Light bulb moment

To preface this post it is necessary that I explain some things in the event that I have any readers that are not LDS (I don't think that I do, but I don't want anyone to be out of the loop, just in case). Those of the LDS faith believe that God the Father is literally the father of our spirits. Before we came to earth we were loved by and lived with Him and our Heavenly Mother and were taught everything that they could teach us. We were sent here to earth (to a father and mother!), to continue learning and progressing, particularly things that cannot be learned without a body. For more information regarding this particular facet of LDS doctrine, click here.

Okay, so something came up as I attended relief society yesterday. What it was in particular is not completely relevant, but it has come up multiple times somewhat recently, and up until yesterday it has caused me to have a mini pity party - again, regarding what specifically is not really relevant. I would end up stewing about it for the rest of the day, and after a good night's sleep it would basically be over for the time being. It's not really in my nature to be down for very long.
What I realized yesterday was that I had never talked to Heavenly Father about it in prayer. A poke of inspiration was sent to me yesterday when I realized that I have been "putting on a brave face" for Heavenly Father in my prayers. I have been praying for everyone but me. Now, don't go thinking I'm so terribly compassionate that I never think of myself because it's not true. I just haven't been talking to Heavenly Father about me. Oh, I pray for help being patient with my children, but that's only partly for me. It's mostly for them; I don't want to damage them and break their spirits. But I haven't been praying for help with my personal struggles. And yesterday it occurred to me how completely absurd it was to basically go to Heavenly Father in prayer and essentially say, "Oh, I'm fine, don't worry about me. But could you please bless so and so, 'cause I'm good."
I have to chuckle about it a little today because it's just so completely absurd. I believe so strongly that Heavenly Father cares about me, individually and is so invested in my personal happiness; it has, in fact been clearly manifested to me multiple times in my life that He cares and is truly interested in my success that I can even declare that I know that He is anxious to help me, even eager. And yet, here I have been lately just not asking for help, and at the same time wondering why I don't feel very close to Him when I pray and why I haven't been getting any help. Well, now I know. And I wanted to share it with you on the off-chance that it could be helpful. Some personal revelation is so sacred that it's not meant to be shared with people in general, but this is not one of those instances and so I felt that I should share it.
So, take the time to really talk to your Heavenly Father in prayer. Today. He's listening, and He cares. Happy Monday!

Challenge

So, you're likely familiar with those announcements on public television: "Funding for the following program was provided to you in part by . . ."

Followed by some other sponsors, and then,

Well, once upon a time I had a light bulb moment regarding some of the most fundamental teachings of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and it came to me in a similar format as these announcements. So something like this:

Salvation is made possible by:
The creation of man by Heavenly Father & Jesus Christ
The transgression of Adam and Eve
The atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ
&
By obedience to the laws and ordinances of the gospel of Jesus Christ by God's children like you.

So, who wants to take on the challenge of finding images and adding these words and putting them all into one image that can be easily pinned/printed/displayed? I don't have super mad skills with that kind of thing, but I think it'd be cool. Maybe I'll make it a contest, choose my favorite, share it and give out some kind of prize. Who's in?

The obligatory Easter post :)

In their Easter duds.

Super cheese!

Enoch would not cooperate for the picture taking. Not even once. He was ready for a nap. :)

The Big 3-0

For David's birthday, since it was kind of a big one I wanted to do something special. But throwing a big party wasn't an option for several reasons, the least of which wasn't that I felt pretty sure that David wouldn't appreciate being put in the spotlight. So when I saw this idea on one of the blogs I follow I knew it was an idea I wanted to use for my love. I sent off 30+ balloons to high school friends & coaches, former missionary companions, family, and current friends for them to write a message to David on along with a postage-paid envelope to mail back to me. It was funny when I pulled out my collected envelopes and started blowing up balloons. David knew I had a surprise planned, so after I'd blown up a few and he saw that they weren't just plain balloons he said, "So, what you have thirty of those?" I answered in the affirmative (basically, I didn't actually get 30 back, but close enough) and he was like, "Really?" He's not at all a demonstrative person so I wasn't expecting a huge reaction, but I could tell he was pleased with all of the great messages he got. Good enough for me! We actually weren't at home on his birthday since it was Spring break, but we were at his parents' home. If you think this sounds like an idea you'd like to use sometime, I'll share some tips with you later in the post. But check out the pics!

