To Be A Pioneer...

Today is Pioneer Day and we were able to celebrate by attending church in our brand new Forest Grove Stake Center for the very first time this morning!  It is a beautiful building and such a long-awaited blessing to our area.  It's located just down the street from our house and the weather was beautiful today so we walked to church.  It was a lovely way to start the Sabbath.

Our new church building was a long time in coming, as our Stake is already four years old!  We've had many struggles over the years with locating land and getting approval and permits from the city.  It was almost surreal to finally be in the building after all the waiting.

One of the speakers today mentioned how we have modern-day Pioneers in our midst that have lived in the Forest Grove area for decades and forged the way to build up the Church here in Oregon. Their dedication to the Gospel and their years of service are a large part of the reason that the Church has grown so much over the years and led us to the building of this new Stake Center.

In Primary today we sang a song called "To Be A Pioneer".  In the song it says that you don't have push a handcart or travel thousands of miles 'to be a pioneer', you just need to have faith and courage and work hard for a just cause.  I hope I can carry on the tradition of both the original pioneers and the modern-day pioneers in our midst, by standing firm in my beliefs and continuing the work of building up the Lord's Kingdom in my own little corner of the world.

A Light In Dark Places, When All Other Lights Go Out

Yesterday as I was walking on the treadmill (I barely willed myself to walk, let alone run... but at least I did something active!) I was listening to my 'Motivation' playlist on my ipod. I've filled it with songs that lift my spirit, inspire, or motivate me in some way. I was in serious need of some VERY serious motivation. I'm not really depressed or anything. I've just really been deep inside my own head the last few days and the deeper you go, the darker it gets (don't worry-- there's nothing too scary down there!).

I chose a very uplifting song entitled 'Let it go' by Tim McGraw (sorry- I know I keep mentioning him, but he really DOES have some very good tunes!). This song is all about... well, letting go of the things that have been plaguing us. It was the perfect song to listen to after attending my first therapy session the night before.

Things went well in my first session. I felt comfortable with the counselor and feel very optimistic about how things are going. It was amazing how just taking that first step of meeting with her helped me find some hope. And that can make all the difference. Hope is a very powerful thing. Hope gives us the courage to keep going. To keep trudging along through the dark tunnel, even when we can't see the light at the end. Even when it feels like the tunnel has been going on and on forever and we'll never get there. Hope gets you through the toughest, darkest times... the times where you feel like you can't take one more step.

In the October 2008 General Conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, President Dieter F. Uchtdorf, Second Counselor in the First Presidency, gave a powerful talk on Hope. In it he talks about the difference between things we 'hope for' and things we 'hope in'.  You can find the full article here.

He said, “The things we hope in sustain us during our daily walk. They uphold us through trials, temptations, and sorrow. Everyone has experienced discouragement and difficulty. Indeed, there are times when the darkness may seem unbearable. It is in these times that the divine principles of the restored gospel we hope in can uphold us and carry us until, once again, we walk in the light.”

The things we 'hope for' can only get us so far, especially if those hopes remain unrealized. But if we always hold to the things that we 'hope in', we will have the strength we need to be able to endure to the end of whatever earthly trial the Lord gives us.

Here's my list of things that I 'Hope In':

-My Heavenly Father, my Savior and Redeemer Jesus Christ, and The Holy Ghost

-The Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ

-My Eternal Sweetheart and loving children

-My other family members, near and far

-My friends and Ward family members

-The blessings and covenants of the Holy Temple

-The Word of God through His Prophets and Apostles

-The Holy Bible, The Book of Mormon, and other books of scripture

-The beauty of the earth that God created

-My life-- body, mind, and soul and the talents and gifts God has blessed me with

-The power and healing balm of good and uplifting music

-The goodness and kindness of others

I'm grateful that the Light of Christ shines forth in the darkness and brings me hope to help me get through my trials.

Live! From Women's Conference!

This post is coming to you live from Provo, Utah (where it snowed about 3 inches over night last night! What?! It's almost May!)  I just finished a wonderful and uplifting 2-day “Inspiration-Fest”. BYU Women's Conference never disappoints! I've missed being here so very much over the last few years. My “sister-from-another-mister” (we'll refer to her here in “blogdom” as Franny) and I had a fun-filled girl's road trip on the way here and are hoping to make this pilgrimage an annual tradition!

