Gratitude in times of trial

Is it just me or does that sound like the title of a General Conference talk? Well, it just seems fitting this week so it sticks!
It's only Wednesday and it has been a crazy week. On Monday, I drove to Kristen's house (about an hour and a half away) to look at pictures that she took for us. Lacey had been a little sick the night before and although I was a little worried that I shouldn't go, I went anyway. I made the long drive up there and spent an enjoyable day at Kristen's, looking at pictures, playing with Lacey and Carson, and just hanging out. I decided to wait until 6 to leave so as to miss the traffic. Big mistake! By the time I got in the car, I heard on the radio that roads that I intended to travel on were closed due to ice. Ice?! I continued my drive anyway with the intent to go another route. It wasn't long before it started raining. Freezing rain. I was on I-35 and my windshield was completely frozen over. Grateful moment number 1: I was 100 feet away from the exit to Heather's house when this happened. I was able to take the exit and I drove very slowly and carefully to Heather's house where I would lodge for the night. I was sad to have to spend the night away from Mike, but I was extremely grateful that Heather and Larry were willing to let us stay. What a huge blessing it is to have family all over the metroplex!
As soon as I got to Heather's, we noticed that Lacey was burning up. She pitifully sat in my lap, barely making a sound. When the kids learned that we would be staying the night, Kaden, Heather's 8-year-old, asked where Mike was. I told him that he was at home without us. Kaden then very sweetly came to Lacey and said "Don't worry, I'll be your Mike tonight." How cute is that?! He is a boy with a very sweet heart and a particular fondness for Mike. So adorable!
Soon, Lacey threw up all over me and was just miserable. Poor thing! I felt awful for her and wished that she was home where she would be more comfortable. It was, however, a great blessing to be at Heather's house if I had to be anywhere else. Lacey is quite attached to Heather and she is one of the few people that I think Lacey would go to when she's sick other than me. I gave her a bath and got her comfortable, but it was definitely a long night. Neither of us slept well and by 4:30 am, I think I had only slept for an hour and a half. At that point, Heather came in and took Lacey for me so I could get some sleep. Another huge blessing! It was so sad to see Lacey so miserable, but I couldn't help but think of how blessed I am in the midst of all of it.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Mike was having his own issues. After weeks of computer problems at the office (preceeded by months of hard work to take sole responsibility of the office), we finally ended up with a new computer, which we thought would be the end of the madness. Not so far! Mike was at the office until 10pm, tirelessly working to get everything in working order. Grateful moment: a friend of Mike's works on computers and again came to our aid. He doesn't charge us anything and has been so helpful to us. We also have Jason, Kristen's husband, who has saved the day several times over the last month or so. After his long day at work, he sat on the phone with Mike for a couple of hours, trying to solve the problem. He also doesn't charge us anything and at a time when we've had soooooooooo many business expenses, we are extremely grateful for their kindness.

I was able to make it home yesterday and though Lacey isn't completely well yet, she is much better. The computer problems still are not resolved, but we expect that it will all be handled soon enough. In some ways, it's been a difficult year for us. With Mike taking over the office on his own, he's had to work extremely hard to get everything in order, to cover the expenses and to continue to take care of his patients. We're still working to do that but we are so grateful to have seen huge successes with the practice this year. Mike has more than doubled the number of patients he is seeing and has far exceeded his goal for the year. We have so much support all around us, starting with our excellent staff, for whom we are so grateful, both of our families, and good friends. And of course, we have our own little family that has grown this year. We could easily look at the trials we've faced and be overwhelmed or even a little ticked off, but we choose instead to recognize all of the blessings that accompany those trials as well as the opportunities for our own personal growth in the midst of it all. In a conversation with my mom last week, I made a statement that has since become my new mantra: "We may not find ourselves in the perfect circumstances; but we have the opportunity to perfect ourselves in our circumstances." I definitely don't consider my life to be difficult, but we all face trials and how we take them on is up to us. As for me, I choose to just be grateful.