Family History Work

I've been sucked into doing family history work the past eight months, but especially the past week.  I signed up for a two week free trial with ancestry.com and I'm trying to take advantage of that resource before I have to cancel it.

Not only have I been able to put correct fathers and mothers with their children (which sometimes gets confusing when cousins marry in the 1700s and 1800s), but I've felt more of a connection with Cody's family.  I feel like I'm a part of that whole line now since doing family history work for them, and then taking some of their names to the temple when we can.

Mostly what I've been grateful for with doing family history work is a feeling of peace.  I've really needed that feeling to guide me the past eight months, but especially the last three months.  I've been confronted by people that I am related to who have been patiently waiting for someone to find them and link them to their parents, spouse, children, siblings, and I've tried to be more patient myself.

Gratitude

I feel like I'm always trying to find things for which to be grateful.  I know November is a natural time for Americans to think about gratitude because of Thanksgiving. I'm sure that other months are months of "Thanksgiving" in other cultures.

Here's a short list. I hope to add some longer posts about specific things that I am grateful for in the coming weeks:

1. the Gospel of Jesus Christ
2. my husband, Cody
3. the restored church of Jesus Christ (the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints)
4. family
5. prophets, seers, and revelators today
6. books
7. library cards
8. chocolate
9. friends
10. letters
11. my mom and dad, specifically
12. Lindsey, specifically
13. carpools
14. airplanes
15. cameras
16. notebooks and pens
17. literacy
18. music
19. patient people
20. knowledge
21. Shakespeare
22. Dr. Seuss
23. Yo Yo Ma
24. blue things
25. warm blankets
26. colors
27. food
28. being able to cook
29. running water
30. indoor plumbing
31. indoor heating and cooling
32. a car
33. my job
34. Cody's job
35. that I live in the United States 
36. that I grew up in middle-class America so that I'm blessed with opportunities beyond many in the world
37. our local and national leaders
38. good people that have the desire to run for/be president/Senate/House of Representatives/Governor/etc. and who mostly are all just trying to do their best, so that I don't ever have to feel like I need to
39. scientists
40. iPods
41. running shoes
42. socks
43. my nephew who is the cutest
44. my brothers and sisters (counting in-laws, too)
45. American history
46. having gone to BYU and taken so many different classes
47. prayer
48. perspective
49. fall
50. that I'm not allergic to any foods or medicines

I'm alive (and Lord of the Flies moment)

I realize I haven't posted on here for almost a month. It isn't because I haven't had anything going on. It's because I've had too much going on--meetings, getting ready for Primary Program, figuring out how to be a third grade teacher when I'm used to being a fifth grade teacher, Relief Society meeting, General Conference, doing family history work and taking the names to the temple, orchestra, and trying to decide if I'm going to exercise again.

Here's a little peak into a day I had two weeks ago after doing an art project.  It was only a small moment, but it was the moment in between finishing up and cleaning up... The name of the video should give you a clue as to how I was feeling:

Counting blessings

1. I went out for a run tonight and ended up running 4.67 miles with little problem (my knees started getting sore near the end).

2. A friend's third grade class is going to be pen pals with my third grade class (talk about having a motivation to write!).

3. I have the next two weeks planned for school (except for math...)!

4. We had pizza for dinner and I love pizza.

5. I'm doing benchmarks with my students tomorrow which means that I get to meet with every student individually and listen to them read. I love that!

6. I get to go to the Relief Society meeting with my sister in three weeks.

7. Cody and I will be getting together with some of our friends on Saturday for dinner or lunch and going to the temple.

8. I slept really well last night.

9. I'm feeling sort of organized with my new calling at church (Primary secretary--Primary is the children's organization in the LDS church for those who don't know), which is saying a lot since that is basically all that my calling means I need to be.

10. Beautiful sunset tonight that I got to watch appear as I went on my run.

11.  Thinking about how one of these days (soon...) I'll write about how I'm in a community orchestra and read a fantastic book that I think about all the time now.

"My Kindness Shall Not Depart From Thee"

I'm feeling reflective today.

