President Hunter: Have Faith

I am going to do a quick post tonight while I prepare my lesson for tomorrow and hurry to bed. We are studying the Teachings of President Hunter.  I have found two great quotes, and it was actually kind of hard to just pick two.  You really should read section 5 as well...these both come from section 4....one in a video and one from the lesson about how we can really turn to the Lord in times of trial.

All of us have seen some sudden storms in our lives. A few of them … can be violent and frightening and potentially destructive. As individuals, as families, as communities, as nations, even as a church, we have had sudden squalls arise which have made us ask one way or another, “Master, carest thou not that we perish?” [Mark 4:38.] And one way or another we always hear in the stillness after the storm, “Why are ye so fearful? how is it that ye have no faith?” [Mark 4:40.]

None of us would like to think we have no faith, but I suppose the Lord’s gentle rebuke here is largely deserved. This great Jehovah, in whom we say we trust and whose name we have taken upon us, is he who said, “Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.” (Gen. 1:6.) And he is also the one who said, “Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear.” (Gen. 1:9.) Furthermore, it was he who parted the Red Sea, allowing the Israelites to pass through on dry ground. (See Ex. 14:21–22.) Certainly it should be no surprise that he could command a few elements acting up on the Sea of Galilee. And our faith should remind us that he can calm the troubled waters of our lives. …

I love that last part the most....our faith should help us remember that He is there for us.   It isn't that we don't have enough faith to get us through the trial it is that our faith helps us to rely on the Lord so that He can help us get through it--not our faith getting us through.  Lastly...this video from President Hunter:

We should have faith for our whole lives not just when times are hard--by having faith in our whole life we have the faith we need for the hard times.  We should have the faith that the hard times will be short and it will be okay in the end.  Even if we can't see the end. 

A Great Article about the Temple

Yesterday, I found this article from a fellow blogger about his experiences with the temple.  Read it for yourself here: http://www.ldsdaily.com/personal-lds-blog/why-i-went-to-the-temple-100-times-last-year/

I love how he goes through things that he learned.  I thought I would do a couple of things that I have learned from going to the temple.

1. Repetition makes everything easier
2. The peace that comes helps you with things that you wouldn't think off
3. This peace helps you feel less stressed even if you don't have time to do everything.
4. Great inspiration can come when you have problems
5. You can feel so much better!

Vernal Utah Temple--my current temple!
From mormonnewsroom.com 

Put the Lord First

President Benson taught that we should put the Lord first in our lives.  This what I am teaching tomorrow and it is the first lesson in the new manual.  I wanted to share these two quotes.  I can't take credit for the pretty--but I gave credit to some great blogs!

From http://www.cknscratch.com/ezra-taft-benson/
how-are-we-living-the-great-commandment-loving-the-lord

From http://classicmomscorner.blogspot.com/2014/11/ezra-taft-benson-lesson-1.html 

More From President Benson's Life

This is Flora

So a couple of weeks ago, I shared some insights about President Ezra Taft Benson.  I started writing too much and decided two posts would be smart...so here's part 2!

I loved this story that was shared of how President Benson met his wife Flora.

In the fall of 1920, Ezra went to Logan, Utah, about 25 miles (40 kilometers) from Whitney, to enroll at the Utah Agricultural College (now Utah State University). He was with some friends when a young woman caught his eye. He later recalled:

“We were out near the dairy barns when a young woman—very attractive and beautiful—drove by in her little car on her way to the dairy to get some milk. As the boys waved at her, she waved back. I said, ‘Who is that girl?’ They said ‘That’s Flora Amussen.’

“I told them, ‘You know, I’ve just had the impression I’m going to marry her.’”

Ezra’s friends laughed at his declaration, saying, “She’s too popular for a farm boy.” But he was undeterred. “That makes it all the more interesting,” he replied.

Ezra went on his mission after they started courting, and shortly before returning Flora felt that Ezra needed to finish his education before they got married and settled back on the farm. She later said

“[I] prayed and fasted for the Lord to help me know how I could help him be of greatest service to his fellowmen. It came to me that if the Bishop thought I was worthy, [he would] call me on a mission. The Church came first with Ezra, so I knew he wouldn’t say anything against it.”

