We are powerful!

I was absolutely blown away by this quote from Elder Jeffrey R. Holland. In fact the whole talk was amazing.  It's titled "Of Souls, Symbols, and Sacraments.

He says this:

"Of all the titles He has chosen for Himself,  Father is the one He declares, and creation is His watchword- especially human creation, creation in His image. His glory isn’t a mountain, as stunning as mountains are. It isn’t in the sea or sky or snow or sunrise, as beautiful as they all are. It isn’t in art or technology, be that a concerto or computer. No, His glory-and His grief- is in His children. We- you and I- are His prized possessions, and we are the earthly evidence, however inadequate of what He truly is. Human life is the greatest of God’s powers, the most mysterious and magnificent chemistry of it all, and you and I have been given it, but under the most serious and sacred of restrictions. You and I- who can make neither mountain nor moonlight, not one rain-drop or a single rose- have this greater gift in an absolutely unlimited way. And the only control placed on us is self-control- self-control born of respect for the divine sacramental power it is.  Surely God’s trust in us to respect this future- forming gift is an awesomely staggering one."

Have you ever thought of being a parent in that way before? It's amazing what powers we do have. Find the article and read it if you can. Amazing!

FHE #8

Tonight was Sienna's turn to help with FHE, we talked about Faith and Daniel and the Lion's Den. She helped with the artwork and helped present certain dramatic elements to the story. It was too cute!

Her favorite parts were when God told the Lion's to "Shut your mouths!"  and then when the king pulled back the stone to the den and said "Daniel, did your God rescue you?"

I'm always amazed at the Faith of Daniel. Here he is, being told he can't pray at risk to his life, so he opens his windows and continues to pray as normal. I think I'd at least pray in secret. But that's where my faith lacks in comparison to Daniels.  Something to think about, that's for sure!

The Law of the Fast: A personal responsibility to care for the poor and needy.

I taught a lesson on this General Conference Talk, and thought I'd share a snippit from the actual talk. It was a great lesson to prepare and I appreciated the comments. I learn so much from my fellow relief society sisters!

The biggest thing that I learned today is that when we fast, we feel hungry, and for just a short time, we know what it feels like to be in the shoes of the poor and the needy. It puts us in a place that we can connect with our Father in Heaven and ask for help, and then gives us the opportunity to then be blessed, by paying a fast offering and sharing with those who need help.

Food for thought

cap

Update

I am totally drowning. I just can't keep up and I'm looking forward to April and the end of the semester like my kids counting down till Christmas.

I've realized trying to meet my goals is adding an extra layer of stress that I wasn't expecting. I have so much homework and 8 basket of unfolded laundry, but I'm worrying about what Sewing Project I will complete for February, or getting good pictures of family home evening, all to meet my goal.

So to all my adoring fans (Mom & Dad), I'll keep updating (cause it's for a grade too) but I've got to cool it on the pressure I'm putting on myself.

To my kids: you're on your own. There are chicken nuggets in the freezer, Tanner can cook you Jiffy muffins, or Chase can cook you Ramen. That's the best you're going to get out of me for the next 6 weeks.

Projects are going to have to wait. vacuuming is not going to happen, neither is cleaning bathrooms. Dishes will happen on a minimal bases and laundry will get washed but not folded.

To anyone who tries to just "stop by"- I'm not letting you in. There I said it!  We can chat at the door. Just assume that a bomb went off in my living room and dropped barbies, puzzle pieces and infinity characters everywhere. It's not pretty.

Life will resume as we know it in April... Till then:)

Food for thought...

I thought I'd share with you this cool quote I found while studying this week. Elder Bruce R. McConkie said

"When we as Latter-Day Saints talk about marriage, we are talking about a holy, celestial order. We are talking about a system out of which can grow the greatest love, joy, peace, happiness and serenity known to humankind. We are talking about creating a family unit that has the potential of being everlasting and eternal, a family unit where a man and wife can go on in that relationship to all eternity, and where mother and daughter and father and son are bound by eternal ties that will never be severed. We are talking about creating a unit out of which exaltation and eternal life grow; and when we talk about eternal life, we are talking about the kind of life that God our Heavenly Father lives." 

