Just a spot for us to blab about what's going on with our family, share ideas and post some scrapbook pages along the way. Most importantly share pictures of our sweet kids for family and loved ones to share our journey with us.
I sure love this man - Gordon B. Hinckley....His council was always so accurate for what I would be going through. I miss getting to hear from him on a regular basis. So grateful to have had his influence in my life. He helped me to want to stand a little taller.
"You just have to do your very best with all the capability you have. You have to do your very best. And somehow, if you do that, God will open the way before you and the sun will shine, and your lives will be fruitful and you will accomplish great good in the world in which you take a part. I couldn't wish for you anything better as I look into your faces this day." (Gordon B. Hinckley - Dedication of the Gordon B. Hinckley Building @ BYU-Idaho)
Here I am sitting down for one of the first times today. Super tired, but feeling excited about YW camp coming up.
For those of you who don't know what I'm talking about - our church holds a week-long camp for the Young Women in our church every summer. It is a time for the girls to bond with each other, learn camping and survival skills, be spiritually uplifted and edified and have a lot of fun. It's a highlight for the summer and a life changing experience.
This year I get to attend not only as the Young Woman president in my ward, but also as a member of the "Crafty Queens". Myself and a few other leaders will be in charge of providing crafts for the approximately 200 young women. There is so much preparation involved but these girls are worth it!
Our camp theme this year stems from President Deiter Uchtdorf's talk "Your Happily Ever After" that I mentioned in my last post. I saw a couple of these quotes online tonight on this website and thought they were pretty, and applied to what we're teaching these awesome girls this next week.
The theme for YW camp this year is based off of the talk by President Dieter F. Uchtdorf entitled "Your Happily Ever After". I got online to purchase the book and I was so happy to find that the Kindle Edition is actually FREE!!! I was so excited to find a message that I love and want to share to be available to everyone who has access to a Kindle (or Kindle app). So click HERE and you can get it for free at the Amazon store.
Then I looked and another one of his wonderful talks that has been turned into a beautiful book is also available for FREE on the Kindle - "Forget Me Not":
I am so grateful for inspired and strong men like President Uchtdorf that we have leading and guiding our church and helping to remind us of the truthfulness of the gospel. His messages always leave me with a feeling of hope, unconditional love, and a desire to reach out and do better. I hope you'll enjoy these books and messages as much as I do!
Today I got to teach the Young Women lesson at church. It was about being good examples. I feel like the YW in my ward are fantastic examples to people around them, and I am in awe of their strength and examples to me and the other youth they encounter. I love that!
I feel so blessed to get to work with the Young Women through my new calling. I am overwhelmed by all there is to do with the program, personal progress, temple trips, girls camp, activities, lessons and the list goes on and on. But under all of those feelings of being overwhelmed I feel so much love for the girls. I feel sad when I don't see them at activities or at church, and I feel so happy to see them make good choices! In fact when I left our class activity this past Tuesday night I left the church FILLED with gratitude for the girls and just loving each of them more than ever. It wasn't anything amazing that we did, but I felt like I was able to connect in little ways with all of the girls. It takes slow steps to get to know them and become friends. I am looking forward to what we accomplish as a presidency and what we see the girls learn.
I'm also grateful for a Heavenly Father who has a faith and a trust in me that I don't always see in myself. I am grateful for His plan and the callings within our church that help me to become more of the person He wants me to be. I'm grateful for a YW program that allows the girls to set goals, make plans for a temple marriage, and hopefully teaches them that they are women of great worth. I know that my leaders quite literally changed my life, and their examples are ones I still look to for examples of extrordianry women who follow the gospel and inspire me. That is why I think the YW program is so important! Often that I think back to YW lessons that taught me that I am a worthwhile daughter of God to remember that I'm still a "Daughter of a Heavenly Father who loves me, and I love Him." It is because they helped me to develop that foundation of beliefs that I've been able to turn back to those things I know are true time and time again.
So I am going to work on posting every once in a while on my blog here about our YW activities, and a little more about what we're doing in our family. I get pulled in a lot of different directions, but I feel like this is a place I can share a piece of my testimony with others and I hope to be able to do that a little more than I have been.