So she went on her own mission and Ezra finished his degree.  I just thought that this was an amazing example of a woman who knew that she needed to act on the idea that education was important and support him in this matter.  She turned it over to the Lord, and he helped her find a solution.  This education served him well as he was continually asked and given jobs as agricultural agents. He helped many farmers through the Great Depression and eventually served as the Secretary of Agriculture under Dwight D. Eisenhower while as a Member of the Quorum of the 12 Apostles. Without that decision early on, he might not have gotten that appointment which served as a great moment for the Church to be heard of by more people.

When he was called as a member of the Quorum of the 12 Apostles, he was naturally very overwhelmed and surprised by the announcement.  In the story that relates this experience, it is said that President Grant told him:

 ‘The Lord has a way of magnifying men who are called to positions of leadership.’

This quote really resonated with me as the men that are called to these positions do not necessarily have the background to lead such a massive organization, but the Lord helps them to have the background and gives them what they need.

I have always been so very impressed when I learned that President Benson served as Secretary of Agriculture. This story impressed me even more because it really shows the missionary opportunities that come from Latter-day Saints that live their faith in prominent positions.

Even in his role as a government leader, Elder Benson was open about his Christian ideals, his testimony of the restored gospel, and his devotion to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Whenever he conducted a meeting with his associates in the Department of Agriculture, the meeting began with a prayer. He sent President Eisenhower passages from the Book of Mormon that prophesied of the destiny of the United States of America, and the president later said that he had read them “with the greatest of interest.”⁷⁰ He gave copies of the Book of Mormon to many other world leaders as well.⁷¹ In 1954, Edward R. Murrow, a prominent television news reporter in the United States, asked Elder Benson for permission to feature the Benson family on a Friday night program called “Person to Person.” Elder and Sister Benson declined at first, but they later consented after listening to their son Reed, who saw the invitation as a great missionary opportunity. On September 24, 1954, people all over the nation watched a live, unrehearsed family home evening in the Benson home. Mr. Murrow received more fan mail as a result of that program than he had received for any other. People from all over the country and from varied religious backgrounds wrote to thank the Bensons for their shining example.

I felt like I gained two great mottos from reading this section as well:

He repeatedly said, “Remember, Brethren, in this work it is the Spirit that counts.” And he had one standard by which he measured all the quorum’s decisions: he asked, “What is best for the Kingdom?”

The First Presidency when President Benson was prophet

Bout of Books Day 7

This last day of Bout of Books has been a lot of different kinds of reading for me.  I love the #insixwords challenge from Falling Down the Book Hole for today because I can tell you about everything that I've been reading today and give it to you in SIX WORDS OR LESS!! Eek!

My new fiction book: Seeing Redd by Frank Beddor--Off on a new adventure

January 2015 Ensign---Put God First In Your Life

Old Testament 2 Kings 9-13--Be obedient to the prophets

New Testament Luke 1 and Matthew 1--My soul doth magnify the Lord

Book of Mormon 1 Nephi 1--See the tender mercies from above

What Can We Learn from President Ezra Taft Benson?

So as my regular readers will know, I am a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I will often refer to my experiences with my faith and beliefs on the blog.  Today I thought that I would start 2015 off with some of my favorite things that I learned today about President Ezra Taft Benson.

President Benson was the 13th prophet and president of the restored Church.  Members of the Church believe that a prophet is God's spokesman on the Earth here for us.  In our third hour meetings this year, we will be studying some of the topics that President Benson discussed during the time he was an apostle and prophet.  An apostle, like those of old, are special witnesses of the Savior.  I will be spending a lot of time getting to know President Benson as I teach these lessons to the sisters of our congregation.  I am especially excited for this year because I actually remember a bit about President Benson.  He is the first prophet that we have studied that I was actually alive for!

