Trials and Turkeys

Okay, so the picture I am posting is old, but it makes me smile so that's what you get to see. This was taken in February I believe.
For those of you that have noticed my lack of posting, I apologize. I have only missed a few days, but it seems like a lot more to me. Hopefully no one else has noticed.
To sum it up October was a fairly crappy month for us and November hasn't been much better, but the month is not over so there is hope. I will spare you the details. Although I will say that the most recent trial (which is a trial that comes and goes) has been my back. Let's just say I've been in quite a bit of pain, but today has been better than I've felt in close to a week so hopefully I am on the road to feeling good again in that department.
I asked Stephen the other night if he felt like we were just going from one trial to the next. He does and so do I. Something he said though helped me feel a little better. He said, "We must be doing something right." I accept that reasoning for all the trials we've been having because it keeps me motivated to continue striving to do what is right despite all the frustrations that could bring us down. It also got me pondering. Trials can come to us for various reasons. However, I do believe that Heavenly Father gives us trials to test us, to humble us, to help us increase our faith, to be more grateful, along with many other reasons.
Heavenly Father is aware of all of our trials and our burdens. He knows that I have a 22 pound one year old I have to lift everday-even the days that I can hardly stand because of the physical pain I'm in. He knows I have a very active two year old who I have to run after all day long. He is very aware of our family so why does he give us these trials that at this point never seem to stop? It's simple, he loves us and he wants us to grow. Without trials we wouldn't grow and we wouldn't learn. So while some of the trials we are dealing with are big and some small, we've past the hurrdle of some, while others continue, and new ones seem to always becoming I plan on taking each one and learning from them. Hopefully I can learn and grow in a way pleasing to my Heavenly Father and my Savior. They see the big picture while our little family does not. We can't even comprehend the big picture. Line upon Line, precept upon precept I will continue to learn and grow from all of the things life gives me- good or bad. Even in the midst of trials I see my Heavenly Father blessing me abundantly and helping me become more grateful for all of these blessings.

On a less serious note we are doing a Turkey count down to Thanksgiving. You can check it out on my other blog. Vance is helping me name things he is grateful for each day. We didn't start on the first.
Here's is what he is grateful for so far:
1. Cars
2. Dad
3. Mom
4. Mouths
5. Tanner
6. Nursery
7. Trains

And yes, that is the order he has named them. Notice Mom wasn't named until day 3. What is up with that?