Let's give it up for...

1.  Great friends who make me laugh, who share stories, and bring chocolate!

2.  The sunshine that was yesterday but apparently is not today!

3.  Attempting to dye Easter eggs with ties and partially succeeding!

4.  Being so behind in my google reader account that the current number of "unread" is 167!

5.  Ending everything with an exclamation point!

6.  Wanting to say something profound but only able to come up with this dumb list!

7.  Why do I feel like I'm shouting everything?!

8.  Dinner last night at 9:45 pm because that's just how the day went!

9.  My first attempt at using a microwave rice cooker failing!

10.  Evidence of failed attempt!

11.  And last but not least, a husband who still likes me even when the kitchen is a mess, dinner is late and he had to sew on his own patches for his Scout shirt!

Today will be better... I hope.

(At least I don't have the energy to shout anymore.)

Tuesday Photo

Remember this little guy, well he's growing!  Thank you so much to his mother for letting me come over and bug her and her little guy with my camera!  It is fun though.  I still can't get over how much he's grown!

Because this has been a great day after all

Normally I write my thoughts and have them post the next morning, but today is different.  Today I have felt so abundantly blessed. 

Today:

1.  I have been given hope.  Literally.  And it made me cry, and not in a bad way.  In the way that you cry because you just can't get over the thoughtfulness of people who are thinking of you and go out of their way to show it.  Thank you Tawnya, seriously made my day and I'm still teary but just a bit.

2.  Have I ever told you have I have the best neighborhood?  Well, it's true.  I just love it.  Love that we're here, love the people that are here too.

3.  I have the coolest doctor's office.  Seriously.  Got an invitation in the mail from the Reproductive Care Center inviting us to "The Annual RCC Patient Party".  It's a BBQ in the park and there are drawings for prizes like: 50% off an IVF cycle, and cash rewards of $500-$1000.  There will be petting zoos, pony rides, crafting, and all sorts of fun things.  Does your doctor's office do that for you?  Well do they?  Didn't think so.  Yep, the coolest doctor's office ever.

4.  I got to take pictures of a dear friend's 3-month old today.  He's getting pretty good at holding his head up and his smile lights up his whole face.  It's fun to see him grow and most of all it's fun to spend time with a friend.

There truly is sunshine in my soul today.  And it's a good thing because it certainly isn't shining so much outside my window right now.

Love to you all!

"I just can't take this anymore"

"I just can't take this anymore," she said with disgust and started to get up from her seat.  I touched her arm to get her attention and asked if we could talk to her after the meeting was over.  Jovita sat back down but  continued to fidget as more people got up and shared their feelings about the gospel.

It was fast and testimony meeting.  This was Jovita's first visit to the ward and as missionaries it's always a little nerve wracking.  You hope and pray that no one in the congregation, though well meaning, will say anything foolish or embarrassing or just plain weird.  I quickly took inventory of all that had been said up to that point and I could think of nothing that would cause such a reaction.  In fact, we hadn't had such a good fast and testimony meeting in quite some time.

As the meeting continued I could tell that it was taking a Herculean effort on Jovita's part to stay with us.  She was clearly upset by what was happening and there was disgust written all over her face.  My companion and I were trying to think of something that would buy us some time with her.  Some time to talk about her feelings, about why she was reacting the way she was. 

The organ sounded the first chords to the closing hymn "Lord I Would Follow Thee".  I held the book out to share with Jovita and we began to sing.

"Savior, may I learn to love thee,
Walk the path that thou hast shown,
Pause to help and lift another,
Finding strength beyond my own.
Savior, may I learn to love thee-
Lord, I would follow thee."

Jovita began to relax.  She visibly calmed as she sang and listened to the words of the hymn.

"Who am I to judge another
When I walk imperfectly?
In the quiet heart is hidden
Sorrow that the eye can't see.
Who am I to judge another
Lord, I would follow thee."

The meeting came to a close and we all left the chapel and found a quiet spot on the lawn to discuss what had happened in the meeting. It was the perfection that got her.  Jovita was a single mom struggling financially and with her son.  She didn't see a lot of good things in her life and she was thoroughly disgusted that so many people could get up and publicly share how thankful they were for a good family, health, and prosperity.  She had been deceived by churches before. She said it with bitterness and envy.  She didn't want any part in a church who's members were "perfect".

I honestly don't remember how I or my companion responded to her that day.  We were able to see her a few more times so we must have said something right.  I do remember how sad I felt for her.

The people who shared their feelings that day about the gospel and families and health, were the very people who had been without the gospel or families or health.  They had overcome obstacles in their path.  They had learned to be thankful for the health and prosperity that they had been blessed with not because they were perfect, but because they were imperfect.  Because they knew what it was like to be without.  Because they were still dealing with being without. 