The beginning of the book always starts with a biographical sketch of the prophet and that was what our lesson was on today.There are so many stories I could share. Here are three inspiring quotes and facts about this Idaho farmer boy for today and I will share more on a different day.

• He was born 11 3/4 lbs.--that is huge! They weren't sure if he was going to live because of his size either. 



He really does look like a big baby! This was taken in 1900, he was born in August 1899.
https://www.lds.org/manual/teachings-of-presidents-of-the-church-ezra-taft-benson/the-life-and-ministry-of-ezra-taft-benson?lang=eng

• His father was called away to a mission when he was 12.  As a result, young Ezra kept up with the family farm.  He later reflected, 

“I suppose some in the world might say that his acceptance of that call was proof he did not really love his family. To leave seven children and an expectant wife at home alone for two years, how could that be true love?

“But my father knew a greater vision of love. He knew that ‘all things shall work together for good to them that love God’ (Romans 8:28). He knew that the best thing he could do for his family was to obey God.

“While we missed him greatly during those years, and while his absence brought many challenges to our family, his acceptance proved to be a gift of charity. Father went on his mission, leaving Mother at home with seven children. (The eighth was born four months after he arrived in the field.) But there came into that home a spirit of missionary work that never left it. It was not without some sacrifice. Father had to sell our old dry farm in order to finance his mission. He had to move a married couple into part of our home to take care of the row crops, and he left his sons and wife the responsibility for the hay land, the pasture land, and a small herd of dairy cows.

“Father’s letters were indeed a blessing to our family. To us children, they seemed to come from halfway around the world, but they were only from Springfield, Massachusetts; and Chicago, Illinois; and Cedar Rapids and Marshalltown, Iowa. Yes, there came into our home, as a result of Father’s mission, a spirit of missionary work that never left it.

“Later the family grew to eleven children—seven sons and four daughters. All seven sons filled missions, some of them two or three missions. Later, two daughters and their husbands filled full-time missions. The two other sisters, both widows—one the mother of eight and the other the mother of ten—served as missionary companions in Birmingham, England.

“It is a legacy that still continues to bless the Benson family even into the third and fourth generations. Was not this truly a gift of love?

I just loved that quote because it really shows how one event--especially particularly trying events--can bring so many blessings and sometimes blessings we don't even know are possible until we see the after affects.

• Another story from President Benson that I loved was his account of working with the young men and with Scouts.  He commented,

“One of the joys of working with boys is the fact that you do get your pay as you go along. You have an opportunity to observe the results of your leadership daily as you work with them through the years and watch them grow into stalwart manhood, accepting eagerly its challenges and responsibilities. Such satisfaction cannot be purchased at any price; it must be earned through service and devotion. What a glorious thing it is to have even a small part in helping to build boys into men, real men.”

This is a real reason that I love work with the youth--you really feel like you can shape their lives and they are so receptive to it!  President Benson visited the ward again much later in life and asked after the 24 boys that he instructed.  22 of them had remained in the Church--he tracked down the other 2, helped them come back to the Church, and sealed them to their spouses--how cool is that!

X is for X-tra Time

Yeah so....I'm doing whatever one else does with this letter....it suddenly becomes an adjective :) But seriously...I was thinking about this today.  Everybody always wants extra time to do things that they want, get what they want done, etc.  Sometimes big projects require extra time each day.  With being sick for what feels like forever (we have officially past the year mark) and having that drain a lot of my energy...I have had to be more careful with my time.  I thought for the post today I would talk about some of the things I have learned with my time management this year.

So first things first is I make a list of what I need to get done everyday.  Because of my religious beliefs, this is very focused around that.  I need to read my scriptures and say my prayers each day. I also added time to read/listen to something that brings me closer to the Savior in addition to the scriptures--like conference talks or an Ensign article. Then I added what I wanted to do everyday that was a big project that I felt like could use some TLC. It was important that they be fun and enjoyable like: read and knit.  I also added watching lectures from Coursera and working on my portfolio.  I also have those "have-tos" like laundry or cleaning...though I'm not as good with those as I want to be.

