Last of all

and most importantly, I am thankful for the gospel.

(I just cannot blog anymore every day. I meant to end this yesterday, obviously, but I am never really good at timing)

10 years ago  (in a few days) I made the best decision of my life. I told Derek I was going to be a Mormon too, after him and his friends wouldn't stop bragging about wake boarding at youth activities.

I can't express how grateful I am to him, that he took it seriously, that he recognized a missionary opportunity and ran with it. And set up my first meeting with the missionaries for the next day. I am grateful to all the wonderful people who supported me, loved me, and taught me, and stood by as I grew my testimony.

You don't realize, when you join this religion, that it is a completee lifestyle. It's not a Sunday-only kind of religion. The kid where you go to church and pray and wear nice clothes and profess your testimony and then go home and take off your dress and along with it, your professions to do good, to live the gospel, to follow Christ, and to give that to others. It is so so so much more. It is sometimes a lot of work. Nobody in y church is paid to keep the church running. My friend is the Sunday school teacher. Another plays the organ or piano for each church meeting. Another works the nursery so that little kids can have a place to learn the gospel and eat snacks and be happy while their parents attend their classes. My bishop is a 30-something year old father of 4 young kids, with a full time job. After that he spends countless hours each week counseling, and running our congregation.  My husband paid his own way to drop college and life for 2 years to learn a new language and share the gospel in a foreign country, and some of my nieces and nephews are now doing the same. And it's like that all the way up to the apostles and prophet of the church. It can be a lot of work.

But it is so worth it. To grow every day, to learn of God, to share that with others.

I am so thankful for those who gave it to me. It turned my life around and answered any question I had, erased any doubt. I don't ever worry about what happens after I die, or if my family will be together in heaven, or if friends or family I lose in mortality will live again.

Because I know.

I know that Jesus is the Christ, and that my Heavenly Father created me. And that he sent me to earth to endure trials and learn and live the way I should, and to help others. And I know that when I die, I will have a place to go, and I will have my husband and children and family with me. I know that families can be together forever.

I also know that my Heavenly father loves me, and hears me. That I can pray to him any time and get answers or comfort and love.  He knows you too, I promise. And He is ready to listen to anything you want to tell Him-He knows what you are going through, and He loves you.
I know that He has placed the Church on the earth, with the priesthood and it's powers, I have seen that priesthood in action, I have felt it bless and change my life.  I know that Thomas Monson is a prophet of God, and that God still speaks to us in these days- He didn't intend on limited revelation, and I am grateful for that, because life is so much different than it was when His Son was on the earth. I know that Christ atoned for my sins, and made it so that I could gain eternal life, be freed from sin, and renew covenants. And I am grateful for the temple, that I was able to be married there. It wasn't easy, being married without my family there, and I so wish they had been in that beautiful room with me. But I know that I had to, I have to be sealed to Damon, have to have my children sealed to me. I am also grateful that my wonderful family supports me in that and other decisions. They are my rock, and I am grateful for everything they have given me.




I hope you all know how grateful I am for YOU! And I hope you remember to give a prayer of thanks for the blessings in your life. Sometimes they are easy to forget about, in the day-on, day-out... But they are always there, if you stop and think about them.

I think I need a few days off from blogging. I have 2 more days with Damon out of school, and we have some partying to do!!

peace and blessin's, peace an blessin's!