The Conference was fun, educational, and exhausting. Franny and I attended the Opening and Closing sessions together, but split up to attend our three individual choices of a variety of classes all being offered simultaneously each day. The classes were spread out all over campus so we did a lot of walking, including LOTS of stairs! I definitely got a work out this week!

The speakers' messages were always motivating and often entertaining. My favorite session was the very last class I attended. It was a panel of four sisters, two of which are bloggers that I follow. You can find their links right here on my blog (nienie and c.jane) and I highly recommend them! The sisters' comments were both funny and touching.

I've been very inspired by nienie (aka StephaNIE NIElsen) ever since I first heard her story. She was in a near-fatal single-engine plane crash a few years ago and was burned over 80% of her body. Stephanie is one of the most courageous and inspiring people I've ever known of. Even after many, many surgeries, her face is still disfigured, yet she bravely posts pictures of herself on her blog. Stephanie also continues to have such a positive attitude through all of her trials. She reminds me constantly to be grateful for what I have. Her faith in Jesus Christ and her testimony of the Gospel are so strong. It was such an honor to see and hear from her and her sisters in person.

One of the highlights of the Conference every year is the concert on Thursday night. This year the MC was Kirby Heyborne of “The RM” fame. He was very funny and sang a silly song about Sheri Dew. The entertainers included Hilary Weeks, Josh Wright, David Osmond, Jenny Oakes Baker, Vocal Point, Cheri Call, & April Messervy. It was amazing!

Friday's classes were book-ended by thought-provoking talks given by the Relief Society General President, Sister Julie B. Beck in the morning and one of our dear Apostles, Elder David A. Bednar at the closing session. I most definitely came away from the conference with my “spiritual pitcher” refilled!

Bored?!! I Wish!

So yesterday I noticed that a friend posted on facebook that she was bored.  I couldn't help but laugh out loud to myself.  It drives me crazy when my adult friends say they're bored!  How is that possible?  I understand when my kids say they are bored... they have no lives.  But how can a healthy, active, adult-aged mom be bored?  What I wouldn't give to be bored!  I NEVER run out of things to do... EVER.  Even if, miracle of miracles, I actually happen to get all of the stuff done that I HAVE to do (which is NEVER), I always have plenty of things I WANT to do (and never have time to do).

If I had all the money in the world and could pay someone to do all the menial tasks that I am responsible for so that I was free to do whatever I wanted, I would still NEVER be bored.  Here is a list of all of the things I would spend my time doing (if I had the time & an unlimited supply of money, of course!):


My "To Do" List

READ, READ, READ, & READ! (can you tell I don't get enough time to read?)
Watch every movie I've never had time to watch (& rewatch my faves!)
Crafts- crocheting, embroidery, tole-painting, rubber stamping, card making, scrapbooking, etc.
Work out more (I envy the people on Biggest Loser that can devote so much time to it)
Take college classes (including writing classes!)
Write books
Travel
Watch The History Channel
Volunteer/ Give Service
Fun shopping (does not include groceries... that is a chore!)
Go out to lunch with my hubby or my mom or other girl friends
Attend the temple more regularly and volunteer there
Study the gospel more thoroughly
Share the gospel with more people
Work on Family History/ Write my Personal History
Home Improvement/Decorating projects
Learn Sign Language
Take piano and voice lessons
Learn a foreign language
Take a martial arts class (ie- Tae Kwon Do, Jiu Jitzu, Kung Fu)
Take dance and acting classes
Photography
Go to a Spa regularly (facials, massages, pedicures... ahhh the life!)

I'm sure I could come up with more, but you get my point.  I WISH (desperately sometimes) that I had more time for me.  However, I am grateful that I am a mom and that the Lord has blessed me with four healthy, beautiful, wonderful kids.  They do take a lot of my time, as does keeping up a house, but I'm grateful that I have the physical and mental health to be able to do it.  I'm also extremely grateful for a wonderful husband who not only provides well for his family (and is happy to do so) but is so supportive of my being a stay-at-home mom.  There are seasons in our lives and my season right now is being a VERY busy mother/homemaker.  There will be other seasons for other things in the future, but for now, I'm just gonna enjoy my children and not dwell on the fact that I don't have time to be BORED...