Priesthood

Man ALIVE! Do I love the priesthood. That's really all I have to say, but really and truly, with all sincerity of my HEART, I LOVE this Gospel, and the authority that the priesthood has. We have the chance to hear the words of God, through their mouths, when they are using that priesthood, and when they are in tune with the Spirit of God. And it's really, just amazing.

I am so blessed to have the knowledge of this Gospel. And I just love it. I am so grateful for the great men in my life, that live up to that responsibility. I am so grateful for their spirit. I wonder sometimes if they realize the great work that they do in all of our lives!

Jesus Christ, our Redeemer, and Savior is the Son of God.
He lives.

And I know that this Church, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, is true. My goodness, it is true. And I love it!

O Lord My God

I stand all amazed at the love Jesus offers me
Confused at the grace that so fully he proffers me
I tremble to know that for me he was crucified
That for me, a sinner, he suffered, he bled and died

Chorus:
Oh, it is wonderful that he should care for me enough to die for me
Oh, it is wonderful
Wonderful to me

I marvel that he would descend from his throne divine
To rescue a soul so rebellious and proud as mine
That he should extend his great love unto such as I
Sufficient to own, to redeem and to justify

(Repeat chorus)

I think of his hands, pierced and bleeding to pay my debt
Such mercy, such love and devotion can I forget?
No, no, I will praise and adore at the mercy seat
Until at the glorified throne I kneel at his feet

I stand all amazed at the love Jesus offers me
Secure in the promise of life in his victory
Thus ransomed from death I will live to my Savior's praise
And sing of his goodness and mercy through endless days

Mosiah 7

17 And now, it came to pass on the morrow that king Limhi sent a proclamation among all his people, that thereby they might gather themselves together to the temple, to hear the words which he should speak unto them.
18 And it came to pass that when they had gathered themselves together that he spake unto them in this wise, saying: O ye, my people, lift up your heads and be comforted; for behold, the time is at hand, or is not far distant, when we shall no longer be in subjection to our enemies, notwithstanding our many strugglings, which have been in vain; yet I trust there remaineth an effectual struggle to be made.
19 Therefore, lift up your heads, and rejoice, and put your trust in God, in that God who was the God of Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob; and also, that God who brought the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt, and caused that they should walk through the Red Sea on dry ground, and fed them with fmanna that they might not perish in the wilderness; and many more things did he do for them.
20 And again, that same God has brought our fathers aout of the land of Jerusalem, and has kept and preserved his people even until now; and behold, it is because of our iniquities and abominations that he has brought us into bondage.
33 But if ye will turn to the Lord with full purpose of heart, and put your trust in him, and serve him with all diligence of mind, if ye do this, he will, according to his own will and pleasure, deliver you out of bondage.

Austin, Texas

I love my girls in Mt Bonnell.

 

p.p.s

So, Michael's birthday is coming up in about a month, and I need to send something on next week or so, so that he'll hopefully get it by his birthday! Eeek! Need to start cracking on what I'm gonna do...!

p.s

I'm currently considering changing my major to Art Education, with a minor in American Government Education.

And, on a random note... words that describe my current insecurity. But no, I don't feel like explaining how, or in what context.

supplement
addendum
extraneous
extra
add-on
appendage
attachment
bonus
unnecessary
accessory
superfluous

Recently

Wow, seems like a lot has happened in my life of late. And yet at the same time it's still pretty empty. Currently, I am still looking for a job... With no success. Yeah, pretty lame. And I've been home now for almost two months now... wow, does not seem that long. I guess because when I first got home, the first month or so was spent hanging out with Paula, and then being a loser with no social life, when she left.

Nowadays, I usually hang out with Mandy all day twice a week or so. We seem to be making a habit of hanging out on Tuesdays, and then going to institute together. We are becoming fun amazing friends. Right now she is sick, which is sad, because she coughs all the time, and just looks and sounds very tired. But I still hung out with her all day yesterday and bossed her around to make her sleep and such things... hehe! woops! That's okay though, I think she needed it. And she wouldn't let me do much else for her ;)

I've recently been adopted into what I believe is referred to as the "Pretty Pretty" group... haha. Sorry if that sounds like a flashback from The Uglies, series. Promise we're not air headed though. It's a circle of lovely amazing girls. And we're constantly helping each other through our individual crises. I expect to grow a lot this semester, and a big part of that growth will be because of my circle of girls. I hope to continue to grow closer to those wonderful girls!

