FInding Joy in the Journey

A few things have occurred lately that have led me to ponder on my life and what really means the most to me. A few weeks ago I went to a relief society activity where they handed out a christmas gift to all of us. It was a homemade spiral bound book with an activity for every day of December, based off of President Monson's talk "Finding Joy in the Journey." Each activity is something that is supposed to helps us to remember our joys and gratitude in this journey. I have to admit I was very excited, for a few minutes each day I now have the opportunity to complete the little activity for the day and ponder on what I might get out of that particular lesson. Well as you can imagine our first "mini-lesson" as I would refer to it was to read President Monson's talk, and highlight any points that stood out to me. Well I could almost highlight the whole thing! I strongly suggest that you read it if you have not already! So to save you from a very long post, and because I want you to read it yourself, I am only going to go over a few points that really popped out at me.

*Time never stands still, it must steadily march on, and with the marching come the changes...I plead with you not to let those most important things pass you by as you plan for that illusive and nonexistent future when you will have time to do all that you want to do. Instead, find joy in the journey-now.

*Our realization of what is most important in life goes hand in hand with gratitude for our blessings.

And lastly President Monson's testimony:

"He (Jesus Christ) taught us how to pray. He taught us how to serve. He taught us how to live. His life is a legacy of love. The sick He healed; the downtrodden He lifted; the sinner He saved. The time came when He stood alone. Some Apostles doubted; one betrayed Him. The Roman soldiers pierced His side. The angry mob took His life. There yet rings from Golgotha's hill His compassionate words, "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.".... "No room in the Inn" was not a singular expression of rejection-just the first. Yet He invites you and me to receive Him. "Behold I stand at the door, and knock; if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me. Let us follow Him. Let us emulate His example. Let us obey His word. By so doing, we give to Him the divine gift of gratitude."

My new goal is to focus more on Finding Joy in the Journey what a blessed life we have and to not show gratitude is selfish. Let those you love know that you love them and how much they mean to you. You will never regret it.

Give Thanks

In case you can't tell what this says, cause I know the lighting is bad, it says "Give Thanks." And instead of doing my usual paragraph post I decided sometimes I write too much and go on tangents and it becomes hard to read so today I decided to just do a list, of things I am thankful, and while I could go on for probably 100 items, I am going to start with only 10.

In no particular order:

1. My crazy, lovable, sweet, adoring, thoughtful, smart, brave, strong, faithful, handsome HUSBAND.

I am so thankful for a husband who is always considering my feelings, who sacrifices hunting trips with the boys when I am feeling neglected, who takes care of me when I am sick, and works so hard to support our little family, he would do anything for me and I know that. Most of all I am thankful for a husband who is temple worthy, and holds the priesthood, who presides over our family, that is an amazing feeling.

2. I am thankful for my crazy, sarcastic, loving, fun FAMILY.

I am thankful for an amazing family that has stood by me for, let's face it, my whole life. We have been through fun times, trials, tribulations, laughing and crying and our bond gets stronger every day. They understand my emotional, fun, crazy self. I don't think I would have made it through Kenny's deployment without my wonderful family taking me in and understanding. This include not only my immediate family, but my aunts, uncles and cousins who are so great as well!

3. I am thankful for the Gospel, and most importantly Jesus Christ, my SAVIOR.

I am thankful that He died for my, that I may repent and live again. I am thankful that He bore the sins of the world, and knows the paid that everyone of us has been through so that we are not alone in ANY situation. I am thankful that He loves me and knows me individual and is watching over me as I live my life. I can't wait to see him again someday.

4. I am thankful for this energetic, sometimes annoying, fun and loving puppy ADDIE.

(if only she was still this little) Addie has definitely become a part of our little family. She has kept me company all the nights and weekends Kenny is working or camping/hunting. She protects me from harm, and makes me feel safe when I am home alone. Without her I think I would go crazy.