Then I need to find time for everything.  With scriptures and my spiritual time, I like doing that while I'm getting ready in the morning--then it is done for the day.  A lot of my x-tra time tips have to do with multi-tasking---while I'm already doing something else.  I always thought that my fifteen to twenty minute commute everyday wasn't enough to get through a book at a decent pace.  And if that is all I'm doing it's right...but it is also thirty minutes of reading everyday.  I do try to get a physical book in too....but that's another tip with x-tra time--cut yourself a break! If I've done audio listening today and not a physical book I still check it off.

That's my other tip...figure out a way to keep track of what you've done each day.  I downloaded an app on my phone that is a to-do list thing that lets me have daily tasks that I can check off everyday and they reappear for the next day.  Then I know what I've accomplished, and I know the last time I checked it off. So if I haven't knitted in a while and I am trying to figure out something to do, maybe I go do that.

Best of luck trying to find those extra minutes in what seems to be a never ending cycle of trying to get things done! What ideas have you tried to find extra time?

W is for When

When is one of those annoying words.  When will everything get better? When will you feel better physically? When will life slow down? When will you get this done or that done? It seems like we are always asking for when we get this to change.

One of my favorite quotes this year from President Uchtdorf:

“Patience is not passive resignation, nor is it failing to act because of our fears. Patience means active waiting and enduring. It means staying with something and doing all that we can—working, hoping, and exercising faith; bearing hardship with fortitude, even when the desires of our hearts are delayed. Patience is not simply enduring; it is enduring well!”

Yep patience is needed!

V is for Vacation

The past few months we have been able to get away from for many different weekends.  Some weekends we are spending time with family and friends.  Sometimes we are attending an event out in the big city or shopping for important needed items. Other times we are just getting away from the stress here.  It is so great to be able to drive two hours or so and just get away! It makes the stress just float away.

Vacation can come in other ways with movies, books, and TV shows for me. I have been trying this year to do some essential things each day:

• Knit
• Read a book
• Read Scriptures
• Pray
• Read something spiritually related

This helps me to be able to unwind and refocus my attention on what is needed and important in my life.What do you do to give yourself a vacation and remind yourself about what is important?

Q is for Quotes

I completely forgot to post last night!! I suppose this is what I get for not having everything scheduled ahead of time :(  But my catch-up post for yesterday was going to be about quotes---still great for a Sunday today.

President Uchtdorf said this in one of my favorite talks from this past conference.  And I loved this little handout someone made.

http://www.pinterest.com/pin/232709505720377682/

I thought that these two quotes were very appropriate on this Easter Sunday

http://www.pinterest.com/pin/128915608057076433/

http://www.pinterest.com/pin/128915608058144573/

And a great reminder at any hard time!!!

http://www.pinterest.com/pin/128915608055701421/

M is for Magazines

Yesterday's post I talked about the quotes from General Conference that stood out to me the last few months.  This year, I have been making an effort to read the Ensign each month. I have been wanting to share some quotes from these magazines on here---so in the effort to catch up here are some of those quotes.

Life is full of obstacles, some of which seem insurmountable.  We are to endure them cheerfully and faithfully.  By so doing, we will ultimately return to live with God forever.--Elder Lansing January 2014 Ensign

As I have been dealing with the obstacles that life has thrown at me, I have been trying to do the cheerful thing.  This was a welcome quote to remind me that there is more than just the things in this life.

Many times we lose sight of our divine purpose and the Lord's promises, and the world's measuring stick can cause us to think we are less than adequate.  As Elder Wirthlin pointed out, however, the measure of our creation is to reach the exaltation and eternal life promised to those who remain faithful and obedient.--Joshua Larsen from January 2014 Ensign

This goes along with the previous quote---just sticking to that eternal perspective is so important.

There is no more solid foundation than faith in the love Heavenly Father has for you,  faith in His plan of happiness, and faith in the willingness and power of Jesus Christ to fulfill all His promises.--Elder Richard G. Scott February 2014 Ensign

It has been an unsure and unsteady time--but Heavenly Father can get us through.

