Food For Thought

This has being weighing so heavily over me these past few months…just some food for thought as we approach Christmas...

Every day, as I look into the eyes of my 4 year old, I am reminded over and over again why I am the luckiest girl in the world. To start from the beginning, I was blessed with an amazing, [relatively] normal family. When I was growing up, I was always jealous of my friends. I was always envious of these other families that seemed to have it all, when in fact, I did. It has taken me years to realize it. Even with having divorced parents, we managed to all stay close, keep things cordial, and remain a family. Fast forward to motherhood, to what has helped me understand just how lucky I am. I have a remarkable husband, one who at often times, I take for granted. I have been blessed with this sweet boy…my angel, my rock, who I honestly don’t think I could live without. And this boy is healthy. There are many, many words I could use (I’d be writing for days) to describe this boy that calls me ‘Mommy’ but the word that stands out the most to me is that he is HEALTHY. Being healthy and having loved ones who are healthy is really all that should matter to any of us. Now I am as guilty of this as anyone else. I have given into this world of material things; I am guilty of comparing myself to others and of being envious of others, and have led myself to think certain things matter that really don’t. I have taken a step back the last few months, watched the complaints and negativity flood my facebook feed with things I honestly do not care to see. I have get-togethers with friends; I see them compare the latest and greatest and can’t help but think to myself how much debt they could be drowning in to live this lifestyle that can’t honestly be making them happy deep down inside.  And FYI, being the skinniest, prettiest, and having the latest and greatest, is not what anyone should be concerned about. We need to be role models and teach our youth, the next generation, about what is really important in life.

Last Saturday (December 14th), I had the chance to help my boss and his family with something extraordinary. He rented out a theatre at the Gateway Megaplex Theatres and we transported families from both the Midvale and Salt Lake Road Home shelters to go see the movie Frozen. The theatre we were in was able to accommodate approximately 250 people and we probably had around 200 in there. It was a great turnout and an experience I will never forget. I brought Steve and Grayson along because I want to educate Gray while he is young that we are so lucky to have the things that we have, and that most the stuff we do have, others go without - like socks. We go through socks like crazy at our house. I buy them all the time and don’t even blink when I have to or think about how much money I have spent on socks these past few years and that’s mainly because they are a relatively inexpensive item. There were so many kids there last Saturday that didn’t even have socks on.  These kids don’t have any of the basic necessities that we take for granted on a daily basis. It didn’t stop there. Steve (my boss) had asked me prior to the event if I knew of any books that would be perfect for these children. The book that instantly popped into my head was You Are Special by Max Lucado. My mom would read it to us growing up and has since bought one for Grayson that we read to him very often. If you have not heard of this book, I highly recommend you buy it because it really sends a message. Anyways, I think this was a great experience for everyone involved.

Now I'd like to finish with the fact that I am so grateful for what 2013 has brought us. We moved into our new house in January and we have the most amazing and loving neighbors. Steve was offered a job at Vivint in November and is working in their Marketing Department; he is loving it so far.  And, most importantly, after a few years of trying, we are excited to announce that we are adding a Ute to our tribe in June 2014! Grayson is so excited to be a big brother!

2013 has been great to us and  we are excited to see what 2014 brings!

With love, the Jones family