Count your many blessings and name them one by one!

With a new year upon us I can't help but feel grateful to my Heavenly Father and all that he has blessed us with.  It is no wonder that this year Anna and I decided to have our Family Motto or Theme be "Count your many blessings".  I told Anna that I really wanted to make an effort to focus on the good in my life and not get sidetracked with all that can pull us off the path.  With that let me start by sharing some great news!

We are pregnant with our third little baby and although we don't know the sex yet we can't wait to grow our family to a family of 5...that sounds so big!  We are due in July and are excited for what lays ahead of us and honored that we are entrusted with such a wonderful blessing.  Sophie keeps asking to see the baby in her mom's tummy.

Anna telling our girls she was going to have a baby!

Blessing number 2....I got a new job and I am so excited about it.  I didn't want to say anything before now on here because I didn't want to have a repeat of Google and other jobs but this time it worked out great.  I will be a Client Strategist for Pricewaterhouse Cooper which is the largest accounting firm in the world.  I was approached by a Board member here at the Chamber about applying for the job which was so cool.  I have always wanted to be recruited and now I have been.  I will be opening a new market here in Salt Lake and look forward to the challenges although if I'm honest the worrier in me is a little nervous.  What really excites me is that this is somewhere I can grow my career and stay for possible the rest of my working life.  It is funny in hindsight you can look back and see why the Lord moved you one direction or another and how he lead you to where you needed to be.  If only I had more faith to follow and feel that direction when buried by life.

These are some shots I took as I walked home from Church this past week.  It was so peaceful and I felt like I was in a sleepy little village and lucky to live where I live.

 Sophie wanted me to take a photo of her in Sunbeams while we waited for her teacher.  We did her hair with a headband which she refused to wear so although she looks like we don't care we really do.

That actually leads me to my next thought.  This week in my lesson to the Deacons we talked about the importance of knowing who you are and specifically about Moses chapter 1 where God speaks to Moses face to face and tells him he is a son of God and how that changes Moses for the rest of his life.  I challenged the Deacons to really take a look at themselves and see if they knew who they were.  Did they have their own beliefs and were they grounded enough to be a foundation?  I referred to the quote "If you don't stand for something you will fall for anything" and I believe in some aspects we all are falling for anything and can learn to stand a little bit more (does any of this make sense).  So this year I have challenged myself to three resolutions and I quite know yet how to put specific goals with them but let me see if I can explain them a little more. 

Resolution #1:  To follow my family motto and truly Count my many blessings always looking for the "P word" (as my mom would say) or the Positive in every situation.  I want to grow this aspect of me that it becomes who I am and what I am known for.  One of my favorite quotes is "Don't forget in the dark what the Lord has shown you in the light" and I want to live this daily.

Resolution #2:  I want to be counted on by the Lord.  Let me explain.  I want to be trusted that if the Lord wants something done He knows he can come to me and that I will not only listen to his promptings but more importantly that I will act on the prompting.  So step one for this is that I want to be more in tune with the Lord and his promptings and to act no matter how silly they may seem at the time.  Again, I feel this needs to be more specific but haven't hashed that out yet.

Resolution #3:  I want to know who I am and live up to who I know I can be.  I know I am a family man so I want my girls to and my wife to know and feel that same thing.  I want to explore my talents more and let them grow and develop.  I want to gain confidence in my spirituality and in my gospel knowledge which will take work on my part.  I want to come out of 2014 with a sure foundation for who I am and have that same person that I see reflected in others thoughts about me.

I know I should have goals to lose weight or run a marathon but to me I want to simply see me as the Lord does and to love me all the same.