5. I am thankful for my FRIENDS.

This one in particular has been through thick and thin with me. Our friendship was kind of a random unexpected one, in fact we went to elementary school and high school together and did not meet until we were in college. We survived a deployment together and without her I don't know where I would be today. She is definitely one of my best friends!

6. I am thankful for my CAR.

Although it may not run well, and it literally just gets me from point A to B, I am thankful that I have it to get me to work, school and other activities. I am thankful that I don't have to walk everywhere or share my car with someone else. I often take this for granted, but recently I have been reminded that having a car truly is a blessing.

7. I am thankful for my EDUCATION.

Although I often complain, and hate having to spend the gas to drive down to ASU-Tempe, I am thankful for my education. I am thankful that I am able to learn and grow and mature. I am thankful that I will have a degree in order to fall back on and further my career as I am starting out.

8. I am thankful for a SHOWER and HOT WATER.

There is nothing better in my mind than relaxing in a hot shower. I am thankful that we live in a country advanced enough to have running water and hot water.

9. I am thankful for my FREEDOM.

Not only my freedom but also the people who fight for it everyday. I am thankful that I can worship freely, speak freely and live as I want. What a wonderful country that we live in!

10. Lastly, I am thankful for the CLOTHES on my back, the BED I am sitting in and the PILLOW to rest my head on. These comforts I enjoy everyday and often take for granted. I am so thankful for these things that keep my comfortable every night.

I hope that everyone else remembered their blessings and came up with things that they were thankful for. *On a total side note, if you have not yet seen Blindside, it is a MUST SEE. It helps to remind you what you are thankful for. Definitely worth your money.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Veteran's Day

I have to admit, growing up all Veteran's day meant to me was a day of school, usually resulting in a three day weekend, often spent up north to a weekend get-a-way. Wow have times changed. Although I am still grateful for the day off and usually it does fall on a Monday, the meaning of Veteran's day has definitely changed for me as I have grown older, as I hope it has for you. Now as most of you know, I am a proud Army Wife, my husband is in the Army Reserve and has served one tour in Iraq. As you can imagine, this brings a whole new meaning to the event of Veteran's day. I am excited to celebrate all of the soldiers who have fought for this country, past or present. Especially for the one's who have lost their lives fighting for this country. I greatly enjoy the freedoms that come from it and don't know what it would be like to live in a country were freedom is not practiced regularly. I have experience the stories my husband has shared as he described the war torn country of Iraq, how they live and die, and how the freedoms we so often take for granted are not the same to them. On this Veteran's day I hope that you will take the time to thank a Veteran, for what they have done for us and this country. I hope that we remember this day not only as simply a day off from school, but a day to truly remember those who have lived, died, and fought for this country. I also pray that we would keep special mind of those killed in the recent attacks at Fort Hood. What a sad situation, those young lives should be remembered. Parent's I encourage you to teach your children the real meaning of Veteran's day, fly your flags high and be thankful for this freedom that we enjoy every day.

Thank you baby for serving our country, for sacrificing all to keep us safe, for this I am truly grateful and am so proud to call you my husband.

