Church life

I have been putting this blog post off for a while now. Maybe because I still had not wrapped my head around it. I got a new calling at church about 2 months ago. I was asked to be the Young Woman's president. Yes. You heard it right. My jaw about fell to the ground. I obviously accepted. :) I had actually been thinking about the girls in my ward a few weeks before I was asked to take the calling. The Lord works that way sometimes. He had be giving me a few clues that this was coming and I just didn't understand until I was asked to serve.
I didn't really know most of the girls at all when I went in there. I have had some pretty amazing experiences in the short time I've worked with them. I have an amazing presidency to work with and I feel like we all have different strengths we bring to the table. We have doubled our attendance in two months and really have started to bond with the girls. I feel like we are really making a difference in their lives. It is such a joy to see them open up about their feelings towards the gospel and feel their  testimonies.
I went to our first girls camp meeting the other week. When I walked in I heard the Holy Ghost tell me I was going to teach a class at girls camp. I thought to myself, what would make the camp director ask me to teach out of everyone here? Then the director started going over the schedule for the week and when she got to Thursday she said there would be 4 classes and the girls would rotate to each one. They were all filled except for one, would any one be willing to teach it?
I didn't say anything....
 Surely someone else would be found to give the class.
Later on in the meeting I asked her a question about where I would  stay since I was coming up at the end of the week. She asked which day and I said Thursday.....
Great!! I will put you down to teach the class!!
Ad there you have it. When the Lord wants you to do something. First he tells you, then he gives you a chance to act....and sometimes if you are lucky enough he will push you into it. I am going to be figuring out what it is I will teach, but I have a feeling the Lord will push me in the right direction.

This year Heavenly Father has big plans for me and I am ready to take on all the new responsibility and blessings that goes along with it.

I am a bit scared about girls camp....I pulled crazy pranks on all of my leaders!

 

Remember he is there.

The Lord has been trying very hard to teach me some things lately.
I being lazy far to often have neglected to listen to him.

 I am grateful he never gives up on me and is always there supporting me when I finally take the time to recognize him in my life again.

It's pretty awesome how much he loves you and me....even when we are not deserving of his love.

Finding joy

When I was pregnant with Joseph and living far from family, and I had no job. I spent a lot of time becoming familiar with the blogging world. I enjoyed reading so many different blogs about so many different families. I would go from blog to blog. I can vividly remember stumbling across a blog post literally after she posted about the death of her child. Here

I would often pray for her and ask for comfort in her life. I didn't know this woman or her husband. I did however feel the need to care for her and think of her often.
 Mourn with her and love her.

Then I had my baby and my world began to change in a different way and my thoughts never really went back to this family......until today.

I was watching the BYU channel and they showed this video. It was telling the story of this very same family I am telling you about.

I was soo very happy to see it.  I was happy to see her joy and what she has done to make others find joy in their times of need.
You too should watch this.
 I cannot do justice in one blog post :)

I am so very thankful for the peace and joy that comes into my life knowing that families can be together forever. I am thankful for my Savior Jesus Christ who has made it possible for me to be a wife to my husband and a mother to my sons forever. It's amazing what you can overcome when you trust in the Lord.

happy today.

I came across this on a blog today. It spoke volumes to me. Thought I would share.
True, enduring happiness, with the accompanying strength, courage, and capacity to overcome the greatest difficulties, will come as you center your life in Jesus Christ. Obedience to His teachings provides a secure ascent in the journey of life. That takes effort. While there is no guarantee of overnight results, there is the assurance that, in the Lord's time, solutions will come, peace will prevail, and happiness will be yours.

The challenges you face, the growth experiences you encounter, are intended to be temporary scenes played out on the stage of a life of continuing peace and happiness. Sadness, heartache, and disappointment are events in life. It is not intended that they be the substance of life. I do not minimize how hard some of these events can be. When the lesson you are to learn is very important, trials can extend over a long period of time, but they should not be allowed to become the confining focus of everything you do. Your life can and should be wondrously rewarding.
-Richard G. Scott

I think I am ready for this.

