Blessings, Blessings, BLESSINGS!!!

Wow, what a great Christmas! It has been one filled to the top with blessings. I got the best gift of all this year- LOVE!!

The first of the month found us pretty broke, and about half way through we figured that our finances would let us pay our tithing or pay for Christmas, not both. Of course that made me VERY stressed! It was pretty tempting to hold onto that check and not hand it to the Bishop for another month, but Josiah and I decided to pay tithing and let us figure out Christmas later. Well, I felt good about that decision, but not really excited about the idea that we might not be able to get anything for our kids at Christmas.

So, then here came all the blessings... I've always believed that the Lord blessed us when we paid a full tithe, but I never saw any "miracles" or obvious blessings before. Well, now I can say I know that I've been blessed directly from it.

The blessings just started pouring in; family members paid us money back for things I'm sure they didn't owe, aunts and uncles gave our kids very generous gifts, and so many people helping in every way to help us have a great Christmas. Those with no idea of our financial situation helped in ways I would have never imagined. A customer was so happy with the work Josiah did they wrote the check for a substantial amount over the bill we sent them. Then we checked the mail one day and found a box full of gifts. One for each member of our family. There was no return address on the box, and the "from" was blank on the presents. Our kids had plenty of gifts under the tree and Josiah and I had the best presents of all- we knew our Heavenly Father answers prayers and gives blessings. We also know that we are greatly loved!

As I sat and placed those gifts under our little tree, Josiah and I both got choked up as we pondered on the great ways that we have been blessed. Neither of us got much in the way of physical gifts under our tree, but our family was happy, healthy, and thanks to the generosity of those around us we were able to fill the kids stockings and have gifts under the tree.

Thank you to all of you who had a hand in blessing us this Holiday Season! Thank you to all we know, and a big thank you to the anonymous sender who sent the package to our home! If it was you- THANK YOU!!! Never before has our family felt so loved and so blessed.

We have the best friends and family in the whole world. We are so happy to have you in our lives. Most of all we are thankful for our Savior, Jesus Christ. What a gift we have been given, to know that we will live with him again. Our Heavenly Father's greatest gift to us was born in a stable, lived a perfect life, died for us, and lives again. My heart is so full of love for Him- and I know He knows us. I know He can help us if we will follow Him. Now I can say that I have a real testimony of paying tithing, because the money that we gave to the Lord was paid back to us 3 times over when we put our trust in Him!

It has been the best Christmas ever at our house, and we hope you found as much joy and peace in yours! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!