Weekend Activities

A while back I purchased more discount tickets for Hollywood Connection.

This time I only bought two.

I decided that the boys were old enough to run free while I hung out and watched.

I was surprised when the first thing they wanted to do was mini golf.

I knew they loved golfing, but I thought they'd hit some of the rides first.

In the end, they did hit all the rides.

But they also did mini golf THREE times!

The other thing that surprised me was when they decided to skate.

My kids are TERRIBLE skaters!

It really is just a matter of exposure - they are incredibly inexperienced.

Ammon was determined, though, and he made a LOT of progress.

He was able to skate extremely competently on the carpet.

And he survived several laps in the rink.

I LOVED skating as a kid, so watching him get this down made me SO happy!

Peter also made improvements.

This was a great kick off to our weekend.

It was a fun way to spend a Friday night while Andrew worked.

On Saturday, Peter had his last soccer game of the season.

They played in costume!

It was a fun field to watch.

Peter had a lot of fun and I'm glad he enjoys soccer.

I'm also glad for a break during the winter.

When it snowed last week, we decided we couldn't procrastinate winterizing the swamp cooler any longer.

Andrew watched a few you-tube videos and had it taken care of in no time.

He is so good at taking care of so many things around the house.

He is like a jack of all trades.

I appreciate his eagerness and self-fulfillment in taking care of our home.

Sunday capped off our lovely weekend.

The boys had their Primary Program at church and they both did a great job!

Peter learned his part weeks ago!

He surprised us both by reading his part off the paper we were given.

I was shocked that he could read it.

A few minutes later he repeated it again and was thrilled.

"I can read it without looking!"

In the end, the boys memorized each others parts as well as their own.

They also did a great job singing the songs.

The Primary Program almost seems to suspend time for me.

There is something so powerful about children singing and speaking about the gospel of Jesus Christ.

I remember being the child up on the stand singing the songs.

And I remember Ammon being the three year old, Peter just a babe in arms.

And here they are, five and eight.

Time goes so fast sometimes.

I saw some of the primary teachers.

One of the women in the ward grew up here.

I don't know if she spent her primary days in this neighborhood or not.

But I thought of the memories she must have in this chapel as a child/youth.

And now it is her children presenting the program.

I saw another leader who was a grandma.

I felt like with a blink of the eye, I would be the grandma there.

I love that we FINALLY have a permanent home.

There is something wonderful about knowing that we are participating in neighborhood traditions.

I watch my boys getting a drink out of the church drinking fountain and marvel that in ten years they will be getting a drink from that same spot.

We've never had this level of permanence before.

There is something comforting about it.

It is an intangible treasure.

I spent Sunday night sitting on my couch.

Andrew made a fire and I stared into it, enjoying the warmth.

I looked over and saw my beautiful view of the mountains.

My camera was retrieved and I took pictures from that very spot.

Then, as long as I had my camera out, I gathered my three guys.

And I took a picture of the most beautiful view of all.

Needless to say, I finished this weekend feeling very fortunate indeed.

Life is good.

It isn't perfect.

It isn't at all what I always dreamed it would be.

But it is so very good.

Life is beautiful.

And I feel blessed.

Sunday

Yesterday as I sat in church waiting for Sunday School to begin I started watching the people around me.  I knew that the woman preparing to teach the lesson had lost her child to a difficult disease over a decade ago.  I didn't know her at that time, but I have vague memories of her son passing away because he was friends and peers with several of my friends.  This weekend in a random conversation, I was reminded that his death actually happened ON Christmas day.  Can you imagine the heartache and the emotional time Christmas must be for her now?  I watched her faithfully setting things up and bustling around the room with her lesson ready and was touched by her strength as I considered the heart-wrenching pain she had experienced.  To look at her you would never know she had faced such a loss.

My eyes began to wander around the room to others that were there.  I saw an elderly couple sitting side by side.  Just a few weeks ago I dropped a salad off at the church for the funeral of his mother, who had lived with them.  Last week the sister shared her testimony in Relief Society and expressed the heartache she felt despite the fact that her mother-in-law was quite old and her death had been expected.  It was still a loss and she felt the pain keenly.