I have been in a Blah mood as of late. When I say as of late I really mean the last couple of months. I have been feeling like I have no control of my life. I have used the phrase "I feel like a hamster on a wheel running and running, but getting nowhere" a lot lately.
I have been feeling exceptionally stressed with anxiety over everything.

I have had no desire to blog about my life because all I could tell you about was my 7 loads of laundry I needed to catch up on, my toddler who refuses go potty, my fridge that has something growing in it and the lingering smell of fish in my front room. I have no idea where that fishy smell comes from and why it randomly fills my house throughout the week.

Recently things seem to be going upward. I feel a desire to forget about my stresses and think about others. I have found joy in focusing on others.I have set goals for myself that have made me feel a bit more satisfied with my life.

One goal is to find the beauty in the world around me again. I somehow have forgotten just how great life is because I didn't allow myself to see.

Beauty.
"Send that note to the friend you’ve been neglecting; give your child a hug; give your parents a hug; say “I love you” more; always express your thanks. Never let a problem to be solved become more important than a person to be loved." -President Thomas S. Monson: Finding Joy in the Journey(emphasis added)

The love of a Father

This past Sunday at church the teacher was talking about preserving your history for your children and their children. She said something that made me think. She made me think about what was a moment that I had that changed my life. I thought back to my childhood, to the moment I knew God loved me and was really watching over me. I hope to never forget it because at the moment it meant the world to me. As a child I was the biggest worrier you have ever met. I still have the problem to this day. I was getting ready to leave the house for school and walk to my aunts house so she could take me and Alison to school. I was in 4th or 5th grade.

I had this huge fear of leaving my house unlocked. I just knew when I came home someone would be inside waiting on me. As I went to lock the door I realized I didn't have my keys. I went looking for them knowing I didn't have much time. I looked everywhere and was just about to cry. Now looking back I realize I could have locked the door and walked to my grandmothers to get a key when I got home from school but as a child the thought didn't come to me. The only thought that came was to pray. As I did I thought to myself look under your pillow. I totally ignored it because really why would keys be under a pillow? The third time I heard look under the pillow, I did. There they were. Under the pillow. I was so happy and ran out the door.

Heavenly Father knew I could get a spare key from my grandmother but He also knew I turned to Him and He could show me that He was there. I looked for His help and I found Him. I am so grateful for that moment because I felt His love for me and I always have known how to find Him again.

Stand in Holy places.

Today I went to the Atlanta Temple. For those of you who do not know I worked there for the first 2 years of my marriage and loved it! I miss going there everyday and helping people out with their family history or just seeing my friends who worked there also. Our Temple will be closing for 18 months to undergo renovation. It was bittersweet being there today knowing it will never look the same on the inside again. I have many wonderful memories of those Temple walls. The first being married to my sweetheart. The rest serving the Lord there. I always know I am in the right place when I am there. His love for me is so easy to feel when I am in His house. I am also excited to see just how more beautiful it will be when it reopens. What is really neat about it being reopened in 18 months is the fact that people who are not members of my church can go inside to see it before we dedicate it to the Lord. So you will hear about this again in 18 months, if you want to see what a Mormon Temple looks like on the inside I'll be happy to take you with me!

Christmas Post

It's Christmas time again. The tree is up, the gifts are almost all taken care of. I am eating so much junk and getting away with it by calling it Christmas time food. Life is great!! I have been packing all day because today my little family will be going on another trip to GA. I am looking forward to spending Christmas with our family. Showing Joseph off to grandparents and letting him meet his aunt Alison for the first time. I am not however looking forward to how we will make it there. Joseph has never cared much for his car seat and hates the car more than that. He used to cry the entire time while we drove anywhere. He has gotten much better, however he still has his moments. I am not sure how he will react to not getting out of the car after 30 minutes.

I posted some of my ornaments. I finally got one for Joseph. I have bells on my Christmas tree that Joseph loves to play with. I thought it was a perfect fit when I found a baby made out of a bell. The bell is baby blue but you really cannot tell from the picture.

Now that I am a mother I think I can truly appreciate Mary. I always knew she was special because our Heavenly Father picked her to be the mother of Jesus Christ.

She must have been very patient and able to endure well, in order to travel while being 9 months pregnant.

