LOVE LIFE AND SEE GOOD DAYS!

In January I came across this phrase in 1Peter 3:10.  I didn't realize then how much it would impact my thoughts and outlook for 2012...you could say it has become my theme.  Shortly after that, I found a little book by Emily Freeman with the same title...coincidence?


We have all heard or told someone to "have a good day".  But think of the difference between these two sayings.  To me "have a good day" means that good things have to happen for me to have a good day.  So in this world of stress and disappointment, good days would be few and far between if circumstances dictated it.  But "see a good day" means ALL days can be good, I just need to change my perspective and look at my world and circumstances differently.  Seeing a good day often means looking at your life through God's grace and mercy.  If we look to see good days, we can see them in the midst of our hardships and trials, we can see good days in all our days.  


Let me give you a recent example in my life when I had to change my perceptive from "having a good day" to "seeing a good day".  
This past spring break it seemed like everyone I knew had gone somewhere on vacation.  I was jealous and grumbly and I am sure every time I spoke to Dan I complained about the fact that I was here and not in some exotic place.  How could I even have a good day in that situation.  When I realized what I was doing I quickly changed my attitude to try to see the good days of our spring vacation.  Here is what I saw; I was able to run at my favourite time of the day 3 times that week, I had the week off when many others were working, I was able to work in the yard because we had beautiful weather for most of the week, I was able to volunteer at the soup kitchen which I am never able to do because of work, I spent all afternoon one day engrossed in a book, and I spent some wonderful times with each of the boys.  Once I changed my perspective if could "SEE" how much I love life and I could see my good days.


This doesn't mean that my hardships and trials are gone.  I still have the stress that work, kids, marriage, family, obligations - all those other things we do every day - bring, but as I work to change my perspective I can follow Peter's council.


"For he that will love life, and see good days, let him refrain his tongue from evil, and his lips that they speak no guile;"


To love life and see good days I need to stop complaining and comparing my life to others'.  


So this week don't "have a good day", that is not my wish for you, but "love life and see good days."

HE LIVES!

I have been pondering the wonderous gift the the Savior has given to each of us. I don't think that anyone can comprehend the enormity of the statement made by the angel at the empty tomb: "He is not here: for he is risen". What a wonderous gift he gave to each person who has lived on the earth-ETERNAL LIFE-given freely for us all. Because of His sacrifice, we ALL will live again.
Then he goes even further and offers us the blessing of living with Him and our Heavenly Father forever. But this gift is not given freely, for this great blessing, he asks for something in return. He asks us to follow Him, obey His commandments, and endure to the end. He asks us to forsake our sins and "come unto me". He knew that as mortal beings we would sin, but He loved us so much He took those sins upon Himself in Gethsemane and all we need to do is repent and forsake. Easy? Definately NOT.
I am a Mormon, because the teachings of the gospel of Jesus Christ help me to follow Him. Each day, each hour, each minute, I am grateful for the atonement of Jesus Christ. I am grateful for His love and I try to live each day reflecting the love He has offered me. This Easter season, I pray that we will all pause to reflect on the wonderous gift He has given the world and your own personal relationship with the Savior.
I have been pondering the words of a favorite LDS hymn:

I stand all amazed at the love Jesus offers me,
Confused at the grace the so fully he proffers me.
I tremble to know that for me he was crucified,
That for me, a sinner, he suffered, he bled and died.

Oh, it is wonderful that he should care for me enough to die for me.
Oh, it is wonderful, wonderful to me!

It is wonderful!

Sweet 16?

When a girl turns 16, you call it her "Sweet 16th". What do you call is when a boy turns 16? Whatever you call it, I just think "It can't be true! My little boy can't be 16 today!" But he is. It's times like these that moms (or maybe just me) turn a little nostalgic. I have been going through old photo albums tonight and I have learned 3 main things.
1. I need to redo my old scrapbooks-they are horrible!
2. I need to go through my mom's photos to find some pictures of me.
3. I have hardly any pictures of Dan when he was younger.

I did find a few gems on my stroll down memory lane that I thought I would share with you.

This is the only baby picture I have of Dan. At least I am assuming it is Dan. He is with his older sisters and brother, so I am pretty sure it is him. He isn't even a baby, but it's as good as I've got. Cute, isn't he?

Here is Tristan. He was 8 pounds 9 ounces and 21 1/2 inches long. He has grown up so much!

This is Tristan's grade 10 picture. How did he get so cute?

You'll never guess who this is. It's me! Yep, cloth diapers and all. Just as a note-Tristan had cloth diapers too. I thought I was being all environmentally friendly, but it didn't last long!

