Star Wars party

Joshua will be having his 7th birthday party this week. He is so excited! I am so excited to have this month over! It has been a monumentous month! 

A root canal, followed by bad reactions to the pain meds, a giant new calling, jury duty, and all of us have been sick! It all started with colds then it turned into sinus infections, for everyone! 

I am incredibly anxious about Febrruary because it can't be worse! 

Jury duty ended early for me because the defense was sick! I have never been so glad to hear someone was sick. It was a tender mercy from heaven and I left the courthouse crying and thanking my Heavenly Father!!! It would of been a three day trial! And a pretty serious one at that. 

My calling is causing stress but I figure it can only get better right? I know almost all the kids names now and this week I have my first sharing time. 

Joshua's party will be at The Home Depot. He's also having a Star Wars themed party. He's incredibly excited and I am anxious to see what craft they will make. 

The party favors. My boys are really excited! I'm pretty proud of my craft skills. 

Seriously, February is going to be awesome! It has to be for my sanity! 

A New Year and a New Calling

Today it was made official.  I had six months in YW serving as the mia-maid advisor.  I loved all those girls so much!!! They made me happy and I loved seeing them grow and learning from their insights about the gospel.

I loved seeing them at girls camp.  When they go to camp, they leave all that the world has on them and they commit 100% to the gospel.  They might be tired and lacking a good shower but they shine the most there.  Hearing their testimonies and being with them brought me a lot of joy.

But I guess it's time for some growth.  At least, that is what Bishop said.  I thought, I haven't grown since 5th grade :(.  Oh well.

Yesterday I was having a panic attack.  I didn't want this calling and I had so much going on this month.  I had a root canal fixed this week, I have the impending jury duty, and Joshua's birthday coming up.  I didn't think January would be so chaotic.

I was in a lot of pain yesterday due to the root canal and having adverse reactions to the pain medicine.  It was be miserable from side effects of the medication or be in pain from the root canal.  Either way, I wasn't doing very well.  I cried and cried.

Matt followed a prompting and after I was done saying my personal prayer for the night I saw him in his suite all ready to give me a blessing.  I happily took the offer.

I went to bed crying but fell asleep fast and had a good nights rest.

I woke up in less pain and with some of the side effects wearing off from the pain medicine.

I still felt overwhelmed but had a tender mercy as I watched my children dance to a silly song before church.  I am mesmerized by children and how easily they find joy.  They aren't weighted down by things but find joy in the smallest moments.  I realized that it was going to be okay and that I just needed to be faithful and demonstrate my faith and trust in my Heavenly Father.

I need to remember the kind words that people have said as they offered their support for my new call.

I was so grateful for the Bishop's setting apart blessing and the words he said.

Tomorrow will be a new day and this year looks like it will be busy and full of growth.

To growth!

I am a Child of God

I am a Child of God is one of my favorite hymns.  I sang it when I was pregnant with Joshua and having extremely painful contractions.  When people say you can't sleep through contractions they are right.  I would wake up every 10/15 minutes and then sing the song during the duration of the contractor.  I remember thinking, HELP me please Heavenly Father! This is the most pain I have yet to experience and it just keep going.  The hospital kept turning me away and were completely incompetent about recognizing that I was never going to dilate enough to push out a giant baby! Side story.

But it's helpful to know because that is the song I chose to sing when I was in excoriating pain.  When I need help, I knew that the only place I can always rely on is my Heavenly Father.

That song again meant something to me when I was serving in the primary presidency in TN.  Senior primary girls would sing this song with a descant.  It always brought me to tears.  When I hear that song sung with the special descant I miss my southern roots! I miss those darling little girls from my Senior primary.  I think about them and how special they are.  I hope and pray that they will always stay true to the gospel principles and in turn be able to claims those blessings that will make them happy.

This Sunday for the intermediate hymn they sang it.  I told my kiddos to sing loudly because I love hearing them sing.  Hearing them sing and thinking about my life I had an overwhelming feeling that I was known by my Heavenly Father and that He would help me rise over anything that might come.  I began to weep because I felt the spirit so strongly.

I want to remember this moment because I know there will be times when I don't feel up for the challenges that I am facing.  When I don't feel adequate enough for what life has given me.  But I can look back and remember the time the Lord gave me a tender mercy when I wasn't even expecting it.  When I didn't know I needed it.  He truly does know me and what I need.

Music is so powerful.  Especially the right kind.