She must have had no pride when she lay the Savior of the world in a manger instead of a cradle.

She must have been giving in order to share such an amazing moment with complete strangers who arrived shortly after to admire the baby.

She must have been willing to learn from her child, because Jesus was the greatest teacher of all time.

What trust and love she must have had in God, to know that he placed this baby in her arms because she would be the only one, able to raise the greatest King who ever entered this world.

I pray that I may be that kind of mother while I hold my son in my arms this Christmas.

This is a random post about random things.

So I never did tell you all that my back porch is mine again. The birds have been gone for a while now. They had two eggs but only one of them hatched. This is the poor egg that just didn't make it.

At Church we did a service project activity a couple of months ago. You had to fill one of these cards out and when you arrived at church you hooked it to a balloon that were floating around everywhere. We had a nice dinner and program on serving others. At the end you got to go around to balloon's and find a service that someone could do for you. I was soo happy when I found this one. I had been wanting to get my carpet cleaned when I moved in here because it never was really clean. I had been spot cleaning it since we moved in and the apartment complex did nothing for me. So today Melodie came by and I was going to have her just do the front two rooms but she told me since my place wasn't too big she would do my whole house!!! Now I know that my carpet is fresh and clean. So when Joseph comes I will not have to worry about him being on the floor. Yea!!
This will be Joseph's first bed when he comes home. I cannot wait to put my little sleeping baby inside. I think it's the cutest thing I have ever seen!!

Here is one corner of Joseph's room. I am going to buy more boxes to put in the shelf, some red and tan ones. I just haven't been able to do it yet. Then I don't think it will look so cluttered. You can see my baby bedding still in the bag. I will not be putting the crib up until after my parents leave town so they have plenty of room while they stay in the baby room. So one day you will get to see what the finished project looks like. Until then, just use your imagination.

Jason really wanted a baseball themed room for our little boy. We finally agreed on this look . As you see I still need to hang them, but I am waiting on that too. I want to know where the crib will be before I hang the pictures on the wall.

This is one of my gifts I just received from a friend at church. I love it, not only is the fabric way cute the other side is soooo soft. I wanted to post so my sister can check it out.

This is Jason's love. He only voiced his opinion about one item while we were registering. He wanted something to put the diapers in. So of course we got one. :)

Sunday School

So a friend called Jason on Saturday to see if he could sub in his class on Sunday. Jason said yes and found out it was the 9 year old class. He worked on his lesson and even prepared a fun review game for them to play after the class was over. While passing him in the hall on Sunday as I was walking my class to the bathrooms I asked how his lesson went. He looked at me and said "I was manhandled"

I died laughing! When we got in the car later that day he told me that they walked all over him. He didn't understand why they were not behaving themselves. I asked him how the game went and he said that's when it got the worst. They kept trying to turn the lights off and he couldn't get them to stop. He said that when they went to sharing time (A combined meeting with the senior children) they were so good. I told him because they knew the other teachers wouldn't let them act that way. So they knew to sit and listen.

It was soo funny and cute that he couldn't handle the 9 year old class. I had to share it.

Sugar was never so sweet!

I am all about sharing my secrets and today is another one of those days. This is to all my friends and family who are memebers of my church. If you are not you might find helpful tips anyways. I must say I did not find this WONDERFUL website all on my own. I learned about it from my dear sister Jessica. Now that I have given you the great introduction I will tell you what it is. It gives you tips on how to teach different lessons at church. It has great ideas for almost anything you are working on. Here are the different areas,

2008 LDS Sharing Time Helps, Activity Days, Nursery, Primary, Primary Music Leader, Relief Society, Young Women, and Ward Activities

I went right to the Primary section and I got great tips on how to keep my children reverent during class, without bribes!!! I cannot wait to try out my new techniques this Sunday. Hope this can help you with somthing you have be struggling with. Just check it out I am sure you will love it.

Class rules.

Sunday was my first time teaching to the children in my class. I have the four year olds who will be turning 5 this year. So the first thing I did when we got to our room was go over some class rules. Nothing big just your typical, don't touch others, how to sit in your chair and to always raise your hand. I thought I had done a great job at teaching them these rules when later on in the class a little boy raised his hand. Oh he has a question I thought. When I called on him he stated, I got two transformers yesterday!!

