BE Grateful!!

Hey Y'all from Texas.......ok I couldnt help my self. :) I've been wanting to update for a while....mostly for Katie and Michelle (Do you feel special for the shout outs?!) Today being Thanksgiving, and already wanting to write down the things I am grateful for, I thought it would be the perfect day!! Along with a slight update on my life, ready go!

My life in Texas is again coming to a close. I am leaving this wonderful state on December 19, 2011. I am extremely sad about it, and really hate the fact that this date seems to be getting closer and closer no matter what I do to stop it!!! So let's start there with the things I am grateful for.

Coming to Texas was in a totally different mindset and leaving again will be too. I don't think I will ever be back again to live.....having said that, a girl can still dream of returning to her favorite state. I am so grateful that I got a chance to live in Texas. I sometimes think back a little over a year ago to when I was deciding what to do. I am SO grateful I was willing to listen to the spirit telling me to stay here, even when I didnt understand how or why!I am grateful my Heavenly Father is always patient with me! Even if it is giving me the same answer over and over again until I get it! I have met so many amazing people who have taught me so much! I have met people who are so differenct than what I was used to. To make a very short list: my co-workers at OGM, my co-workers at Steven Street Grill (who have made me feel so loved!), even a few boys a long the way, my ward family....oh especially them!!!, the Billmires!, The ladies in my Relief Society presidency!, my cousins, aunts, unlces, and especially my Nanny and Papa. I stayed the night at their house last night, and as I was going to sleep I started to think about how much I love them! HOw lucky I am to call them my grandparents! I am SO glad I moved to Texas, if only for the fact that I now know my Nanny and Papa! Im pretty sure I know my Dad a little bit better too!

I will be heading home to Washingotn for Christmas, and will more than likely stay till the 1st or 2nd of January. Then it is back to BYU-Idaho. Part of me never thought I would get a chance to be back there, and I am beyond excited! Because I am divorced I cant live in approved housing, which is really fine by me! So I will be living in an apartment by myself! I am SO SO SO excited for that! It just feels like an adventure! (at least let me think that ok?! ) I am grateful for the opportunity to get an education. I am gratefull to attend an amazing church school that the tution is less expensive than other private schools. I am grateful for student loans, jobs, and tithing money that will go towards helping me fulfill a dream! I am grateful for supportive family, friends, and all others who keep telling me that everything will work out! I am gratefull for the faith I have in that truth, and the streching I am doing in my heart to fully believe that everything will work out in God's time.

Most importantly, I am grateful for a loving Heavenly Father and my Savior Jesus Christ! I do not know what I would do without the gospel! Ive said that many a time in my life, but really the more I go through the more I have to learn to lean on them. My life might not be what I imagined, but I know that whatever my Heavenly Father has in store for me has to be so much better than that!

I am so beyond grateful for those who have loved me here in Texas. It is extremely hard to be away from those who know and love you, but I have met a ton of people who have helped me make it through another rough patch in my life. I feel so ready for the next adventure, that I am having to remind my self that it isnt quite here yet! :)

I am grateful for temples! My Mom is flying to Texas to drive home with me, and we are attempting to visit a few temples along the way! Hopefully it works out the way we are planning! (I have an item on my bucket list to go to EVERY TEMPLE in the world) I am grateful for dreams! Even if others think they are impossible! It is still fun to dream! and a life without dreams.....well it is just not as fun!

I am grateful for laughter! There always seems to be people put in my life to make me laugh! Especially when I am having a bad day! I am grateful Heavenly Father gives me friends and family like that anywhere I live.

I am grateful for mistakes. They seem to help me grow and become a better me! They may suck and be hard, but looking back it is always amazing to see the changes.

I am grateful for the wonderful men I know, members and not, that keep me believing there are still good men who want to do what is right, and love our Heavenly Father. I know there has to be one out there for me, and I am grateful that Heavenly Father is teaching my patience in this area.

I am grateful for Veda Jo. I honestly don't know what I would have done without her! She is such a strong, beautiful woman! She loves the gospel! Leaving her will be the hardest thing I will do, or have done thus far. I am worried about her being lonely, but attempting to have faith that Heavenly Father will comfort, support, and sustain her! Her husband pasted away a few weeks ago. She is such an example of a true beleiver! Of course she misses Keith, but she talks about seeing him like he is living in another city! I know families can be together for forever, it just makes it more real when your dear spouse is gone. She always talks about how much of a blessing I was to her, I don't think she realizes how she has even helped my testimony to get stronger and bigger! She knows the scriptures so well! Which brings me to another thing I am grateful for. I am grateful to those I know and come in contact with that KNOW our Heavenly Father. Who KNOW the scriptures! Who understand and live the gospel of Jesus Christ EVERYDAY! They make me want to be that much better, and learn so much more! Jo is one of those people.

I am grateful to be me! Texas and trials have taught me to love my self more. They have taught me that while I am far from perfect, I am pretty awesome! I know who I am, even if I am still learning more about my self and constatnly attempting to correct things that need correcting. Sis Loe, my Relief Society president, said to me the other day...something along the lines of ....I will making more changes and meeting a lot of people and experenceing different things while I go to school, start a career, and try to find a mate (her words not mine). She said to remember that the way my family and ward family feel about me is who I really am. Others will try to make me think I am something else, when really I am a daughter of God who is loved by many! The people in my ward say some pretty awesome things about me, and normally I think....well they really dont know me that well, but I think she is right. The things they know about me are the things they see through my spirit and countance, and they are the pure things about me. The mistakes I have made, while they molded me to who I am , they are not me. I am what my Heavenly Father sees.

I feel like I am rambling again. BUT I will end by saying there is so much I have to be grateful for! Family and friends in many places in the world. I am one lucky girl! Lucky enough to have too many blessing to count at one time! If you are reading this....more than likely...I count you as one of those blessing, and I love you!!

Much Love!

Rachel