Day of thanks 15

Today I am thankful for my parents, thankful that 33 years ago I was welcome into a family that loved me and cared for me from that day on. I was privileged to have my dad for the first 6 years of my life with me, I was able to have some memories of my dad and to still hold on to them during all these many years. I am thankful that even when my family was not perfect I still had one and we made the best of it. I am thankful that my mom and dad made the decision to go to Arizona so many years ago (32) and get sealed in the Temple as a family and that I was able to be there even if I don't remember it but I can only imagine how special it must have been for my dad to see his two little ones with him in the Temple, little did he know that his actions were going to leave a huge impression in my life and the desire to be better each and every day. I admire my dad and the strength that he had to fight for many months with his decease, I admire my mom for the courage to take care of her husband and take care of her little kids while her world was crumbling down. I am so thankful for the tears she hid from us when we were little because I always thought she was so strong and that is what we needed from her. She was and still is a strong woman. I am thankful that I still get to talk to her and see her, that she has met all my kids and loves them. I am thankful that my dad wrote his life story in a journal, even if it is just three pages long, but it is there for me and my kids to read, to learn from it and to connect with him. I am grateful for the testimony of the gospel I found in those pages that my dad wrote many years ago, and for the life that he lived after he got baptized and for the love that he shared with everyone he met. Even after his death he still is a part of me and I am grateful to know that I will be able to see him again, to be a family again.