October 26, 2009

I am sure most of you have heard by now of the incident that occurred on the Arizona State University Campus yesterday. If you did not I will briefly explain it to you or you can look up the story here http://www.statepress.com/node/8727 . Yesterday a graduate student committed suicide in his professors office while they were talking. He just pulled out a gun in the middle of their conversation and shot himself. Wow. I am almost speechless. But as this happened I feel the need to write out my feelings, so this is it. Feel free to read on or not. While I am saddened by this event and my thoughts go out to his family and friends, I have mixed feelings of sadness and thankfulness, I am also a little scared. I am of course, sad for the family of this student, who now has to figure out how to live life without their loved one. I too had a family member commit suicide and let me tell you it is very hard on the loved ones left behind. So I pray that his family is comforted in this time of need. Next, I am thankful that his intent was only to kill himself, and not to go on a shooting spree and kill other innocent lives. You hear about school shooting, more often then most of us would like, but we still think, oh that would never happen at my school. I thought that too, until this event that brought the story a little to close to home. Luckily, I was not on campus yesterday, but what if this man had decided to kill many others before he ended his own life? What if friends of mine that were on campus yesterday were involved in more than just one man's suicide? I am thankful that this man only took one life, his own, and did not kill other innocent lives. And lastly, this event instilled more of a fear in me. This man came onto campus with a gun, and nobody knew. Nobody. That is so scary to me. As I got in the elevator today and there was one other student in there with me, I could not help but think, what if he has a gun too. What if he is going to shoot? I know that situations can happen anywhere and that you can be injured doing almost anything. But it is scary to think that people around me could have weapons without anyone knowing. I am sure going to be more cautious and careful, doing what I can, but if the weapon is concealed, I guess there is not much I can do besides put my faith in Christ and hope that if it is my time to go I am ready. I hope I am ready.

When I Grow Up...

When I grow up I want to be a teacher, a doctor, a nurse, a firefighter, a policeman... This is along the lines of what you will hear when you ask a child what they want to be when they grow up. When I was asked that question, I often answered I don't know maybe a teacher? I just want to help people. Well here I am a Junior and college, I am majoring in Psychology and minoring in Human and Family Development. But what do I want to be when I grow up. As everyone else in my major begin applying for graduate school, doing research and devoting every waking minute to the program I think, is this what I really want? To be stuck in school, and having it own me for the next 4-5 years?? Not really. Honestly I want to be done with school as soon as possible! But then I think to myself. Well if you don't continue with school what are you going to be? With such a competitive market out there, there is not much you can do with a bachelors degree is psychology, I have to do more schooling. Maybe I should have thought of this before I picked my major, but I didn't, I picked my major because I thought it was interesting and because I wanted to help people, more specifically be a counselor and help people overcome their problems. The type of counseling I have wanted to do has varied, from marriage and family, to marriage and family with an emphasis in military and helping spouses and children survive deployment, cause I know it was easier to survive a deployment when I had someone going through it with me. Then I thought school counseling would be ok too. I could help young lives find direction. But I really don't know what I want to be. I just want to help people. The more I ponder on what to do next, the more stuck I am. To me, success is not measured on how much schooling you have or how much money you make. If you tell me you have a Master's degree I don't see you anymore successful than a mom with 5 kids who has been at home raising them. To me she has a Master's too, only she did not sit in the classroom to get it, she earned it through years and years of trial and error, and her reward is much more sweet, and pays more than any Master's degree does. As as I ponder the roles of the mothers I know, my mother, aunts, grandmothers, and friends I think, wow what a job! Isn't the job of a mom helping people? Changing lives, and molding them to choose the right and be God's children? Maybe what's best for me is to be a mom, to help people that way. I don't know, maybe I will never decide what I want to be when I grow up.

Hey there Delilah (I'm at the MTC)

To all my LDS friends, this is so funny! Its a must see!

http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=1157595773724

will update more later!

Pay Your Tithing!

The economy sucks! I am sure that we have all figured that out by now. Most families (unless your filthy rich) are struggling right now to pay the bills, support their families, find work etc. Our little family has been no exception to that. Kenny works for a construction company, as most of you know construction means work is not always available and there are quite a few days that he has been told to stay home, due to there being no work for him. But I am truly thankful that he still has a job! At least he is making something. But as we struggle and most months I am stressed because I am not sure how I am going to pay the bills every time something happens and we have enough money to carry us along. A personal experience that I want to share in particular is this month we were struggling with finding enough money to pay our mortgage. It came down to the last minute and the pay checks just weren't enough. Kenny called me at work and told me that he had received a check from the Army for backpay that they owed him, and you guessed it, it was just enough to help us pay the bills. I can testify to you that this is because we strive to pay our tithing first every month. That is not something that is skipped over. We put our faith in the Lord and do all that we can with budgeting and watching what we spend, paying our tithing, attending church meetings, saying our prayers, etc. The Lord has definitely blessed us in this time of need and I guarantee that it will be the same for you if you heed his commandments and PAY YOUR TITHING!

