Following Christ by Sustaining our Leaders

On this Easter Sunday, I have the opportunity to listen to General Conference.  I look forward to this time because I feel more relaxed as I listen to the words the Lord wants me to hear through His chosen servants.  Like many people, I was surprised by the opposition votes some voiced in the Saturday Afternoon session yesterday.  I was saddened by the fact that there are those out there who choose to not support those the Lord had chosen to represent His Church.

The past several years have shown us contention through various political groups and others who question the commandments and principles the Lord has given to us through our leaders.  There has been a great deal of accusation and excuse-making for these questionings.  When the news media focused on these groups and these groups were interviewed, I was upset.  I was angry that many of these people weren't using their common sense and actually following the commandments the Lord had laid out for them.  I couldn't understand why they felt that the Church leaders were to blame and didn't realize that these principles and commandments came from the Lord Himself.  It didn't make sense to me that they claimed to want to follow the Lord and His teachings, but were doing the total opposite!

I still don't understand why these groups feel the way they do.  Something has changed for me though.  Instead of feeling anger, I feel sadness.  As some of these people have chosen to continue in the path they have chosen, they have had consequences that are laid out by the Lord and are meant to help them return to the Lord.  However, many have made the result of their consequences public and accusatory.  The sadness I have comes from the fact that they are choosing to turn away from the path that can bring them back to the Lord.  The Lord still loves these brothers and sisters very much and I ache as I think of how the Lord and His leaders of the Church are feeling.  Everyone is a child of God and I'm sure the Lord will welcome everyone back into His arms.

I am not writing this to judge anyone.  I'm writing this because I have learned something for myself.  Even if I don't agree with everyone's beliefs, that doesn't mean they are loved less.  I need to be just as kind, caring, and loving despite what others think and do.  I already knew this, really.  I just needed to be reminded about it.  I am going to make more of an effort to understand and listen instead of becoming angry at what I believe to be unfair.  I am going to try to be more like the Savior is and forever will be:  LOVING!

For Easter, it is important to remember the Jesus Christ lives!  If you haven't seen the following video, please watch it now.  Jesus Christ sacrificed himself for us.  I can't think of a better gift! #becausehelives

A Spoonful of Sugar

I love the movie "Mary Poppins" so today I went to see "Saving Mr. Banks" which is about how the books by P.L. Travers was made into the Disney movie we know and love today.  It was a beautiful movie and I got a little teary-eyed at the end.  I recommend everyone to go see it.  To get you in the mood, I am including a clip of the "Feed the Birds" sequence from the actual movie.  What a good message for this time of year!

The Christmas Season

Thanksgiving is over.  As all of my family went back to their respective homes,  I prepared myself for the stress and depression of the Christmas season.  Stress, you might agree, happens every Christmas:  everyone trying to get the best deals on "Black Friday", panic attacks over who to buy gifts for, and the worry about enough money to buy these gifts.  But depression?  Maybe you think I get depressed around the holidays because I'm single.  In part, it is true.  I was waiting for my Chinese food to be prepared and was listening to the Christmas music being played in the restaurant when I started to tear up because I am once again without a significant other to spend time with this holiday season.  What I had forgotten is that Christmas isn't about all of that. 

It was the next day in Relief Society when our Relief Society gave a beautiful lesson on the gifts of Christ, that I became emotional once again.  This time, my tears came because I realized, with the help of the Holy Spirit, that Jesus Christ was my gift.  He always has and always will be the ultimate gift I could ever be given.  For some reason, just for a moment, I had lost sight of that.  I always have known that, but I actually felt the reality of it that Sunday morning.  As I was talking with my visiting teachers today, it became more apparent that this is truth.  It doesn't matter that I'm single.  I have a wonderful family who loves me and cares about me.  My friends have always been there for me.  I am not alone- and I never will be.

Craft Day!

When I get together with my high school friends, we usually end up doing some sort of craft. Now, I do NOT consider myself creative in the craft department.  When I find something to paint, I usually find something where I can paint a solid color.  We met up at Wood Connection where I picked out a Pilgrim and Indian set so that I can have some Thanksgiving decorations. I also brought the "SPOOKY" letters I had started at Jenny's house several weeks ago so I could get the paper cut out and Mod Podge it.  Here's how they turned out:

Becca cut out my letters for "Spooky" and Tara Mod Podged them.  Kym helped me bling up the Pilgrims and Indians.  Way cute, right?

Halloween Cupcakes

My sister, Amy, had a great idea last week that we should make cupcakes and decorate them for Halloween.  We had been to Target and saw some cute ways to decorate cupcakes with mummies and other monster-type things so we started buying some things for decorations including tons of sprinkles, licorice-type strings and other what-nots and during the first session of General Conference, we mixed the batter and made the actual cupcakes.  We used a white cake batter, then colored some of it green and orange and made a swirl.  The others were chocolate cupcakes.  When we made the chocolate ones, something bad happened:

This is the mix that came with the mummy decorations.  They were a complete failure!  The dripped right over the side of the pan.  I didn't even bother to let them finish cooking.  In between sessions, we ran to the store and grabbed a real chocolate cake mix and those ones were better!  During the second session of Conference, we started the decorating process:

 Amy, Shaun, and Kerry planning out their designs

 

Jonathan and Kerry mixing colors

 

 

It was messy, crazy, and FUN.  Enjoy our finished products:

 

 

By the way,  they tasted great!!!



New School Year-New Goals

So much for me trying to be a regular blogger.  I guess I shouldn't be surprised that I didn't blog much during the summer-my summer days are pretty much the same.  I really took advantage of the time I had off so that I could relax.  Like my last post stated, it had been too much this last year for me to deal with.  I feel like I have had a good rest and now that I'm a few weeks into the school year, I can take some time to do some catching up.

Like I said, nothing much happened in the summer.  Some of my family and I went to the Oregon Coast and rented a beach house located in Seal Rock.  It was soooo much fun!  We went as far south as Coos Bay and when my Dad met us on July 4th, we drove up to Longview, Washington, where he lives.  When we were there, we went to see Mount St. Helens.  I had a great time and it was truly a relaxing type of vacation.  Here are some pictures:

Beach house in Seal Rock

Amy and I

 Haedyn, Tylee, Jen, Dad, Me, Jennifer at Mount St. Helens

 

 

The only other trip I went on was to San Diego for the AVID Conference.  I love going to the AVID Conferences-I learn so much!  I didn't really take any pictures so that is it for that.

 

 

Once school started, it became busy again.  I have great classes this year and I actually feel good about what I'm teaching for the most part.  On September 8th, I ran my first 5k ever!  My sister started us on this 5k last year, but we didn't actually end up running it.  We finally went through with it and we didn't do too bad.  We got it done within about 40 minutes!  More pictures:

 

 

 Before the race: Jonathan, Kerry, Amy, Me 

 Amy, Kerry, and I dragging ourselves across the finish line!

 



 Shaun, Jonathan, Kerry, Amy, and I after the race

 

 

To end this very long blog, Toni Hull and I have decided that we are going to try to be healthier so we have what we call "The Sticker Games" going on.  We purchased a calendar and individual sticker packets (mine are pirate themed) and we get a sticker for every day we work out, every day we DON'T go out to eat, and another for not eating sweets.  I've been able to do it for a whole week although it has been very hard.  We didn't actually start the sticker for the sweets until Friday and let me just let you know that it's killing me! :)  Good news?  I've lost SEVEN pounds so far!!!!!

 

Signing out... for now!



I'm Back!

I have wanted to spend some time actually blogging in the past few months, but my schedule and work ethic were put on trial.  This past year of school has been a tough one and I am so glad that I finally have summer break to recuperate and plan things for next year that will make my life easier.  I think if I do that, I will be able to have a better year.

Don't get me wrong-I had some awesome students this year!  They made teaching really worthwhile.  What I have been sick of are the parents who think their child is entitled to something they don't qualify for or deserve.  Let's just say I had an issue with a parent which got taken all the way to our superintendent and he didn't back me up.  It's very hard to want to spend any effort on anything when the people who are supposed to back you up, don't.  I'm going to try to put it behind me and move on.  It's always about looking on the positive side, right?