My Happy Place

Marvelous Madison...

...got her mission call!!! YAYAYAYAY!!!! I logged onto Facebook on Thursday afternoon and almost immediately saw Madi's status update: "it came." Of course, everyone who knows Madison knew what that meant, so I texted her right away, asking if she'd opened it, and she texted back right away, saying that she had! I'm not gonna say where she's going, though, because that's her special news to share. But I was so happy and excited when I read where she was going, I had to call her! I was pretty much crying and laughing and crying, lol! And I had to give her a big hug at church this morning!

Madison is one of the most amazing people I know. Sadly, it seems like we don't get to talk as much as we used to, but I am really going to miss her while she's gone (thank goodness for good ol' old-fashioned snail mail!). She has been such a huge example to me, and I hope every day that I can be more like her. Her testimony, confidence, and zeal for life are inspiring, and she is going to be a super sister missionary!! I'm so thankful that Heavenly Father allowed our paths to cross again.

lol+blonde Moment of the Day

I was checking my e-mail a little while ago, and the first message that caught my eye was the daily newsletter from LDS Living. I read the heading: "Order Men With a Mission and Save."

...umm, what? I didn't know you could buy a man, with or without a mission...I open the e-mail, trying to figure this out, and at the top of the message are the words, "Family Products." Wow, they even have family men!!

Then, my eyes go down to the rest of the message.

Turns out that Men With a Mission is a book.

Oops-a-daisy.

Rawhide!

Our landlord has decided that he wants to move back in. But before he can do that, we have to move out...

...sooo, we're moving. And this time, it's for reals.

We're looking at places in Scottsdale and Mesa. I'm hoping for Mesa, but it's looking like we'll end up staying in Scottsdale and going further north, closer to where Mom works. We'll see what happens!!

Anywho, my favorite person is getting her mission call sometime this week...! Ahhh!! I am sooo excited for her! She is a huge example to me and to so many people. Wherever she goes, she will be a blessing to everyone around her.

A New Favorite

God doesn't give you the people you want. He gives you the people you need...

...to help you, to hurt you, to leave you, to love you...

...to make you into the person you are meant to be.

:)

The sun'll come out...

So my last post was kind of a downer, huh? But yesterday didn't turn out so bad. :) I've decided that, whatever happens, happens; I'm not going to let it bother me, and I need to just move on.

Yesterday afternoon was the best part, though! I got to see one of my friends, Mary Helen, from when I was going to St. Theresa's, and we hadn't seen each other in, like, two years. We went out to the Sugar Bowl, a very cute, very pink (lol) ice cream place in Old Town Scottsdale. We had sooo much catching up to do! Then, we drove over to her house, where she showed me pictures from her family vacation to Washington and her trip last summer to...AUSTRALIA!!! Yeah, lucky duck!! She went there with some other teens for World Youth Day...from what I understand, it's kinda like a really long General Conference for Catholic youth. It was way fun getting to hear all about her travels and what she's been up to!

I've fallen in love with a quote I came across this morning. It went something like, "What you do for yourself dies with you, but what you do for others lives forever." When I read that, it made me want to run outside and give the first person I saw a ginormous hug, lol. Today makes it eight months since my baptism, and I also thought about all of my friends who have been so sweet to me, not only when I was investigating, but in the last several months, as I've been trying to find my way in the Church. I've really come to appreciate my true friends, and I love you all. :)

I'm really looking forward to tomorrow, because I am going up to Prescott to spend a few days with my grandparents! Yayay for family!! It'll be great to get to see them again, and it'll be nice to relax in some cooler weather, haha! Should be fun!!

Is today August 5?

It seems like August 5 is my own personal Friday the 13th. Every year, something wacky-crazy-unexpected-painful-tearful-yougettheidea happens on the same day...August 5.

The calendar tells me that today isn't August 5, but it feels like it should be. And the day's hardly just begun.

Oh joy.

The Holy Secret

So I just finished reading a super amazing book. It's called The Holy Secret. The book follows Michael and the conversations he has with a widower in his ward, Albert. Michael--and the reader--learns from Al what it's really like to love the scriptures, the Sabbath day, and the temple, and in the process, he also learns some important lessons about repentance, forgiveness, and loving and serving others.

I have learned so much from this book. It was like listening in on someone's personal scripture study. I'm hoping to read it again, but next time, I want to have my own scriptures and a pencil nearby. I especially enjoyed the part about the temple; now, I have a totally different perspective on why it's so important to go. The part about the scriptures was also really cool! There were so many familiar passages brought up and examined, but at the end, I'd be saying, "Huh, I've never thought of it that way, but it totally makes sense!" I love it when that happens...don't you, too? :)

"Mom, I think I wanna go on a mission."

"...you WHAT?!?!?!?"

Yup, this conversation didn't go quite as smoothly as I'd hoped...especially when she pulled the "I've-been-supportive-with-everything-else-but-this-is-going-too-far" line. :( Ouch.

I don't know what to do...I love my family so much, and my mom is my best friend. I know a mission trip is ultimately between Heavenly Father and I, but I don't know if I could do it if I knew how much she was against it. I don't want to upset her or do something that would make her unhappy...

There, now that I've vented a bit, we're gonna end on a positive note. I went to 5th Ward for the first time since, like, Easter. And it was seriously the best Sunday I've had in forever!!! All of the meetings were super amazing, and I felt so close to my Heavenly Father all day. But I was so exhausted by the time the day was through...I slept like a rock that night, lol.

The last few days have been sooo different, when I look back on the last two months. I'd been feeling so alone and afraid, and I hadn't felt that same happiness I'd felt over the previous months. I thought something was wrong with me. But since Sunday, I feel so excited and happy!! I feel like Sunday was a new beginning for me, and I've re-committed myself...to be excited about the Church all the time, like Mo; to be sincerely happy and loving, no matter what, like Abby and Lyndee; to be missionary-minded and know the temple, like Madison; to be not just a visiting teacher, but a true friend, like Brianna. The temple goal is a little hard to accomplish right now...I haven't even been since April, when we stopped in St. George on the way up to Conference. I really miss it. But once I have my license, I plan on going at least once a week.

Oh, and I'm going to see this tonight with my mama...

I am sooosososooo stoked!!!

And, as promised...if you want to see all of my family's photos from our vacation, go here and here.

I love you all. :)