Rely on the Lord and He will help you. As I sat through church pondering the past week, we sang "Come Unto Jesus" which seemed appropriate for my past week.

"Come unto Jesus ye heavy laden, careworn and fainting, by sin oppressed.

He'll safely guide you unto that haven where all who trust him may rest."

"Come unto Jesus from every nation, from every land and isle of the sea.

Unto the high and lowly in station, ever he calls, 'Come to me'"

I love church. I love being a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I have a testimony of this gospel. I know that Joseph Smith is a true prophet of God. I know that the Temple is the house of the Lord, and that we can go there to be refreshed and renewed. I am thankful for my temple marriage and that I can be with my wonderful husband forever. I am thankful for my husband and what a wonderful man he is.

I hope everyone has a wonderful Sunday and always remember to say your prayers and thank God for your blessings!

8 in the morning

So it happened, the thing I have been dreading ever since we moved into this ward.  We changed to the 8am time slot.  I have to admit, I have been complaining and moaning and groaning ever since I found out that our stake changes times when school starts and that our next time slot would be at 8 in the morning.  For those of you that know me, you know that I am NOT a morning person whatsoever! And I had a hard enough time getting to church at 10am.  This means no more late Saturday nights for a while and getting used to a whole new schedule(can I just say I am so thankful I don't have kids that I have to get up at that time too!).  So we showered Saturday night (so as to sleep in as late as we could) and set the alarm for 7:00.  The phone on my alarm has been finicky lately and doesn't like to go off! And guess what! it didn't go off this morning either so we woke up at 7:30 instead of 7:00.  Still we hurried around and hustled and bustled so that we could make it to church on time! And can I tell you something! The Lord definitely blessed us for making the effort (and sacrifice for me) to go to 8:00am early morning church.  Today was also Fast Sunday, and the spirit was so strong! The testimonies of those in the ward touch my heart so deeply! I am so glad that I made it to church today! And will make an honest effort to make it on time (and hopefully even early) to church every Sunday!  It is getting a little better and we are getting to know a few more people, but I still feel lost in a huge ward! Maybe it will get better soon! School will be starting back here in a few weeks and I only have a year left before I get my bachelors! I am so excited! If I can just chug along til that point all will be better! 

Perspective

So its late and I need to get to bed as my husband is snoring next to me :) But as I met with a friend tonight and we unloaded all of our stresses and frustrations (trying to decide how to get our lives more organized so that we felt more in control and better about ourselves) on each other we came upon this quote which I love but completely forgot about.  Just something to think about.  I will update more soon!

"The Lord works from the inside out. The world works from the outside in. The world would take people out of the slums, the Lord would take the slums out of people, and then they take themselves out of the slums. The world would mold men by changing their environment. Christ changes men, who then change their environment. The world would shape human behavior, but Christ can change human nature."

~Ezra Taft Benson

ADDIE!!!

So it has been forever! Most exciting news though is that we got a puppy! She is a black lab and we absolutely love her! We call her the terror cause she definitely is active and always wants to play, but we do love her! We also took her on her first camping trip, which is what these pictures are from! She did so well but was way dirty! haha she loved being out and exploring and rolling around in the dust! She found a patch of grass that she loved! She would go there to play with her toys, or just sleep! She definitely keeps us active, but is such a good dog.  She was already using the doggie door not long after we got her! She is already learning to sit and stay! We love the new addition to our family! Our friends Nate and Rissa have a lab just older than Addie and they love playing together!  That is the first picture that you see! Sorry it is so blurry but it is hard to catch them not moving!  Other than that life is the same, its a bit more busy with a puppy to take care of but we cant wait to see her grow up! 

