Life Lessons

I'm teaching the lesson in Young Women's this Sunday. The lesson I'm teaching is "How can I find solutions to my challenges and problems?" I'm going to have the YW tell me problems and challenges that they face in their lives and we're going to write them down on the board then I'm going to have them draw pieces of paper out of a box. The box is going to be a "toolbox" and written on the slips of paper are going to be "tools" that Heavenly Father as given us to help us with our challenges and problems. Things like prayer, scriptures, attending church and the temple, etc...then we'll talk about how they can use those "tools" to help them with their problems. I can't take credit for that great idea, I have the Holy Ghost to thank for that one! Yesterday I was writing down a list of "tools" to put in the box and one I thought of was "Remembering." And I thought, remembering what? Well, remembering that the Lord is there and what He has done for his people in the past, but more importantly, remembering what He has done for ME in the past. Remembering that He loves me and that I've experienced His timing and that I know that His timing is perfect, and that He answers prayers differently than I would have Him answer them but that I wouldn't have it any other way. Except for when I forgot, lol. And most importantly, remembering that I have faced, and survived, some very hard things, and that with the Lord's help I can, and will, get through future trials, too.  It's been a tough month, seriously the ENTIRE MONTH! I thought I was doing good working on getting my muscles better but I have been experiencing some serious pain this month and now where I thought I knew what my game plan was, I'm now having to figure it all out again, and I'm at a loss. So frustrating. Add on to that some insecurities that I've been struggling with and we've been having a great month. My "tools" have been getting some good use lately. Sometimes you just have to set aside everything else and pull out your faith tool! And hang on with all you've got! Because sometimes holding on to your Anchor, to Christ, is the only thing that is going to get you through. I am grateful for Him. And I'm grateful that I'm giving this lesson this week so that I can give myself a little perspective and remember, and hold on, and count my blessings, for they are many. My window of heaven is more than overflowing and I just need to REMEMBER that! Now hopefully the Young Women will learn something that they can put in their "toolbox" to help them through the hard trials that they will face in the future. 

10 things I love about Krystal Wilkerson

Krystal's birthday is today! She is the big 30! She likes to do a "10 things I like about so-and-so" post when it is their birthday but I didn't think she would do one for herself, so I thought I'd do it for her!!

So here are 10 things I love about Krystal

1. She is so considerate and she has the talent/gift of loving others.
--Krystal is always thinking of others. The last time we went to visit them in Logan, she had a little separate guest gifts for me, Cody and Elise that were so thoughtful. She is always telling others that she loves them, something that I wish I could be braver and learn to do more often.

2. She is so good at hand stitching and making quiet books.
--Krystal's quiet books are amazing. To me they look professional and I'm amazed at how good she hand stitches.

3. She has great attention to detail.
--I marvel at the little details in Krystal's quiet books. She takes the time to do things--and to do them nicely--that I would either just leave out or would do a quick, lazy job of. Her attention to detail is also seen in her consideration of others, the decorating of her house, her parenting and her traditions.

4. She is really good at decorating.
--Krystal has decorated her house so cute. It was seeing how well her house was decorated and how it made her home feel complete that inspired me to put more thought in the decoration of my home. (Not that I've done much, yet...lol)

5. She is a good mom.
--I know Krystal doesn't always think she is being a good mom and that she gets impatient with Elaina but I admire the effort that Krystal puts into teaching Elaina and playing with her and the fun things that she does with her. I greatly admire that she is teaching her in the Montessori method.

6. She has traditions
--I love that Krystal has started her own family traditions and that she does them without fail every year. What fun memories she is starting for her family!

6. She is a good sister and friend. She listens to me complain. We are a lot a like
--These three go together but are worth mentioning separately. Not only is Krystal good at listening to me complain but when I do complain to her about things she almost always understands exactly how I feel because we are a lot a like and she usually feels the same way about the situation as I do. Even our own mothers and daughters are similar! And of course our husbands, because they are Wilkerson boys *insert eye roll here* Another benefit of us being a like is I'm not the only impatient Wilkerson girl!