President Gordon B. Hinckley

President Gordon B. Hinckley, who led The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints through twelve years of global expansion, has died at the age of 97.

For more on his life and ministry follow this link.

President Hinckley once said.

I don't worry too much about the future, and I don't worry very much about the past. The past is gone, and you can't change, you can't correct it. The future, you can anticipate, but you can't necessarily do very much about it. It is the present you have to deal with. Reach out for every good opportunity to do what you ought to do.

You will be loved and missed.

My new calling.

Saturday night Jason and I got a phone call from our bishop at church and he wanted to come by Sunday and speak to us before church. After he had been here for a while he told us that he wanted to extend a calling to me. I said yes and now I am the CTR5 teacher!! That is the name of the class and all of the children just turned 5. When I got to church I went to the children's program called Primary. Primary is broken up into different segments and ages. First you have the younger Primary which is my group and they all meet together for a small lesson and then they all have singing time. Next they move to their classes with their teachers for a longer more in depth lesson for their age group.
I went to meet my class when they went to their classroom and they are really cute! As I was being introduced one little girl couldn't help herself and blurted out
I love your boots, and skirt and necklace oh and your hair!!!
I know I will enjoy teaching them each Sunday and I hope they will enjoy me.

Teryns Baptism

I have been trying to post a video and I have failed. I will try again later.

Time to go!

Our time in Winston Salem is now up. Yesterday we had the Elders come over along with our really good friend Eddie. Jason and I met Eddie right after we moved here and he has become such a great friend to have. We really are going to miss you Eddie!!!!!

Today is our last night in our home, tomorrow we are heading out to VA. It's really weird to be leaving because I have come to know this place pretty well and I have really enjoyed my time here. I will be calling anyone who wants to talk on the phone because Jason and I will be driving separate cars up to VA, so I am sure I will get bored at some point.
Hope to update you all soon.

P.S.

Thanks to everyone who commented on my little bundle of joy!!!! I am sure you will hear sooo much more about that in the future!

Prepare today for tomorrow.

Today was the day for me and Jason. We went to the Cannery. Now for those of you who aren't members of my church, you may be wondering what that is. Well, it is what it sounds like....a factory where food is canned. We are taught that we should prepare our homes and families for anything in the future, such as natural disasters and unemployment. One of the ways we prepare, is having food storage. Just like we read in Genesis how Joseph prepared during the seven years of plenty for the famine that was to come, so should we. We are living in times of plenty and great resources. Jason and I have been wanting to do this for a long time and we finally got our motivation the other week at church. We had a speaker tell of the blessings they have had from having food storage. Her husband lost his job and for 6 months they lived off of their food storage. I remember watching Oprah once right after Katrina hit and they showed this family who housed volunteers in her home and she had enough food storage to feed them while they worked there. You never know what the future may hold for us but you should always be prepared as the boy scouts say. So here I am all dolled up for canning some yummy food!! This is the before shot.
Doesn't he look sooo happy to be wearing that hairnet?!?! I love this picture!
This is the After shot. Those boxes are filled with Tin cans that hold 4 to 5 lbs of food.

Sisters Rock!!

As many of you know Jason and I work with the missionaries in our church quite often and we just LOVE it!! Just tonight we had the sisters come over and our friend Eddie, we had a great discussion all about Jesus Christ and how to live his commandments. Sister Patterson is the cute girl in the blue and Sister Bishop is the cute girl in the purple, and I am the cute girl you all can't get enough of!!! J.K. We just love being around them they are such great examples to me. We took some pictures tonight because Sister Patterson will be going to a new area on Thursday. We will be meeting the new sister on Thursday, so that should be a lot of fun making a new friend.

What we have been up to at Church.

Jason and I are ward missionaries, which means we spend extra time with the sisters or the elders to help them out in any way we can. Lately we have been having them come to our house when they are teaching someone about Jesus Christ. Its been so great to be able to have many religious discussions in our home. What a blessing it has been for each of us to help spread the gospel to those around us.

here is a pictures of us and the sisters and our new friend Eddy.