The kids sure thought all of the balloons were fun!

David transferring all of the messages to paper. :)

 

Balloons all gather together - you can partially see David underneath.

There's the old man! ;)

Me and my love.

Probably should have cropped this one, but here's all of us on the great day.

Make a wish!

I also took him out on a little picnic on his birthday, just the two of us. It wasn't fantastic weather for that kind of an outing, but not bad - and certainly better than it would have been any later in the afternoon (it rained). At least we got some alone time. :)
Okay, so some tips with the balloons:

• Strongly encourage your participants to use metallic sharpies, or to do something to make sure that the balloon is really dry before they deflate it. Some of the messages were really hard to read because the ink smeared, but only one of the them was almost completely illegible.
• If you have little people, it may be less frustrating if the balloons are inflated for reading when they're busy doing something else. :) David was irritated more than once because he was trying to transfer the messages all onto one paper, and the kids kept messing around with his pile that hadn't been transferred yet. hahaha
• I started out trying to use an air pump to blow up the balloons, but my hot air was much faster . . . so I had to inflate all these balloons with my mouth when all of these other friends had previously. Which I didn't love. Don't know quite what could have been done about that except for give yourself more time than I did to get balloons inflated with a pump. Or have more than one pump going. I did see a pump available specifically for balloons at Walmart, and I laughed b/c I figured a bike pump would be just as good. But in retrospect, I kind of wish I'd purchased it. :)

Update: In the comments my sister suggested that you could write the message on paper, and then put it in the balloon. So, that's one idea to address the smearing issue. :)

Someone Turned Thirty . . .

My first memory of David was actually just 'hearing' about him. Around the time that I announced to people at school that I would be moving across town I was exchanging notes with a mutual friend. I hadn't yet met Dave, and somehow my friend knew the ward boundaries even across town. When he learned my new location he wrote in a note, "You'll be in Big Dave's ward." My thought was, "Who is 'Big Dave'?" Neither Dave nor I recall the first time we spoke, but I do remember the day that I put a face with the name. Our first Sunday in our new ward, the Sunday school teacher introduced everyone in the class to me. After he introduced David Allred I thought, "So that's 'Big Dave'. He's not very big." :)
During our senior year, I got rides with David a lot to school, partly to make sure that I could be on time to ballroom (he's very punctual). One day that I'd gotten a ride with him I had some errand that needed doing and somewhat urgently apparently because I asked him to drive me there during the lunch hour. We had AP English together after lunch and we arrived a little late. We walked into the classroom separately and tried to  stagger it slightly to try to avoid teasing, but it didn't work. Boy, we got a lot of ribbing from our class mates. That was the first time that our teacher ever got a hint that we might be more than friends.
After his mission, and after our first post-mission date someone that came through my checkout line (I was working at a grocery store at the time) invited me to go swing dancing that evening. I didn't really know him, but he was a friend of a friend from work and so I said yes. I was a little nervous since I couldn't even recall the guys' name, but not nearly as nervous as my mom was. She was so upset with me for accepting a date with a guy that I didn't even know! While she was still at the store David came in and I invited him to come with me, as a safety measure and because I just wanted him with me. Mom was so relieved. I was driving somehow - the guy (Travis) met me at the store, and then I picked up David who wasn't too thrilled to go (since he really doesn't love dancing) but was going to keep me safe. David was in the backseat by himself and Travis held up the conversation single-handedly, talking about himself and horses. *eye roll* We ended up meeting a group of people at the dance that Travis had planned on meeting up with, which meant that he definitely had a ride back home. I danced with him once (he was awful), and then David and I got out of there. We went to Wendy's for fries and frosties. So, it all worked out!
David got me out of more than one scrape while we were single, and keeps me sane now. I always knew I could count on him for anything - even after I'd broken up with him (I did try not to take advantage of him since I knew that I'd broken his heart, though)! He's always been a gentleman - completely respectful of me as a woman and as a person. He's a really smart and steady man, but he's never made me feel inferior. In fact, he's made me feel like I am capable of doing anything. I am profoundly grateful to have him in my life, and to have had him in my life for so long. I've known him for more than half of his life! He's just my favorite person ever. The end. :)