Everyday is a New Beginning

I have this great desire to better myself as a person. As 2015 was ending I began thinking of everything that I want to do (my list is long). I have been researching how to become smarter and learned that people who read tend to be smarter. I put that on my list of things to do in 2016. I have gotten into this bad habit since working full time to come home from work and then grab some sort of take-out for dinner. It got to the point where I just cooked on Sundays.  I figured I made breakfast and lunch for Justin and most days I came home for lunch so I justified grabbing dinner because I already cooked some meals and worked a long day.  So with Paul's support, I have decided to set a goal to make every meal for the whole month of January. we know the importance of reading the book of Mormon as a family so we made our our annual recommitment to read together each night at 9:30.  I also wanted to "dejunk" my house and start some sort of side hustle that brought in a little extra money. I decided to sell my "stuff" on craigslist and whatever didn't sell in a certain amount of time I would give to salvation army. Last week was the first full week of the month and new year. I started a reading a book and listening to another book, with the help of Paul every meal was prepared at home, we set a time to read as a family and only missed Friday and Saturday and I sold 3 sleds and 4 table cloths. I am happy to say this week was a successful week. On Sunday Justin and I talked about how to make sure that we get our reading done on Friday and Saturday to make sure that we read each night. We decided that we will read Saturday morning and we will read Friday before the first of us goes out. This week the focus will still be on reading individually and as a family, cooking every meal and selling the items I am clearing out. I am adding to my list taking the stairs instead of the elevator at work as well as walking 4 days this week. I also want to add more discussion to our scripture reading.  And lastly begin sewing. Every day is a new beginning and for that I am grateful.

Scriptures

With a new year comes many resolutions - lose weight, organize home, read more and become spiritually stronger. Our family is like everyone else. We have set the goal to read our scriptures together each day. We are a little late in getting started but at least we are starting. Justin read tonight out of the Book of Mormon in Chapter 4:20-5:6.  It was when Nephi and his brothers went to get the plates from Laban and Sariah was murmuring saying that Lehi is a visionary man. I'm grateful for this story of how Sariah's faith was wavering. It is a good reminder that we will all have trials of faith and gives us comfort in knowing that we will go through trials but come out stronger because of them. It came at a perfect time as Justin is going through some of his own trials that he is really struggling with, nothing having to do with faith but more of finding joy in this life as he comes to terms with the fact that he will not be playing baseball, football or rugby in high school. When life doesn't go the way you want it you definitely question what direction you are supposed to be going in life which can be defeating, frustrating and create a void that is hard to fill. I love that we can search our scriptures and find examples of people going through struggles and how they dealt with it. Our heavenly father was so loving to give us scriptures to study and learn from and for that I am grateful.

Computer Problems

Sunday night we got a phone call from Kara saying that her computer wasn't working. She was pretty stressed because she had some classes that did not have traditional hard bound books but rather she needed to download the curriculum. I told her the only thing she could do was go to the bookstore at school before class and see if it can be fixed. She overslept and and got lost getting to campus Monday morning so she was not able to go to the bookstore before class. When she finally had a moment to take her computer in to be fixed, she was told that they couldn't find anything externally but she could leave it overnight for $65.00 and they will look a little closer at it.  She called me and said that it wasn't worth it to leave it overnight because she could pay the money and they still not no what was wrong with it. I set up a call with apple care for today at 8:30 am.  She spoke to them and they could not figure out what was wrong with it so they told her that she needed to take the computer into the store. She set up an appointment at 7:00 pm with no idea on how she would get there since it was 30 minutes away. Paul arranged for his mom to take her if we could not make arrangements with Nathan. Fortunately we were able to have Nate take her.  I was excited to get a text from her saying that the computer was fixed. They had to reset a chip that somehow came out of place. It was FREE and Kara said the girl was SO nice. Kara could of easily just bought a new computer when the first couple of things she tried to fix her computer didn't work. She could of felt defeated when she realized that she would have to go to another city 30 minutes away and she would have to ask for someone to drive her.  But she did find a driver and it turned out to be a little problem. And for that I am grateful.

Family Time

We left on New Years day to drive Kara to BYU and today, January 3, we are back home. It was a quick trip where we moved Kara into her apartment, visited with Paul's parents, saw Nate for about 20 minutes and were driving back home yesterday at 4:30. We stopped in Vegas for about 7 hours to sleep at our timeshare before driving the final leg of the trip. As we were driving home, I texted Nate about his new ward and checked in with Kara to see how her first night in her new home went. We arrived home at about noon. Justin came home from church, we played games, started a movie, texted Nate and Kara, had a serious discussion with Justin about some things he shouldn't be doing, read the first presidency's message on how happiness is a choice and now I'm preparing for bed and work tomorrow.  We squeezed a lot into 3 days. I'm looking forward to a normal routine that tomorrow will bring. Today I'm grateful for family time. Whether we are texting on the phone in two different states or playing games together in person I'm grateful that our children like to spend time with us. As children get older they don't always see the importance of family relationships. My children do and for that I am grateful.

Self Reliance

Today I am grateful that I taught my children self reliance.

For the Strength of Youth says: "One of the blessing of work is developing self reliance. When you are self reliant, you us the blessings and abilities God has given you to care for yourself and your family and to find solutions for your own problems."  

Kara was on the Winter Spring track at BYU Idaho which allowed her to work for the last 4 months. She was able to work at the same law firm that I work at working in various departments that needed her help. She was such good worker that she was always asked for to assist with various projects. She saved majority of what she earned so that she could pay for her tuition and housing this semester.  Her goal is to not take any loans out for schooling. She worked hard, gave up frivolous spending and saved all the money needed to pay for this semester and most of next semester. She is planning on finding a job at school and coming home to work at her old job at the end of this semester. She is such a hard worker and a good steward of her money and for that I am grateful. 

New Years Day - A New Beginning

Life is continuously changing no matter if we are ready for it or not. Today we packed up our car with all of Kara's belongings and drove her from California to Utah.  She will now be calling BYU home for the next three years as she studies to become an accountant. This was a long road traveled for Kara to get to where she is today. On her road to get here she experienced rejection - she was not accepted the first time forcing her to attend BYU Idaho for a year, frustration, in her mind failure, determination, hard work, belief in herself and then success. It was a journey though difficult gave her the strength she needed to achieve her goal.

As a mom it was difficult to watch my child have to go through a difficult trial but I am grateful for this experience. It not only made Kara dig deep to decide what she really wanted but it brought us closer together. She is not only my child but through it all she became my friend. I'm sad that she will be away from home but am so happy that she is getting her education at the school she so desperately wanted to attend. And for that I am grateful.