My second year at BYU was a very interesting year. I learned a ton!  That was the year I officially started my major and my two minors.  That was the year that I decided I wouldn't be invisible to the people in my ward.  That was the year I began being a peer mentor for Freshman Academy (now Freshman Mentoring).  That was a year that started off with a CES (Church Educational System) Devotional with Elder Jeffrey R. Holland and got another dose of him with a second CES Devotional just three and a half months later.

The first talk was "Lessons From Liberty Jail" (you can read the text or get access to the video here).  Elder Holland went through the lessons Joseph Smith learned while unjustly imprisoned in Liberty Jail in 1838-9.  He made the comparison of the prison changing from just being a place of incarceration to becoming a prison-temple experience.  As Cody and I are reading the Sunday School lesson for this week, "O God, Where Art Thou?" it got me thinking about this talk.  New insight has come as I read through the first 40 or so verses in section 121 of the Doctrine and Covenants.  It has also turned my thoughts towards the 2008-2009 school year.

Little did I know on September 7, 2008 when this talk was given the impact that this devotional would have on me.  Not just the words and testimony that Elder Holland shared, but especially the closing song.  I'm not sure who actually performed in it (BYU combined choir, UVU choir, YSA stake choir?), but I loved it when I first heard it, and I loved it even more when I heard it again five months later on February 28, 2009, coming back from the temple with my friend Tara.  It had been a rough week for me. I had made some decisions that were pretty ginormous and my heart was sore about them, even though I knew the wisdom of making those decisions would be revealed to me in time.  Tara had this song on a CD and turned it on:

I can't even tell you how much this song helped buoy my spirit.  She made a copy of this song for me and I listened to it over and over and over for the next year (it was even my motivating song as I hiked the Y on my birthday that year--my birthday present to myself).

So that song has been humming around in my mind the past 12 hours since Cody and I read our scriptures together last night.  This song also brings to mind some of the scriptures that inspired this song--the parts that don't come from D&C sections 121 & 122--they are from Isaiah 54: 7-10, and it is actually in these verses where you can find the title for this hymn.

However, this isn't the only talk where Elder Holland helped me out in 2009.  He gave another CES Devotional Talk on January 13, 2009, "Remember Lot's Wife." I remember writing copious notes and feeling like he was speaking to me that cold, January Sabbath.  But then, again, I forgot about the talk as the months went on, as I found comfort in other talks and scripture.  But then Christmas 2009 rolled around.

My memory for dates can sometimes come back to me as a curse and it was doing so that December.  Dates and memories were assaulting my mind, dragging me back to questioning some of my decisions of the previous February, having me question some of the things that I knew were true about why I was still in Utah.  Late nights in Michigan that Christmas involved me searching online for relief and comfort to my soul. And that's when I stumbled across this talk again.

I remembered again that I should put my faith in my Savior and stop wondering: "Is there any future for me? What does a new year or a new semester or a new major or a new romance hold for me? Will I be safe? Will life be sound? Can I trust in the Lord and in the future? Or would it be better to look back, to go back, to go home?" (from "Remember Lot's Wife") and instead take hold of Elder Holland's invitation to "'Remember Lot's Wife.' Faith is for the future. Faith builds on the past but never longs to stay there. Faith trusts that God has great things in store for each of us and that Christ truly is the 'high priest of good things to come.'"

These two incidents helped put focus into my life--through the words of a song, and the words of an Apostle--I put my trust in Heavenly Father that He would lead me, guide me, and that He was walking beside me.

15 Reasons Today was Grrrreat!

I really needed today. Today was great! Let me tell you why:

1. After struggling to fall asleep in my way-too-hot apartment last night, I woke up from a great dream.
2. I was able to excuse myself for crying as I watched this video on Joseph Smith, by saying that I was crying because it's so sad about Joseph and Emma, when really I was crying because I miss Cody--but I had an excuse which made it feel better about crying.
3. I got to sit by my sister and watch my nephew watch other people during Sacrament Meeting.
4. I was able to hear a family friend, Sam Bateman, give his last talk before his mission; it was on faith.
5. I was able to play with my nephew at the Bateman's home.
6. I ate nachos for lunch (at the Bateman's home).
7. I took a little nap before church.
8. I got to play with my friend's 7 month old baby during the last 20 minutes of my ward's Sacrament Meeting.
9. I was able to reflect on service during Relief Society.
10. My dad was making fun of my mom on the phone and TOTALLY sounded just like her, which was hilarious!
11. I got to do a "Google Hangout" with Cody and look at his totally handsome, cute face and have him make me laugh.
12. I found out that some of our friends living in DC are willing to let us carpool with them to the Washington DC temple when we're there this summer.
13. I was able to visit teach with and for two of my best friends in this ward for the last time this summer.
14. I found out that one of those best friends will be going through the temple in June (probably) to receive her endowment and be sealed for time and all eternity to her husband and two little girls.
15. I am so so so happy about that news.  Visiting teaching changes us and affects us and those we visit more than we know.  Not only have I made an amazing friend, she has affected my life as I've seen her testimony growing, but I have been able to affect her life.

The day Cody and I talked about getting married.

Same day. Great day!

On the day Cody and I were sealed for time and all eternity--married forever--in the Michigan Detroit Temple

Me, my sister, and Mom on the day of my Great-Grandma Caryol's funeral

I love the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  I love how it changes us into better people. I love how all we have to bring is our belief and our desire and He will work with us and lead us on to be the people He needs us to be.  I love the temples of God and how, even though I'm only a child in my understanding, I am able to understand God's love, the Atonement, the Plan of Salvation, or myself better after attending the temple for any of the ordinances.  I am eternally grateful to be sealed to my husband for time and for all eternity, to know he is mine and I am his forever, and that my mom, my dad, my sister and her family, and my wonderful younger brothers, and all of Cody's family are my family forever.  There is no greater peace.

Sheri Dew video

I wanted to post this video because my friend shared it on Facebook and I loved it. I have more thoughts about this topic but they are somewhat sacred to me and I don't want to share them in an argumentative forum or for mere curiosity.  I know that women, who live faithful to the covenants they have made at baptism and in the temple, will receive all that the Father has, which includes a celestial, eternal marriage; the ability to bear children; the ability to create everything that needs creating, and the capability to undertand everything.

If you don't know who Sheri Dew is here's her bio from Wikipedia.

Temples & Tents

Cody and I were able to go to the Oquirrh Mountain Temple today.  It was his first time going there since he was on his mission when they did the Open House and it was my first time being in there since it was dedicated.  Our experience today was different from the other times when we've gone in the past seven months.  We didn't realize we'd barely missed the previous session by three minutes, so we waited for another 57 minutes until the next session started.

As I sat there contemplating, my thoughts turned toward our stake's Pioneer Trek tomorrow.  It will be at Martin's Cove, a place I've never been, but that has a lot of significance when talking about the pioneers, especially those that came west by handcart. We won't be sleeping next to the handcarts for the next three days--we'll be in tents (that I just hauled over from our Bishop's house)--but the purpose of the three day activity is to help the youth feel the Spirit that those pioneers had over 150 years ago.  We won't ever know exactly what it was like, however much we study the stories of those that crossed the plains or however many pioneer treks we go on or however many books we read about it.  Then what's the point?  The point is that we'll be standing in a holy place, we'll be learning about people who left everything--who left wealth, comfort, families--to trudge across dusty, muddy, snowy, frostbitten ground to make it to a place they called Zion.  Why on Earth would anyone do that? Because they believed, because they had made a covenant to "stand as a witness of God at all times, in all things, in all places," and because they loved God. I think that's what the point of all pioneer treks is: to help us understand the love, the willingness to sacrifice, and the consecration of those early Latter-day Saints had and that we can do them same.

I suppose I should write what happened now...

Even though Cody is ten times better at telling this story than I am, I figured I probably ought to write it now.