I've decided that if since I am home, and since I have so much free time, and since I do not have a job, there must be a reason. Last time life was like this (last fall), I decided in hindsight that gaining the wonderful miss Lindy Lee, as a friend was a big part of why I was home, and why Michael went to college a semester before me. And while I certainly love, adore, and very much appreciate the friendships I am making down here this semester... and hope to keep many of them for a life time, and beyond!! I think there's more to me being home.

I've idled a lot of my time of late, and I think I'm done. With that aspect. I'm making a goal, to read the Book of Mormon every month until I go back to school. And then, at least once a semester, if not twice. I also want to attend the temple. I started to go several times a week, before I left Idaho, and I certainly miss that aspect.

I'm pretty certain my Graves' Disease is coming out of remission. And I've ignored it for a couple months now... and I'm pretty sure it's time to do something about it. I'm becoming more fidgety, and anxious, and nervous. I frequently suffer from fatigue, or insomnia. I can almost always feel my heart beat as strong and as heavy as, in Colby's words, "an army marching." When I wake up in the morning, I am seriously hot, physically, and internally. And no amount of cold liquids does anything for it. And my heart is racing as though I've been jogging, even though it should be as slow as ever since Ive just been sitting in bed. I feel like my eye sight is deteriorating, and I'm losing weight (though the weight I can also place blame on myself for!) So... yeah! not very good signs.

At any rate, I've learned a lot in the last week. More than I can even describe or share with you. Right now, I'm going to go do homework, and read my scriptures, and then make lots of phone calls to a series of doctors. Hope you, my friends, have a wonderful day!

Fridays

I haven't written in forever... I know! I'm sorry. At any rate, yesterday, I went over to my new friend Amanda (Mandy) Wood's place. She's the new nanny for the Lee-Wen's. She took over for Lindy when she left.

For the most part I just hung around the house while she got Caleb all fed, and such. But when he went to take his nap, we watched a movie, (and ate rice and beans, that Mandy had cooked for our lunch!). And after the movie we sat on the couch for a while talking. Which is always good. I don't think we'll end up being like best friends or anything, but she's pretty fun. She reminds me a lot, of Lindy, but her personality is very different in a lot of respects. When Caleb woke up, and Eilie got back from school, we painted pretty pictures! lol. Fun times, I know. Around 6:30 I think, I left and it was seriously POURING, like I've never seen so much rain in my life. NO visibility, man. And while I was driving home, this guy randomly stops dead--in the middle of the highway, I mean, really!? And I had to swerve into the other lane, and I started hydroplaining.. and just, YAH! At any rate, I did get home okay. And I texted Mandy when I got home to let her know that I was safely at home.

Ate dinner with the fam, and then scurried off to Beth's birthday party, which was located at Ali Hancock's place, in Cedar Park (forever and a day away). Beth is a girl in the Mt Bonnell Singles Ward, that I really don't know all that well, but hey! Gotta go to the parties, right? Yep! Anyway, lots of fun smiling people were there at the party. Virginia, Shaunna, Caroline, Ali, Kayla, Tiffany... you know! And Mandy got there a couple minutes after I did.

A bunch of people, including the first three girls I mentioned, and Mandy, ended up playing a version of like King of the Mountain, with this huge floating circle, in the pool. I of course, avoided it, since I can't get my ear wet! Hole in the eardrum and all. But they certainly had a lot of fun. So I took pictures for a while, and then got in and swam around. As it got later, more people started to dissipate away from the party... and I joined the group of people sitting in the hot tub. We started to play truth or dare, and two truths and a lie, and that kind of thing, you know. And slowly more and more people started to leave, until it was left down to Ali, Mandy, and I, and a guy named Jake, that I don't really know (like, at all!) lol. We got into all kinds of deep conversations, and just talked for like, EVER! lol. It was lots of fun, and I found out some exciting, entertaining things about Ali. And it was a bonding moment, of course!

