Gratitude

I see a trend in social media where the month of November is usually themed with grateful hearts. I try to be a unique individual and do my own thing, less conforming and more enjoying. But I have had too many experiences of late to not express my grateful heart. I have been blessed beyond measure. Life, as crazy as it is, is just beautiful. I have such an amazing life. My house keeps me warm, I have the ability to create healthy meals for my family, I have two teenage drivers where neither have been in accidents, even close calls(so I have been told). I have more than enough money to plan last minute trips to create memories with my growing children. I don't have everything I desire but I have enough and I am truly grateful.
We recently had Evening in Excellence for the beautiful young woman of our ward. As a presidency, we began organizing this evening months ago, almost when we were first set apart. I had a few visions I wanted to implement that I felt were what the Lord wanted for his daughters.  We organized the program and each of the presidency took an assignment, some took two, and we each eagerly worked to make this evening Excellent.
A few days prior to the evening our youth speaker had other obligations, the photographers were going to be late, the awards to be given had not been finalized, just to name a few.
Day of the program I could not edit the program to print it. The closet door to the YW's closet would not open with our keys. The closet held the awards ribbons, paper products for refreshments and the TV for the guest speaker. Through a lot of prayers and phone calls, we were able to pull off what I would consider, one of the best evenings this year.

Our program went like this.
The girls came dressed as if they were attending the Prom. We had a professional photographer come to take pictures. I think the pictures turned out beautiful and even if there were problems, the photos won't reveal it.
I conducted, Robbin Dietz lead the music and Natalie Cherrington played the piano. The songs were so inspired, the words were exactly what needed to be sung.
Malia, filled in last minute as our youth speaker. She explained the personal progress program and shared her personal goals and progress. She truly did exactly what I hoped she would. I was busting buttons watching her address the audience with confidence and poise. Malia is truly an amazing young woman. I often think is she really only 14.
Then we had the young woman, all 8 of them sing with the leaders, "Every Star is Different" I love the words and believe their message is so important.
Next item on the agenda was having each girl stand in front of everyone and tell us of their accomplishments. Most brought items and some simply used words to describe their greatness. There were a few girls who earned their ribbons and we gave them their awards while celebrating.
Our guest speaker was Kay Cherrington, such an amazing woman. Her and her husband leave for England in Feb for a mission. She was lead by the spirit with the items she spoke about. The spirit was strong and lovely.
We ended the evening with some rocking refreshments and mingling. I really walked away feeling like we did exactly what the Lord wanted us to accomplish.
So like I said I have so much to be grateful for. My calling is time consuming and requires a lot of my personal time but I thank the Lord daily knowing I am following his Plan and whatever comes will be His will.