Goober

This is my youngest brother. His name is Judson, and I call him Goober. I think this picture is most fitting for him. He just turned eight years old and was recently baptized! It was hard for me because I wasn't there to see it happen, but I know how excited he was. I received an e-mail from my mom a couple of weeks ago and she told me all about it. While she was giving a spotlight on him, she said he walked up to the front and pulled my mom close to give her a kiss on the cheek. He is so great!

 Judson is special because "we chose him." That's how he describes it. Our family does foster care, and it has been a great blessing for us to be able to have such sweet children come into our home that we can care for. Judson was our first. He came to us just twelve days old for a temporary amount of time to hopefully place him back with his family. Over the next couple of years, his story was a perfect example of tender mercies and small and simple things bringing great miracles. On October 11, 2005, he was ours, and it was soon after that he was sealed with our family forever. Our family knows that we need him as much as he once needed us.
    Because of his circumstances, Goober does have some special needs. In spite of his setbacks, he is one of the most sincere young boys of his age. He loves to make friends and he tries to always make a good choice. One good choice is saying "thank you." He does fairly well for the most part. Two Christmases ago, we were up very early opening presents (No other way to do it when you're six years old!). He opened one of his presents from Santa, and when he saw what it was, he froze for about two seconds and said, "Oh my gosh!" Then, to our great confuzement, jumps up from the floor, runs over to the front door, swings it open and yells, "THANK YOU, SANTA!!!" It was so sweet. And it was all for a toy pirate ship :)
   I've been thinking about gratitute lately. Low and behold, today our missionary district had a lesson on gratitude. One elder shared a scripture from the Book of Mormon.

"And now, because ye are compelled to be humble blessed are ye; for a man sometimes, if he is compelled
to be humble, seeketh  repentance; and now surely, whosoever repenteth shall find mercy; and he that findeth
mercy and endureth to the end the same shall be saved.
   And now, as I said unto you, that because ye were compelled to be humble ye were blessed, do ye not suppose that they are more blessed who truly humble themselves because of the word?"

                                                                                  -Alma 32:13-14

The same idea of being compelled to be humble can also be applied to being compelled to be grateful. Are you compelled to be grateful after you hit some hard times? Or are you grateful because you recognize what Heavenly Father has blessed you with?

  Challenge for today: Say a grattitude prayer. Don't ask for anything. Pray to Heavenly Father and just tell him what you are grateful for.

2 Corinthians 9:15.