It happens

Several years ago when I was living in Texas in a rental house there was an old furnice that was in the floor with a metal grate over the top. When we first moved in the youngest child was a newborn so I didn't think much about the grate. The people who owned the house had rigged an expandable gate into a square to sit over the top of it but it didn't attach.
Later in the year on the first cold day of winter, I put the gate contraption over the grate because the baby was crawling by then and turned on the heat.
I stepped into the bathroom and just as I came out the baby had crawled over to the gate, pulled up and pushed. The gate moved and he sat on the hot metal grate. I grabbed him but the grate left a blister where the metal touched his leg. I was just sick. I doctored his leg and went over to my parents house. When my Dad saw the blister, he just glared at me and headed out to the shed not saying a word. He came back with some wood and went over to my house. He made a wooden box that fit around the metal grate and bolted it to the floor. He never said a word to me and didn't for over a week. It was obvious he was upset with me for letting the baby get burned. I was so very miserable.
About two weeks after that happened, my Dad took the baby outside with him. They had gone to the back of the yard and my Dad set the baby down to go into the shed to get something. When he turned around the baby had gotten back to the house and was on the back porch. Just as my Dad headed for the porch the baby fell and split his mouth open and was bleeding all over the place. My Dad was pretty upset that the baby had gotten hurt when he was supposed to be watching him. From that day forward, he started talking to me again. He never said anything about either accident but I guess he realized that things like that could happen to anyone.
It is a good thing that kids come so tough.

being thankful

One of the things that I am so very grateful for is a large family. Each one is an example to me and they are reminders of the things in life that are of most importance.
When my family was young they taught me how to love, how to work, to sacrifice and to make the most of what one had and so many other things.
Now that they are all grown, they make me laugh, they make me think, they help me see things from different perspectives, they make me feel appreciated, they make me proud.
All has not been perfect and there have been hard times also. There have been mistakes, there has been hurt and tears, there has been saddness and worry.
I am even thankful for the hard times because many times in the end, it is the hard times that have brought us together the most, to help, to support and show extra love that is needed.
I am thankful for a large, ever growing family. They each have helped and continue to help make me a better person.
Thanks Heavenly Father, you knew I needed them.