Just behind that couple sat a woman who's father had slipped off a ladder and hit his head.  He passed away just a few days later.  His funeral was just a few short days ago.

I sat in the next row behind her, but behind me was another woman I admire.  She is caring for her elderly mother, who is starting another round of radiation for a recurring cancer.

I looked over to the other side of the room and saw the man who was just newly called into our bishopric.  About a month ago he had called my husband, networking for jobs.  His employment recently went through a change in their pay structure, and he is suddenly facing unexpected financial strain and desperately striving to find a way to keep up on their expenses.  I was touched that at a time in his life when things may seem out of control and overwhelming, he is willing to faithfully offer countless hours of service to his neighbors each week.

And a row or two in front of him was the man who had lived without the gospel during thirty years of inactivity, but shares his testimony every week through his comments and participation in the lessons.

Many of the other people in that room are still strangers to me.  But I know of several tragedies that have been faced by the individuals in my ward - death of loved ones (spouses, parents etc), health concerns, employment issues, divorce, infertility, heartbreak for one thing or another.  Knowing these histories I scanned the room and was strengthened.  These people have been through the fires of life, and yet here they were, stronger and more faithful than ever in their commitment to Jesus Christ.

The lesson began and we talked about many beautiful things.  We discussed the Savior appearing to the people in America after his resurrection.  While He was there He taught them the same things he spoke of at the Sermon on the Mount.  We read a verse in the Doctrine and Covenants which said,

"When men are called unto mine everlasting gospel, and covenant with an everlasting covenant, they are accounted as the salt of the earth and the savor of men"

and then a few chapters later we read:

"For they were set to be a light unto the world, and to be the saviors of men; and inasmuch as they are not the saviors of men, they are as salt that has lost its savor."

We discussed what it meant for us to be saviors of men and suddenly the strengthening I had felt, simply by being in the company of the people around me, began to make sense.  The Savior did not just tell us the way - he showed us the way. 

In prophesying of the Savior, King Benjamin said:

"And lo, he shall suffer temptations, and pain of body, hunger, thirst, and fatigue, even more than man can suffer, except it be unto death; for behold, blood cometh from every pore, so great shall be his anguish for the wickedness and the abominations of his people."

One of the things that made the Savior our Savior was that He came to this earth.  He experienced life.  He does not ask of us to do anything that He didn't do himself.  (In fact, He asks much less.)  CS Lewis said,

“No man knows how bad he is till he has tried very hard to be good. A silly idea is current that good people do not know what temptation means. This is an obvious lie. Only those who try to resist temptation know how strong it is.  After all... you find out the strength of a wind by trying to walk against it, not by lying down. A man who gives in to temptation after five minutes simply does not know what it would have been like an hour later. That is why bad people, in one sense, know very little about badness — they have lived a sheltered life by always giving in. We never find out the strength of the evil impulse inside us until we try to fight it: and Christ, because He was the only man who never yielded to temptation, is also the only man who knows to the full what temptation means — the only complete realist.”

The Savior spent a lifetime of hardship and difficulty.  But ultimately, He didn't falter.  He lived the life the Father asked Him to live.

Likewise, as I scanned the room, I saw a group of people who had been battered and bruised.  Much like the Army of Helaman - all have been injured.  In this group of people who, both past and present, have experienced difficulty beyond their comprehension, I saw valiant children of a loving Heavenly Father who had not given up or been lost, but who had been strengthened.  And I realized, these are they who can then turn and become saviors of men.  They can truly say, "I know you can be healed, because I was healed."  They can testify of THE Savior because through their experiences, they came to truly know Him.  They have firsthand experience with His power.  They know that the peace He offers is stronger than any storm.

I sometimes reflect on the difficulties I have faced in my own life.  A lot of them didn't seem fair and I wondered what I had done wrong or why I was being punished.  Certain experiences seemed to come at costs that could never be compensated for.  Damages seemed irreparable and sometimes having an eternal perspective only seemed to heighten the heartache, not resolve it.  But in retrospect I see things differently.  Never have I faced a struggle that the atonement of Jesus Christ hasn't healed me of.  Line upon line I learned and experienced His healing power in ways that had been previously beyond my comprehension.  Daily I continue to see miracles occur, prayers answered, and blessings given.  I realized that in my own small way, perhaps I can stand as a savior to men, through my testimony of THE Savior of men.

