Sisters

I know it's Thursday already and I haven't written here but I have had a week where I have seen the hand of God touch my life.  the problem is that I cannot remember what happened what days so I am going to write about all of them today.

On one day this week I think it was Monday I felt an impression to call a friend and take her to lunch, however my phone had had problems over the weekend so I didn't have any contact numbers for anyone let alone my friend Kelly.  I knew that she had been dealing with some unpleasant bug like creatures and in order to get rid of all of them there was tons of washing, vacuuming, and other unpleasant tasks.  It was enough to send someone into hysteria, of course I am speaking from experience, and from someone who went hysterically crazy in that situation.  I was not to be deterred not sure she'd be home I drove to her home to see if she was there so I could take her Chick-Fil-A.  She was in good spirits, but had had that hysterical crazy moment days before but everyone needs to eat lunch so we picked up Chicken sandwiches and nuggets for the kids and enjoyed lunch together.  It was so great to catch up on everything.  I think I need to invite myself to lunch with a friend more often it just lifts your spirits.  Hopefully it helped Kelly forget about those creatures if just for a little while.  By the way I did volunteer to help clean, she said she had it under control. Sometimes you just have to forget about it for a minute and it gives you strength to get through it.  

On Tuesday so many things happened, like usual I went to the gym for my swim class.  unfortunately left my active link devise in the bathroom stall where I changed.  When I got home to shower I noticed it was missing so I called the gym to see if they had had one turned in.  I didn't feel confident in this so I went back to the gym looked around the locker room and where I thought I had left it and it was no where to be found. I had a pleasant conversation with the man at the front desk.  He was so kind and even looked twice through the lost and found for me.  I left my name and number and hoped that it would show up.  Unknown to me one of my friends had picked it up for me and left me a message on my answering machine.  I guess she happened to use the same stall as me and picked it up thinking it was mine.  Small little miracles.  She returned it to me the next day!

Kelly and I had planned earlier in the week to surprise a friend by taking her lunch for her birthday.  I hurried home from the gym,  not having found my active link, to make my homemade chicken noodle soup.  All of the vegetables and chicken were boiling and the noodles were rolled out on the counter Kelly called and said that we weren't going to do the lunch thing but later we would take cupcakes over. Well this is kind of silly I made two pans of soup one for my family for dinner and one for lunch, so I had one to give away.  This was not a problem because earlier Janet called me and she had some coupons for me and I could just give her the soup for her lunch.  This is sounding kind of crazy but it really did happen this way.  After another phone call I took the soup to Janet and picked up the coupons she saved for me. and we enjoyed chatting for a few moments.  Then I picked up Kelly and we took cupcakes to Kerstie's to wish her a happy Birthday.  We chatted for a little while and wished her a happy Birthday.   I look at this part of the day and see how being part of the gospel of Christ made each of us think of each other.  Kelly thought of Kerstie's birthday and wanted me to be part of it.  Janet thought of me by saving her coupons I thought of Janet because I had soup.  Even my active link was found by Jen who I connected with at church.  I thought of all the love and thoughtfulness that occurs because we are connected as sisters in the gospel of Jesus Christ.  I am grateful for my sisters that have done so much for me through the years.

Changing feelings

Today I guess you could say that I woke up on the wrong side of the bed,  I'm not sure that's possible if your bed is pushed up against the wall, but that's the phrase my mom would have used .  I woke up feeling grumpy, out of sorts even a bit hostile towards the world.  The kitchen was a disaster, the dishes were dirty and all over the counter and when I opened up the dishwasher it hadn't cleaned the dishes so it was time to dig in, clean all the dishes out of the sink fill them up with water and get to work.  Oh did I say I was grouchy well this had only made it worse.  Now I became loud and began to command the kids around.  Usually doing the dishes calms me down but for some odd reason I began to fume.  If smoke really could come out of our ears and nose that is what you would have seen at that precise moment.  I knew this was so unlike me and I wanted to calm down so I took a deep breath and looked out the window at my kitchen sink.  My arms up to my elbows in suds and my mind racing with everything on my to do list I took a deep breath cleared my mind of all of it and watched a squirrel scampering along the back fence. I felt a clear message, sit down and work on your Sunday School lesson.  My first reaction was that's crazy but as the last dish was washed my legs took me to my Sunday bag and back to the kitchen table.  I sat there for a few moments thinking how come now with all the things I needed to do and my grouchiness.  Then clarity happened.  I stopped and prayed.  The feelings I had of needing to get everything done went away, my grouchiness dissipated and all of a sudden the house was quiet. My previous feelings were replaced with love peace and joy, feelings of the spirit.
  I had been preparing this lesson for Sunday School for weeks now but I had not been able to decide in which direction to take it.  As I calmed and feelings of the spirit entered into my heart I realized that the lesson I needed to give had just been given to me.  Given to me to teach me about how to learn from the Holy Ghost.

