Reflecting back...

It's really strange how life just has a way of taking control and all of a sudden a few years have passed by... That's how I felt sitting in sacrament meeting today. This past week was my 4 year anniversary of being a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter- Day Saints!!! What a wonderful and marvelous 4 years it has been. There aren't many days when I'm truly able to sit and reflect on renewing my baptismal covenants while partaking of the sacrament... in fact most days I'm relieved when we manage to make it to church on time, the girls somewhat behave, and neither one of them grabs the water lol! Hailey caught some sort of virus thursday night and was up the entire night (yes I mean literally the whole night-9pm-9am- ick!) throwing up. I only had to make one mad dash to the bathroom luckily (yes I got sick as well...), but hers was a 12- straight and then it gradually spread out over the next 6 hours or so to not anymore thank goodness. She then got quite the high fever so yesterday we had to make the choice for her to stay home. And... since I had to teach in YW today Tim got to stay home, hehe. So anyways without any children I was really able to sit, enjoy, and listen to the small promptings of the spirit. My love for this gospel is so immense and every day I'm truly able to feel my Heavenly Father's love. I truly know with all my heart that "I am a child of God" . He knows me personally... through my ups, downs, trials, struggles, highs and lows... He's always there! Each day I choose to live more closely to Jesus' example I'm able to grow closer to my loving Heavenly Father. It's not always the easiest choice, but it's one that I have to consciously make each day to live more like my Savior!

Today my lesson was on Encouraging Family Unity- and this lesson really hits home with me =) The past month or so I've really tried to make a REAL effort to be kinder to my husband and children. In particular I've really focused on my relationship with Hailey. Her and I just battle some days and I don't like feeling like that at all. I'm supposed to be the adult and some days I was sad to admit I felt myself acting more like a child on her level. I'm very proud to say that I've noticed a significant change in both my attitude, but most importantly, hers!! She was directly reacting from my change... which brings me back to my lesson today. The lesson was all about encouraging our Young Women to be kinder to their family, help out more in the home, not arguing, etc. because their own attitude with their family has a direct effect on the attitudes of their other family members. Sometimes the Spirit gives us a more obvious nudge in life, lol. The lesson I taught today was obviously meant for me to teach and to help me recognize the blessings of bringing your family together more. I love my children sooo much!!!! And even more I love my wonderful husband who supports me every day. Each day has it's own struggles, but the really amazing thing comes when you're able to see your own triumphs over obstacles as I recently have!!