It felt good to be in the company of these people - this group who can act as saviors of men not because they had it easier or better than other people, but because they have gone through fires and struggles.  From the outside they look simple and ordinary.  But their strength is sure, and it made a difference to me.  I'm so grateful to be a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and to be blessed by the people I see at church each week.

Thanks, Brian

Last night Andrew was acting like a kid on Christmas Eve.

He was so excited because the next day was bringing him a visit from his best friend.

A friend who decided to move off to Georgia which means visits are few and far between.

It made him feel old to realize that he and Brian have been friends for 20 years!

Andrew lived down the street from me.

Brian lived directly across the street.

They weren't my age and I payed very little attention to them.

All of those years that I was oblivious to the two of them, they were friends.

They spent those years growing up in each others homes.

I've heard stories about sleepovers with nachos and M&M's.

Andrew and I started dating after we were all home from missions.

Andrew had a car and Brian and I took advantage of it.

The three of us rode to school together regularly.

One day Andrew wasn't there and it was just Brian and me.

Brian used that as an opportunity to help out (spy for) his friend.

"So, what's going on between you and Andy?" he slyly asked.

"Is it serious?"

At that moment, I had been facing some real hesitations about my developing relationship with Andrew.

We had just gone out on a large group date with a bunch of his friends.

There were girls as young as 18 in that group.

I was 22.

At that age, four years felt REALLY different.

I started to question whether or not I could see a future with this "younger" guy.

I started to waffle a bit at Brian's question.

"I don't know, I mean, we're talking about Andy Shadel."

(I almost spat the name out.)

As I always tell people - Andy Shadel wasn't just the boy down the street.

He was the boy down the street's LITTLE brother!

My condescending response fired Brian up a little.

He was nice, but he immediately put me in my place by asking what in the world I meant.

I can't remember his exact words, but I remember his tone.

And he basically told me that Andy Shadel is a great catch and I would be a fool to let him go.

Brian's conviction and allegiance to Andrew really struck me.

My trivial concerns about age melted away.

That was a real turning point in our relationship.

It isn't something I think about often.

It's really more of an afterthought.

But every once in a while I pause.

And I wonder if Andrew and I would have gotten married if it weren't for Brian.

After Brian left today I mentioned that story to Andy - I had never told him about that experience.

Andrew's response was immediate as he softly said, "I'll have to thank Brian for that."

Which is exactly why I know I should thank Brian too.

Month 1 Results

1 Month = 13 Pounds Lost!

I was hoping for 16 pounds for the month because that was my goal to get out of obesity.  But I have been consistent with my weight loss, and expect that I will achieve that goal next week, so I'm not too disappointed about it at this point.  The diet has just become routine and easy to manage.  I still haven't been great about incorporating exercise into it, though.  One day I did a 20 minute mile on the treadmill and another day I did about ten minutes.  Certainly nothing to brag about.  But I guess it was more than I had done the previous week, so we can call it improvement.  I'm really hoping that I can find a good way to come off of this diet and continue losing 1-2 pounds per week.  It will take so much longer that way, but also (hopefully) be so much cheaper.  In the mean time, I have enough food to last at least four more weeks even if I don't start transitioning off of it at all.  Another twelve pounds will put me right about the weight I was when I was nursing Peter and in Arizona.  I'm pretty sure that it the lightest I've been post-baby.  In fact, it's pretty close to what I weighed when we got married.  Unfortunately, when I weighed that much post-baby I felt like I needed to lose another 30 pounds.  When I weighed that much getting married I felt like I needed to lose 40 pounds.  My goal weight is actually a compromise between those two sizes.  I am shooting for about 35 pounds lighter than my marriage weight or about 15 pounds lighter than I was when I left on my mission.  When I left on my mission I had just put on about 20 pounds from the smallest size I had ever been as an adult (or adolescent for that matter).  Anyway, the point is that I still have a long way to go  - and into numbers that I haven't seen in more than a decade.  If only I were rich enough to stay on this diet - I know I could get there.  But I'll have to buck up and do it the hard way.

