the love of a father

So I'm home with my family again :) Funny story though... friday morning I missed my 7am flight, and if you've never flown during the holidays let me just tell you that trying to fly standby is not going to work. All the flights are overbooked. So I called my parents and let them know what had happened. By some miracle, my Dad was able to find me a seat on a different airline leaving in about 4 hours (as opposed to the 5 I would've had to wait to maybe get a seat flying standby... but they probably wouldn't've had room for me on that flight or the 6pm one... so I would've been stranded in SLC for days.) Thank you Daddy!

Today I was listening to this song, and thinking about Christmas, and the Love God showed us in sending His Son, and how grateful I am to be home, and I started thinking about the love my father showed me when he bought me a new ticket home. I messed up, I missed the flight (it wasn't 100% my fault, but it partially was). We didn't really play the blame game, Daddy just brought me home. He provided another way for me, at great personal cost, because he loves me. I'm just so thankful that he was willing and able to do that for me. Even more, I am thankful that my Heavenly Father was willing and able to send his Only Begotten Son into the world, that I might live through him. That is how he shows me His great Love for me.

Let Love lead us; Love is Christmas.

:) merry christmas y'all ♥

xox

this is all happening so fast!

During last weeks classic nativity pageant, our lovely angel narrator Eliza was reading Luke 2:

And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judæa, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David:) 

To be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child. 

And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered. 

And she brought forth her firstborn son...

"Wait! Already?? This is happening really fast!" 

We all laughed and she kept reading the story and we kept scrambling around acting it out, searching kind of frantically for something to use for the baby and the manger and everything.

But today I was thinking about it... I guess it did happen really fast. God's people had been waiting for centuries for the Messiah to come, but when He actually came it happened relatively fast, and He was only here on earth for thirty-three years. Just as we wait (or at least I wait) all year long for Christmas to get here, and then when it actually does it always goes by way too fast. I'm not 100% positive what the lesson is here... I'm just thinking about it :) Things always go by way too fast. This year I'm all about soaking in the season and getting the most about it before it's over. I don't want to be feeling like "Wait! This is all happening so fast!" when the Savior comes again.

And even though we didn't have anything ready to use for a manger, and we weren't expecting Mary to "bring forth her firstborn son" so quickly, God knew exactly when His Son would enter the world, and He had everything necessary prepared. As the Lord told Nephi, "On this night shall the sign be given, and on the morrow come I into the world, to show unto the world that I will fulfil all that which I have caused to be spoken by the mouth of my holy prophets."


I wonder how many people missed out on the birth of the Savior that first Christmas night. Thousands I guess. Maybe millions. The shepherds didn't miss it, the wise men didn't, and the believing Nephites who were watching for the sign didn't. I hope I'm not missing Christ appearing in my own life, because I'm too busy or I'm not expecting it. I hope I'm ready. I hope my heart has prepared Him room. I guess I'd better get working on that! And what better time than this Christmas season for the reminder :)

nativity pageant : always a win

holiday pictures

so lately I've been kinda into putting words on holiday pictures..... 

I post them here :)

just, you know, fyi. :)

here's a sample:

christmas decorating on a budget :)

This year I decided to decorate the apartment for the holidays. I had so much fun it was embarrassing... I felt like a four-year-old again. And I only spent 48c on paper. Behold!

Paper chains - I made one long enough to go all the way around our kitchen and then some, using about a yard each of red and white paper and some staples.

Paper snowflakes! Eliza is a master at cutting out beautiful snowflakes. We hung them from various lengths of white thread and I love how it looks :)

Paper Christmas trees - decorated with tin foil ornaments. I cut out four small trees of various shapes to put on our cupboard doors. Then I got to decorate them using tin foil and markers :) I was giddy with joy.

ta-da! I'm in love with the way our apartment looks now. It will be the perfect backdrop for our Christmas party :)

peppermint

peppermint is my new addiction this holiday season. thank you Delightfully Tacky for the abundance of peppermint-related posts today :)

I want to make these

and eat this 

while wearing this

and making and eating these

and these

and then put them in hot cocoa and drink it

 while these bake

while wearing this

and I want this :)

happy holidays! :)

what is love?

baby don't hurt me..... ;)

So I re-read The Four Loves today
& it gave me some food for thought.

for a few weeks i've been trying to decide how to love somebody and if/when to just give up. trying to do what's healthy for me and what God wants for us.

this is what I read:

"We shall draw nearer to God, not by trying to avoid the sufferings inherent in all loves, but by accepting them and offering them to Him; throwing away all defensive armour. If our hearts need to be broken, and if He chooses this as the way in which they should break, so be it."

