Sundays are good days.  We had another Christmas Party Committee meeting this morning. The story idea is in - but Santa is still out.  Now I just need to see if we have a Christmas tree at the church that won't be decorated in the foyer... oh, and to make large ornaments for the different symbols.  And finish looking at songs to possibly incorporate.  Okay, we have lots to do, but I'm super excited still.

Sharing time went really well today.  I just followed the outline, but it was really fun.  We've been learning about reverence.  The kids had to shut their eyes and hold really still to see if they could hear a pin drop.  They did so well :)  Then we learned about Moses and the burning bush.  

The really fun part was when we put up six pictures on the board.  They had to study them, and then we put up a blanket and I took one away.  When they told me which picture was missing, we talked about how we can show reverence for that place, thing, etcetera.  It was really fun because the kids were so involved.  They had to tell me which picture was missing, and then come up with ideas on how they could be reverent in that particular situation.  They came up with some really good ideas.  And really, that's how it should be, the kids thinking for themselves and putting the pieces together.  For example, we can show reverence for our families by being nice.  Yeah, I didn't prompt that one, I promise.  We can show reverence at a baptism by not jumping in the font lol.  I loved it.  But they're making connections!  Not that I think they'd have a lot of opportunity to do that unless it was their baptism, but it is a good way to be reverent :) (That was junior primary :))  

Honestly, I love my calling, and I love our kids.  They all did pretty well today in sharing time and singing time.  In junior primary, I sat with the CTR 5 class during singing time (which are the kids Matt and I taught).  One of their teachers had a family emergency, so she wasn't there.  It was nice to sit with them and get loves :)  In senior primary, one of our boys struggles a little.  I don't really know the full story, but he usually sits with his teacher secluded from the group.  At the beginning of singing time, he wandered over to play with the magnets on the board.  Even though I don't know what's going on with him, I can just wrap my arms around him and give him love.  It's amazing how well people (not just kids) respond to feeling loved.  I love sharing that with them.  And I love how willing these kids are to show love back.  I love all the hugs I get from these cute kids.  I left church on such a high. :) Really, that's probably the way it should always be :)

Sundays are also nice because (aside from not having to work - woot!) we usually spend time with family.  After church, we went to my parents' for a little bit.  I wanted to say hi before Dad goes into surgery tomorrow morning and they spend the week in Tremonton.  (I don't know if I've mentioned, but Dad has had surgery on his eye twice now - his retina keeps coming detached in different places.  And yes, this is a third place it has come detached.  The good news is, the places they've already reattached are staying put :))  It's kind of funny, we always saw my parents on Sundays because we'd go to their house to do laundry when we lived in Springville.  Once we got our own place (and their old washer and dryer), we didn't visit hardly ever.  We usually spend Sundays at Matt's parents'.  Since Dad and Gloria have been back from New Mexico, we've been visiting more often - I think we've showed up the last two or three Sundays :)  It's nice to have them close again.  Perhaps them moving to New Mexico was a good thing to help me realize I do need to put forth more effort to stay in touch with them and appreciate the opportunity I have currently to see them and talk to them often.  Also, the conversation seems to flow a little easier now.  Maybe it's just thanks to time, or maybe it was for the distance, but that makes it nicer too.

Today, we did go down to Matt's parents' for dinner too.  It's always fun to hang out with family and catch up on what's going on.  I really am blessed to have such a great family and such great in-laws.  I hear a lot about issues other people have with their in-laws, but I feel like I fit in.  I know I can count on them if we need something.  It was also nice while my parents were in New Mexico, to have my in-laws so readily available.  I'm so grateful for Larry and Carrie opening up their home and hearts to me and always being there for us to help with whatever we need.

I love my family so much, and I'm so glad that we have the opportunity to be together forever.

So, I'm posting my thankfulness right now, because I can :) So if I don't post tomorrow, this is totally counting.

