Finding your life's story

"What's my story? Every page is being written pending on what I decide, what I choose ultimately. Will my story be read for years to come? Will it be inriguing? I want them to be colorful stories...a compliation of mess ups, mistakes, problems with happiness, love, laughter and more to end it all. Life is scribbling down all impressions made and molding to form what will be known as my story. "Wht's the story?" Some will say and hopefully it's response will be- "A Life Lived."' That was written by one of my best friends Kate Thurston. I love her writing. This was just apart of her journal and she shared it with me one day. I think it is beautiful. Sometimes I stop and think about the story I'm writing. It's an interesting exercise and one that I think is good for all to do from time to time. I learn new things about myself, some positive, some shocking, some funny and some that causes me to want to change. I love how Kate talks about what kind of story she wants her life to tell. She's so honest in her answer. I find that honesty refreshing and liberating. There are times when we will fall down, make dumb mistakes, be humiliated, fail, just to feel regret, sorrow, disappointment, fear, and guilt. But through those choices we can learn, grow and become better than we were before. It's only there where the beauty comes. That change and transformation into someone better. This change can be painful, hard and exhausting yet the rewards are endless. Sometimes this growth can only come through taking risks. There's a video about this that I thought was pretty neat. I wonder if those people didn't have the experiences they did, would they have been as successful as they were? I am a believer that so called negative experiences help us and can be for our good if we choose them to be. It's then that I feel and see beauty and know that God's hand is in my life.

Decisions

Why is it that I have the hardest time making decisions? I feel like I see things on so many angles and it's hard for me to pick which one I want to believe or which one I should believe...you know which one is right. Ultimately I want my actions to be a benefit for all parties involved. Did I say ultimately? Yeah I wanted to reemphasize that word because at first I may be blinded by my own selfishness and do what I want instead of what is right or best for someone else. I am grateful that we have a whole life to become better and to grow. I am impatient sometimes and wish I was perfect at it right now. I will just keep on trying even when that is hard to do sometimes. I know that will bring the best results. I will never give up.

Humanitarian- Now this is what it's all about!

Sundays

I love Sundays. For me it's a break from what I do from the rest of the week. I have an attitude of worship with what I believe. I believe in prayer and it seems on Sundays as I go to Church and ponder on the things I have been praying, answers come and they come in a more clear way while I am at Church. I love it when my Sundays are simple. I get to read, ponder, pray, serve and spend an extra amount of time with family. I can nap, make cookies or my famous caramel, write in my journal and visit friends. I believe this day was intended for that. Yes Sundays are special. I don't consider it another day in the weekend, yet I like to refer Sundays to the Sabbath. They are holy and set a part from the world. What a blessing!

IOS

Families

So I'm staring at a picture of my family right now and I started to think about how much I love them. I am passionate about families. I am fortunate to be blessed with amazing parents who have been married now for 40 years and 8 incredibly good-looking, talented, loving, positive and FUN brothers and sisters. Yes, my parents took the phrase of "multiplying and replenishing the earth" pretty seriously and honestly, I'm so grateful they did. Oh sure a big family has it's challenges but it's through those that we've become strong. It's my personal belief that through challenges life becomes meaningful and beautiful. We are a very close knit family. We love getting together, just to be around each other.Of course most of our activities are planned around food. I owe this unity to great parents who never gave up, but mainly to the faith-based values they taught us and found in Jesus Christ's teachings. I remember the familiar routine we went through every morning before school which gave a young person like me a feeling of structure, safety and order in our household. Although there were times that we were better at it than others, this routine followed me through my high school and college years. It varied a little through the years but basically it went a little something like this. We would get up and start getting ready for school. Mom would usually be out doing her morning run and would give us kisses when she got back. I think I can still smell the mixture of outdoor air and her sweat as we embraced. Oddly enough I have come to even appreciate that smell as I think back at these moments. As we finished getting ready mom would cook us some breakfast which usually consisted of oatmeal, cracked wheat, cheese on toast with warm chocolate milk or some eggs. We usually were running a little late so she would bring it up to the top of the stairs landing and let us eat while we read from the scriptures, the Bible, Book of Mormon and other scripture. we then had our family prayer and were out the door. On occasion, especially if we were arguing she would make us do "positive affirmations" where we had to turn to someone, have some type of physical contact and tell them why we loved them. Oh this was the worst when we were angry with one another. It was so hard sometimes to think of something positive when all you wanted to say was that they were lame. But as we found something positive we felt a little better and a lot of times we would end up laughing. Just like the outdoor air sweat smell from my mom, these too have become a cherished memory with my family. I am so blessed. My family means everything to me. Now that more than half of us are married our family has more than doubled. We have six in-laws and 18 nieces and nephews. I hope that the Christ centered values that my parents taught us continues to spread down to the next generation. As we live those principles our family is safe from a lot of the gunk that is out there tearing families apart. Hurray for families!

Calling You