I'm Still Here!

Hello! I thought I would just do a quick post before I run off to work to say that I am still here and doing well. I have had a full and wonderful two weeks since I last posted, but between work, the temple, my calling and my family, I have hardly sat down at my computer. So, this week I am going to try to catch up. I thought I would start off my catch up with a post.

Work has been wonderful but much busier than usual. We been in the process of hiring for both hospitals and so between interviews and working with the new hires, I have been busier (and a little less flexible) than usual. But, I have loved it and it has made me grateful again for my good job!

As I sat with one of our new hires the other day and started orienting her to the unit and getting things set up, I thought about how I have felt as I have started new jobs. I remembered feeling a little lost and wondering if I would like my new job. I really tried that day to make her feel welcome and to help her know that we are  here to help and support her. I love being able to help new staff feel welcome and help them through that transition.

I wanted to also leave one quick thought for the day. I got called to the Stake Young Women's Presidency in December and the past few Sundays we have been attending different Ward Conferences in our Stake. It has been really neat to hear the talks by the different Bishops and the Stake President.

Last week the Stake President said something (and he repeated it yesterday) that I have thought a lot about. He was talking about 3 Nephi 17, the wonderful chapter about Christ blessing the children. After reading a part of it, he said, "Children are our honored guests in our homes. That is how the Savior felt about children; He looked at them with a heart full of love. The environment we create in our homes is so important. Our children need our love."

The part that really struck me is about children being "honored guests." How do I treat "honored guests?" How would I treat President Monson if he were coming to my home? I don't have my own children of course, but I have thought a lot about this as I have interacted with my nieces and nephews this past week.

I wanted to end with a few pictures of some of my darling "honored guests."

"Tea (actually milk) Party" with Annika and Mieka

Me with darling Kate

Grandpa reading stories to the some of his grandchildren

Well, I am off to work. Have a happy day!

Great News!

I got some great news yesterday about my job.  But I should backtrack first and explain the situation and why it was such great news.

I have struggled in my life with worry and anxiety. In fact, when I was really young, every time we would drive home from a trip to SLC (which seemed like a long trip in my young mind) and we would turn the corner to where I could see our house, I was always relieved to see that the house had not burned down. Isn't that silly? But that was one of my biggest worries when I was a child and so I was always glad to see it hadn't happened.

That worry carried into my college years. I worried if I was taking the right classes or how a certain situation would turn out. In fact, I was reading my college journal recently and read about when I asked a guy out to Preference. I worried about it all that night and the next day I was still so worried that I could hardly think of anything else. It seems so needless to me now! Especially since now I see that no matter how he answered me, it really didn't matter in the eternal scheme of things. (As a side note, he said yes and we had a wonderful time, so all that worry was really needless...)

As I have grown older and especially as I have studied the Gospel over the years, I have learned that worry and anxiety is not part of Heavenly Father's plan for us. In fact, I have found in my life that worry, fear and anxiety weaken my faith and sometimes paralyze me from doing good things. So I have really fought against worry. When I start to worry, I try to remind myself that Heavenly Father is in charge, and that "things have a way of working out," (one of my favorite quotes by President Hinckley--he said it often.)

That is a long introduction to my good news, but I wanted to share it because I have been amazed at how it has worked in this situation and how Heavenly Father has helped me!

Last summer I found out that there were going to be some changes in education at the hospital. While I really supported and agreed with the philosophy of the changes, I wondered how it would affect my individual job?  I love my job at the hospital right now. I love working at both hospitals, I love teaching and training nurses and most of all, I love the flexibility my job gives me, especially with my calling at the temple and my busy family. We were supposed to find out within a month or two how it was going to affect us individually but it ended up being a longer process than they initially thought.

I had decided that I wasn't going to worry about this. If there is one thing I have learned from all my job changes the past few years, it is that Heavenly Father was always there, leading me to the next step and helping me know what to do. And so I didn't worry, not at all (which is quite a feat for me!!)

In November, we found out about some of the changes, but I still didn't know how it was going to specifically affect my job. They told us we would know for sure in January some time, so I really did have some more time to think and ponder about it. But from some things I had heard, I was pretty sure it was going to change more than I had initially thought. At that point it became a little more work not to be worried about how it would all work out.

One day in November I was doing a session at the temple. I was thinking about it at the beginning of the session and starting to worry, and then I remembered my resolve and decided that it would all work out, and I really didn't think about it much at all the rest of the session.

During the session, I saw a man from my Stake that I had gone on Trek with the year before. After the session he came over to talk to me. We talked for a minute and then he turned to leave. Suddenly, he turned back and said, "You looked like you had something on your mind during the session. I feel like I should tell you to hang in there, it will work out," then he walked away.