One thing I haven't really talked about was why now.  My weight has been something I've been trying to address for several years.  I've been better at addressing the exercise side of it than the food side of it.  (Ironic since I am currently doing the opposite - I really need to do BOTH.)  But at this point I am gaining education with the goal of helping people live healthier lives on a psychological level.  Part of that is teaching people to find balance in their lives and to accomplish goals and live authentic to the people they want to be. Being obese or even overweight is not authentic to who I want to be.  I feel like a hypocrite if I am trying to teach people how to improve their lives if I cannot take the responsibility to improve the things in my life that need to be addressed.  Anyway, that is the main reason I feel so driven to just dig in and do this thing without excuses at this point.  I feel like I am going through a transformation right now of trying to be a certain person, and part of who I envision that person to be is someone living life at a healthy, maintained weight.

"And I Say To Myself, What a Wonderful World"

We knew we wouldn't get a chance to celebrate our anniversary with how busy we were that weekend.

Andrew had arranged to take the day before off of work.

But Peter only has school for about two hours on Fridays.

And I had a couple of papers due that weekend.

I knew it would be a waste of his vacation time.

So we postponed a few weeks.

He scheduled a Thursday off so we could benefit from the kids school schedule.

We didn't get to go away, but we spent the ENTIRE day together.

It was splendid!!!

I actually had some CASA responsibilities to tend to first thing in the morning.

I left just as the kids were getting up for school.

Andrew fed them (he does that every day)

And got Ammon off to school (he does that every day, too).

He and Peter took a quick trip to Home Depot.

He finished up about the time I was completing my reports.

And at that point it was time to drop Peter off to play with his cousin Kambria.

I have been jealous of all of the beautiful Fall pictures I've been seeing.

I knew that one thing I wanted was to get into the mountains.

A friend of mine posted some pictures and told me it was Yellow Fork Canyon.

The canyon was here on the West side of the valley, so it seemed like a good option.

We had fun!

We had a nice, private walk.

We saw a few bikers and some horse back riders.

But for the most part, we were by ourselves.

We didn't walk far - about a mile round trip.

Our time was limited, so we stopped at the picnic tables and just spent some time talking.

We talked in greater detail about some of the things we face in our day to day lives.

I could feel some of life's stress just melt away.

I really realized how important it is to have date time as a couple.

It was nice to just be able to talk to each other away from home and kids.

I can tell Andrew loves me so much.

I'm basing that simply on the fact that he will let me take limitless pictures.

He doesn't even complain.

We picked Peter up from my sister-in-law just in time to feed him lunch.

Then we rushed him off to school and headed to the temple.

For more than three months we have lived two miles from the temple.

I'm embarrassed to admit, I haven't been since we've moved.

I was SO excited to finally go to OUR temple.

I know a sister in the ward who works at the temple.

I know that Thursday is her regular day.

I realized I still think of Jordan River as THE temple.

I was completely surprised to see her at the Oquirrh Mountain temple.

It was fun to have a neighbor there.

It reminded me again that this is home now.

Sitting in the temple was such a beautiful feeling.

I have felt strongly about heading in certain directions in my life.

Those feelings seemed to come more strongly and crisply in the temple.

It rejuvenated my strength and commitment.

I began to feel an overwhelming sense of joy.

I have been working on teaching Ammon and Peter scripture mastery scriptures.

It's a goal I've had for the past year.

We finally learned our first scripture this week:

2 Nephi 9:25

"Adam fell that man might be and men are that they might have joy."

I really felt that as I sat in the temple.

Heavenly Father loves us so much and has the ability to fill us with unspeakable joy.

It is a beautiful thing.

I began to feel excited about my upcoming birthday.

I'm turning 35 and I haven't been sure whether or not that was a good thing.

It seems like another landmark age.

Suddenly I just felt grateful for the added wisdom and understanding that comes with age.

I am excited to have 35 years of experience with a loving Heavenly Father.