It was a hard day when Jovita asked us not to come around anymore.  We had come to love her.  She had a wonderful tongue-in-cheek sense of humor and there was so much happiness that we had to offer her.  So much pain we knew the Lord could heal if she would just open her heart.  Instead she thanked us for the "Dog and pony show" and informed us that it just wasn't for her.

That was just over 12 years ago.  Times have changed, we've all moved on with our lives. Every once in awhile I wonder what happened to her.  Did she ever change her mind?  Did she find happiness in her life?  Was she able to be at peace with herself?

Then again we could ask ourselves the very same things.

Tuesday Photo

I was so down-hearted about the snow last week that I bought pansy's on Saturday to at least have some color in the house.

An Update of Sorts

There are a few significant factors that have come into play today that I feel are worthy of mention.

1.  Today is the official 1 month mark for having shaken off the shackles of the regular desk job and joined the realms of part-time at home workers.  I do spend enough time in the office on Wednesdays though to still keep in touch with things while enjoying the freedom of doing laundry on a whim.

2.  We are officially in the first stages of IVF.  That being said we are on birth control.  What a crazy life huh! Fertility that starts out on birth control.  As a humorous side note, the nurse asked me if I had a preference on which birth control to use.  I said "what is this birth control you speak of." She laughed and said "yeah, we get that a lot."  Injections of drugs scheduled to start April 29th and full cycle completed before Memorial Day.  Phew!

3.  While enjoying the luxuries such as free lunch at the office yesterday, a co-worker came in and said "now that you are at home... insert ominous pause... I have a kitten that has your name on it!"  So for all of you cat owners out there, give me the scoop. I haven't officially said yes to this, but am considering it.  Talk to me about litter boxes and cat hair.  Pros and cons.  How do you deal?  As a child I used to sneak kittens into my room all the time, as the person who has to clean the house... 'nother story.  As a person in the house alone most of the day (who doesn't really have a problem with that but...) Talk to me.

That's it for now, though on a side note I did the aerobics class again today and I'm now having trouble going up or down the stairs!  Should be a fun weekend recovering from this one!

Have a fabulous Thursday!

Objects in Motion...

Tend to stay in motion.

I exercise.  I really do.  I have Turbo Jam videos that I do in the safety of my living room.  I go to the gym and get on the elliptical and the stationary bike and read a good book while puffing away.  I do weight training, I do ab workouts.  I really do exercise.

So when my friend Deb asked if I would like to join her for an aerobics class last Thursday I thought to myself "Sure! Why not.  Perhaps I can learn something.  You know, because I'm already is such good shape."

Let's take a moment shall we and go into depth about what I learned.

1.  As fate would have it I am not skinny and slender and in shape and jumpy-up-and-downable!  Shocking I know!  When I do those exercise videos in the comfort of my own living room where there is absolutely no way I can see what I actually look like because mirrors are banned from that portion of the house, I keep perfect time! I work out in perfect harmony with that perky little instructor.  I am that perky little instructor.  Seriously, the only difference is that I'm taller and wear more clothes.

2.  I learned that a skinny pregnant woman can run me into the ground.  Yep, skinny and pregnant.

3.  I learned that when I attempt the jumpy-up-and-down bit that some other force has attached itself to my body because when I clearly come to a stand still this other force is still moving all awkwardly-like.  I know this because I could see it in the mirror that resides in all aerobics facilities so that you can be haunted by your own image and either swear to come back and do battle again or succumb to depression and eat an entire batch of chocolate chip cookies all by yourself. 

4.  I learned that I hadn't really done jumpy-up-and-down bits for a really long time.  As evidenced by that fact that by the end of the day there was this strange soreness that had come over the tops of my thighs and my calf muscles.  And it didn't go away for days.  Days people!  In fact it got worse and I walked around like I was closer to 70!  I took ibuprofen to help with the pain.  It lasted all the way till Monday morning!  Monday morning!

5.  I also learned that it is time to step up my routine.  I will come back another day and do battle with that thing in the mirror and either make it beg for mercy or accept that I really do look like that and it's okay.  I think some of both may come into play.

6.  I learned that sometimes I need a skinny pregnant instructor to motivate me above what I thought I could do.  To help push myself harder because I really can work out harder.  Seriously, am I going to let a pregnant woman run me into the ground!?

7.  And last but not least, contrary to what I thought would happen half way through the routine, I did not die.  I lived to see another day.  That's right, I have stamina!

So... I will go back on Thursday morning.  I will wear a different shirt though, something in black because it's supposed to help you look slender even it you aren't.  I will not stand in the front closest to the mirror (this was completely unintentional the first time and I was a bit mortified to find my larger than life self staring back at me while everyone else looked so small from a distance).  I will battle the thing in the mirror and I have a sneaking suspicion that my heart will be better off having done so even if my calf muscles scream at me.  Cardio.  Good for the heart and soul.

Oh, and thanks Deb!

Tuesday Photo