Photography

So Monica is an amazing photographer and I think you should check out her blog and hire her!

www.monicajohnsonphotography.blogspot.com

Rissa's Wedding!

Sorry to all those who are stalking my blog ha ha and have noticed I haven't updated in a while, truth is I have just been busy! Today I decided to blog about my good friend Rissa and Kenny's battle mate Nate's wedding! We were so lucky to both be in the wedding party and participate in such a beautiful wedding! I am also very lucky that Rissa's loves and understands my beliefs enough to let me alter my dress so that it was modest. They were married April 4, 2009 at the Shanendoah Mill in Gilbert, thank goodness the wind subsided for one day so that their outside wedding could be so beautiful! I will also throw in a few of her bachelorette party which was held at Rustler's Rooste and some of the rehearsal! Here are just a few pictures! Check my facebook for a more comprehensive listing.

In other news we are getting ready for yet another brother to leave on a mission who would have known that between Kenny and I we have 3 brothers and 2 pretty much brothers on a mission all at the same time! This past year and a half has been crazy with missionary farewells! I can't wait until the homecomings, but I know they are all doing great and serving the Lord, Kenny's brother Cameron is having his farewell this sunday and will be leaving in the beginning of May and then Ricky who is practically my brother will be leaving shortly thereafter! They are all such great guys and we are proud of them all!

I am almost done with this semester and I can not tell you how excited I am! This semester has been a tough one, a lot of hard work and I need a break, too bad I am going straight into summer school! eek! But i'm trying to get as far ahead as possible!

That's it for now and I hope this blog is long enough! haha 

lots of love!

DISNEYLAND!

So this past weekend we went to disneyland.  It was a total blast I love Disneyland! I think it is one of the happiest places on earth!  And it was a relatively inexpensive trip since Kenny had an Army conference in Newport,  the Army paid for our travel, hotel and food expenses, nice huh! So we went a day early and totally enjoyed ourselves!  We also stopped by Newport Beach since Kenny has never been to disneyland or the beach! It was cold but we enjoyed it.  We took a ferry to Balboa Island it was such a cute little place and the weather happened to be beautiful! We didn't wait in line for very long on any of the rides, it was just the perfect trip and I can't wait to go again!

And at the last Home Enrichment night we made this really cute signs! I am so proud of them that I thought I would show them off to you!

Visiting Teaching

So I have to admit I have never really been visiting teaching, not by choice but just because I have never been put in a companionship.  Well my aunt sent me this in an email today and I think it is worth watching what a profound impact it had on me, and I can't wait to begin visiting teaching, hopefully I get put in a companionship soon!

http://visitingteaching.blip.tv/#804254

In other news I know that I have not updated the blog in a long time.  I have been so busy between school and work and being a wife!  I had midterms this last week, there are advantages and disadvantages to having all your classes on one day.  I save gas by only driving down to ASU two days a week and save time as well.  But when mid terms come, I get stuck with more than one midterm on one day, which is alot for me and undoubtedly one of my tests were going to suffer which was evident when I got the grade back for my Memory and Cognition midterm.  I didn't do as well as I thought, luckily we can drop one of the tests.  I did really well on my Abnormal Child Psych midterm, but then again I love that class and the teacher makes learning the subject a lot of fun which helps alot! I have yet to see what I got on my Courtship and Marriage midterm.  But hey! now I know what kind of pressure I am going to be under and how much time studying should be put forth for each class.  I will do better next time.  Other than that life is going good.  No complaints here! Hope everyone is doing well!

you can win!

The first five people to respond to this post will get something made by me! My choice. For you.

This offer does have some restrictions and limitations:

1. I make no guarantees you will like what I make!

2. What I create will be just for you.

3. It'll be done this year. {might be a little while}

4. You have no clue what it's going to be. It might be a story.  It might be poetry or even some creation I haven't even invented yet (but heaven knows it will most likely be super shiny or look like it got attacked by a bedazzler).  I may draw or paint something. I may bake you something and mail it to you. Who knows? Not you, thats for sure!

