generous in volunteering their strong arms to help my wife and I build a fence on the corner of our property.  On 16 Oct 2015, they (with two other young men on their Mormon missions) dug post holes and pulled out some of the old fence.  This was a huge help for me, as digging holes like this is challenging for my chronologically-gifted arthritic shoulders.  A few days later they happened by our next door neighbor's house and saw me working on the fence.  They had finished volunteering their help to someone else and had a little time, so they pulled out a temporary fence I had put up, saving me time.  To thank these four young men for their help, we had the four boys over one morning for breakfast and made them the things they told us they missed.  Elder Ray missed breakfast burritos with jalapenos and Elder Lowe missed bacon.

Later that afternoon Elders Lowe and Ray came back and helped me mix concrete for the fence and pour it into the forms.  This was also help gratefully received, as I had strained my right shoulder cementing in some posts a few days before from lifting the bucket with concrete in it.  We got the work done in a couple of hours and they got to put their names in some 4 foot-long sections of concrete.  I have invited them to return in a few decades and show their children the names and dates they wrote while on their mission.  Yesterday, they returned and mixed and poured the cement for the last part of the fence.  They now are confident in mixing concrete, pouring it into forms, and finishing it with a trowel and edging tool.  They'll probably make use of such skills later when they own their own homes.

Elder Lowe earlier admitted to me that he is not trustworthy around bacon (I have the same character flaw).  As the boys were leaving our house from the breakfast, my wife chuckled and commented to me that she saw Elder Lowe lag behind and go back to the dining table and eat the last three pieces of bacon.  When they were in front of the house, I opened the kitchen window and asked them, "Mr. Lowe, did you steal the last three pieces of bacon?"  In an absolutely priceless moment, he stood there like a deer in the headlights and couldn't say anything.  We all got a good chuckle from his reaction; I hope by now he realizes that we were just teasing him (the boys did so much work that I can't do that I'd have made them another pound of bacon if they wanted it).

Thank you for raising such wonderful young men and giving them your values. My wife and I would be proud to call them our own sons and we think the world of both of them.  Their generosity and selfless help have made them our friends for life.  I've asked them to ask us for anything they need and we'll look out for them as best we can as if they were our own boys.

Don and Glenda Peterson
Boise, ID