Friends Visit

It's a wonderful sunny but chili day and I'm waiting for Lydia's bus to drop her off from school, as the bus approaches I see for a brief second two people running towards me.  Lydia runs swiftly from the bus to me with her usual smiling happy face then from behind we are attacked by Jason and Kaitlyn.  What a wonderful surprise.  There were hugs and and chatter and more hugs.  We chat there on the corner for a while but then walk home together because it's cold.  Immediately Lydia asks them to play a game with her and they agree.  I watch as they play grateful for Emily's friends that they would stop and play a game with a friend's sister 11 years younger then them.   Grateful that they would chat with a mom that's been missing her own college girls and thankful that they have been here many times before and played games and eaten food and laughed and chatted and danced and played. Ibe too has been here this Christmas season and has brought these feelings of gratitude and love so much that I have been overcome with emotion.    I think sometimes there's a bond that develops over time and when you leave and then come back you long for that same feeling so you go back to the same place hoping to find it.  For me today I felt that feeling that my girls were home maybe it was the sound of Kaitlyn and Jason that brought back the sound of Emily's and Jessy's voice it filled me with peace and a sense of calm that they are okay.  Okay because I felt them as I hugged, talked to and saw their friends.  Thanks so much for your visit today and for all the other visits before. We are connected.  

Breakfast, Lunches, Coupons, and Money

 Today as I'm fixing scrambled eggs with summer sausage and cheese, it dawned on me that the Lord is helping us in small financial to ways get ready to send out a missionary.  Over the last few months I have started getting up in the mornings and making eggs for Bill and the boys before they leave for work and school.  Bill has been added to the children as those who take cold lunch.  And for the first time in my life I actually study store adds and clip coupons and look for deals.  It's amazing that making these small changes can help in big ways.  Plus I am grateful for being able to spend time in the morning with Bill at breakfast and for the challenge of finding the best deals around the area.

PS.  If anyone in the Manassas area doesn't use the Sunday coupons I would love to pick them up from you.

New Year, New Goals and Old Goals

This past few weeks have had time for some serious reflection about this past year, but it has also made me in-vision what the next 12 months will look like.  I want a better me, better relationships with people and with my Heavenly Father.

As I watched the video above I thought that this blog could help me as a way to share and a reason for me to look for how the hand of God reaches out to touch me and my family.  Because I am sure that Heavenly Father has some personal messages he will want to send to me to guide my life and my family.  I think this will help me to bring more meaning to my blog rather than just talk about what happened during the day, though it may contain some day to day experiences.  This is Goal #1 for the new year.
   ( I did write a little over 200 entries in 2012. Not a perfect record but much of the past year is recorded)

My Simple Stories about My Simple Life will be the title of my personal history.  I have been wondering what is the most valuable thing I can do in the area of my family history?  I feel it would be to write about my life.  The other day I heard a song called "I Was Here"    As the artist sang,  pictures of  people in different situations, ages and places panned on huge screens.  As I viewed this I saw in my mind the people who had touched my life and who's life I had touched.  It was so inspiring.  I need to let others know I was here by telling the little stories that make up my life, the ordinary, my fears, my joys, my silliness,  The things, the places and happenings that will let others know I was here.

Me Jan 2012

Me Dec 2012

At the beginning of 2012 this is how I looked.  I can see that I have changed and I am stronger and healthier so I choose to continue on with this goal.   In 2012 I moved from being extremely obese into only overweight.  In 2013 I want to move from the overweight category to the healthy range.

I have one more goal that will make me stretch so far beyond where I am comfortable that I am not sure that I can share it without feeling embarrassed that I have taken so long to decide to change in this area.  I am going to learn how to be more social.  I am not comfortable in social situations.  I much prefer to be home,  But I have this feeling that I am taking the easy road.  That I have more to learn from others and that I need to be able to carry on conversations with those I may not know.  I struggle so much with this that I have written very specific things to do, but I do not list them here.  I may share some of my accomplishments here, but they will be personal triumphs no matter how small they may seem to others.   This goal is to help me feel more comfortable in social situations no matter how big or small the crowd, or who is at the gathering.

Well there you have it!  My 2013 will be Exciting, Joyful and Full of Growth,  Stay tuned to see how the Lord touches my life daily.