A more enlightened view of His interactions, blessings and miracles than I did even five years ago.

Aging is a blessing.

After the session, we walked out and I was struck by the beautiful view of the Jordan River Temple.

We grew up in South Jordan and we were married in that temple.

It made my heart skip a beat to be standing next to my eternal sweetheart.

Eleven years later, we are happier than ever.

I feel so fortunate.

The view from Oquirrh Mountain is so beautiful.

I LOVE living in the Salt Lake valley!

We had a gorgeous view of the Draper temple as well.

After the session we picked the boys up from school.

We surprised them by letting them know they were going to spend the evening with their cousins.

They were SO excited!

(So were we!)

We dropped them off and headed out for some shopping.

(This was the part of the date Andrew was in charge of - he likes to shop.)

After hitting a couple of stores, we headed out to dinner.

We went to Chili's where we had the best waiter ever.

(My brother Dan - he's awesome!)

After dinner we picked a spot along the Jordan River Parkway.

We enjoyed these final moments together, walking hand in hand.

We even got in a good kiss or two...

I can't imagine a more perfect day.

Big thanks to all of you who helped make it possible.

And the biggest thanks of all, to my wonderful husband - whom I adore!

Week 3 Results

3 LBS

After three weeks I have hit the ten pound mark!  Yay!!!  I could seriously keep on this diet pretty much as long as I needed to in terms of not cheating.  I miss foods at different times, but I'm never hungry or tempted to binge eat.  Sadly, I have decided that I just can't afford it, so I have five weeks of food left and then I am done.  Hopefully I'll continue to have some good loss between now and the time I run out of "diet food".

This week my weight did the same thing as it did the week before - it kind of plateaued for several days, but then I saw the drop at the end.  The nice thing was I really starting to FEEL different in terms of my size.  I have always heard that YOU start noticing your weight loss at around ten pounds and that other people start seeing it at twenty.  I can say that ten pounds, though likely not that noticeable to anyone besides myself and my husband, felt great!  I just woke up yesterday morning FEELING skinnier.  It was awesome. 

Because this diet has such a severe cut in calories, it is recommended that you don't exercise for the first two weeks as your body adjusts.  I am now finished with the third week, and I have yet to incorporate exercise into it.  Especially knowing that I am going to have to quite this diet earlier than I had hoped, I really need to get on that exercise piece both to make the most of my potential loss and to redevelop good habits.  I used to walk three miles a day pretty much five days a week on a regular basis.  But I think it's been more than a year since that's been part of my regular routine.  Time to bring it back!

Halloween Cruise

This semester has found my children parent-less on Monday nights.

Andrew works until after bedtime.

And I was beyond belief frustrated when I learned that I had a class I needed to take during that time.

It has been hard on me to leave my children abandoned week after week.

So when I saw discount tickets for a "Halloween Cruise" I decided to jump on them.

And to celebrate Fall Break - my one week without a class - I took the boys.

I picked them up from school and we headed down to Orem.

After running a quick errand for my Grandma, we stopped for dinner.

(McDonald's - seriously gross, but it made me the coolest mom ever!)

My sister and her family met us at the cruise.

We were the first riders of the night.

The weather was pleasant and the boys had fun with their cousins.

The boys LOVED the pirate that "attacked" our cruise.

He asked if anyone knew any pirate jokes and Ammon immediately piped up.

"Why does a pirate have a hard time learning the alphabet?"

"Because he always gets stuck at 'c'!"

On the way home we stopped by to drop some things off to my Grandma.

Peter couldn't stop talking about what a great time he had.

The details of every moment just kept pouring out of him with so much enthusiasm.

(Ammon was busy "helping" Grandpa play a computer game.)

The next morning it was Ammon's turn to share the story of our evening.

He had the same unbridled animation as he told Andrew about our cruise.

It was a fun night!

I wish Andrew could have been there with us.

In the mean time, I think it was a good memory for the boys.

I know it was for me.