I am still getting through March 2014's issue. Nothing has really spoken to me yet--but that just means you'll have to check back for future inspirational moments.

L is for Latter-day Saints

In the spirit of catching up, I have wanted to do a Sunday feature on this blog for the past few months.  Yeah, it isn't Sunday but I thought I would share what I wanted this feature to be.  I wanted to share some quotes and ideas of what I have learned spiritually over the course of the week.  These might be scriptures, quotes from the prophets or the Church magazines, and they might just be random thoughts that have run through my head. I thought today with it being L, doing LDS would be a good choice to help me catch up a bit of the thoughts I have had and the quotes that I wanted to share.

Before I get too far, I wanted to talk a little about LDS. LDS stands for Latter-day Saints.  It is a quick acronym people use because we are lazy.  But I belong to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  By latter-day, it shows that we are apart of the same Church that Christ established during his ministry, just we belong to it in this day too.

We believe that God speaks through his prophets to us on this earth right now. As members of the Church, we participate in General Conference which allows the prophets to instruct us in what we need to hear.  We just got done with General Conference on the first weekend in April, and we won't have another session until October.  However, in between we are encouraged to read and ponder the messages received at the last conference and any other conferences previously.  I have become very fond of one particular speaker, Dieter F. Uchtdorf.

This is President Uchtdorf

President Uchtdorf is in the presiding body of the Church called the First Presidency. He is a sweet man from Germany-his accent is great.  And he says things that I usually need to hear.  I have been really studying two of his talks the last few months and I want to share a quote from each (which is going to be hard because there are soo many!).

In the October conference he gave a talk called, "You Can Do it Now!" In it he said:

Stand tall and walk in the light of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ! You are stronger than you realize. You are more capable than you can imagine. You can do it now! 

I loved this because life can be really hard sometimes.  But I know that I can make it through with the Savior by my side.

The other talk was from October 2011 called, "You Matter to Him".  In this talk he reminded me how much my Heavenly Father loves me.  He said:

My dear brothers and sisters, it may be true that man is nothing in comparison to the greatness of the universe. At times we may even feel insignificant, invisible, alone, or forgotten. But always remember—you matter to Him! 

The power in which he says those words just reaffirms to my soul how much my Heavenly Father does love me.

I am grateful to be a Latter-day Saint because I can receive the guidance and direction I need to help me through life's hardest challenges.

E is for Empowered

One thing that I have been wanting to catch-up on with this blog is my quotes.  I know that sometimes during my 365 project, this was what I used on nights that I couldn't think of a thing to write about.  And honestly....I kind of was thinking that when I realized I didn't have a word for E.  I started thinking that quotes empower us.  That is why I love quotes so much (as evidenced by my Pinterest board).  Today I have been watching the General Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  As a result, a lot of great quotes have been sticking out to me.  Those of you that aren't familiar with conference, think of it as a great weekend to be taught by smart men and women. Some people this time have been comparing it to TED talks....and I'm like yeah that's totally true! So today, I will share some quotes that I have loved recently. And give you my little commentaries as always :P

Source: http://www.pinterest.com/pin/128915608058139676/

This one was from today. I LOVED this quote.  As women, we often try to make sure that we get what we need to done--she only gave us three things.  We can do that!

Source: http://www.pinterest.com/pin/128915608058140719/

This is the quote that actually inspired the word empowered. This is a great quote to remember because with it I can remember that I don't have to do EVERYTHING I don't have to be perfect.  I just need to do my best and in so doing I am empowered to become a better person.

Source: http://www.pinterest.com/pin/128915608058103974/

I saw this one recently and I just loved it.  I am always looking for great quotes about trying.  This one is great. Especially for my students.