"It is probably impossible to love any human being simply "too much." We may love him too much in proportion to our love for God; but it is the smallness of our love for God, not the greatness of our love for the man, the constitues the inordinacy."

"In everyone, and of course in ourselves, there is that which requires forbearance, tolerance, forgiveness. The necessity of practising these virtues first sets us, forces us, upon the attempt to turn - more strictly, to let God turn - our love into Charity."

So i'm turning this over to God. asking Him to turn this "love" into Charity. offering Him everything (or trying to.) praying for increased love for Him & others. we'll see how this goes :)

from tabernacle to temple

Today I was thinking about the Provo Tabernacle and sort of relating it to myself... see if you can follow my thinking :)

 The Provo Tabernacle was wonderful, beloved, doing a good work for the Lord and being great and used for lots of good things.

Then, about a year ago there was a terrible fire and the Tabernacle was seriously damaged, leaving only the exterior walls standing.

Because of this fire, the Church has decided to rebuild it and turn it into the second temple of the Church in the city of Provo! Which will be even more awesome and glorious than it was before.

"The purpose of the gospel is to make... good men better." ~David O. McKay

So I'm thinking that, like the Provo Tabernacle, I could be doing good. Then a fire or trial comes, and it's heyyy what the heck I had a good thing going here! And I don't see what the purpose is in tearing my good thing down and burning it up. But the Lord has something so much greater in mind for me. And my "being a tabernacle" time is done. Time for me to become a temple, if I'll let the Lord work on me. God uses trials and hard times to help me become even better and more purified and sacred than I ever thought I could be :)

This is sort of like C.S. Lewis' "Imagine yourself as a living house" quote, if you're familiar with that at all. :)

Anywaysssssssss.... that's what I was thinking about today! Happy Sunday! :)

photo sources:

 1.2.3.

life lately :)

...has been pretty wonderful :)

ha11oween

halloween costumes 2011! :)

 asian woman. christmas tree. biker chick. pinata.

 i beat him up and take his candy.

 elizabean, my christmas tree :)

vampire. cow. christmas tree. asian woman. biker chicks. bella swan. pocahontas.

God wants our lives to make a difference

In thinking about what happened last monday, I admit I asked myself why God would let something like this happen. I know He is always watching over us and that He cares for us infinitely, I just couldn't see a reason for Him to allow this to happen. I know that we have to be allowed to use our agency, even to make wrong decisions, but the girl involved has a mental illness. How does agency come into play in a situation like that? Only God knows. This world is so wicked... but at the same time there is so much more goodness. As Helen Keller said,

"Although the world is full of suffering, it is full also of the overcoming of it."

Keeping up with the news stories this week I have been inspired by the people of my hometown and how God has answered prayers for healing and compassion. It has been truly amazing. I have been especially impressed by how the young people have been handling the situation with grace and courage.

One of my friends who goes to that high school posted on facebook,

"We want our lives to make sense, God wants our lives to make a difference. This week, we did it, together."

I've been pondering the first part of that post a lot lately. "God wants our lives to make a difference." I definitely see that this incident has made a difference in the lives of hundreds of people. At times when my life doesn't make sense, I can remember that God is using me to make a difference. It changes the way I live my life. God has a plan for my life, different from the one that I might have imagined. But my life doesn't have to make sense to me. God's in control of it, and I trust Him absolutely to use me to make a positive difference in the world if I let him.