5. I reserve the right to do something extremely strange.

The catch? Oh, the catch is that you must repost this on your blog and offer the same to the first 5 people who do the same on your blog. The first 5 people to do so and leave a comment telling me they did win a FAB-U-LOUS homemade gift by me!

We love you Mater!

Today my husbands dog Mater, got out and got hit by a car. (he is living with Kenny's parents right now) So my mother-in-law took the dog to the hospital, but he has some pretty bad wounds.  He broke his leg very badly and has some scrapes and bruises.  They said it would be $4000 for the surgery in order to fix his leg. REALLY! $4000! Unfortunately we do not have that kind of money, it was $1000 just do be able to do monthly installments, and we don't have that either.  So Kenny and his parent's came to the decision that they would just put Mater down, that was their only option, although my husband really did not want his dog put down.  So I dropped him off at his parents so they could go take care of it and he could see his dog again.  And it turns out that the Vet won't put him to sleep, cause he is still a puppy and has a full life ahead of him. So what do they do next? We have to pay for him to stay in the hospital for the night (at $650 a night) and then my father-in-law has to go tomorrow and take him to an adoption place where their vets will fix him up and then put him up for adoption. But guess what, they said we can't adopt him back. Man oh man this has just been a terrible night.  We are going to try to convince them tomorrow that they should let us adopt him back, My husband loves Mater with everything he has.  I hate to see him so sad.  So please send your prayers this way, for Mater and for my husband.

FIrst Day of School!

So today was the end of winter break and the start of a new school semester! I have to say I am kind of excited for school! It is going to be alot of work, but my classes seem like they will all be fun and interesting.  It is also my first experience with ASU size classes.  Last semester the most I had in my classes was 20 people.  Which I know is not typical of ASU classes but I liked it.  Well this semester most of my classes have 100 people or more! But thats ok, I know a few people in each of my classes which helps out a lot!  So the classes I am taking are Memory and Cognition, Abnormal Child Psychology, Social Class/Stratification, and Marriage/Courtship and family relationships.  My last class the Marriage and Family relationships is going to be a great class! We were laughing the whole time we were in it.  My teacher is Fay, and he is a single dad with 3 kids, who has been married and divorced twice.  He says if he doesnt have experience in this subject then he doesnt know who does haha he has seen it all! I am se excited for this semesters classes and hope that I can actually learn something this semester! I am so thankful that I got the FAFSA filled out and the loan went through(thanks to help from Cara! THANK YOU!) 

In other news, for those of you that don't know my husband Kenny works for Netsian Technologies which is kind of like a construction company, and of course because of the economy they are super slow and called today and told him not to come to work, cause they won't have work for a few days.  Which is way bad for us considering all the bills we have to pay! But anyways I got a call from my former manager saying that he wanted to talk to Kenny about a job opprotunity! What a blessing in times of need! I hope that this all works out because it would be with a company that would always have work! The Lord will never leave you stranded and I know that for sure!

New Year's Resolutions

I have never been really good at actually following through with my New Year's Resolutions but I heard that if you write them down you are more accountable and more likely to succeed! And I figure if I write them out here, you guys can help me be accountable too!

1) Loose 20lbs before Nate and Rissa's wedding! and many more by the end of the year!

2) Pay our debt.

3) Learn how to budget my money and stick to it! ( if any of you have a good budget sheet and would like to share with me that would be fantastic!)

4) Get Straight A's

For now, that is all. I will update if I think of anymore.

In other news, I am so excited for tonight! My boss gave my tickets for my husband and I to go see the Lion King at ASU Gammage, they are good seats! I love free date nights! That helps alot! Also my old work is having a reunion party tonight! I can't wait to see everyone! I miss them terribly, they are like family! We were all so close!  I will post pictures later!