Remember

Tonight I feel spent. I haven't felt this tired in a long time. We attended Anne's funeral and I am emotionally exhausted. Not because it was so sad, although it was, but because of the powerful emotions that were present. Unfortunately, I have been to a lot of funerals in my life. Some much more difficult than others.

Watching Ward come in with his two daughters and Grandma Susan holding the little one about put me over the edge. I kept thinking "how will these tiny girls ever know that their Mommy loved them?" In the next 1 1/2 hours I learned how. Anne taught them about the Plan of Salvation, that there is life after death and because of their Temple Sealing they are a family for eternity. The testimonies born were so powerful. Anne knew her Savior, she knew that God had a plan for her. She knew that all was in His hands. She also did all she could to fight. She did all she could to spend every moment with her husband and little girls. She made every moment count.

Most of us do not know when the end is near for us.Therefore, we often take each day for granted. We get wrapped up in the mundane aspects of life and forget. We forget that each day we are with our family is a blessing, a gift. We are so wrapped up in the here and now---football practice, dinner, tennis, laundry, dishes, callings, worries, that we often just forget to actually accept this very day as the gift.

Why does it take losing someone to shock us back to what we know. Family is the most important thing in life. We have to remember to give those hugs and loves. Love up on those people you love all the time. Pick up the phone and call that brother or sister. Be nicer. Sometimes just pick up the shoes. Be grateful that those shoes are in your life because today is the only day that we are sure of.

For whatever reason I struggle accepting the mundane aspects of life. Dishes, laundry, and dirty toilets seem to overwhelm my senses. It dulls me to the beauty of my life. However, I must make a choice--I must choose to find the joy and beauty in my life despite the laundry or I choose to sacrifice the opportunity to experience a gift from God, another day with my precious family.

Tonight when I kneel to say my prayers I am going to thank my Heavenly Father for the opportunity he has given me to be a wife and mother. I am going to ask Him to bless me with many more days. I am also going to ask Him to help me find joy and beauty in the gifts that He has bestowed upon me. I want to snuggle, tickle and enjoy these little angels I have been blessed with. I will pray that He will help me to remember what a gift they are, even when they are asking for too much money, teasing, being indifferent, etc.

I hope that I can remember.

Time Out for Women

I am a very blessed girl. Friday and Saturday I got to go spend time with my dearest friend. We went shopping, to lunch and then to a wonderful women's conference called
Time out for Women. This is primarily an LDS faith gathering of women. It was fabulous! The speakers were outstanding. Very thought provoking and reassuring.

Now to use what I learned in my real life!

Here are some highlights that I took away from this experience.

*Life is a Gift
*God Loves ME
*God is a Loving Father--a Papa
*Up is down-down is up
*Bless and Release
*We can take U-turns
*Peacemakers
*Jeru Selamat-Expert of Peace-Jesus Christ
*Don't underestimate the power of a moment
*5 split seconds of Joy a day!
*CPR-Caring PLUS Response
*Open our eyes
*Open our hearts
*Pray
*Contribute
*Act
*Our Eternal quest is to help our children become disciples of Christ.
*My job is to love THEM-not Make Them love ME.
*Lighten up and Forgive everyday---this frees up your mind.
*Today could be the day that changes your life!
*You're Best is good enough!
*Don't sleep when you are getting instruction!
*Three lessons to lead a Happy Life--
1.Forgiveness 2. Trust in the Lord 3. Keeping Covenants

I am so grateful that I had the opportunity to get away and go to this conference. I hope that it filled my bucket enough that I can be a better Mom, Wife and daughter of God.