Week 2 Results

3 lbs

I was hoping for a solid 4 lbs of weight loss this week  Last week I lost 3.8 lbs but my weight loss ticker had rounded it up as 4, so I went with it.  This week my weight loss ticker is at 7 lbs, which means if last week I counted 4 I can only count 3 for this week.  The reality is that this week was 3.6.  I'm actually kind of impressed with the consistency of the two weeks.  I am 8.4 lbs from my first goal which means I'm not on target to hit it in the 4 weeks that I was hoping for.  But I am starting to care less.  The weight is coming off, and at the moment, that is enough for me.  And who knows, maybe I'll be able to add in some exercise that would put me over the top and still allow me to reach that goal.

The second week started out kind of discouraging.  My weight just seemed to hover and stay pretty much the same for about five days (the end of last week and the beginning of this one).  My dad kept telling me that his weight did the same thing and that I was "due for a drop".  I kept with the diet despite not getting the motivating results I wanted.  And then the drop came.

This week I am also using  a George Forman grill to cook up my own chicken.  This is making it easier for me to have my "lean and green" meal at a better time of day rather than relying on Andrew to come grill up some food when he gets home from work at 8:30 at night.

I am getting less consumed with waiting for my next meal.  In fact there have been several times this week where I completely missed my eating time and had to hurry and grab some food.  I also realized that the diet allows me to eat every 2-3 hours.  Originally I was going every 3 hours on the dot and that made for a really LONG day.  I would eat my first meal at 7:30 in the morning and then need to stay up until 10:30 to finish the last one.  I have shortened it so that those last few meals come closer together and as a result I have been getting to bed earlier.  I like it.

This weekend I will be ordering another months worth of food.  The financial aspect of this still concerns me.  I feel like I am robbing my children of their Christmas because, seriously, I pretty much am.  Things are going to be meager in that way.  But Andrew is very supportive of this choice and as much as I feel like I am being selfish, I really hope that my children also appreciate having a more fit and healthy mom.  It might make Christmas a little less magical, but hopefully it will help me be a better mom to them overall.  Although I optimistic that I will be able to maintain the weight loss once I get there, I don't think I would be able to lose weight in a less extreme way.  I feel like I am still resetting my relationship with food and if I tried to just go back to a moderation and calorie counting approach, I think I would still find myself struggling and going back between starvation and eating the wrong calories/not getting the right nutrition.  At this point I am planning on four months of weight loss time on this program and then we'll see how the transition and maintenance phases go.  As those four months wind down, I think I will start switching out Medifast "meals" for regular food and see if I can establish "real food" substitutions that will work in my life.

But I'm getting ahead of myself.  Right now I am 14 days in and 7 lbs down.  I'm pretty happy about that!  

General Relief Society Meeting - Sister Burton

When we got engaged, I had already picked a date.  In fact, I had called the temple and scheduled our wedding.  (You can read about that here.) Imagine my disappointment when we realized that we were planning our wedding reception smack in the middle of the General Relief Society Meeting. We were faced with the question of whether or not we should change our date. It just didn't seem appropriate to have an evening where we would prevent others from attending such a special night. In the end, I couldn't give up my date. I really wanted to marry in September and there was just something about the number 29 that I loved. We realized that it meant a lifetime of difficulty celebrating our anniversary - that the weekends surrounding it would always be the General Relief Society Meeting and General Conference. We tried to stagger the time of our reception so that the bulk of it would fall after the meeting was over. We included a note in our invitations encouraging the women to first attend the meeting and then join us at our reception afterwards. The plan was that myself and the family members who were missing the meeting would be able to watch it later online. (I don't know about the others, but I am pretty sure that never happened for me.)

I still love our wedding date, and really the difficulty of it has been fairly minimal. With modest finances, we've always had modest celebrations. Last year we were able to get away for a couple of days, but we actually made that work during the week, so it was fine as well. This is the first year that our anniversary once again fell on the exact same day as the meeting. And without hesitation my husband sacrificed our time together and encouraged me to attend. I often attend with the women in my family. My sister's stake always puts on a really nice dinner and then we watch the broadcast together in their chapel. This year, however, both her stake and my stake were given tickets to attend the broadcast live. I had mixed feelings about this. It is nice to attend general conference and other such meetings live, but I've been blessed to be able to do that a lot and sometimes it is just more of a hassle to go downtown and fight through the crowds. My sister had some scheduling conflicts and decided she couldn't make it work. My sister-in-law, having just had a new baby, also decided she couldn't take that much time away either. I honestly didn't want to go downtown except for one silly reason. This was the first General Relief Society Meeting with the new presidency and I was excited to actually be there at the beginning of this new era in Relief Society. My mom, knowing how much I love Relief Society and understanding the importance of this to me, came with me.

