Create

I am grateful for the opportunities I have to create.  I have been thinking more of taking pictures and creating graphic design posters.  For Christmas I created a small poster for Adam and Elliot using their missionary scriptures.  I had so much fun!  I have been thinking of doing more scriptures and quotes. I’ll try to post more here when I get the chance.  

Here are some I really appreciate from Ryan.  Check out his work here!

For inspiration watch this video: 

New Year Wish

President Thomas S. Monson sums up my New Year wish for 2012:

President Monson goes on to explain his ABC's of living an abundant life. 

Click here to find out more!

Patience

I didn't get a chance to share this in Relief Society today so I wanted to share it here on my blog.  I love this quote so much I wrote it in my scriptures.

An Invitation to Know the Savior

“What does it mean to seek the face of the Savior? Surely it means more than just recognizing His picture. Christ’s invitation to seek Him is an invitation to know who He is, what He has done for us, and what He has asked us to do. Coming to Christ, and eventually seeing His face, comes only as we draw close to Him through our faith and our actions. It comes through a lifetime of effort.”

Cheryl C. Lant, “That Our Children Might See the Face of the Savior,” Ensign, May 2010, 81

Artwork by Del Parson

good Better BEST

In choosing how we spend time as a family, we should be careful not to exhaust our available time on things that are merely good and leave little time for that which is better or best. A friend took his young family on a series of summer vacation trips, including visits to memorable historic sites. At the end of the summer he asked his teenage son which of these good summer activities he enjoyed most. The father learned from the reply, and so did those he told of it. "The thing I liked best this summer," the boy replied, "was the night you and I laid on the lawn and looked at the stars and talked." Super family activities may be good for children, but they are not always better than one-on-one time with a loving parent.

The amount of children-and-parent time absorbed in the good activities of private lessons, team sports, and other school and club activities also needs to be carefully regulated. Otherwise, children will be overscheduled, and parents will be frazzled and frustrated. Parents should act to preserve time for family prayer, family scripture study, family home evening, and the other precious togetherness and individual one-on-one time that binds a family together and fixes children's values on things of eternal worth.

~Dallin H. Oaks, Good Better Best, Ensign November 2007

We Must Make Our Own Happiness

“Mortality is a precious drop in the bucket of eternity. Why not make each minute pleasant and fulfilling? We must make our own happiness. As President Spencer W. Kimball once said, ‘Happiness does not depend upon what happens outside of you, but on what happens inside of you. It is measured by the spirit with which you meet the problems of life.’ ”

James E. Faust, “A Vision of What We Can Be,” Ensign, Mar. 1996, 10

happy note

Thanksgiving Week

Day Four

Today I am grateful for my many friends.  I've always been blessed with good friends.  Whether it was a tea party with Hawaiian punch, high school dance, going to see a movie, laughing together, ward activities, college classes and Jamba Juice, etc.  My favorite musical, Wicked, has a song that expresses what I feel for my friends.

I've heard it said

That people come into our lives for a reason

Bringing something we must learn

And we are led

To those who help us most to grow

If we let them

And we help them in return

Well, I don't know if I believe that's true

But I know I'm who I am today

Because I knew you...

It well may be

That we will never meet again

In this lifetime

So let me say before we part

So much of me

Is made of what I learned from you

You'll be with me

Like a handprint on my heart

And now whatever way our stories end

I know you have re-written mine

By being my friend...

Because I knew you...I have been changed for good...

Even though many of my friends have gone off in different paths of their life and I don't see them often enough I am grateful for their friendship and it has made me who I am today.  

Thank you!  

Please enjoy the pictures and remember that they are just a sampling of pictures.

Sweet Moments

It was because she was attentive to the Spirit and had yielded her heart to God. If we are in tune with the Spirit, if we are seeking the Lord and His guidance, if our direction is to return to our Father in Heaven, the sweet moments will come. And we will treasure them, for we have become instruments in the hands of God.  See how much we learn and grow when we share with one another our witness that the Lord lives and loves us. As I’ve said before, if I could have one thing happen for each of you, it would be that you feel the love of the Lord in your life daily.