It was such a small thing and yet profound for me as I pondered about it. I hadn't really even thought about it except at the beginning of the session, so for him to say that really helped me. It was another reminder to me that Heavenly Father was aware of me and my situation and that it would all work out.

So, I have not worried about it. That said, it doesn't mean that I have not thought a lot about it, and I have definitely prayed a lot about it.

Well, after that long introduction, now to the GREAT NEWS. I got a call from my manager yesterday and she told me that I am going to be able to stay in the same job doing the exact same thing!! I still get to go to both hospitals (I really thought from some initial things I had heard that I may have to choose between the two and I really liked both of them.) I still get to work on orientation of new staff and I still have the exact same flexibility. The only thing that has changed is in the way I write my time in, which does not affect me at all.

I have thought a lot about this all night and this morning, which is why I am exploring this so in depth on my blog. I am so glad that I did not spend 6 months worrying about this just to find out that nothing changed. I am grateful for the experience in general and for what it has taught me about faith and trust and how things really do work out.

I know that even if I had been told that things were changing that it still would have worked out, but this experience has made me even more grateful for my job the way it is. I can't stop thanking Heavenly Father, not only that this situation has worked out well for me, but that He taught me a yet another lesson about faith and keeping faith even when things stretch out and take a lot longer than you think, a lesson I have been learning for years as I wait (and wait) to get married.

I hope all these morning ramblings make sense. It has just been such a great reminder to me of why it is needless to worry and how faith can help us to keep going, even when things are hard. Even though everything I worry about doesn't always work out so well, with Heavenly Father, it always works out. That is really what this experience has reminded me of and made me grateful for! I hope I can show faith in even harder circumstances and learn to trust Him even more!

Great News!

Woops, I don't know how the title published without the post.  Just to keep you in suspense...

Enamored With Sunsets

My sister-in-law did a post last night where she talked about Jenn and I being "enamored with sunsets." She knows that because she lived with us for awhile in our house and knows that almost every night we were home, we were up on the swing watching the sunset. That is one of the things I miss the most about our house--the beautiful view of the valley and the amazing sunsets. I used to sit up on that swing and look out at the view of the valley, the temple and the sunset and pray and ponder about my life. It was very peaceful. I almost never see the sunset now because our condo faces the other way.

Last night, I was working in the office at American Fork Peds. That unit has the best views from the windows. I remember years ago when I worked there, I loved looking out the windows while I was working. Our patient sitting area there looks out on some farm land with horses and trees and the mountains. In the winter it looks like a postcard because you can see an occasional horse and with the snow and trees, it is just so beautiful!

Well, I walked past that area last night, which actually looks east, and I could see that the tips of the mountains were touched with the setting sun. It was so beautiful I had to grab my camera. I couldn't capture it quite as beautiful as it really was, but here are a few pictures:

I love this last picture of the snow capped mountains, tipped with the setting sun, through the trees. It is a little hard to see because of the glare of the window, but it was so pretty!

Then, I was walking back to my office and saw the view to the west, so I snapped a few of those also. I took them about five minutes apart to show the progression of the sunset:

That is too many pictures of one sunset, but I wanted them for future reference since I am "enamored with sunsets."  I remember one of Em's friends saying once that sunsets are evidence that Heavenly Father loves us. That is what I thought of as I looked at that beautiful sunset last night. I am grateful we live in such a beautiful world!

Happy New Year!

Alas, I still have not written an entry about my wonderful Christmas, and now it is already New Year's Eve. My plan was to write a Christmas blog today so that I could write a New Year's blog tomorrow, but the day got away from me.  So, I will do a New Year's blog now and hopefully soon write about Christmas.

Today has been a nice day. We went to the temple this morning with my parents and my Uncle Joe to do some family names. It was a good session.  I love the peace and  beauty of the temple. I spent a lot of the time pondering about family and what a blessing it is in general and specifically how much I love my family.

After the temple we went over to my parents for awhile. It is nice to have a few days off to spend time with family this weekend.

I came home and had three more chapters in the Book of Mormon to read in order to finish it. In 2000, at the suggestion of a friend, I decided to try reading the Book of Mormon in a month. I did, and it was such a wonderful experience that I have done it every year since then. I usually do it earlier in the year, but this year I was reading the Old and New Testaments (finished the NT, only half way through the OT) so I didn't start until mid November. I am a little over my month, but I wanted to finish it before the end of the year. I finished a few minutes ago, so I barely squeaked by. I sure do love the Book of Mormon and I love reading it fast like that every year, because it gives me a different perspective.

So, here I am at 5:55, about to leave for a New Year's Eve party, and I thought I would do a quick post.

