It’s December!!

It’s December 1st!
Time just keeps going faster and faster! Can’t even believe it!

I’m wanting to keep this blog as a record...not really sure what kind of record.
Our daily happenings?
My personal journal?
My small plates with spiritual insights and stories?

I think I’d like to make this a place to record the small tender mercies the Lord shows to our family every day. The things the spirit helps me to notice every day.

This past week:
Sun Nov 24: the girls and I have been singing in Follow the star choirs this year for our stake Christmas event. Excited to perform this next weekend.  I love the people in this choir. Such a fun spirit about people coming together and volunteering their time to speak the language of the spirit.  This Sunday I also found out that the choir director’s husband is going through severe cancer treatments right now—unexpectedly during this time of holidays and business.  How grateful I am for my health and the kids health. And I’m grateful for people who show faith and keep pressing forward in service even when they have every reason to back out.

Mon: went to Disneyland in the morning—the kids and I got off a little later than I wanted to but we did pretty well. I was nervous we wouldn’t get the earlier WOC passes but Got to the park in time! I was so happy. Then we went to the redwood trail to see the Christmas things and to meet Santa—it was a 2 hour line!! Ugh! I told the kids we’d have to come back another time...then I decided to ask the CM when is best to come. She said “well, since you asked, I can just give you a return pass to come later today and we’ll let you right in!” 🙌🏻 So great! I love when CMs can just make your day magical. Later when we came back to see Santa, he was so good with the kids. He spent a solid 15-20 mins with us! It was so fun for the kids and Kobe was enchanted with him. It made my mama heart happy. That night we came back to the park and enjoyed Eorld of Color-season of light. I love when Disney will use religious Christmas songs as well as secular Christmas songs. It is proof to me that our world hasn’t totally lost all good and morals. Always a reason to keep fighting for good.

Tuesday: kyler and Kenzie and Kaysen had some friends over to play in the morning. Kamryn got to go ice skating with some friends. I’m grateful that we are making friends and getting to know people well so quickly. We’ve lived here almost 6 months now and it is going well. We love it!
I went on a mom’s night with Athena that night. Was so fun to catch up with her. Love being to talk all things Disney and spiritual. Love how humble she is and so loving no matter what. And always so happy even if life isn’t perfect. She just never complains.

Wednesday: Athena invites me to go shopping at Company D! (Discount merch from Disneyland!) it was so so so fun! Spent way too much money but it was quite a fun experience.
Mom, Dad, Eric, Kylie and Austin arrived that night. We watched the Mandalorian with them. We love having them here. Enjoyed dinner and just catching up.

Thursday: happy thanksgiving. I woke up early to study scriptures—ended up just writing a huge list of everything I’m thankful for. It was a good exercise. So many things we take for granted living here, and in this time, and in our circumstances. I should do a gratitude morning more often.
Got ready and we went to see frozen 2. We loved it! I cried. As we have listened to the music and talked more about the movie since, I love all the parallels to our journey and the gospel. I love the messages of enduring love and hope and faith and family. It’s all in there—yet again, not all good is gone from the world. Not all the world is corrupt.
We had a wonderful thanksgiving dinner and enjoyed time with my family.

Friday: pretty low key day. Got up to study scriptures—had a great study session. Decided that my theme for this upcoming year is in Isaiah 55:8-13. “My ways are not your ways and neither are my thoughts your thoughts.” This Last year I focused on Prov 3:5-6 “trust in the lord and lean not thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him and he shall direct thy paths for good.” I’m excited to take it a step further and really ask for things, sacrifice for knowledge and insight, and act on revelation in all aspects of life—to live His way because it will bring more good than my ways will.
Ryan and I got to go do sealings at the temple together while mom and dad watched the kids. It is was really nice. It was fun to hear the new phrases in the sealing, fun to see the sealing power at work for people beyond the veil, fun to take my own family names, and fun to “renew” our covenants we have made together again. Ryan and I are such a good team. We’ve really been putting time and study into our relationship more lately, I’ve been studying more about the sealing power and when it was restored to Joseph Smith, so it was neat to go participate as proxy with it today.

Saturday: Disneyland day with my family! Got up to read scriptures in the morning before getting ready...quick study but it put me in the right mood for the rest of the day. I love just soaking in the words of the Book of Mormon every morning.

Sunday: had a hard time getting up today. So tired. Hard time feeling motivated and ready for “real life” again...kids were needy—was fast Sunday—I just wasn’t feeling it today. But I did what I knew was right and important—we got ready for church, we fasted, we went to church.  And then when the Bishop was bearing his testimony my heart just started pounding! It was amazing how fast I felt the spirit and I knew I had to get up to share my testimony. I had the thought to share about Elder rad bands talk from oct 2019 (which I haven’t been able to revisit again much yet). I remembered him saying that the work of gathering Israel is our work and the Lords work—a partnership. I bore testimony about the power in the temple and the power in the Book of Mormon. I am grateful to watch the Lord hasten his work in our day and that we have privilege to join in the work with him.

Light the world started today: I bore my testimony and tonight we did the “true meaning of Christmas story and tree” as a family.

The Lord is a part of all of our lives! He lives! He loves us. We sacrifice in order to come to know Him.