Grateful for...

• my mother, who was told she would never be able to have children.... and who was medically counseled/strongly encouraged to abort me when she DID get pregnant.  She's been there for me through everything life has dished out... from the very beginning!
• my father who, has never claimed to be perfect, yet is the perfect daddy for me.
• my step-mother who, despite rocky times, has hung in there and loves me no matter.
• my husband's sweet mother who, with grace, battled cancer & passed away too young.
• my mother-in-law (Mr. LKP's 2nd mom) who, even though Mr. LKP is not hers biologically, has loved him as her very own... and has held my hands & caught my tears in some of my most frightening "military-wife moments."
• my father-in-law who, ornery & feisty & full of out-dated snarky comments as he is, has helped mend my dog pens, has helped us manage our land, has made sure we have firewood... (and who scared us tonight with some kidney issues & a trip to the hospital) and has kept me sane as I navigate what it means to be a member of his family. 

...FAITHFUL & DILIGENT PARENTS.  They have shaped who we are today.  I couldn't imagine our lives without any of them or their influences.  Their legacies Mr. LKP & I continue to follow, even today, that we may eventually become the best parents possible for Mini-Me. (It's an on-going process.  No lie.  We couldn't even begin to tackle this without each of them.  We'd be lost!)

"I, Nephi, having been born of goodly parents..."

~1 Nephi 1:1

"Train up a child in the way he should go: 

and when he is old, he will not depart from it."

~Proverbs 22:6 

"Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long 

upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee."

~Exodus 20:12

"...As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord."

~Joshua 24:15