This is me at 16 or pretty close. Check out the phone! Do you remember rotary phones? Then you're old like me. Did you have a party line? So did we! That is how you knew what was going on in your neighborhood! Not that I ever listened in on someone else's conversation, that's just wrong:)

I remember turning 16. There were so many firsts. First car, first kiss, first date (the last two might have happened a little earlier; but don't tell Tristan). First time breaking curfew, first time grounded (of course those things didn't happen to me...those were Dan's firsts).

I'm sure there will be many firsts for me now that Tristan is 16. I am sure that I will have many sleepless nights and worries as he drives and dates, but I am so blessed because so far, he is a good kid. So he is "Sweet 16" to me!

I LOVE my Job!

Today's Ramble
I don't know how many of you know what an elementary librarian does, but some days can be pretty monotonous. Read to kids, shelf books, check in, check out, catalogue...day in and day out. But every once in awhile there is a little bright spot amidst all the sameness. Now, don't get me wrong, life in the library is pretty good. In fact, I'm a little bit of a celebrity to the preschool afternoon class. They LOVE me! But I digress...
Today was assembly day! On most assembly days, I skip the assembly and catch up on one of the never ending tasks of library work. But today, I went. And am I ever glad I did! After the usual awards we had a special cultural guest-Ben the New Zealand Dancer-as he will be forever known. I have a new appreciation for Fiji and New Zealand dancers. He was, well, ripped. He had muscles from the top of his head to the tip of his toes. Actually, I don't really know if he had muscles on the top of his head or the tip of his toes (although I do know he was barefoot!) But he FOR SURE had muscles from his shoulders to his knees. How do I know this? Well traditional New Zealand dancers don't wear much except a wrap around their waist (because it is so hot there!). And of course, you have to wear the traditional dress when dancing the traditional dance! I am all for cultural sharing! If this keeps up, I might have to attend assemblies more often. I am sure more parents will attend if we were to invite him again!

Lucky me! We do have another cultural event planned-HOJA. They are a acapella musical group. There is nothing better than guys that sing in harmony. Unless of course they are New Zealand dancers that sing in harmony! Sweet dreams tonight.
P.S. Don`t worry, Dan. You may not be a New Zealand dancer or a singer-but...you could learn:)

Seasons of Life

Okay, I don't know how often I am going to get onto this blogging thing, but I will try to be regular.

This is my rambling today.

Last week we had a party at church and the theme was Seasons. We had speakers that spoke of the season they were in in their life. We had a newly married wife, a mother with young children at home and a retired "empty nester". None of them really fit into the season that I feel like I am in. I went home asking myself what season was I in? This is what I came up with...

I am in the TAXI season. That is what I do. I spend most of my waking day at work and the next biggest chuck of time in my car. Don't believe me? Lets take a look at March 20 (a typical day in the life of me).

6:00am alarm rings and up I get to wake Tristan up

6:40 am Take Tristan to seminary (back home 7:20)

7:30 am Leave home again with Brian and Ethan for school

3:30 pm school is done and we are on our way to Coaldale for a 4pm basketball game

5:30 home (supper at DQ)

6:10 gone again. Tristan needs to be in Lethbridge for Driver Training at 6:30 and I need to be in Coaldale for a church function at 6:30. (I was late)

9:30 Tristan needs to be picked up

See what I mean. On the road. Dan about had a heart attack when our 2008 van rolled 100,000km. Tristan took a picture on his phone and txted it to Dan to mark the occasion. Most days are like this, but that is the season I am in. The boys are busy doing good things. I am busy working and serving in my Church responsibilities. Dan is gone 3 weeks out of four. What's a girl to do? DRIVE

I know that one day I will beable to spend more time doing other things, but right now it is the season of TAXI DRIVER.

Hello Blogging World

Well, I thought that I would try out this world of blogging. It will be a new experience for me as I hardly even post anything on facebook. I mostly feel like I have nothing to share, but I am going to try it as an excercise to write. I love to write and journal, so this is my new goal as an extension of that. I suppose that I will mostly write about my family, so I will try not to embarress them, but I will not promise because they often do embarressing things! I will relieve myself of any guilt believing that no one will know what I blog, cause no one really cares what I say or will read my posts.

More to come, I will dig up some pictures and think hard to add some interesting tidbits to this blog, but for now it is 9:44 and I am going to turn into a pumpkin (or something worse) if I don't get my beauty sleep. It's not really beauty sleep-more like sleep that keeps me from turning into some creature that no one wants to meet. Ask my kids-they've met that creature once or twice and they insist now that I get my 8 hours!