AoG

I'm seeing a trend with the last Thursday of the month here. My van stopped working last night and we're going to have to pump even more money into it. I don't care if I need another rush purchase vehicle, I will never buy another Ford as long as I live. I INSIST on a Dodge next time. I'm try to do my Attitude of Gratitude well, but I'm not having the best of days, so be patient with me.

1) I am grateful for my new calling and the strength that it is in my life. I love serving in the Young Women presidency and working closely with the Beehives in my ward. I am so excited to go to camp with them in 12 more sleeps (not that I'm counting or anything).

2) I am grateful for the people who came and hugged me on Sunday when I was having a tough day. Hugs always seem to brighten things up. I love getting hugs and I love the people who gave me those particular hugs.

3) I am grateful that Caleb enjoyed his first year of school so much. He absolutely loved Kindergarten and learned so many things. He has started to learn how to read and can read basic books by himself (See fox. See fox run.). He and I are looking forward to grade 1 in the fall and even more adventures in learning.

The Big '8'

8 is kind of a big deal in our church, as that's the age when you  can get baptized. Well for me, today is 8 years SINCE I was baptized. It's very seldom that it feels like it's only been 8 years. Prep work for camp is the only time I really feel it because I don't know how anything works for camp. Most of the time it feels like ages and ages since I became a member of this church and made promises to Heavenly Father. So 8 years ago today, I made the best decision of my life. I can say best because every other good thing that's happened since then has happened BECAUSE of that decision. I love this church, I love my Heavenly Father, I love my Savior and I am incredibly grateful for the 2 men who taught me about it all.

A New Calling (Again)

Today was probably the most emotional day I've ever seen at church. Our entire Young Women leadership was redone and many of our old leadership will be going on to callings in other auxiliaries. I am very happy, humbled and grateful to have been called as the 2nd counselor in the new YW presidency. I will be the only leader going to all of camp. Our outgoing and incoming presidents are switching off as the other leader. I'm so excited to be going to camp and to get to know the girls better. I've only ever been to 1 night of YW camp, when I was visiting with friends in Utah, so I was overjoyed when I found out that I get to go to camp this year. (As a fun note just for 1 reader in particular, this is my 5th calling I've held in the past 15 months.)

As her parting act, our outgoing president got to be there as I received my Young Womanhood Recognition and she put my medallion on my neck for me. I am sad to see these incredible woman move on to new adventures that I don't get to share with them, but am looking forward to working with the new leaders (and rearranged leaders).

Probably the most emotional part of my day was when John told me that he was being switched from Financial Clerk to Membership Clerk. I hadn't realized just how emotionally hard his calling really had been for me until he told me that. I just broke down crying in tears of joy and relief. It's funny how I'm moving to a higher demand calling and am just over the moon about it and feel no stress from it whatsoever, but felt that much stress with John's higher demand calling. I think it's because of how much passion I have for the Young Women program and how much impact it can have on these wonderful girls.

Life is good. Life is so very good.

Listening To The Spirit

It still amazes me every time someone is very attentive to the Spirit, and probably without even knowing that they're doing it. In the past week I've had 3 friends that said things that I really needed to hear at that time. At a time when I've felt worthless, these friends have made me feel cared about and important. These past few weeks have been a big struggle for me, but it's things like this that help me get through the tough times.

Last night, one of my Beehives posted a status about me. I'd put together some binders for our Beehive presidency and she must have really liked them because they earned their own status complete with capital letters, smiley faces and a plethora of exclamation points. Right before I checked facebook, I'd been crying to John about something that I was really struggling with. So the first thing I noticed when I went on was this wonderful status letting me know that I was appreciated for all of her facebook friends to see. It made my evening so much better and was exactly what I needed at that moment.

I have some pretty awesome people in my life, and I am ever so grateful for them.

Super Late AoG

Since I didn't do the Attitude of Gratitude day when I normally would have, I'll fit it in now. In case you couldn't tell by my last post, I've been struggling with my disorder again lately. Between Caleb's behavior, lingering grief after the funeral and weather that's as bipolar as I am, it hasn't been the easiest few weeks. I'm just trying to take things 1 day at a time, sometimes even 1 hour at a time.

Anyway, here goes:

1) I am so incredibly grateful for the calling I have working with the Young Women and the strength it is in my life. It has been my lifeline these past few weeks. I have LOVED getting to know the young women in my ward better and seeing just how amazing they really are. I love the energy they have and how it gives me extra boosts. I am grateful for the little things, like one of the young women going out of her way yesterday to give me a high five as I received my last personal progress ribbon for my bookmark.

2) I am grateful for my wonderful husband who is so good to me and tries so hard to be as supportive as possible when I'm struggling. I am so lucky to be his eternal companion.

3) I am grateful for prayer and how powerful it can be. I am so thankful that I have a way to communicate to Heavenly Father how I'm feeling and to feel like I'm actually having a conversation. I love the peace that it brings me and I'm so eternally grateful to have a Heavenly Father who knows me as an individual and loves me so much.

Not An Attitude of Gratitude Day

I know what I'm supposed to be posting about today as it's the last Thursday of the month, but I am seriously just not feeling it. My morning started out with Caleb waking up at stupid o'clock and then waking his brothers up as well. He pushed and pushed until he got a privilege taken away and then proceeded to try to hurt his brothers in a fit of rage. Definitely not my best morning and my evening wasn't much better due to personal struggles. I went for a walk just so I could break down crying.

I don't feel like I have anything to say that anyone would want to hear about. Maybe I'm just writing this all out because writing it out helps make me feel the tiniest bit better, I'm not sure. Or maybe it's because I promised myself when I made my blog public again that I'd never feel bad about posting the truth about things and being real and human.

I am considering moving next year. Not sure where to, just somewhere that we could get a fresh start. We'll see what happens...

I need to start making things for Caleb's Harry Potter party. I need to look at my ideas and make a few final decisions. He also wants it to be a dress up party, but I haven't decided on that one yet.

Goings On And What Not

I've been a horrible blogger lately and haven't been posting much about anything. I'm still loving my calling as the Beehive adviser and am super excited to go to camp in a couple of months. Tomorrow will by the last day of my last personal progress experience, so I will be done it as of Thursday morning :) It's been an amazing experience and I'm so glad that I decided to do it.

I am currently entered for a giveaway from Geekling Designs, which I have completely fallen in love with. I think I may end up spending a fortune on their stuff whenever we get pregnant next time.

My friends and I are currently planning a Harry Potter party, which I am LOVING! Caleb has also chosen Harry Potter as the theme for his birthday this year, so I'll be able to double up on decorations. Ty chose Angry Birds for his birthday.

Bretts had his eye surgery 2 weeks ago and his eyes are majorly improved. He goes for his follow up with his opthalmologist this afternoon. He had his hearing test last Thursday and he has normal hearing. That day he learned to say "hello", which is so adorable. He also started climbing the stairs that evening. It was quite the day for him. Yesterday he was saying "three" because John was counting to 3 while doing something with him. I love seeing him progress like this and catch up to where he should be.

We are setting things up right now for Caleb to start taking piano lessons in the fall. He is VERY excited about it.

Yesterday we had a BBQ with some friends which we really enjoyed. Life is going pretty good at the Bly house.