D is for Dresback

So in the idea of continuing to catch everyone up on my life, I am trying to let everyone know about my recent obsessions.  As a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, finding out about my family history is very important.  We believe that families should be connected as it says in the Old Testament (see Malachi 4:6). So one day, I got on familysearch.org which is the LDS version of ancestry.com.  It is free and open to everyone.  I can put myself in and my whole family.  I started looking for someone we didn't know anything about. My aunt and grandmother have done a lot to add to what we know about our family.

In my looking around, I found my fourth-great grandparents--Jacob Dresback and his wife Catherine Hoy. (Hence D is for Dresback) They had a daughter named Olive along with my third-great grandmother.  All we knew was that Olive was born in 1840.  We didn't know anything else about her.  So she became my focus.  As I started looking for her, it expanded into a huge Dresback family search (which is sometimes spelled Dresbach).  I found a lot of Olive's brothers and sisters--and their spouses and their children.

Eventually I got a trial period of ancestry.com to figure out what that had.  I love how it is set up with the collaboration.  Both FamilySearch and Ancestry have great advantages. Through Ancestry I started to add details to their lives--where they lived when etc.  This is a great advantage to Ancestry.  FamilySearch is great in that I don't usually have to approve hints--if the person is in the system they just come with their links.

It was a bittersweet day when I finally found Olive.  Through ancestry's find a grave connections, I figured out that she died after she was only a year or so old.  It was great to finally find her--my inspiration for this mission.  But I was sad to find out that she died so quickly.  I had kind of guessed that as I learned more about the family overall, but I had been hoping I was wrong.  She never had the chance to have a full life. But now she has a connection to someone--and I really do want to make a trip to Ohio someday and visit her grave.

B is for the Book of Mormon

So continuing with my theme of catching up, I need to talk about this because I need to follow up from my post here. I am actually a little nervous to do this blog post for the possibility of a wider A to Z audience. But part of my blogging attitude has been I have to get over what people think of my writing and just go for it. So here we go!

In the post I linked above, I told you about a 40 Days and Nights Challenge to read the Book of Mormon.  As a member of the LDS community, this was exciting to me.  And I definitely tried, but as often happens I quickly got off track.   But I just kept reading, I hadn't read the Book of Mormon from cover to cover straight.  I had done a lot more individualized topic study recently.  This was a nice start for me.  I had the goal to read all four standard works in 2013....which never happened.  But I suppose I have started the process if I start with my Book of Mormon beginning if I can do it in a year.

I finished about a month ago, give or take. And it was a great experience as I tried to make sure I read everyday before I went to work.  As I mention a lot, work has been really hard--and this has helped to keep my perspective.  Work is not my whole life--though it feels like it.  And it really doesn't matter in the big scheme of things.  This is SUPER hard to remember--and what I really felt like I learned this time through the Book of Mormon.  Each time I read the Book of Mormon, I learn something new.  That is the great thing about this wonderful book, and I want to spend the last little bit of my post testifying of its truthfulness.

I know that the Book of Mormon is the word of God. I know that the prophets in this book saw our time, and knew what we needed to hear during this dispensation.  I know that by reading and studying the Book of Mormon we will come closer to our Savior, Jesus Christ. He is the Savior of the World, and by improving our relationship with Him we become better people.  We are here to learn and grow to prepare for the next life, and this book will help us do that. It brings so much peace to each of us, and I am grateful that I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

If you want to know more, check this out and other links from this page. And if you'd like to read this book for yourself, request a free copy at this link.

Courtesy of the free copy site :)

Ideas Needed!!!

So it is St. Patrick's Day which tells me that March is more than half over.  As March starts to end, I am beginning to realize that I am NOT ready for the April A to Z Blogging Challenge.  And I need to be!!

This year, I want to pick a theme--last year I just kind of did whatever came to me.  I have come up with a couple of ideas but I don't know what people would most be interested in.  Or if there is another idea that people have.

The biggest trick is I would like it to have something to do with the purposes of Inspirefly.  Inspirefly is a random blog sometimes. I do posts mostly about reading, knitting, my faith, and teaching. Sometimes you'll see other random stuff--but this is where I'm pulling my theme ideas from.  So in the comments please tell me which idea you like or if you have another idea for me.