Isn't that so great?!? I feel so privileged to have this knowledge, that I can spend eternity with my husband and that the bond between me and my parents, and me and my children can not be severed. Satan is working overtime to try and destroy the sanctity of marriage, and he is proving successful in so many ways. Elder Bednar said "Satan does not have a body, he cannot marry, and he will not have a family. And he persistently strives to confuse the divinely appointed purposes of gender, marriage, and family. Throughout the world, we see growing evidence of the effectiveness of Satan's efforts."  I suppose the only reason Satan would try to destroy something so hard is if it is vital to our exaltation as marriage is. Sorry Satan, I refuse to let you win on me!

FHE #6

This week we talked about prayer. Chase read us a story from the friend. We talked about how we can feel comfort through prayer.

 We played a game of Clue. Anyone that has played Clue with a 5 year old knows that it is basically impossible, but we still had fun. We ended the night with Root Beer Floats. yum:)

Goals- week #5

I made 10 goals for 2015 and I'm going to report on them here, to help hold myself accountable.

FAMILY:

1. Family Home Evening every week. 
* Read about those here if you missed them

Last week we went to Peter Piper Pizza for family home evening (and Sienna's birthday!)

2. Family Fun Day every month

*We went and saw Paddington for this months Family Fun Day! It was adorable. Hubbie said it stuck to the story. I remember the book Paddington, but I don't remember the story line, so I can not vouch for his truthfulness! It was too funny though, because Tanner just could not get over the fact that nobody was freaking out that a talking bear was walking around London.

3. Epic summer vacation

*More on that in a few months.

HOME:

4. New Floors

*Boom! Taxes done and e-filed, I anxiously checking my bank account for my refund. Although, Uncle Sam was not nearly as kind as I was hoping, he's paying for my floors, so for that I am grateful!

5. Finish "the list"

 *The security door is in! It's all we've accomplished, but I feel safer knowing it's there. Also this week, I managed to lose my car keys and house key, Hubbie is convinced I lost them outside somewhere because we have ran-sacked the house and they are no-where to be found. So it was extra incentive to put the door in! He did it himself, only because the Handy Man we tried to hire canceled on us twice. Turns out he's pretty handy himself!

PERSONAL:

6. Get healthy/loose weight

*Though my February goal is to lose 5 lbs, I took a week off. I still lost a pound in the process, but I just couldn't bring myself to get up early and exercise. Tomorrow starts a new round of 21 day fix!


7. Sew a new wardrobe item every month.

Check out January's project here. I'm scouring Pinterest for February's project.

January

SPIRITUAL:
8. Daily, meaningful prayer. 
*I've been so busy with work, kids, school and life that I feel like my constant prayers are the only things holding me together.

9.Do my visiting teaching each month.
*This cracked me up! I need to talk to my partner for this month.

10. Attend the temple at least once a month.
*I'm going this weekend, come hell or high-water:)

Well, there's my report for the week. I'll check in again next week. 

Christ's Atonement

Ever have one of those days where you just can't get it right? I've had a month that way. So, this quote touched me today. Change is possible, and I will get it right:)

The birthday of all birthdays! (& FHE #5)

It's not everyday that you turn 5!  We celebrated with Grandma & Grandpa Sunday night with some ultra pink/purple cupcakes.

 She woke up to a bike, which she has been riding all over the house all day. 

 She also got to go to Build-A-Bear for the first time! She picked out "Miss Hearts"

 Who is appropriately dressed as Elsa (Who else?!) Then she went to preschool where all the kids sang happy birthday to her, and Andrew even gave her a hug. She was kindof gushing about that part!

For dinner and Family home evening, we hit up Peter Piper Pizza, cause Pizza is this girls FAVORITE food. She had a blast!

After a long exhausting day, she came to me at about 7:30 and said "Is it bedtime yet? I want to go to sleep, cause I got some good dreams comin'!" It was adorable. 

Happy Birthday Sienna, can't imagine life with out you!

5 years old!