*These two are a little selfish ;)*

7. She is fun to tease
--Which means when she is around I don't get teased! Haha Well, that's not true cause I'm a pretty easy target, but it does add to the fun :)

9. She laughs at my husband's jokes
 --So I don't have to! ;) And she sincerely thinks he is funny! Which makes me think I should maybe appreciate my husband's sense of humor a little more....

10. She is who she is
--Krystal is who she is and isn't trying to be anyone else. She spends her effort working on bettering herself than trying to be someone different. And I love who she is!

Love you, sister! Hope you have a great 30th birthday!!!

Success!

My house is so much cleaner and feels so much better and I feel like I'm doing less work instead of more. I love it! Yesterday was my "clean the kitchen" day. After I put the babe down for her nap I came downstairs to clean the kitchen but lo and behold....it was already mostly clean! The dishes were done and I had wiped the counters down the night before. So what did I do?? I took the opportunity to organize my kitchen cupboards and I loved it! Then I took a little bit of time to sanitize the counter tops and sweep the floor and voila! I was done and my cupboards were organized, which is something I've been meaning to get to for a while. Tonight I told Cody that he was in charge of dishes which pretty much consisted of the crock pot, our plates and like one or two other random dishes. He keeps telling me that the house feels so much better.

Of course I'm not getting to bed on time like I want to...baby steps :)

Project 7 am -- Day 5

I did it! I made it through five days of waking up at 7 am and it was worth it!! I am so glad I did it and I will keep doing it! Sunday night I will start Project 11 pm, in which I strive to be IN BED and ready to go to sleep by 11 pm. Wish me lots and lots and lots and LOTS of luck!!

What goals are you working on and what do you do to motivate yourself to keep at it??

Timing and Tender Mercies

Heavenly Father is big on timing. I'm big on having what I want right now! Or not ever having to do what I don't want to do. So you could say that sometimes we clash. But then there are those moments when everything comes together and you know that it was because of God's timing and you know that it was just for you and that He loves you. I had one of those moments this morning. I'm not going to go into details, but one moment I was having a hard time and the next second, before things could get worse, God was there at the perfect time telling me that He was there and He knew and He understood and that He was with me. It was such a small thing, but it was exactly what I needed, it was....perfect. Afterwards, when I was saying my morning prayers, I won't give up by Jason Mraz came into my head, and again I knew that He was there and I felt the Spirit so strongly. Even though I get impatient and I want to throw tantrums and throw around words such as "fair," I am so thankful for the timing of the Lord and I'm thankful that He doesn't give into my timing no matter how unreasonable I am. And even more that He continues to love me and care for me and want the best for me when I lose sight of eternity and falter in trusting Him. Mostly I'm just so thankful for Him <3

Project 7 am -- Day 3

Day 3! For three days in a row I have woken up at 7 am, read my scriptures and exercised! I'm feeling pretty good about that :) I'm so proud of myself! And I checked out the Fly Lady today. I got some good ideas, I just need to spend some more time on the website and decide what I like and want to incorporate into the routine that I am already working on. All in all it was a pretty good day. I can't wait to see what is in store for tomorrow!!

Project 7 am -- Day 2

I did it again! I woke up at 7 am and prayed and read my scriptures and it felt so good! And it was easier to wake up this morning than it was yesterday. I just have to remind myself that the benefits of scriptures and prayer far outweigh the benefit of sleeping another 30 minutes. My day wasn't as great but it was still good. Today was my day to foam roll and just stretch and stretching is not something I am great at. I ran out of time to do the full stretching I wanted to do but I do feel like a made a little bit of progress with my stretching.  Good news is I can try again Thursday! Leese and I went to Vernal today. It was nice to get out and get a few things done but when I got home a few things happened and I let myself get frustrated, which is what made my day not as good as yesterday. But I turned it around and I'm ready to try again tomorrow. Regardless of how my day went, I know that waking up at 7 am is what I need to be doing and that I'm being blessed for it. And even if I have a really bad day at least I took time to talk to God and to let Him talk to me by reading my scriptures so no matter how bad my day is, it's better than it could have been because I made time for Him.