Here are some dates and events to know going in to this account:
16 June 2011: Cody and I admitted to each other that we loved each other.
17 June 2011: Cody and I went on the 7 Wonders of Provo date. It was on that date that Cody and I visited the Castle Rock Amphitheater by the Utah State Hospital,

At the Castle Rock Amphitheater by the Utah State Hospital on 17 June 2011

went to the Weeping American Elm,

At the Weeping American Elm tree together on 17 June 2011

and the night when, in a moment of my weakness when I was discouraged (because even though we knew we loved each other, what if it stopped? What if Cody decided he didn't love me anymore?), Cody told me that his intention was to marry me. After telling me that, we went and sat on the east side of the Provo temple and talked a little bit more about our intention to get married.
23 June 2011: After Institute, Cody and I went to Rock Canyon Park and discussed and prayed about when we would get married.  We knew December was right. We preferred December 23rd because 23 is my second favorite number.
9 July 2011: Cody and I went ring shopping in Springville so we wouldn't be met by any Provo-ites and so Cody could get an idea of what I liked before he went to his Uncle Dave with whom he would design the ring since Dave is a jeweler.
16 July 2011: Cody and I planned the meals we would be making together for the next week. On July 23 we decided we would have a picnic at the Castle Rock Amphitheater since it would be 5 months exactly before our unannounced-at-that-time wedding.

Pond area where were planning to have our picnic on 23 July 2011

20 July 2011: I broke my toe. For more details, please read this post.

And now we come to the story: It was July 23.  Cody and I ate breakfast together but then he went over to his best friend's apartment to do his laundry (because it's free there) and work on his talk for the next day and he didn't want to be "distracted" (while he admitted later that he probably wouldn't have been very distracted, he couldn't have me with him).  I decided I would be productive, and accordingly, I spread out all the teacher materials I'd brought home with me and started curriculum mapping and planning and scheduling and feeling like I'd accomplished something by the time Cody came back. Cody left around 10am.  He didn't get back until 3pm.  Around 1pm I texted him asking him how his talk was coming since I hadn't heard from him for a while; he said it was nearly done but that he was waiting for his laundry.  When he finally returned to Arcadia at 3pm he said that Tyler's dryer always takes longer on his darks than on his whites (which is true but is not the whole reason why he was two hours late).

During that time that I was working on school stuff and he was doing his laundry and writing his talk, he made time to go pick up the ring that he'd designed for me.  Unbeknownst to me, on 13 July 2011, Cody had gone into Dave's store and started the process of designing and ordering my ring--complete with an infinity symbol and a sapphire. Ten days after first going to Dave's store, the ring was ready (much to Cody's joy because it was the 23rd--my second favorite number--what better day than the 23rd to propose?) and he went to pick it up when he wasn't with me.

When we were planning out where to go now for our picnic, since it requires a little bit of a hike to get to the pond, we Xed that off of our list since I wasn't as mobile as I am now on my gimp foot.  Cody had been thinking about that and proposed that maybe we could go eat at the Weeping American Elm (special memories, we'd visited the tree the same night that he told me he wanted to marry me, etc.).

However. I thought we were just going for a picnic. So I vetoed the tree (because I didn't want to just eat under a shady huge wonderful tree--I wanted to see some sun, lay on some grass, etc.) and I proposed that we go to the "newly" (as in last fall) landscaped and finished trails on the south end of campus.  Cody agreed. We made our delicious sandwiches and headed over.

We found a nice place to sit and eat that was a little off the path and that had a nice grassy area next to it--which I was way excited for because my wish of laying on the grass would be able to come true.  We ate our food. It was yummy.  Then we went and sat on the grass. We laid on our backs and talked--about my grandparents, about probably weird things--and looked at the dragonflies.

All during this time I was totally not paying attention to any of Cody's attention signals, I guess, because apparently he'd been looking out the whole time, waiting for all the pedestrians to leave the area.  When the coast was clear, he sat up. I didn't think anything was different or weird about that. Sometimes he does that, sits up, I mean.  I kept looking at the dragonflies.  Then he asked me to sit up. I didn't think that was weird either. I thought we were getting ready to go or talk about something serious and he wanted us to have eye contact or something.

So there were were, both sitting up on the grass. Then Cody changed positions and was on one knee and I started freaking out. "Are you serious? You're not serious? Are you serious? Are you serious? You're not serious!" And then he pulled out the ring box and I continued to freak out. "Cody, you're not serious! You're not serious!"

