I copied these pictures from my cousins blog (Thanks Brookie!!!) so that my purse loving friends could view the most ridiculous building. Louis Vuitton store in Paris... I am NOT into purses (I have one LV purse that was a gift, otherwise I wouldn't own one)- I have way better things to spend my money on, but clearly there are those that are. I would think, though, that this would be quite the shopping experience!.jpg)
At first I thought it was cool, but wondered how often we would use it. I have to say that we have used it EVERY night since Christmas and LOVE it! Jeff is so cute and asks me every night if I want my bed warmed up for me. He turns on my side and his so that when we crawl into bed, we are warm and cozy. It has been such a great gift and I love it! The first night we turned it on I didn't realize our controls were swapped. I had turned mine on low and Jeff turned his on high. I woke up SO HOT! I was sweating and turned it off. The rest of the night I was so hot and was irritated that it stayed hot for so long after I turned it off. In the morning Jeff said he didn't think his side really worked that great. LOL - We totally had the wrong controls. As I am thinking about my life and all of the pieces that make up my life, I know that I am so blessed. I have been thinking about one of my best friends from middle school. We kept in touch off and on since 8th grade. I have always thought she had everything. She was beautiful, SKINNY :), smart, fun, funny, talented... you get the idea. When we got older, I thought she had the perfect life - husband, beautiful children, nice house.... again, you get the idea. But not too long ago, I learned of her personal trials. I cried for her. Cried because I felt guilty for being judgemental. I thought her life was perfect, she was perfect. I quickly learned that not only was her life not perfect, but in this moment, it is harder than I could have ever imagined for her. And yet, she still inspires me. She has a deep love for the Lord and faith that far outreaches mine sometimes.
We each have trials and struggles in life. And yet we all judge. We judge when we shouldn't because we rarely know the entire truth or story. We judge based on different reasons... Looks (be it beauty or not), talent, wealth (or lack of) - education, calling at church, job status, popularity, whatever... But what gives us the right? The problem is we don't have one.
I have been thinking about my personal goals for the year. Among the usual is a goal to judge less and love more. I remember this same friend telling me once, while we were sitting in the mall commenting on people, that if we make fun of someone, that something we made fun of will happen to us. I quickly started making fun of skinny people. Unfortunately I wasn't "punished" with that "misfortune". But as I think about the areas in my life that need improvement, judgement is at the top of the list. I have often sat with friends or even alone, and made judgements about people, even strangers walking by. Wondering why they wore what they wore, why they didn't comb their hair, why they chose that spouse, etc. Who am I to judge them? I think about all of the times and I feel horrible. I know that my Father feels awful that I would think such things about his children...
My goal of judging less, loving more I hope will bring me closer to my Savior and bring peace to myself. Wealth, beauty, status, etc. won't bring eternal happiness. Competing with the world for those things will only bring misery, because we can't win. I want to live in this world, not be a part of it's craziness.
I am so grateful for all that we have, both temporally and spiritually. I have struggled quite a bit this past year with many things. It's been a very hard year for me, but now that my "fog" is lifting, I realize how much I have to be thankful for. I am blessed to be a stay at home mom. I am grateful to my husband for always wanting that for our family. I am blessed to have a husband that serves so many without a second thought, especially his family. I am so grateful, SO GRATEFUL, for our son. What a tremendous joy he is! Every day is such an experience with him. I laugh constantly at him in his endeavours to learn who he is. I love being his mom so much!
And so, this post was meant as a way for me to document my journey to judging less and loving more. Now that it's out there for the world to see, I HAVE to do it. :)
A friend in Utah sent me this link to a cool food storage place. I love their site and this month, they have a ton of cool give aways... So sign up!
http://funwithfoodstorage.net/welcome-to-the-party
Today I was released as Young Women's President. They re-organized YW, YM and Primary. I expected myself to feel one way, but ended up feeling totally different than I thought. It's been over 4 years since I was called to serve in YW. The first three years were amazing, but this past year has been so hard on me. I started as second councilor to one of my favorite people, Chris Tanner. When she was released I was called as President. I've loved working with the young women. I was shocked, still am, that my Bishop called me, but I am so grateful for the experience. I have served many wonderful, beautiful and talented young girls. I love them all. I had a "feeling" that my time was coming to an end. Although I am grateful to be released, I am also sad that I won't get to see my youngest girls move through the stages. I have so many wonderful memories of these girls. Girls camp, youth conference, Wednesday night activities and yes, even the sleepovers at my house were wonderful. My oldest girls are all grown up, some married, in college and or about to get married. The others have grown just as quickly and I am sad I won't be there to see them grow up. I think back to so many laughs we had over silly things. I think the hardest we laughed, and still laugh at, is Kelly Batt, another leader, bringing her fart machine to camp and hiding it in her pants. We were all horrified that she would toot right in front of us! So many great times over the years!
I have had the privilege of having wonderful councilors that I have served with. Kristal Cantwell was the first I served with - she was the first councilor and I was the second. We went to camp together and had so much fun. She remained the first councilor when I was called. I love her so dearly and have loved getting to know her. Lexie Sautter was our second councilor. I loved having her in YW. She was always so willing to help and has a million talents. I wish our time together wasn't so short. Kim Cook and Lisa Poling were my councilors when I was released. Oh how I love them. Kim, a dear friend anyway, rode with me every week. She understood my concerns and frustrations. She made me laugh and even laughed at me even during the difficult moments. Lisa, whom I didn't know when I asked for her to be called, I loved immediately. She has so many Divine qualities. I knew she would have to be great because her husband is. I liked working with him while he served in the Bishopric. Lisa was always so ready to do whatever was asked, and even the things that weren't asked. She helped me on more than one occasion when I needed someone. I will always love her and am so grateful to know her. Besides the wonderful spiritual qualities, she likes my husbands hair band music. :) Who would have guessed???
Not working with these women and the other leaders will be the saddest for me. I love them and am so grateful to them.
A Picture that Jeff made for each girl. He Photoshopped them into the picture.
Youth Conference and Camp pictures.
I was tagged by Kim - thanks :) - I am supposed to display the sixth picture in the sixth album. It HORRIBLE!!!
This picture was taken by Kim (thanks again!) when we were at Turner Falls camping. It was SO hot and humid (which accounts for the frizzy hair) even though it was in October. I was about 4 months pregnant. I am wearing a youth conference shirt that I cut the neck in because I felt like I was choking... I wish it had been the 7 or 8th picture. They were much better!
I tag - Brittany, Brookie, Chanteal, Racheel, Angie, and Jana. Have Fun ladies!