~Bonnie D. Parkin 
"Welcome" Del Parson (pictured above)

Discipleship

This morning I was reading my conference issue of the Ensign. I read “The Way of a Disciple” by Dieter F. Uchtdorf. It was amazing! Here are a few things I highlighted:

…the gospel of Jesus Christ, hope and faith begin to blossom inside of us.5
The more we fill our hearts and minds with the message of the risen Christ, the
greater our desire is to follow Him and live His teachings. This, in turn,
causes our faith to grow and allows the light of Christ to illuminate our
hearts.

Discipleship is a journey. We need the refining lessons of
the journey to craft our character and purify our hearts. By patiently walking
in the path of discipleship, we demonstrate to ourselves the measure of our
faith and our willingness to accept God’s will rather than
ours.

Discipleship is not a spectator sport. We cannot expect to
experience the blessings of faith by standing inactive on the sidelines any more
than we can experience the benefits of health by sitting on a sofa watching
sporting events on television and giving advice to the athletes.

I heard this quote at Institute a while back and I have thought of it many times since.

Just wanted to share.

President Gordon B. Hinckley said:

“I have enjoyed these words of Jenkins Lloyd Jones, which I clipped from
the newspaper some years ago. Said he: . . .
“‘Anyone who imagines that bliss . . . is normal is going to waste a lot of
time running around shouting that he has been robbed.
“‘[The fact is] . . . most beef is tough. Most children grow up to be just
people. Most successful marriages require a high degree of mutual
toleration. Most jobs are more often dull than otherwise. . . .
“‘Life is like an old-time rail journey—delays, sidetracks, smoke, dust,
cinders and jolts, interspersed only occasionally by beautiful vistas and
thrilling bursts of speed.
“‘The trick is to thank the Lord for letting you have the ride’"

Christmas

Times change; years speed by; but Christmas continues sacred. In this
marvelous dispensation of the fulness of times, our opportunities to give of
ourselves are indeed limitless, but they are also perishable. There are
hearts to gladden. There are kind words to say. There are gifts to be given.
There are deeds to be done. There are souls to be saved. If we are to have
the very best Christmas ever, we must listen for the sound of sandaled feet.
We must reach out for the Carpenter’s hand. With every step we take in His
footsteps, we abandon a doubt and gain a truth. It was said of Jesus of
Nazareth that He “increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man.”7 Do we have the determination to do likewise? One line of holy writ contains a tribute to our Lord and Savior, of whom it was said, He “went about doing good … ; for God was with him.”8

My prayer is that at this Christmas season and all the Christmastimes to come, we may follow in His footsteps.

Then each Christmas will be the best Christmas ever.
~Thomas S. Monson

Christmas is coming...

President Thomas S. Monson, First Counselor in the First Presidency, said

Christmas is “a time for families, it is a time for remembering, it is a time for gratitude. “The spirit of Christmas is the spirit of love and of generosity and of goodness. … The spirit of Christmas is something I hope all of us would have within our hearts and within our lives, not only at this particular season but throughout the year.”

President Monson said that when we keep the spirit of Christmas, we keep the Spirit of Christ. “The salutation ‘no room’ was not only heard by Joseph and Mary before the birth of Jesus, but was also endured by Him on frequent occasions in His ministry,”

President Monson said. “In our homes today we have rooms for eating, rooms for sleeping, rooms for recreation.

Do we have room for Christ?

We have time for … activities that are part of our daily lives.

Do we have time for Christ?”

Taken from the Christmas Devotional of 2007.

Then they came for me...

They came first for the Communists,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist.
Then they came for the Jews,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew.
Then they came for the trade unionists,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Catholics,
and I didn't speak up because I was a Protestant.
Then they came for me
and there was no one left to speak for me.

~Pastor Martin Niemöller

President Hinckley

I just found out that my beloved Prophet, President Gordon B. Hinckley, has passed away. I call him my prophet because he has been my prophet since I was since I was 10. I've learned so much from him and will always remember him, his focus on temple, his optimism, his love and care for his wife. I know that he was called of God!