I managed to stop freaking out and Cody told me how much he loves me and how he'd waited a long time for this and would I marry him.

My pretty ring, 23 July 2011

Now. Cody knew I would say yes. I knew I would say yes. I'd told him that I would tell him yes.  I'd even told him that I wouldn't ever make him wait.

But then I made him wait. I didn't mean to. And I didn't even realize it until later when Cody and I were leaving our picnic spot when he told me.  Apparently I'd laughed (which I remembered doing) for about a minute and a half (I don't remember it being that long) before I kissed him and said, "Of course I'll marry you!"

Then he tremblingly took the ring out of the box and put it on my equally tremby left ring finger. And voila. We are engaged. And we get married December 22--not the 23rd--because the times at the temple work a lot better for the 22nd. Plus, it's easier for our family members who will be traveling around that time.

Je suis tres heureuse. :)

Needing a little pick me up? Apparently I did.

I woke up this morning feeling pretty good about my life--things are still in the shadows regarding a job but I do have another interview this Thursday for a fifth grade position (my favorite!), plus having a somewhat flippantly uttered whim at the beginning of spring term come true is also a nice surprise and addition to my life (I've started dating someone).  Yet even though I'm feeling pretty happy about life in general, Heavenly Father still found ways to make it even better!

1. I got to see Megan Smith this morning at the temple.
2. I got to see my hot air balloon this morning (it's rainbow-ish design and I know I've seen it on four different times: 28 February 2009, 28 March 2009, 17 October 2009, and 19 March 2011 and today, of course).
3. Cody Knudsen got to see my hot air balloon out the window of the HBLL.
4. Brad Wilcox gave me a hug at the reading workshop this morning (he gives great hugs and he's like a second Dad to me).
5. One of the girls that was in the class I was observed teaching for the Rocky Mountain 3rd grade position came up to me after the reading workshop and told me that she thought I had done a great job and that she'd wanted me to be hired.
6. Amy Miner, one of my former professors and mentors and friends, sent me an email telling me not to be discouraged about finding a job.
7. I bought a little chocolate bar at the grocery store.
8. Amber Thomas reminded me about the activity I was supposed to have already printed out and put on doors already so now I can.
9. I was able to type up my journal entries this morning (rather than taking the time to hand-write them which I usually do) which was a blessing in and of itself because it was five pages and it would probably have exceeded the limit of the last few remaining pages in my current journal.
10. I got a voice mail message from the principal where I have my interview on Thursday in response to my message this morning saying that I didn't know her exact address to send her numbers for my references and so I'd gone to the website and it said the principal was a man. And in my message I told her that I'm assuming she isn't a man so obviously the information was incorrect. And in her message for me, she said that yes the info needs to be updated because she definitely is not a man.  That made me laugh really hard.

I just needed to write

So it's September 8th, 2010.

I've been in school for fall 2010 for a week and a half. I absolutely love my classes! I know I say that every semester, but I really do. I've already been struggling and succeeding in my French classes, I love having an excuse to draw everyday as part of an assignment for my Drawing class, and I really hope I get my teaching assignment soon so I can begin teaching.

I have a habit of going to the temple every week. This semester it is on Tuesday mornings at 5:30 with for sure two girls in my ward. Starting this week one of my roommates joined us and then there is a guy from my ward who has been consistently coming. I am so grateful to go to the temple. The peace and beauty that I feel there is so wonderful. Sometimes I get confused about things but when I go there, everything is clear. Everything is right.

Yesterday Amelia posted on Facebook that sometimes she feels like she needs to cry for no reason. Sometimes I feel that way. I felt that way yesterday afternoon and evening. So I did. :) I didn't break-down or anything, I just sat by myself and shed a few tears, then looked at the stars and counted my blessings.

Monday was a dear friend's birthday and tomorrow is another dear friend's birthday. I love birthdays. I love the celebration of another year of life having gone by and the possibility of what the next year will bring.

I guess that's all for today. I just really wanted to write in here again because I love the header that I made for my blog and I wanted to see it again. haha. That's a little narcissitic, but it reminds me of France because that's where I made it.