New Year, New Goals

2014 was a whirlwind year for this family, and for me.  In February I got called to serve as the Secretary in Primary.  At the same time I also was asked to join an amazing team called the Lemon Droppers.  I said yes to both and wow what an amazing journey both put me on.  Being a Lemon Dropper has been truly life changing and brought so many new friends and blessings into our lives.  Now it's a new year which brings with it the chance to set new goals.  My goals this year are more Smart goals vs the usual goals that we all know will never get accomplished.  Smart goals are more in line with how I think and work as it is so I'm excited to see what this year will bring.  If my goals and plans work out right I'll be getting the chance to do some amazing things.  I'm excited to see what this year will bring and what will unfold for my family.

Blessings

Many times things happen that make us forget we have much to be grateful for.  Of late that hasn't been the case for me.  For the first time in 2 years I'm starting to lose weight thanks to adding Young Living's Essential oils to my life.  I can add lemon and grapefruit to my water which helps me not snack and helps my body to break down the fats.  It may not seem like a big deal to some, but losing this weight is a huge deal to me.

Things are going amazing for the family.  Though summer is here and it means the kids are home 24/7 they are getting along more than they usually do.  Being a Lemon Dropper has become a huge blessing to me.  In becoming part of this amazing team of YL (Young Living) distributors has been one of the best things I could have dome for myself or my family.  I love that all I am doing is talking about how the oils work for me and my family and that the support I get from my team is beyond amazing.

I'm starting to enjoy my calling.  Being in the Primary Presidency isn't something I ever expected to have happen to me.  But it has and while I'm still trying to figure out all that I have to do and am very busy with those new responsibilities I am once again part of a great team of women.  Being the secretary is a tough job, and sometimes a little stressful to the point I now carry my Stress Away roll on of oil with me each Sunday to church.  The women I get to serve with are truly wonderful and you can see the love and care each of them has for the kids we are over.  I got called to this calling back in late February right after my surgery and it has taken time for me to understand why the Lord wanted me here.  This calling is one I've been groomed for since my days as a youth in Young Women's when I was called as the secretary practically every time the class presidency changed.  Only one time in those 6 years of my youth did I not do the secretary roll and that one time I was the Mia Maid's president.

I can see the Lord guiding my family and so many of those wonderful people in my life in ways that are truly awe inspiring.  This family has truly been blessed this year in some unexpected ways already and we're just into July.  I look forward to seeing what amazing things are in store for the family through the remaining year.  I have a feeling even I will be surprised with what comes our way.

Defending my faith

A few years back I met and became friends with several navy wives of other faiths.  We didn't have any issues and I honestly felt that I could trust them.  Considering that I'm a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints I know most faiths don't have exactly a positive outlook on my faith and many don't consider me a Christian.  I've got one dear friend who after meeting me has been a huge defender of my faith and has made it known just how much good she sees from my church.  How I wish this was the case for many of the other ladies I've met.  Sadly some said to my face that they'd be open and considerate towards my faith and when it truly came time to do just that the opposite came to happen.

Recently I had an opportunity to join several of these "friends" in a Bible challenge.  We'd all read and study the Bible from cover to cover over the next year.  It only took a few weeks in for me to realize they would never accept the way I feel/think/or see things as I share what I know and understand of the Bible.  I completely understand we all study and understand the scriptures at a different pace, but never once did I think because I read or understand a passage differently from them it would result in the sort of attacks from those I called friends that I ended up having to experience, on my birthday no less.

Defending my testimony, my faith and my personal understanding of the scriptures never became so important as it did that day.  There have been a few experiences in my life where I've felt the Spirit that strongly before, but never in such a way where I knew that I was being guided with each word I said to such exactness.  I knew I had to defend my faith, my beliefs, the very foundation of who I am with firmness, even at the price of friends.

I've had many times to look back over what happened and all I've ever felt is sadness towards those I once thought I could call friend.  The funny yet rather sad irony is that I was asked to leave a faith group for defending my own faith.  I wish I could say that it hasn't hurt, that how they've acted since then towards me hasn't impacted me, but that would be a lie.  It did hurt to see how little they truly respected me and my beliefs.  It hurt that they were okay with attacking another persons faith with such ease.  But that will be theirs to answer for.  As for me, I've spent the week since things happened pondering and praying about things.  I've worked hard to forgive them for such actions and have come to peace with it.  I have forgiven them for how they threw away that friendship over differing view points in faith.  It wasn't easy, but it is the right thing to do.

I've seen too many blessings and prayers answered in my life to know that this is the right path.  I wish things were differently, but as my sweet husband has pointed out many times they weren't true friends if they couldn't accept me and my faith without such prejudices.  The blessings I've already had have shown me so much already.  Christ requires us to forgive, and forgive is what I'll do.  Maybe one day we'll be able to talk again, but I honestly don't know.

Easter

Easter this year was very low key.  Mainly due to us starting out the day with nice warm weather before church and by the time we got out of church it was cold and nasty.  At least I got good pictures of the kids before church or we'd have never done them.  It was just too cold to do much of anything else this year.

Blessings

So the last little while has been a bit of a whirlwind.  Around Christmas time last year I got introduced to Essential Oils by my sister in law.  I kept seeing her post about how amazing Young Living Essential Oils were for her and her family and at the time was in need of some serious relief for my knees and back.  My back spasms had gotten beyond bad.  I would have one hit and go for 6-8 hour every single time.  No amount of pain meds would give me any relief.  So I asked her about the oils for my own issues.  After getting a great deal of information from her, speaking extensively with Jay, I ordered a kit.  That began what has been a huge learning experience but also a new way of looking at things.  The oils have been a huge blessing for me.  They have given me more relief than I truly ever expected.  So now I'm buying the oils on a regular basis and transforming my medicine cabinet from one of a lot of pills to one of Essential Oils.

As all of this has been going on I suddenly began experiencing a great deal of pain in my back late last month.  Originally we, Jay and I, thought it was just a really horrible back spasm.  But it after dealing with it for 3 days straight, throwing up and then having the pain go into my lower back then right side we knew something serious was wrong.  We were lucky enough to have a dear friend in town for some C school with the Navy who also happened to be LDS.  Jay and our friend gave me a priesthood blessing and off the two of us went, our friend stayed with the kids, to the Naval hospital.  The ER was dead, I've never seen any ER that dead before let alone a military hospital one, and we got me checked in real quick.  As per usual procedure I was asked to give them a urine sample.

That turned out to show us that I was very, very sick.  I got put in a quiet room and spent quite some time answering the same questions over and over again.  Eventually the lab results came back and proved that I was right, dr's were wrong, that the issue wasn't something simple like Kidney stones or a UTI.  I've had kidney infections and UTI's in the past so I know what that pain feels like and this was way worse.  I hadn't slept since Saturday night and here it was Wednesday.  I flat out told the dr's that I would take child labor naturally over this pain any day, and I'm a weakling when it comes to pain.  Come to find out I had gallbladder stone and it was big.  The ultrasounds showed it to be 2.5 cm and so it was immediately decided that I would be admitted and be having surgery to remove my gall bladder.  Thus began a few days of more tests before having the actual surgery.

I was really lucky to have great dr's who answered any and all my questions and concerns both before and after the surgery.  When I came to after the surgery the pain was bad enough that I was demanding Percocet on the spot.  Sadly they can only give Tylenol in recovery these days (thanks Obamacare) so I had to wait a few hours to get the much needed relief from that surgery.  I came home the following morning and was lucky enough that Jay had emergency leave that began the day I went into the ER through the 2 weeks of required recovery.  We have meals brought in from church members for a good week, which was truly wonderful.  I was also lucky enough that my surgeon remembered my ONE mention during the admittance process of using Young Living's oils to put in which oils I could use to help with my pain management on top of the actual meds.  That is how great these oils are!  So I'm continuing on my journey into the world of Essential Oils as well as using them for my own life.  I really have been blessed this last little while inspite of having surgery and having to learn a whole new way of eating.

Updates coming

There has been so much going on lately in this family/house that I haven't had much time to just sit down and update this blog.  Hopefully here soon I'll have the time to talk about all that has happened in just the last 3 1/2 weeks alone let alone the last 3 months.  This year has been off like a crazy whirlwind of changes, many of which have been good.  So hopefully before the end of the week I'll be able to really sit down and get some of the crazy thoughts processed for what we've been through.

A call for civility

In light of recent events I feel as though I can no longer stay silent.  My silence was not because I agreed with what I was seeing, but simply because I wasn’t ready to take such a bold stand.  But now I am.  I feel as though I grew up in a different era.  A time where it was okay to have differing opinions, values, beliefs and even faiths.  A time where civility, mutual respect and understanding were the norm.  That isn’t the case any longer.  In recent weeks I’ve seen far too many new articles and discussions where those who have a different view point were not just attacked for such viewpoints with belittling, name calling but actual calls of violence for even simply being of a particular faith, my faith to be exact.  Some called for things I honestly believed I’d never see happen again.  What has happened to us as a society where it is okay for such things to even happen?  Where it is now the norm to call someone names, call for acts of violence, and even for all people of faith to have their voices silenced for not being part of the social norms?  I know I wasn’t raised to think such behavior was okay.

I have been blessed with the opportunity to have amazing friends who come from diverse backgrounds, faiths and viewpoints in my life.  We’ve come from even different parts of the country but still became friends and found common ground, mutual respect and understanding.  Many of them had never even heard of my faith let alone met someone who is a part of it.  And ya know what, that is 100% okay.  It’s great even.  It gives all of us a chance to learn and to grow.  To find common ground in our differing beliefs, values and lives.  In those moments while there were differences, we gained a mutual respect for one another.  That is what makes such amazing friends.  No hate filled words, only a desire to seek to understand something and someone better than we did before.  For me, I know I’ve been blessed and become a better person because of those moments.

But at the same time I’ve also been attacked for my faith, my values, for being “too religious”.  The most recent attack hurt deeply.  Instead of responding in like manner to the individuals who treated me in such a way I instead said, “thank you”.  And I meant it.  Sure I was hurt deeply by what was said, there were moments of anger, but mostly I was sad.  In that moment I made a choice that I know has made me a better person, even though I was deeply hurting as I responded in return with kindness and civility.  I knew in my heart that I couldn’t go and teach the amazing group of teens that I’ve been given the privilege of teaching if I was angry.  I wouldn’t have been able to be an effective teacher those following few Sundays if I responded in the opposite manner.  I knew I had to rise above the cruelty that I was experiencing and be kind in return. 

 From that experience I know I’ve learned and grown.  I know I’ve become a better person because of it. 

Right now there is simply too much divisiveness going around.  The name calling, belittling, lack of respect and even calls for violence for differing opinions, values and beliefs really needs to stop.  It has to if future generations are ever going to be able to grow up in the same world many of us did grow up in, at least one like I did.  The world is too scary of a place already, we shouldn’t be making it worse by such hatred towards others for simply being of a different view point.  I guess you could say this is my personal call for a return to those days of civility, mutual respect and understanding.  I know I can’t simply stand by any longer and keep silent as I watch things get worse.  I know I want a better world for my kids than the one what I’m seeing right now.  I realize it may be wishful thinking, but at least I will know I’ve done my part to make that change happen.  And this is that start.