After I finished the Book of Mormon I spent a few minutes going through my journals and getting an overview of my year. Every New Year after I get home from the celebration, I write a journal entry about the year. So in preparation for that, I sat down for a minute and reviewed my year.

It was so wonderful to look back. Yes, there were hard things that happened this year, but they were far outweighed by the many good things that happened: sleepovers with my nieces and nephews; many fun family parties, including our family Olympics; summer vacations, trips to the canyon and Lagoon trips; going to two temple open houses and the wonderful opportunity to be at the Oquirrh Mountian Temple dedication; going to Conference; working at the temple and the wonderful experiece of being a coordinator, working with the sweet Primary kids in my calling, working as a nurse and having patients tell me I made a difference for them, teaching and training new nurses; all the fun things we did for the Holidays this year...

OK, I guess that is enough of a review, but as I reflected about my year, I just felt so grateful for my blessed life! New Year's Eve used to be so hard for me because I am not married, but Heavenly Father has taken that pain from me and given me sooo many compensatory blessings.

So, I end this year with gratitude for all that has happend this year and with excitment for what the New Year will bring. I want to be a better person in the New Year, be more willing to serve and love and help others.

Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas!!

It has been a wonderful Christmas, and I will write all about it soon, but I just wanted to send out a quick Merry Christmas!

This was what Jen and I saw as we left our house this morning:

What a beautiful sunrise and what a wonderful way to start off Christmas morning! I love the color of the light coming over the mountains in the first picture and the light just starting to touch the tops of the mountains through the misty clouds in the second picture. It was so beautiful! I about froze Jen by opening the car window to get the pictures, but I think it was worth it.

As I looked at the beautiful sunrise, I thought about how it was perfect imagery of the birth of Christ and how that singular event brought light to a dark and troubled world. I love this time of year and the chance it gives me to ponder on and celebrate all that He did for us; His humble birth, His perfect life and His supreme sacrifice.

We came home for a few hours and I was reading Matthew 1 and Luke 1-2.  I love what Mary says to Elizabeth:

"And Mary said, My soul doth magnify the Lord, And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour.

For he hath regarded the low estate of his handmaiden: for, behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed. For he that is mighty hath done to me great things; and holy is his name. And his mercy is on them that fear him from generation to generation… He hath filled the hungry with good things… He hath holpen his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy."           --Luke 1:46-54

He has surely filled my life with good things and blessed me greatly.

I hope you are all having a wonderful Christmas!

Christmas Odds and Ends

Ok, so it is midnight and I should be in bed, but I wanted to post a few pictures. Last week we made Gingerbread houses with the nieces and nephews, and it was so fun (and hopefully some day I will post about it), but I was so busy helping the kids that I did not get to do my own. So tonight, the adults made houses while the kids played.

I love making Gingerbread houses! While mine are by no means professional, and I usually only spend an evening making it, it is a fun tradition that I have been doing for many years. Ems and I were the only ones that spent all night at it (which is why it is now midnight) so by the time we got around to taking pictures ours were the only ones left to take pictures of:

Here is Em's house--she is amazing! Unfortunately, you can't really see how detailed it is in the picture. Look at the decoration done in frosting on the front of  the house. She did that around the whole house. The roof is graham crackers, perfectly placed, and the lights around the roof are Christmas Cadbury eggs, cut in half. She really is creative. (One year she made a big church complete with stained glass windows, but that took a lot longer than just one evening.)

Here is my house.  Notice I copied Em's frosting decoration on the front of the house, although mine is not quite as precise. (I am not quite as patient as she is...) Mine is on a bigger board so I was able to do a little more with the yard. It sure was fun to make! I especially like the tree. You can't really see in the picture, but it is red and silver, and the same silver accents are on each post of the fence (suggested by Emilee, of course.)

On a totally unrelated note, I have to tell one more quick story. I ran in to the gift shop at the hospital last week and bought a little stuffed animal. I think it was $12 total. The cute pink lady told me that because I spent over $10, I qualified to be in a drawing for a nativity and pointed over to the side of the store to show me what they were drawing for. I couldn't really tell where she was pointing, even when I asked her again, but I decided it didn't really matter since there was not much chance of my winning it anyway. So, I filled out the ticket and went on my way.

A few days later, I got a call that I had won the drawing. I thought that was fun, especially since I have never won a drawing like that, but I still wasn't sure what I had won. I assumed it was just a little nativity.

Well, I went in to pick it up and they handed me this large box. When I opened it up, this was what I found:

It is actually a Demdaco nativity! I looked it up and it sells for around $75. I couldn't believe that I had actually won something so nice, and from just a quick trip in to the gift shop. I just thought I would share my fun news.

Well, I'm off to bed. I hope you are all enjoying this Holiday season. I am sure having fun!