Be Grateful. Be Smart. Be Clean. Be True. Be Humble. Be Prayerful.

Never forget that you came to earth as a child of the divine Father, with something of divinity in your very makeup. The Lord did not send you here to fail. He did not give you life to waste it. He bestowed upon you the gift of mortality that you might gain experience—positive, wonderful, purposeful experience—that will lead to life eternal. He has given you this glorious Church, His Church, to guide you and direct you, to give you opportunity for growth and experience, to teach you and lead you and encourage you, to bless you with eternal marriage, to seal upon you a covenant between you and Him that will make of you His chosen daughter, one upon whom He may look with love and with a desire to help. May God bless you richly and abundantly, my dear young friends, His wonderful daughters.

Go forward in life with a twinkle in your eye and a smile on your face, but with great and strong purpose in your heart. Love life and look for its opportunities, and forever and always be loyal to the Church.

Things I did this week....

This week I went to the BEST professional development workshop EVER!
There I learned.........

Making an impact to the people I come in contact with EVERYDAY

The importance of music

Doing things one at a time

The importance of state changes

Kyrene was the right district for me because they had Peanut Butter M&M’s in their vending machines!!

giving sincere compliments

…wait time….

the significance of storytelling

stop hesistating and take a step

try, try, try

working in groups

creating memorable lessons … “memory is the art of attention”

the magnitude of frames (points of view)…..frames create meaning

!!!!!!!!!!!ENERGIZERS!!!!!!!!!!!

“What we see in our minds directly impacts our thinking and our behavior” ~ creating positive mental images

I learned how to juggle with three balls… through that activity I learned to:
celebrate the small successes
take small steps
importance of peer coaching
being open to new things

I BROKE a 12x12x1 inch piece of wood with my hand! It was awesome!!Here’s a picture to prove it!

What I learned from breaking a board…
it’s important to see the end in mind
power and strength of teamwork and encouraging words
the impact of music
getting through the maze of life will take courage and risks … will I be ready?. of course!!!

A special thanks goes out to our instructor Cristal McGill and
all of the amazing Kyrene teachers who attended the workshop!

Oh by the way...I got a job! I will be teaching 4th grade in the Kyrene School District!

We Must Sing!!!

I was listening to this song this morning on my IPOD and the words really touched me. I especially liked the second verse.

We Must Sing

Text by Rob Gardner

Who knows the burden placed on your heart?

Whence comes the longingwhen shall it part?

No matter the sorrow, He'll not forsake,

God made our hearts and in His absence they ache.

Who knows what trials may come our way?

How shall we meet them?

What will He say When we kneel before Him?

Will He approve?

God gave us trials that we might choose.

Who'll tell what blessings flow from above?

How might we measure His boundless love?

I'll sing of His goodness, Glory I'll bring.

God made our voices,

but we make them sing.

God gave us voices, so we must sing.

Eternal Perspective

"Think about your life and set your priorities. Find some quiet time regularly to think deeply about where you are going and what you will needto do to get there. Jesus, our exemplar, often 'withdrew himself into the wilderness, and prayed' (Luke 5:16). We need to do the same thing occasionally to rejuvenate ourselves spiritually as the Savior did. Write down the tasks you would like to accomplish each day. Keep foremost in mind the sacred covenants you have made with the Lord as you write down your daily schedules."

~ M. Russell Ballard

Happiness

"Happiness is a journey, not a destination. Happiness is to be found along the way, not at the end. For then the journey is over and it is too late. The time for happiness is today, not tomorrow."

—Joseph Smith Jr.

In the Lord's Way and Time

"I recognize that, on occasion, some of our most fervent prayers may seem to go unanswered. We wonder, 'Why?' I know that feeling! Iknow the fears and tears of such moments. But I also know that our prayers are never ignored. Our faith is never unappreciated. I know that an all-wise Heavenly Father's perspective is much broader than is ours. While we know of our mortal problems and pain, He knows of our immortal progress and potential. If we pray to know His will and submit ourselves to it with patience and courage, heavenly healing can take place in His own way and time."

~Russell M. Nelson