Today kicks off an eventful week.
Monday – Tay has a choir concert at the school. (Always a great concert!)
Thursday – Tay leaves for her choir tour. (First trip without Dad and Mom.) Since I am already up early, I volunteered to drive her to the airport at 5 AM.
Sunday – Graycie gets blessed. (Keep good thoughts for my pregnant 1st Counselor, Jane, she will be the only Presidency member in Primary next week… thanks Paula for helping her out!)
By the way… it’s already March.
Who doesn't love it?
On the 14th, it was my turn for sharing time. The topic… “Through the Atonement of Jesus Christ, all mankind may be saved.” – A concept that is difficult for adult to understand fully, let alone children between the ages of 3-11.
I managed to pull off a very simple, yet very powerful visual. With the help of styrofoam (sin) and chemicals (atonement), I was able to demonstrate how the Savior atoned for ALL of the sins and sorrows of ALL the people who live or have lived on the earth. As we repent, Christ will take away the burden of our sins. We can be forgiven and made clean… our sins will “disappear”.
I have since, received feedback from a few parents that this sharing time has made a tremendous impact on their children and they have since presented the same lesson to their own extended family members for Family Home Evening.
This is what makes it all worth it!
Once again, JHS Chamber Choir sang the National Anthem. This time at the varsity basketball game. A concert Monday night followed by a tour to Los Angeles. Taylor has a busy week and a half!
Saturday started off perfectly. Breakfast and then the Las Vegas Temple.
Then it was lunch and The Lion King (Highly recommended!) at Mandalay Bay. Getting to the parking structure was more difficult to manage than the freeway system in Los Angeles, but we made it with plenty of time and saw a fantastic show.
Afterward, dinner was in order. We headed over to Caesars Palace for the Cheesecake Factory. We could not locate any handicapped parking, but managed to find a spot next to the elevators anyway. We quickly caught an elevator and soon discovered that these elevators only serviced the parking structure and there was no “down”. So we walked over to the elevators on the other end.
Catching an elevator here reminded me of the carnival game: Whack a Mole. You had to be alert and quick. Anytime an elevator door opened, it closed before anyone could get to the doors. After about six rounds, we placed someone in front of each elevator to quickly jump in before the door closed. We finally caught one, reached our destination, and had an enjoyable dinner.
Next, we hit a few shops as we made our way down to New York Casino so my niece, Rachel, could experience a roller coaster Vegas style. My mom was the only one willing to escort her on the ride, but could not because her diabetes was on the list of DO NOT RIDE IF. I stepped up, knowing I would most likely be sick. I was quite surprised to find myself feeling OK after the ride. (whew!) It was late, so we went straight to the car to go back to the hotel.
As I was driving back, I started to get concerned as I felt my body temperature rise a little. I had enough forethought to empty out my insulated mug before we left the casino, and boy, did it come in handy. Needless to say, I started to fill that mug up as I was driving down the freeway. I pulled over as quickly as I could, jumped out of the car to cool myself down and to empty the mug (not so pleasant). Dad drove the rest of the way in, but I felt much better.
We all went to bed after we arrived because we had a long drive home Sunday morning. I am a very light sleeper and was concerned about getting enough sleep. At about 4 AM, I gave up the fight and packed the bathtub with pillows and finished the night off sleeping the the bathtub. I actually got a good nights sleep and we made it home through the snow storm, safe and sound.
All and all – a pretty terrific trip. Thanks Mom and Dad. It was a great Christmas present!!
We were walking though one of the major casinos on the Las Vegas Strip, trying to find our way out into the dreary world, to search for more great and spacious buildings.
I took this moment and asked the girls if they noticed how hard it was to find our way out. I told them that the casinos do that on purpose. They want to keep us captive. I then likened this to sin and the adversary.
When we sin, the adversary wants us to feel trapped. He wants us to believe that there is NO WAY OUT, that we are captive to our sins and we might as well just give up and stay where we are. I then reminded the girls that no matter where we are, and no matter what we have done, if we call upon the atonement of our Savior and repent, we will be free from our sin and worthy to return home to our Father in Heaven.
I am so grateful for this wonderful gift from our Savior, Jesus Christ. I cannot imagine living in such darkness and despair.
Set the table
Make large batches of 3 different soups
and captured a memory before the Sweet Hearts dance.
Tonight, our Stake hosted a Multi-Stake Relief Society Meeting. Sheri Dew was the guest speaker. I took advantage of this rare opportunity and planned a girls night around it.
My sister-in-law came up from Payson (with baby Graycie!), Taylor tagged along, we met my mom there.
What a perfect evening it was. First a physical feeding then a spiritual feeding. Here are some of the highlights:
Women have a unique kind of influence on others. An unparalleled influence, more than you even realize. The adversary knows our potential influence.
The perfect formula for breaking women down:
1. Get women to “pick” at each other. (Gossip, berate, judge etc.)
**Perhaps the “final” judgment will be a breeze compared to what we put each other through. (Unrighteous judgment.)
2. Confuse women about their identity. (TV, movies, magazines, etc.)
**True validation comes from the Spirit and not external influences.
3. Make sure we never discover what the Savior really did for us through His atonement.
**The atonement is a doctrine of healing (sin, weakness, sorrow, pain, etc.).
4. Make sure we do not learn how to seek for and receive personal revelation.
**The rules for learning personal revelation are contained in the scriptures.
I am so grateful for the strong spirit that was felt and the incredible testimony that was shared. I am just as grateful that I was surrounded by some of the women I love the most. Thanks Mom, Tay and Emily for being there with me tonight and for being such a great example of womanhood. I love you so much. For the rest of the women I love… you were missed.
As I reflect on my New Years resolution, doing a daily good deed, I find that it is much easier than I anticipated. I thought that I would need to put so much though and effort into this project. I was wrong.
I have found that there are MANY daily opportunities for random acts of kindness and the best part is that so many of them come naturally or are very simple to do.
Just to name a few.
I have also found myself being more aware of the kindness of others. Ironically, this has done more for me, even when I was not the object of such deeds. What this awareness has given is PEACE in knowing that there IS good in this world. HOPE that mankind can still be selfless and charitable. REASSURANCE that even the simple things matter.
"I fear sometimes we see the Lord's love only in the big events of our lives; we must also see His love in the smallest of things. Don't underestimate your ability to share His love through a simple, genuine gesture such as sitting next to another sister and making her feel welcome."
Bonnie D. Parkin
More inspiration:
