They finally bloomed!

Three years ago I had the privilege of helping a sister in our ward do some yard work, she was battling cancer and couldn't do it herself. so we were weeding and mowing and cleaning up limbs. And she had a ton of iris's that kept multiplying till they were out of control. So she told me to take some home and plant them!
So i dug up four little small ones and put them in the truck and forgot about them for a week! when i remembered them i hurriedly planted them in the front flower bed and hoped they lived! I watered them occasionally, and when i fertilized the other plants i gave them what was left.
The first summer they grew a little, just six inch green shoots, they added greenery to my flower bed so i didn't worry about them much.
The next summer they grew a little more, maybe a foot tall, i was wondering when they would flower, i was concerned that i had done something wrong, but i was assured that i just needed to wait. I was anxious to see their beautiful flowers, but even more anxious when the beautiful lady that gave them to me, passed away due to her cancer.
This spring the green shoots got much taller, and they where wide and they had multiplied, i had contented myself with the fact that maybe they would never get flowers, but i was going to leave them there because i liked the green leaves of the plants, and they reminded me of sister Waters, and the simple beauty she brought into the lives of many people!
Well today my iris's bloomed! Three years of waiting, and just when i have given up, they bloomed! And they are beautiful white blossoms!
These flowers remind me, as do all things in my life, the same message, Patience! I have a quote on my wall that says "Faith in God includes, Faith in his timing" I live my life by this quote! and as i saw the blooms on my flowers that i had almost given up on i, was reminded that good things come to those who patiently wait! Thank you Sister Waters for the beautiful flowers that remind me of you and gods love!

Take time to watch the sun rise!

Today was has been one of those days where you wish you had never gotten out of bed! and it is only 9:30 in the morning!
Collins got a flat tire on the way to work and he discovered he didn't have his jack, so hannah and i had to hurry and get dressed and run him his jack, but the spare tire wouldn't fit on the flat tire so we had to move a tire from the front to the back and then put the spare on the front. So that done we get in the car to hurry back home and finish getting hannah ready for school cause we are running really late!
But then as Collins goes to leave his truck won't start, so we pull around to jump it, and finally it starts. By this time we are both a little frazzeled, and I have 15 min to get home get hannah ready and get her to school, and of course she is not seeing the urgency of any of this, so she is taking her own sweet time and i am getting more frusterated by the min, so we finally get in the car and I turn to her and say,"hannah please hurry and get your seat belt on." and she looks at me and says, " Mom did you see how pretty the sunrise was when you and Dad were changing the tire?"
And at that moment it all came into perspective, i just sat there looking at her and thought, thank you! thank you for helping me realize that there is so much to be thankful for and so much beauty around us, I was to busy being frazzeled, and to focused on what was going wrong, i failed to notice the small simple beauties of life, I failed to notice the sun rising on this beautiful day, but my heavenly father has blessed me with a precious gift, Hannah is here to remind me of the beauty we can find in every moment of every day! She reminds me to stop and look at all the good instead of focusing on the bad! I am reminded of the quote, Come what may and love it!!!
So tommorrow, I think Hannah and I are going to sit on the porch swing and watch the sunrise! No matter how late we are!

Faith can move mountains.

I was reading in the scriptures today and i was drawn to a certain passage that I read , It said, "if god had commanded me to do all things I could do them. If he should command me that i should say unto this water, be thou earth, it should be earth, and if i should say it, it would be done."
That takes amazing faith.

Faith, it is a subject that has been at the forefront of my mind all week, and as i read this scripture, it all came together.
So I will rewind and tell you what brought this subject to my mind.

Sunday was stake conference, where all the many congregations in our area get together as one and have sunday meetings together and our local and area leaders teach us and instruct us! it happens every six months and it is fabulous.
This particular sunday we had my husbands sisters with us, and as we came into the building they were informed that a young couple in their congregation, had lost their three year old little boy that night to a seizure.
I didn't know this couple, i just knew of them. this was there only child so far and she was expecting another one, it was very sad and i felt very sorry for this couple, I don't know what that is like to lose a child and I hope i never have to find out, but i can only imagine the pain and heartache that would cause.
But as we were sitting there, waiting for the meeting to start, in walks this couple, and I was amazed, they had just lost a child, not even 24 hours before. they had every reason and excuse to not be there. no one expected it, no one even imagined that they would be there. But they were. and that spoke volumes to me, as i am sure it did to any one else who knew.
I watched them and I saw their faith, and their dedication, and it moved me to tears. They had just experienced something so traumatic and devestating, but they knew where they could find comfort and how they could find it, and that was being where the lord wanted them to be.
That day I felt so humbled to watch them, that took faith, that kind of faith i want the kind of faith, that job had, as I sat there i felt they were affirming the words of job, "The Lord giveth and the lord taketh, blessed be the name of the lord."
And it humbled me and made me feel ashamed that I didn't have that kind of faith.
They had the kind of faith that moves mountains, not literal mountains, but the mountains we place in our hearts and in our own lives.
That day their faith moved one of my mountains, and someday I want to have that kind of faith, so maybe i can help someone else move their mountain.

Stolen Resolutions

It is the new year and time for everyone to make new years resolutions.
I think mine have all been the same for the past five years, and I have come to realize that their are somethings that you can make as a resolution, and you can make happen, but their are other things that, no matter how hard you try for them, they are out of your control.
So this year no resolutions that I personally have no control over!
In fact, I have stolen some new years resolutions from friends! I hope they don't mind, but they were just too good to pass up!
My number one new years resolution is to develop a better relationship with my Heavenly Father, and my savior Jesus Christ. And the steps I need to take in order to achieve this resolution include, cutting down on other distractions in my life, like Facebook, and games on my phone. I will not totally ban myself but I have resolved that I cannot do either till i have picked up my scriptures and read them.
In church we were challenged to find five things we could do or change to have a better relationship with our savior, and so I am taking that challenge!
#1 I will more diligently read and ponder my scriptures.
#2 I will pray with more meaning and frequency.
#3 I will give service without judgement or question.
#4 I will be a better Visiting teacher
#5 I will make sure all I watch say or do is appropriate and conducive to having the spirit with me at all times.

My next new years resolution is to live in the moment, I have spent the last five years living either in the past or the future and in the mean time, I have missed the whole in between! I have been so focused on what I want or don't have that I have missed many wonderful opportunities of the here and now. So that is my second resolution.
But like all good things they always come in threes! so my third New Years resolution, is to learn to love me! I am forever striving to lose weight and get in shape, and I will always continue on this quest, but I am not making it my resolution. My resolution is to love me, as me, for me and because of me! I want to be comfortable with who I am, and I always thought and still do, if only I can be skinnier I will like myself, if only this or if only that. But what if "if only" never happens, then I will have let my whole life pass by without being all I truly could have been! This does not in any way shape or form mean I am giving up on anything, it just means I have decided to be happy with me wherever I am at the moment! happiness is the key to life. And God made me who I am and he loves me so why can't I love me? I Will Love me and be happy with me, for me and not because or for those around me! I know that my husband loves me for me, and I know my heavenly father loves me for me, so i will love me for me, and I know that this will be my hardest new years resolution, so bring it on! I am really stubborn, so that can work to my advantage!!! Happy New year! And when I say Happy, that's what it will be!!

six days and still searching?

Six days till Christmas! Six Days and still not satisfied with my level of christmas spirit. I just now finished putting up all my christmas decorations, hoping that would help, we have been reading the story of christs birth and hannah and I have talked alot about christmas and why we celebrate it, and I have listened to every christmas song about our savior, that i can get my hands on.
I need to find something more. something memorable! wish me luck, I am determind to find my christmas spirit some where, some how!

A lesson well taught.

Yesterday I asked Hannah what she had learned in class at church.
She thought for a moment and then said,"mom, we learned about fasting".
Well what about fasting?' i asked. So then she proceeded to give me the simplest yet most profound lesson on fasting. She told me that when we fast we go without food for two meals so that the money we would have spent on food for those two meals we give to the bishop, and he gives it to someone who needs food or clothes or a house. I told her that that was very good, and I was glad she had listened in class, and then she said but wait mom, thats not the only reason we fast,I asked her well why else, and she said, cause when we fast we get hungry, but when we feel hungry we ask heavenly father to help us not be hungry so we can give money to the poor people, and then he sends the Holy Ghost to help us not be hungry.
If only we could all remember this as we fast. I for one most fast sundays, don't fast, I just go hungry. And there is a difference, it is all in the attitude.
But I have come to realize our whole life experiance depends on our attitude. I remeber growing up and hearing my parents say repeatedly, attitude is everything! So for my parents, I will finally say, "you were right!" In the Book of Mormon, Laman, and Lemuel did everything Nephi did, but they had a bad attitude about it and it made all the difference in how their lives, and the lives of millions of people, turned out.
So my simple yet profound lesson, from my six year old, taught me not only am I lacking in the parenting area for not teaching her more in depth about fasting sooner, but I am lacking in the attitude department. So I vow, this next fast sunday, to not go hungry, but to fast, with the right attitude and an open heart and mind. If anything, I will fast with real intent so that my daughter knows that I know that the gospel of Jesus Christ is true, and that I will follow the prophet, and all his teachings. Thank you Hannah! It was a lesson well taught!

Am I the innkeeper

I have thought a lot about the Innkeeper today.
The man who told Mary and Joseph That he had no room for them at his inn.
I have often wondered how he felt after he found out that the savior of the world was born in a stable because he was to busy and didn't have any where for them.
And then today, this analogy really hit home. As I was walking through the store today, I looked around and in amazement wondered how we got so far from the true meaning of Christmas? when did we forget the whole reason we celebrate Christmas? How did we commercialize the birth of our savior, to include santa and elves and reindeer? When did we decide to spend our holiday season stressing over money and gifts and decorations? when did we all decide to be innkeepers? It was a very busy time of year for the innkeeper, his inn was filled to capacity, with travelers and family, he was so busy trying to please his guests that he sent the mother of our Savior away, he sent her to give birth to the savior of the world , in a stable, a place where animals lived and ate and slept. Are we not all innkeepers? I am very guilty of the innkeeper satus. I find myself so consumed with life, that I have not made room for the son of man, the prince of peace, the Son of God, My Savior. I have cast him to the stable, in hopes that I can get through this holiday season without breaking the bank. when really I should be more like the shepherds, they set everything aside to seek the son of god, they left there flocks in the fields, and came in search of the savior. How can I be a shepherd, and leave the Innkeeper status behind? I don't know all the answers, but I do know that trying is the first step, and so I am trying. I do not want to have the regrets that I am sure the Innkeeper had when he realized that he turned the savior of the world away.
So I ask myself, Am I the innkeeper? and the answer is yes, so I am striving to make room for the savior, in this , the season of his birth.