busy, Busy, BUSY

I was planning on winter 2011 being a much slower pace of life than Jan 2010, but alas, it will not be. Last year I was so busy that I nearly became a basket case. When I was going through my journal New Years Day I was reminded how busy Jan - April was last year and I was tellling myself it would not happen this year. I was going to read and sew and do other crafty things that were relaxing. But what do you do when sitting in church and as the Bishop is reading a list of missionary opportunities, the Spirit whispers that this is for YOU. Two of the items from his list made me quite excited so I checked into them right after church. Now here I am not even a full week later and I have signed up and taken two of three training sessions to be a Family History Missionary at the BYU Family History Library. The other opportunity was to serve at the Provo Humanitarian Center sewing quilts and other items and whatever else needed doing there. It was not a hard choice for me because Family History is a love of mine. I have missed the time I served at our Stake Family History Library several years ago. I tried last year to get back on there, but the time slots they had available did not work with my already very busy schedule then. Now I have the opportunity to serve at the best library West of the Mississippi. I will get to know all the latest and greatest in Family History research, have access to maps, books, histories, microfiche, and all the other cool stuff they have and I can help other people with their family histories too. How cool is that!!! I am SUPER, SUPER, excited. So goodbye to the sedentary life of sewing and crafting, but HELLO FAMILY HISTORY! Can you tell I am just a little excited. Oh, and this is an actual mission. I have to fill out mission papers, have the Bishop and Stake President sign them and agree to serve two 4 1/2 hour days per week for at least one year. No problem, that is as long as the Bishop and Stake President sign the papers.

1-1-11

According to the Chinese, calendar dates with all the same numbers are supposed to be very lucky.

I don't feel that today has been lucky, but it has been a relaxed, low-key kind of day, which I think is what New Years Day is supposed to be. I always felt like New Years Eve and Day were the end of a long, busy holiday season. Hopefully 2011 will be a very good year for our family.

When I woke up this morning I didn't want to get out of bed. I just wanted to relish lying there without having plans, or to do lists to accomplish. I decided it would be a great time to write in my journal some of the good and not so great things that happened in my life during 2010. As I started writing, I realized that I couldn't remember everything or even most anything, that happened, so I started reading my journal to jog my memory. 5 hours later I had nearly finished reading through mid December (and had my memory jogged quite a bit) when Dennis came home early from rabbit hunting with Randy, Steve, Brian and Clay. I'm glad I don't have many days like this, but occasionally it is good to do absolutely nothing, except reminisce, ponder, reflect or meditate.

Here is what I came up with as the best and worst of 2010.
Worst:
1- Dad's death on October 16th.
Even though I have witnessed the Lord's blessings of peace and comfort and reassurance that this was His plan, it has still been very difficult. I miss dad terribly and have felt the hole that he left with every family party or get together. Even simple things like watching my mom leave our house on my birthday and get into her car alone brought me much sorrow. I can't even imagine what it is like for her.

2- The passing of acquaintances.
Several good people died this year that had an influence on my life. Kim Turner an employee of RMWC, the company I am the secretary for. He was such a nice man and I felt sorry for the terrible time he was having going through a divorce and decided that taking his own life was the only way out. Such a waste! Ed's brother Rex Kocherhans. Ed is my boss. I met his brother Rex while on the Stampin' Up! cruise a few years ago. Many of Ed's family went on the cruise and his entire family included Dennis and I in most everything they did. Rex was one of the nicest people and so kind to us. He sang in the Tabernacle Choir. He died suddenly from a staff infection. The saddest was the death of Mrs. Meibos, the mother of our dearest friend Jeanette Dunn. The Meibos and Dunn family have struggled this entire year in taking care of Jeanette's dad who has Parkinson's Disease. The have had someone by his bedside 24/7. At one point Mr. Meibos was able to go home and Mrs. Meibos was trying to take care of him as much as she could, but she fell one day and broke her back. During the surgery to fix her back the doctors cut her spinal cord which released spinal fluid into her brain and she didn't live too long after that. It was extremely sad to see Jeanette and her family suffer through all of this and are still taking care of her father 24/7.

3- Porter getting hit in the face with a baseball bat and having his cheekbone broken, and later breaking his arm at the growth plate near his elbow. Oh, how that poor little boy suffered.



The Best of 2010:
1-My sisters, mom and I growing closer together.

2- Witnessing firsthand the miracles from a loving Heavenly Father.
When dad passed away, I saw many miracles take place. I am extremely grateful for these.

3- Seeing Mark.
We hadn't seen Mark in over 2 years, and didn't plan on seeing him until next summer when Taylor gets baptized. He was able to come home for dad's funeral and it was SO GOOD to have him here with us.