At any rate, Mandy and I didn't leave until like 3am haha. I got a text at midnight from Steve, my brother in law, saying "My, aren't we out late tonight?" lol... which was pretty funny, considering I got that text three hours later. At any rate, I texted Mandy to make sure she had gotten home, because she had been starting to look pretty tired by the time we left. And then proceeded to stay up for the next like hour.. haha. What a party.

Lots of fun though!
Live life!

Turtle's Funeral

I spent the afternoon today, making Turtle's headstone, and digging a hole for his grave. After I was done with that, I put his body in the ground, and covered it with ash, and the blanket I made him when he was little that had his name stitched into it.

After putting vines and food around him, I called my mother out to let her see the grave, and then she requested to put the dirt in. First, however, we said a prayer over the spot, and then covered him, and lined the grave with rocks.

Ode to Turtle

Today was a wonderful day, until I got home and was told one after another by four different people within 15 seconds of walking in the door, that my bunny had died. The fourth person, being my jerk brother, who is insensitive, sarcastic, and rude.

So, somehow... the door "became open" and the bunny got out. Something must have got him, because he is now dead. I would have preferred that my family left him alone, so that I could deal with him myself. But no, my family prefers to try and be helpful, which is rarely appreciated.

So, here is a picture journal of Turtle's life with me.


Turtle's first day at home!




Turtle's first Easter, shortly after getting him!


Turtle's trip to Church (day before his trip to high school!)


Turtle on his harness and leash running around the yard.
I was going to pull out his harness and let him run around tomorrow...


Turtle on the last day that I held him, and the last day he got one of Emily's home made salads that were just for him.

I love you Turtle, and I shall see you once I have been twinkled.

Organ Donor

Today I became an organ donor! I always wanted to become one, and now I'm 18, and I decided to do it! I feel the love man! Spread the Love and feel the Love!

And if you feel comfortable with it, you should all do it too!!
muah!

Click Here to Register! at OrganDonor.Gov

Cecil O. Samuelson, Jr., Dean, regional representative and physician. February Ensign 1988

Organ transplantation is one of the true medical wonders of our age. Medical science has progressed to the point that the replacement of an injured or diseased body part, such as a kidney, cornea of the eye, heart, liver, bone, bone marrow, skin, or pancreas is becoming fairly common. Most donors plan before they die to give certain organs or tissues. However, some organs—such as kidneys—can be donated to someone in need while the donor is still living.

As is the case with many other scientific developments, there are many questions about organ transplantation that have serious economic, ethical, moral, and religious implications. And, as with many other important aspects of life, we have been counseled to study the information, make decisions, and pray for wisdom about our choices. (See D&C 9:7–9; D&C 58:26–28.)

The Church has taken no official position on organ transplants. It seems obvious, however, that organ transplantation does not affect one’s resurrection, since the organ would soon have returned to the basic elements of the earth following death anyway. Whatever happens to an organ following death, we are promised that “every limb and joint shall be restored to its body, yea, even a hair of the head shall not be lost.” (Alma 40:23.)

In the meantime, wonderful blessings have come to thousands of people and to their families through organ donation and replacement. Several doctors who work with transplantation have shared with me inspirational stories and letters from those who have received this special service. Families grieving from the death of a loved one have been greatly comforted by the knowledge that other lives have been saved or measurably improved after receiving a vital organ transplant. Other families have been spared serious illness or death because a living family member was able to donate an organ to a loved one.

As I work with the givers and receivers and see the selfless love that is evident in this gift of life and health, I am often reminded of what Peter and John did when they met the lame beggar as they went into the temple. The lame man asked only for alms but instead was healed. To the one in need, Peter said, “Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee.” (Acts 3:6.)

Those who are considering donating a kidney to a loved one should be aware that only those who meet strict requirements will be considered as donors. Because of careful screening, and because of advances in transplantation techniques, donors do not face the risk they did just a few years ago. A healthy person can give a kidney, for example, and continue to live a normal life, sustained by the remaining kidney.

While the matter of vital organ transplantation remains a highly personal one, it deserves prayerful consideration.