I choose to see God's hand in everything. The recovery of the young girl who was hurt has been miraculous. Doctors say that if she had been stabbed just 4 millimeters to one side, she would have bled out immediately. They also say that if the emergency respondents had chosen to send her to the trauma hospital farther away instead of the one they chose, she would've died en route. As it was, she died several times that day and the doctors were able to bring her back. I believe that God was with her that day, answering hundreds of prayers for her and her safety. God truly did take care of those in need that day, and in the days since and still to come. Miracles sometimes come down to minutes and millimeters.

God allows us our agency. Terrible things happen, I don't always know why. But I know that God is always in control, and that He loves us, and that He has a plan for us. I know that He answers our prayers. I know that He is always with us, even and especially in the midst of tragedy. And when we follow Him, our lives will make a difference.

those autumn leaves :)

a prayer for healing and peace

This morning as I got on facebook and started scrolling through the newsfeed, I noticed several posts by kids from my old high school about a lockdown. As I looked further into it, I learned that there had been a violent incident involving three young girls. {If you'd like the details, you can get them from the school website.} I called my mom and texted a few friends to see if they'd heard the news. I have three siblings at that high school, and I was worried about their safety and emotional well-being. I was able to talk to my oldest brother on the phone tonight, and he says they're all doing fine, though obviously shaken by what happened.

In thinking about what has happened, a few thoughts and quotes have come to mind.

One thing that always boggles my mind is the dichotomy of good and evil in the world. How can such awful and sorrowful events occur on the same day in the same world, same town, and same facebook page as such beautiful and joyful events?

Gordon B. Hinckley said,

‎I have seen much of ugliness in this world. Most of it is the work of man. But I think I have seen much more of beauty. I marvel at the majestic works of the Creator. How magnificent they are. And they are all the work of the Son of God. 

The ugliness of what happened today is shocking. But beauty is still present in this world, even in tragedy.

Today I have had a continual prayer in my heart for the girls involved in the incident, both the two who were victims and the one who attacked them. Everyone needs our prayers and our hearts. God's love is infinite. God's love is Healing. "I am the Lord that healeth thee." {Ex. 15:26} Please pray for healing for these girls, their families, and all who were affected today.

I have been inspired and brought to tears by the unity I've seen among people in my hometown who have banded together in prayer and hope, and by the courage demonstrated by a close friend of my brother who heard the girls scream for help. I know that, as Helen Keller said,

Although the world is full of suffering, it is full also of the overcoming of it. 

Witnessing my young friends and siblings overcome and unite has been inspiring. I pray that they will continue to be able to overcome, and that they will have peace.

It makes me terribly sad that my younger siblings and friends have had to experience this. No teenager should ever have to deal with the emotions that come when a peer and friend is involved in such a violent attack at school. It's unfair, and I feel for the young people involved. I pray over them, that they will have peace and healing at this time as well.

One of my young friends at the high school wrote,

Everyone has a story. God's taking care of those in need today. Praying for safety & compassion at our school.

I join in her prayer for safety and compassion and add a prayer for her as well. God's hand is over everything.

I believe in hope. I believe in thinking of others before myself. I believe in God's infinite love and care for all of us. And what I believe is what gets me through.

God has told us,

Fear thou not, for I am with thee. Be not dismayed, for I am thy God. I with strengthen thee, yea, I will help thee.

Tonight, as I pray for peace and healing over all who were affected, I trust in God's great love and compassion for all of us. I know that I cannot fully fathom what happened today, but I know with my whole being that Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world, and that His Love brings peace, and healing, and that He understands. I know that He lives, that He loves us, and that He cares about each and every person in this world. I pray that others can know this as well.

I've been listening to beautiful things and there will be a day tonight, along with some instrumental hymns.

There will be a day

with no more tears

no more pain

and no more fears...

but until that day

we'll hold on to You always.

pray for love. pray for peace.

oh yeah. this happened.

 

So I guess I'm twenty now.

Cool :)

my obsession

i have come to realize that i have a compulsive love for the mountains here; basically i can't walk past them without being awestruck by their beauty and taking a picture {or five.} :)