Something I find very relaxing is watching videos about minimalism and getting rid of stuff you don't use. This life style has always appealed to me but I also tend to hold on to things that I MIGHT need one day. Especially after this year where things were in short supply or taking a lot longer to get. I get this trait from the Hughes side of my family- they are notorious hoarders. Well I love a channel on YouTube called The Minimal Mom. I love how clean and clutter free her house feels. I love that she tells you exactly why you don't need certain items. I have tried the KonMari method before and my problem is that everything brings me joy ha ha. Dawn from the Minimal Mom keeps things because she actually uses them. When Covid first hit I went through all my kitchen cupboards but now I went through them again with Dawn's eyes and I found so much that I haven't even touched for years. I had 41 coffee mugs. Who needs that many? I also had these little soup crocks that we got as a wedding gift. I have used them less than five times so they had to go.
Next was under my bathroom sink. Again keeping in mind the things I have actually used in the last year there was a lot that had to go.
Before
After
The other day Ethan told us we had mold on the baseboard under out water shut off valve. We were shocked to find the pipe was leaking a tiny bit and that all the insulation inside was wet. Sure enough there was mold on the base boards too. We called our neighbor Tom who is a plumber and he came and fixed it right away. It was a pipe he had installed so he fixed it for free. Now we have a fan blowing in wall to try and dry it all out. Water is such a pain and has caused us more than a few problems over the years. I'm so glad Ethan caught this or it could have been a disaster.
I'm making a banner for Ashtyn for Christmas that spells out Merry Christmas Sister Shaw with photos of family and friends. I think she will love it.
I decided that 2020 called for Christmas cards. Can't wait to send them out in a few weeks.
Ashytn called and we had Nana and Papa hop on too. It took them a hot minute to figure out how to do it ha ha. They loved seeing her.
The filters were cracking Sharon up.
Our carpet is old- 12 years old. It's matted down, dirty and rippling all over the place. We have had it cleaned and stretched but now the ripples are so bad that we were told we'd have to move all of our furniture to fix them. I trip over them all the time so we decided that if we had to move all the furniture then we might as well redo the flooring. This is a horrible year to do that but it is past time to replace the carpet so Covid or no Covid we are going to do it. We have never loved the tile so we are looking into replacing it with Luxury Vinyl Plank. We will have to see what the bids come back at before we decide. We are for sure replacing the carpet.
On Friday the Prophet shared a message of hope with the world. I love him so much. I have never felt like a prophet has been more involved in my life than President Nelson. He is an amazing man and so kind. He asked us to flood social media with messages of gratitude for seven days and to pray and thank Heavenly Father for your blessings. I am not the biggest fan of social media so when I first heard this I hesitated but then I remembered hearing someone once say that "We live by one rule in our home and that is to follow the prophet" so Jeff and I took turns doing it and posting about the things we are thankful for. It was the best thing that could have happened to us. Wow! It was so amazing to see social media transformed from a place of hate and division to one of love and gratitude. I know that not everyone saw this as a good thing and that there are people who are suffering and can't see their blessings through the darkness right now and I mourn with them- but I also can't forget how richly blessed we are. Most of the world lives well below how we do and we have more than we could ever need and more than we deserve and I thank God every day for it all. If I had my way we would do this all the time. It was a serious source of joy for me all week. Here are the things Jeff and I wrote:
Day1: I was so lucky to grow up with one awesome brother and three amazing sisters. Today I am grateful for my sisters. I loved growing up with a sister. I loved sharing a room. I loved staying up late talking and planning out what our houses and weddings would one day look like. We haven't always been the most supportive of one another but I adore each of them. They are gorgeous and talented women. One of them has a birthday today. Happy Birthday Melinda
Day 2: I am grateful for my missionary. She has wanted to serve a mission for a long time and now she is doing it. It is a crazy year to do anything let alone leave your family and friends for 18 months and head off into the unknown. It wasn't easy for her to do this and there have been bumps along the way but she knows to just take it one day at a time. That's all any of us can do really. I am grateful she gets to call home each week and that we can see her and hear her voice. I am grateful she has two amazing companions that are full of love and that they help and lift one another.
One thing she has learned through this experience that she shared with us is the idea that Faith and Fear can not exist at the same time. I love that. I have never felt more fear than this year because so many things have been out of our control. Faith isn't knowing that things will turn out fine or exactly how you want- It's knowing that no matter how they turn out YOU will be fine. Love that girl of mine! ❤️
Day 3: So grateful that I get to spend eternity with these beauties. I couldn't imagine life without them. #familiescanbetogetherforever #givethanks
Day 4: I am grateful for this magnificent, breathtaking planet that was created by our Heavenly Father for us and the ability to experience it every day. "Yea and all things denote there is a God; yea, even the earth, and all things that are upon the face of it...." I rejoice and stand in awe of God's creations. #givethanks
Day 5: I am grateful for a lesson I learned while working at This is the Place Heritage Park. My time here has taught me so many things but one lesson has impacted my life every day. Right after I started work I was in a training meeting and the fabulous Marta Bennett shared a lesson about glitter. She taught that you can't touch glitter without it getting on everything. Our attitudes are a lot like glitter. Your attitude good or bad has a way of also sticking to everyone and everything. A bad attitude and negativity can spread from one person to the next and ends up impacting more than just you. So while I love me some glitter- I am grateful I can choose which kind to decorate the world with.
