Turkey Fingers

    Last year at Thanksgiving time, my friend's daughter (B) had made a Thanksgiving craft in school. She traced her hand and made a turkey out of it.  On each finger, the children were supposed to write something they were thankful for.  On one of the fingers, B had written "That my mom is friends with Melanie."  It melted my heat when I heard this!
     I have thought about this many times.  I have thought about how thankful I am for this little girl and for her siblings and her mom.
    Today in church, I sat in back of B and remind her about her turkey craft from last year and how much it meant to me what she wrote.  During the meeting, she came back and sat by me.  A few minutes later, her six year old sister (M) also came back to sit by me and snuggled up.  By the end of the meeting, their three-year old brother joined us for a minute--long enough to get a picture of Jesus and some gum.
    From behind me, another neighbor girl (E)  reached over the pew with a pad of paper and asked me to write some "really good scriptures" on it that she could mark in her scriptures.  Several months ago I sat by E during Sacrament Meeting and I helped her mark the scriptures the speakers shared, as well as some other "good ones."  I think that too often we tell children how important the scriptures are but because they don't have enough experience with scriptures to know where the "really good" ones are, unless we show them.   They are just pages with words.  As adults, I feel we can do a better job of helping them OPEN the scriptures and help the know HOW TO MARK them.  It made me feel happy that she thought to ask me because I had shown her before.
      M then drew a picture of me and her next to a Christmas tree.  It said, "M and Melanie a Happy Christmis on Christmas tim can we hav christmis to Gethr   Yes ___   no___."  Then she asked me if we could have a "late night" sometime soon.  I felt so much love from and for these kids!
     At this Thanksgiving time, although I don't have my own children to snuggle and love, I am thankful for several children that I love and love me that I can name on my "turkey fingers."

"To fathers and mothers, to grandfathers and grandmothers, and to those without children of their own who lovingly nurture children and youth, my counsel is to speak more frequently about Jesus Christ." -Elder Neil L. Andersen, General Conference, April 2010

    This Christmas season, let us "speak more frequently about Jesus" with children in our sphere of influence that as they feel our love, they may also feel His.