There was a time, about 7 years ago, that I prayed to not have anymore children. After losing one to an ectopic pregnancy, it was more heartbreak than I thought I could ever handle again, and I just wanted to be done.  But, if God had granted that plea, I wouldn't have this beautiful, sassy, spunky, loving girl in my life. I'm grateful the Lord knows us better than we know ourselves!

Because now...
This little girl is 5 years old!

(This is, by the way, the photo I will be sharing with her Senior Class!!)

This sweet child has a fierce love of all things Princess.

She never misses a chance for a Selfie!

And lives to take silly face photos!

She's not a baby anymore, and it's kindof breaking my heart!

I found this on facebook and it's spot on. I love this little girl so much!

Sienna loves nature, her dogs, Doc McStuffins, she loves fruit, especially strawberries, pizza and chocolate. She cries if she has to eat chicken nuggets, she wants "healthy food." She is a little momma and takes good care of her brothers, I tell her she's babysitting when we go on dates, and I have no doubt that it's probably true. Chase can handle if an emergency arises, but Sienna is the one watching things. She loves sleep, bike rides, and reading. She hates to make anyone mad,  or have anyone be bad at her. She prays every night that her and Tanner won't fight any more.

I can't imagine life with out her!

Goals- week #4

Happy February!!  One month down on my goals, 11 more to go:)

I made 10 goals for 2015 and I'm going to report on them here, to help hold myself accountable.

FAMILY:

1. Family Home Evening every week. 
* Read about those here if you missed them

I found this quote I liked:  “We all know the struggle necessary to retain family home evening. There are thieves among us who would steal our Monday nights. But the promises of the Lord made 84 years ago and reiterated by our Prophets today, have never been revoked and are there for us: ‘If the saints obey this counsel, we promise that great blessings will result. Love at home and obedience to parents will increase. Faith will be developed in the hearts of the youth of Israel, and they will gain power to combat the evil influence and temptations which beset them.” Neil L. Anderson, Prophets and Spiritual Mole Crickets. October 1999 General Conference.

2. Family Fun Day every month

*"Family Fun Day" as my kids think it should be, didn't really happen. But you know what? We played a ton of games this week, and we saw a movie on January 1st. We've been so busy this month that that will have to count!

3. Epic summer vacation

*More on that in a few months.

HOME:

4. New Floors

*We're waiting for tax season on this one, but we've measured and Hubbie's arranged time off in the end of February. I've never been so excited to do my taxes!

5. Finish "the list"

 *The list is coming along, slowly but surely. I'm still waiting to put the security door in. A lot of "security" we get from it, laying in my garage. I had the hair brain idea to paint the door frame first though, and then it started raining, which put a stop to those plans. I'm going to try and get that done this week (in between the million other things I have to do). Also, I started to work on Chase's room, but he informed me he'd rather be playing Minecraft on a Saturday then paint his room, so I decided to not bother.

PERSONAL:

6. Get healthy/loose weight

*January's results are in. I'm happy and I'm not. I weighed myself on Thursday (which is my normal weigh in day) and I was down 7 pounds!!! I did a major victory dance around the house. Then I weighed myself on Saturday the 31st, just for a total for the month and I had gained 5 pounds back. WHAT THE HECK?? I had done nothing different, how does one gain 5lbs in 2 days? So I was pretty bummed, so my results for the month are 3 pounds lost and 4.25" lost. I even went down a pant size. So overall, it was a successful month. I'm shooting for another 5 pounds in February.





7. Sew a new wardrobe item every month.

Check out January's project here. I'm scouring Pinterest for February's project.

January

SPIRITUAL:
8. Daily, meaningful prayer. 
*I've been so busy with work, kids, school and life that I feel like my constant prayers are the only things holding me together.

9.Do my visiting teaching each month.
*It's a new month, and I got a third sister added to me. She's new to the ward, and since I haven't felt that this ward is super inviting, I'm gonna go the extra mile to make friends.

10. Attend the temple at least once a month.
*Ugh. January was a complete failure. So many things went wrong every time I had planned to go. I'm going to make it up in February.

Well, there's my report for the week. I'll check in again next week.