4- Charlotte Mackley.
Another blessing in our life was finding out about Charlotte. With Dennis' life long learning disabilities and the several injuries I sustained to my head years ago, we both have been struggling with different issues. Charlotte is an expert in helping heal the brain and we have enjoyed our time with her. She is such a spiritual giant and I came away every lesson feeling so uplifted even though what we were doing had nothing to do with spiritual learning. It was because of another miracle in our lives we were able to afford going to her. Because of someone running into the back of me in the truck at a stop light we received a "payoff" from the insurance a year later to guarantee that we would not sue them, and consider the matter closed. In my book, the matter had been closed the year before. Heavenly Father certainly works in mysterious ways and blesses our lives so much.

5- Tyler's baptism.
I am so glad my children are raising their children in the gospel. I am so proud of Tyler for wanting to be baptized a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

6- Starting an exercise class on the Cellerciser.
This was the hardest and most rewarding thing I did. I stress too much over things and often times feel so inadequate. This was one of those times. I loved every minute of exercising with my friends. I hated every minute that I allowed Satan to convince me that I was inadequate and could not make it work. Once everyone quit for their various reasons, I couldn't muster the courage to approach more people. Among some of the reasons were: I really needed a better space than the garage, with winter coming I didn't want to leave the car outside and have to scrape windows, and it would be freezing in the garage - too cold to exercise in. There is not enough space anywhere in the house. The basement doesn't have enough headroom to jump. I couldn't afford to rent space anywhere as I was not charging for the classes. It was amazing to watch the change it made in peoples lives, but hard because I could only commit so many hours a day to exercising, I am after all just one person and can only do so much. Friends couldn't always come to exercise on my time schedule, even though they loved exercising on the Cellerciser.

All in all 2010 was a good year, full of joys and heartaches. That is what life is all about. The important thing is what we learn from all these experiences. Some of the things I have learned are: *That people are important and things are not. *We will see our family again when it is our time to depart this earthly life, but we will not be able to take anything with us except our love, faith and knowledge. *Life is too precious (and too short) to carry grudges, hatred, or bad feelings towards others. *We get so much more out of serving others that we put into it. *Hatred is from Satan and fills the soul with darkness and emptiness. *Love is from God and is POWERFUL and full of light. *My faith, testimony and family are my greatest treasures.

I hope all of you have a wonderful New Year!

5 down and 17 more to go

Last night Amanda and I F.I.N.A..L..L...Y took the test for levels 200-500 of our on-line course we are taking from the School of Natural Healing......and we PASSED!!!! We are both so excited. Now we just have 17 more levels to go and 2 years to do it in. It took us over a year just to get this far. No, it isn't hard, it is just that life gets in the way and we have let this drag out far too long.

Now I am going to be up to my eyeballs in reading and worksheets now so I can try and make up time. Along with the school work, I am studying Spanish, and have started to practice the piano again. I think I will be plenty busy this winter.

Berries in November?

Can you believe that I was out in my garden this morning picking strawberries and raspberries in the snow? It is amazing that on November 11 I still have any garden left. This is my first year growing either berry and I had no idea how long they would continue to produce. I think this year may be a fluke since we have had a nice long WARM fall.

Just for your info, the berries were D.E.L.I.C.I.O.U.S!!! Yum! Yum!

Personal Progress - Integrity #7

List the issues, trends, and problems that weaken the family.
1- You are #1, deserve a break, don't let others tell you what to do.
2- Marriage between a husband and wife is old fashioned, we need to get on board and accept same-sex unions.
3- Drugs, smoking, immorality, body art & piercings.
4- Disrespect for laws and authority.
5- Lying, swearing, cheating, stealing, gossiping.

My plan to strengthen my family is to:
1- Set the example by reading my scriptures, saying my prayers, attending church meetings and the Temple, serving diligently in my callings, as a visiting teacher and in the community.
2- Love each person unconditionally
3- Establish traditions such as: family dinner and home evening once a month, picnics, playing games and doing other activities, family vacations, family reunions, family Temple days, family craft days, etc.
4-Help each other as needed: babysitting, minor or major home repairs, car repairs, rides.
5- Support each other in activities.
Just to name a few.

Personal Progress - Integrity #3

I am so close to being done with my personal progress. I have just a handful left. For Integrity experience #3 I was to read several accounts in the scriptures of how individuals lived with integrity. Nephi, Joseph and Potiphers wife, Esther, Job, Shadrach, Mesach and Abed-nego, Daniel and the Lions Den, Paul, and Joseph Smith. Then I am to identify in my journal the ways these people demonstrated integrity and to think of a time when I had the courage to show integrity and share it.

I noticed when reading all these scriptures that all these individuals stood up for their belief in Jesus Christ no matter what circumstances they might encounter and in some cases even when death was the ultimatum. I am so glad that so far in my life I have not had to suffer for my belief in the Savior. I have only received blessings for following Him.

One evening a few years ago, our family was watching a movie. Within the first 5 minutes I had such an awful feeling come over me and I just got up and said that I could not watch this movie because it was too crude and vulgar. Once I said that, several other family members said they felt the same way, but hadn't quite mustered the courage to say anything. I am glad that I had the courage to do so and set a good example for my family to hopefully follow.

My Father

It is with much sadness that I write this. My father passed away suddenly and unexpectedly on Saturday. Oh how we we'll miss him. We love you dad.