Conference Weekend!

It is General Conference time again! I love conference. It totally renews my spirit and breathes new life into me.

Today was totally cool. There was a solemn assembly to sustain the new prophet, Thomas S. Monson. I have never had the opportunity to witness this before. It was so amazing. I felt the spirit so strong. I always knew that President Monson was a true prophet, but today the spirit witnessed it to me so strongly that I was crying a little.

We are so blessed to live in this time when we have prophets of God on the earth to lead us and guide us. It is so exciting to me. It just makes me feel like I can do anything and accomplish everything with the Lord on my side.

Anxiety

Ross and I just got to talk to a good friend of ours that we haven't talked to for a while. She is having some troubles with her teenage son that also happens to be a good friend. It totally kills me when I see great people make choices that are going to inevitably cause them heartbreak. I know we all do it. It's part of the plan. It just makes me so anxious.
I know that nothing is a coincidence. I just have to ask myself in these situations, "Do I know why I/they are going through this?" And hopefully my answer to myself is, "No, but your Father does." And even more hopefully, trust that I/they are learning and becoming......more.

SCARY!!!!

Today I officially registered for the Saint George Marathon. It is on a lottery process because of how many people enter every year. They only accept 7000 runners. If I get drawn out, this is the real deal. 26.2 miles of, well, probably hell. I am insanely excited, terrified, etc. etc.
Here are a few bits of great news though. Since January, I have lost almost 20 pounds. Mind you, during our whole home building process, I gained 10, but none-the-less, I am down almost 20. Yay me! The next cool thing is this: I have asthma and so running has been a really big challenge for me even though I have been doing it for so long. I thought it would get easier for my lungs over time, but alas, it has not. So I finally jumped on the internet last week and started researching breathing techniques. I came across one that I decided to try out, not really having a lot of hope that it would work for me. Imagine my delight when I found that it does indeed work for me! It has taken my running experience to a whole new level for me and I am so empowered. I keep thinking I could go on forever instead of wondering when it is going to end so I can sit down!
Good things are happening people. Who said 34 was old?

The Wall

That title is a little deceiving! I am actually referring to the rock wall that we have in our house. I forgot to blog about my accomplishment the other day. I know, I know, I brag too much but this is MY blog! Anyway, my lack of upper body strength is embarrassing to say the least. Even though we have lived here since November, I had never previously made it to the top until the other night. Ross and I were climbing and it just happened. I was so excited I made Ross go get the boys out of bed so they could see me. They ran right up, gave me hugs and told me how great I did. It was a proud moment for the weakling.

Heartbreak For A Friend

I received an e-mail from a dear friend of mine a couple of days ago. Her name is Helene. She lives in France. We have been friends since my sophmore year in high school. She has been here to visit numerous times and I have been to visit her a couple of times. We have seen each other through a lot of things in life. She has been in a relationship since right after high school, which has been like 16 years. They have a child together. He is a really good guy. I was happy to see them together.
She told me that they split up. They are selling their house and she has moved into an apartment with her little boy. They weren't fighting or anything, they just stopped loving each other. At any rate, her life seems to be in shambles. She is completely lost. I can't imagine starting over after that long.
It breaks my heart. It seems like everyone is falling apart anymore.

Road Trip

My peeps and I (Megan and Nicole) took a road trip last weekend to St. George to hook up with our lost peep (Krista). We left Thursday the 13th and stayed until Saturday the 15th. We stayed in our house down there. We had WAY too much fun.
We went to Las Vegas to the outlet mall on Friday to go shopping. And Friday night we enlightened Megan and Nicole on the fine art of waxing your eyebrows. (See Nicole for incriminating pictures). We stayed up way too late every night and of course we ate more than we should have. It was the best time ever.
I am so grateful for these amazing women in my life. They lift me up, inspire me to be better, make me laugh til I cry and cry til I laugh. Besides my 4 boys, they are the best relationships I have in life.

The last day has been pretty hard on me. One of my young women from my old ward has chosen to live a pretty crazy life. Since she was about 15, she has become a drug addict. Not just recreational, I am talking hard-core. She got pregnant last year (unsure who the father is) and dropped out of high school. She has been in and out of rehab for a while and it never seems to stick. She admitted that when she was first pregnant, she took a lot of drugs trying to abort the baby. Supposedly, she got her head straight and decided to give the baby up for adoption to a good family. My friend, her sister, called me yesterday to tell me that she had the baby. They found drugs in her system so DCFS was coming to take the baby. I don't know what this means for the family that wanted to adopt her and I don't know if the baby is going to have problems or not. My guess is that she will.
I also found out about another of my young women. She has always been kind of strange and I always just wrote it off as her needing attention. I think just about everyone did. Around December or so, she just disappeared. Her mom said she moved out and didn't know where she had gone. Saturday, it came out in the paper that her step-dad has been arrested on sexual abuse charges. It gave the details without telling her name but it all lines up. And it all lines up with all the weird things that have gone on with her over the years. It all makes me so sick. I have not been able to think of anything else.
There is a lot of ugliness in this world that drags us all down at times. Despite all of it though, my faith in Christ is stronger than ever. I still see his hand in my life and the world around me daily. It helps to ease the pain and the hurt that we all go through, whether for ourselves or on behalf of those we love. I choose to let my hope and faith live on.
I will pray for these girls. That they may be restored to happiness and all that is right.