Day 6: Day 6: I am grateful for little children. I have never met a child I didn't love. I have had the opportunity to work closely with little kids for lots of years and there is no better place to be. This poem by Casals expresses how I feel exactly...
Each second we live is a new
and unique moment of the
universe, a moment that will
never be again . . . And what
do we teach our children? We
teach them that two and two
make four, and that Paris is
the capital of France.
When will we also teach
them what they are?
We should say to each of them:
Do you know what you are? You
are a marvel. You are unique. In
all the years that have passed,
there has never been another
child like you. Your legs,
your arms, your clever fingers,
the way you move.
You may become a Shakespeare, a Michelangelo,
a Beethoven. You have the
capacity for anything.
Yes, you are a marvel. And
when you grow up,
can you then harm another
who is, like you, a marvel?
You must work--we must
all work--to make the
world worthy of its children.
Since I'll never be able to find a picture of every sweet child I love I will just post a picture of my three little people.
Day 7: If we had our way we would continue this challenge every day. It has been such a joy to read all of the things that bring others joy. We are grateful for a living prophet that asked us to do this because he knew what it would do for our lives. We live by one rule- Follow the Prophet. Doing so has changed everything. We are grateful for our families, our friends, our jobs, our home. We are grateful for our ancestors that came to this great country and gifted us the life we now enjoy. Mostly we are grateful for Jesus Christ through which so many of our blessings come. How do you sum up all of our blessings? You can't because they are endless. Happy Thanksgiving to all of you this day.
We finally got Whitney her laptop that we have been promising her for months. It was supposed to be for graduation. She loves it.
Papa's birthday was this week so we Zoom called him to wish him Happy Birthday. Jeff and Whitney dropped off his gift the next day. We gave him a towel and hat from The Masters.
Whitney and I made a chocolate cake. It was so good and even better the second day.
We started reading all of our gratitude papers that we have written all year in celebration of Thanksgiving
Ashtyn's weekly email:
Ola! This week was so good! It was busy and filled with miracles! I'll get right into it since this one might be a long one.
First off this week we had the second half of our zone conference! Because of Covid we do half of the conference over zoom and the other half in person. This zone conference was exactly what I needed! Sister Neilson talked about the idea of "If The Savior Stood Beside Me". I love this idea because it can relate to anything! Sister Neilson referenced it to how we treat our companions. How would we better serve or love our companions if the Savior stood beside us? How would our thoughts or actions change towards our companions if the Savior stood beside us? President Neilson then talked about how we can extend meaningful effective invitations to our friends. He also bore his testimony about Joseph Smith at the end and it was so good! Oh also Sister Williams gave her departing interview and I pretty much balled the whole time because I am going to miss her so much! She has truly changed me and helped me so much over these past couple months.
We also experienced some amazing miracles this week! At the beginning of this week Elder Ayers, our district leader, promised us that if we worked hard and kept doing what we were doing we would find 3 new people to teach. I immediately felt the power of his promise and felt so motivated to find. We worked hard throughout the week and prayed a lot and as of yesterday we have 5 new people to teach!!!! We are so excited and know that it was 100 % because of the Lord! These 5 individuals are also some of the sweetest people I've ever met and they are so open and have a strong faith in God! One of our new people, Robert, shared an insight on a bible story we shared with him. It is the story where Jesus takes a blind man out of his city to heal him. Robert mentioned how he loved that Jesus took him out of the city, his comfort place, and then healed him. He said that sometimes God takes us out of our comfort zones to allow us to grow and strengthen our faith in him. I love that! It made me think about how coming out on a mission was something that was out of my comfort zone and sometimes still is. But because I am out of my comfort zone the Lord can work with me and I have the opportunity to grow and strengthen my faith.
This week we also had the opportunity to hear from our prophet!!! It was amazing! I absolutely loved loved how he talked about gratitude and being grateful for everything we have during these times. I thought it was super significant how he asked us to simply post for what we are grateful for on social media. He didn't ask us to fast, or to do something like read the Book Of Mormon in 10 days, He simply asked us to post what we are grateful for! We are on social media all the time so how easy is it to change up your posts for a little bit and flood social media with gratitude! I have absolutely loved seeing everyone's gratitude posts and I am so grateful for a living prophet who leads and guides us!
But ya I think that is pretty much it for this week! I hope everyone has an amazing Thanksgiving!! We have so much to be grateful for! So eat lots of food and say your prayers of gratitude! Love you all!
-Sister Shaw
Pictures:
1. Sweet Victor brought us pizza!
2. Sister Williams made us fried plantains, so yummy!
3. Fun at the Korean Market haha
4. Dinner with Seth and Pryncess!
5. Pretty sky
6. Franck! This is him on Facebook live haha! He was doing it while we were talking to him over the phone!