We were sitting down on the main level over on the far right. That means we were able to see all of the general authorities and other people coming out onto the stand. Elder Anderson was the first one I spotted, busily going back and forth. After a while I noticed that President Monson's daughter was on the stand sitting next to an elderly woman who I quickly realized was the wife of our prophet. As the meeting came closer to a start, we stood as President Monson came out with both President Eyring and President Uchtdorf.

The meeting began with Sister Burton conducting. Once she told us the order of the meeting she began with these modest words, firm with understanding, "My beloved sisters, you have been on my mind and in my heart for months as I have pondered this challenging responsibility. Though I don’t feel equal to the responsibility placed upon me, I know that the call has come from the Lord through His chosen prophet, and for now, that is enough. The scriptures teach that “whether by [the Lord’s] voice or by the voice of [His] servants, it is the same.”

I love belonging to The Church of Jesus Christ and knowing that he has called women to lead with the inherent compassion, love and understanding that comes from the feminine heart. I love Relief Society and I love womanhood. It is something that took me a while to grow into, but I am so grateful for a loving Heavenly Father who has instructed us that gender is not accidental and that it is an inherent part of who we are - worthy of celebration and wrought with responsibility.

Before completely introducing her talk, Sister Burton said, "As a new Relief Society presidency, we have sought the Lord earnestly to know what essential things He would have us put in our Relief Society handcart to continue moving His work forward. We have felt that Heavenly Father would first have us help His beloved daughters understand the doctrine of the Atonement of Jesus Christ. As we do so, we know our faith will increase, as will our desire to live righteously. Second, as we have considered the critical need to strengthen families and homes, we have felt that the Lord would have us encourage His beloved daughters to cheerfully cleave to their covenants. When covenants are kept, families are strengthened. Finally, we feel He would have us work in unity with the other auxiliaries and with our priesthood leaders, striving to seek out and help those in need to progress along the path. It is our fervent prayer that each of us will open our hearts and let the Lord engrave in them the doctrines of the Atonement, covenants, and unity."

In these words I expect we see the theme that will likely flow from these leaders mouths for the next five years. I have really only been aware of the last two presidencies in terms of their teachings and how they evolved, the second building on the first. The messages from our General Relief Society presidencies are like the messages from the prophets. We find that each has their own theme, but if you look back and consider what the messages being taught are, you find that Heavenly Father called certain people, inspired certain messages, and had it come together in a specific order, teaching us "line upon line". I was excited to have this new message revealed and consider how it has come to be built upon the foundation of the previous presidency.

In her talk, Sister Burton highlighted three main points about the Atonement. They are:

1. All that is unfair about life can be made right through the Atonement of Jesus Christ.

2. There is power in the Atonement to enable us to overcome the natural man or woman and become true disciples of Jesus Christ.

3. The Atonement is the greatest evidence we have of the Father’s love for His children.

I hope that I can live up to my responsibilities in deepening my personal understanding of these principles and then in teaching them to my children. What a blessing to have such great leadership to follow. There is so much power in the message that was shared, and this is just the beginning. Three more beautiful testimonies and teachings were shared. Thoughts on those will come in another post.

Big thanks to my husband for giving up our anniversary celebration so that I could attend this meeting.  Another big thanks to my mom who took the time to go with me simply because she knew it mattered to me.  I know that the spirit would have been just as strong had I been watching a broadcast somewhere else.  The messages would have been just as poignant and impactful.  But I now have a precious memory of sitting in the conference center next to my mom while these instructions were given.  Similar to being able to sustain President Monson in person, I feel fortunate to live in a place where I can have these sorts of memorable experiences.