1. Book Titles
2. Book Authors
3. All about the LDS faith
4. Education from A to Z
5. The Civil War from A to Z
6. I have also thought of doing a little bit of all of it on each week--do a week of reading themes, a week of knitting themes, a week of faith, and a week of teaching 

That's all I have thought of....so if you have suggestions or a vote I would LOVE to hear from you!!

My Poor Little Neglected Blog!

So....it has been a month--an absolutely crazy month.  I have been trying to write this post in my head for the better part of a couple weeks. I have been really glad that I didn't decide to restart my 365 project...or everything didn't happen like this during that, because I really might have just failed right away.  So let me do my best to try to update you.

Physical Health: My health has not improved--my most recent meds haven't seemed to have helped.  But I suppose on the upside, I decided this week that it is time to go see somebody else, and try another route.  I am hoping that this works--but I feel like I have been saying that a lot.  I am trying to have faith that I will get better. LDS people believe that the priesthood is God's power on this Earth.  I had the opportunity to get a blessing about a month ago, and God promised me that I would be better in 2014.  This is a big relief to know that the end is near....but it is also one of those moments where I bet that it will be like the end of the year so I can keep learning this patience thing.

Joys of Home Ownership: The furnace broke in January, water heater broke in December...trying to fix up the basement and finish the unpacking....sometimes I wonder why we moved, but other times it is nice to know that this whole place is ours.....well and the bank's.

Work: This has been the real reason for my absence...a lot of the stress in my life has stemmed from this...due to some re-structuring at the company my scheduled hours have changed a lot.  I work a few evenings now, and still some mornings like I did before.  It has been a hard adjustment and a lot of days I feel like all I do is go to work and sleep....like yesterday I only had 4 waking hours at home.

That is also the biggest reason why I haven't written....this and other changes in my life has really taken a toll on me mentally and emotionally.  My regular readers know that I don't like to complain on this blog...I don't want to be a whiner on here.

My hopes for my blog going here on out:

• I want to do some catch-up on reviews
• Share more about my reading books--I really want to do better with this 
• Establish some challenges to participate in
• Do some more networking
• Do more about knitting and teaching....knitting has been a nice thing to get me through all of this!

I hope to write again soon! Thanks for hanging out with me as I got this month back together.  

As a picture today my motto for this week:

http://www.pinterest.com/pin/128915608057242718/

Merry Christmas!

I decided for today I would share some of my favorite images of Christmas

From ldssmile.com

Thank you mormonwoman.org

Such a true quote! Image courtesy of Pinterest

Check out my Mormon.org Profile!

So I have been wanting to do this for awhile---and after I took my unexpected blog break I said that I would.  It has just taken a bit to actually go live on the Internet.  I especially wanted to do this and put it on the blog so that people can refer to it as often as they'd like--especially as I talk more about my beliefs on my blog.

So click here to find out why I am a Mormon! http://mormon.org/me/DSPM

Thankful Week Day 4: Gospel of Jesus Christ

So I was thinking about this a bit today, and thought I would do it for my blog post.  I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints--also known as a Mormon.  And I am grateful that I belong to this Church.  Now don't misunderstand--the organization of the Church is made up of humans, and therefore it is not perfect--but the GOSPEL is the part of the Church that I would like to emphasis.

I am glad that I know that Jesus is the Christ. I am grateful that I know that He is there for me, along with a loving Heavenly Father who truly cares and loves me. I know that the Book of Mormon is another testament of Jesus Christ.  I am grateful for a prophet that is on this Earth that can really receive revelation for us and warn us of what is coming.

I am grateful for the emphasis on family and that we have the ability to seal families for time and all eternity.  I am grateful for temples--the peace that I can find on this Earth is there. I am grateful for the knowledge that I came from somewhere and I have a place that I am going.

I am sure I could keep going--but that is what I am thinking of right away. Bottom line--I am grateful to have the knowledge of the gospel in my life.  And if you would like that too, I would encourage you to go here :)

Thank you Wikipedia