Grateful In Any Circumstances

In a recent General Conference address, President Dieter F. Uchtdorf encouraged members of our church to be grateful in any circumstances. He spoke of those dealing with all varieties of adversity: sickness, loss, financial stress, mental anguish, and more. He taught that with the Gospel in our lives, it is possible to be grateful despite adversity and to find reason to rejoice in any situation.

While our circumstances are not nearly as devastating as those he mentioned in his talk, our Thanksgiving celebration did not turn out quite as we planned, thanks to a pesky little stomach virus that cycled its way through our family during the holiday week. I had one brief moment of tears as I looked at Eli, flat in bed, so sick, on this, the first Thanksgiving since his mission.

Nevertheless, I found reason to rejoice and to be so grateful for so much. Despite the stomach flu, it really was a lovely holiday.

Eli arrived home Monday evening, and in the middle of that night, both Shulamith and I awoke feeling blah, you know, that undeniable feeling that something is just not right in the digestive system. Yeah, you know the feeling. Since we eat lots of our meals together, we just assumed it was some sort of food poisoning. With Eli's help, we pushed forward all day Tuesday with of dozens of "to-do" items on our Thanksgiving prep list. On Wednesday, Matt got sick. At that point we realized this must be a virus rather than food poisoning. Who would be next to drop? Sadly, Thursday morning, both Eli and Seth woke up sick. I tried to remember President Uchtdorf's counsel, grateful in any circumstances.

I was grateful. I was grateful Eli was home where I could take care of him, rather than away at school or in Tennessee! I was grateful this virus was only lasting about 24 hours, so he and Seth should be better by the next day. And they were. Just in time for Black Friday! For years, Shulamith and I have shopped Black Friday by ourselves, but this year we let the boys come too, and also Grandma, who had flown in from Portland Thursday afternoon. She recently received an inheritance, and she chose to share it by letting all of my children go shopping for clothes.

It was a shopping extravaganza (!), and by the end of the day, they each had lovely new wardrobes consisting of all their favorite styles. This photo is only of the three younger boys; Luke lives in Maryland and will have to shop there. Shulamith was home napping her kids when we took this picture, but she was with us in the morning and again after naps, so she got her new clothes too. Yay!

I am grateful the four Webster women could be together for this next photo, taken Thursday night, BEFORE Grandma (my mom) got sick:

Yep, we managed to pass along this dumb virus to her, and she woke up sick Saturday morning. It's never fun to be sick, but it's especially not fun when you are away from home. I felt so bad for her. Still, I tried to be grateful in any circumstances. I am grateful she was able to come visit us, and I hope she is too, despite the stomach flu.

I had responsibilities in all three hours of church Sunday. I got to speak in Sacrament Meeting (my favorite!!) and then teach my regular Gospel Essentials class and then sub as chorister in Relief Society. By the time I dropped Grandma (still sick) off at the airport Sunday afternoon, I was positively exhausted.

I came home, grateful for my wonderful bed, which I immediately climbed into and fell sound asleep.

Grateful in any circumstances. Indeed, I am trying to be.