Work = sucktastic (yes, I'm proud of myself for coming up with that, thankyouverymuch)

We got SUPER busy tonight and we were seriously drowning.  On top of that, Cebu was asking me LOTS of questions, which involve me calling my boss and then taking care of them.  This put me in a pretty sour mood.  Once it finally calmed down somewhat, I decided to take a break on FB - and DYAC had posted a link.  Oh my heart, I laughed so hard.  And that was super useful for lifting my mood :)  Now, I know a lot of them are dirty - but that's what makes it funny a lot of times.  And yay for laughing.  So I'm quite grateful for DYAC to help lift my spirits here at work :)

I'm also grateful for good examples at work.  In the midst of all of this, one of my Cebu editors mentioned a particular agent was struggling with a particular concept.  Thanks to my poor mood, I said I hated this agent already, and jokingly offered to drive up to Rexburg this weekend to take care of the situation ;)  My dear friend then says, "That's okay.  Maybe she's new to the project :)" Really? Talk about perspective and helping me stay positive.  Granted, we also had a good laugh about how she stays positive ("I just think of a happy place and rock back and forth ;)") lol Yay for friends and good examples. :)

I am so thankful for having a dishwasher!  Doing the dishes has to be my least favorite constant house chore.  I'm okay with laundry, but not so much with dishes.  When we lived in Springville, the only dishwasher was me.  Sometimes I really considered going out and getting a portable dishwasher, but they are kind of a pain, so I never did.  One of my criteria for moving was to have a dishwasher.  Now that we have our own place - we have that luxury.  I still hate doing the dishes, but it does make it easier when I don't have to stand at the sink for an hour to do them.  I'm glad I can rinse my dirty dishes and put them in the dishwasher.  It makes my kitchen look nicer, even if I still have dirty dishes.  I'm glad I can load it up, put detergent in, start it, and go do something else.  I don't have to stand there forever.  I'm glad also that I don't have to physically wash the dishes.  The dishwasher can use hotter water than I can stand, so my dishes are more sanitary.  I like that when they're clean, I can just put them away.  There is minimal drying needed, and then I'm ready for the next batch.

So yes, today, I am grateful for my dishwasher.

Last night, we had a Primary Regional Training.  I adjusted my work schedule so I could attend.  Since I got off at 6pm and the training was at 7pm in Payson (and I had to stop to get gas), I opted to go straight to the church.  I was 15-20 minutes early, but that was nice because I wasn't stressed.  I also got to visit with a lady from my old home ward, as well as my cousin, who is the secretary in their newly-called presidency :)

Sister Durham of the Primary General Board was our speaker, and the training was amazing.  Sister Durham was so positive and engaging.  We got to ask questions, share ideas, and work together to improve our primaries.  I took about 6 1/2 pages of notes, as well as some notes for my sharing time this week.  Probably one of the biggest themes I took away from it was how we need to be spiritually prepared, both when preparing our lessons and when giving our lessons.  We also need to be spiritually prepared as we think about and meet about ways to improve the primary, to reach out to individual children, to reach our teachers, and to help our teachers improve.  I loved the comment one sister made about how some of their teachers don't go to sacrament meeting, but they do come to primary, and that for some of them, primary is the only spiritual nourishment they get each week.  We really need to be cognizant of that fact and make sure we're not just teaching and spiritually feeding the children, but also their leaders.

Our whole presidency was there, and we had a mini meeting right after.  I think that was the best thing because we had just come from this awesome spiritual training with all of the ideas fresh in our minds, and we were able to talk about a few of the ideas that impressed us as they relate to our primary.

Sister Durham also oriented us to the lds.org primary section and the different helps available there.  She mentioned all of the lesson manuals were up in PDF, along with the clipart.  Now, I knew I could get lessons online before.  I've had to do it :)  However, I leaned over to Whitney and told her the thought I had about substitutes - if we don't lend them the actual book, but just print off that week's lesson for them - maybe that would be easier so there's not a lot of arranging to get the book to them and then back to the regular teacher.  It must have been a good idea because she was having that same thought :)

I'm really glad I was able to adjust my schedule so I could attend this training.  It was so helpful on many levels, and it truly was an amazing spiritual experience.  I knew that was where I was supposed to be.  I just hope I can incorporate some of these ideas into sharing time this week.  Guess I need to work on my spiritual preparedness some more :)

That my last title was correct.  Posting daily is apparently super hard!

So today, I am thankful for overtime.  Last night, we got slammed with work around 5pm.  I ended up working later.  Last week, I got some overtime as well.  I don't particularly like living at work (which sometimes it feels like I do), but I'm especially grateful for the opportunity this week and last because of next week.  I don't get paid holidays (lame, I know), and we aren't working Thursday or Friday next week.  We're quite broke at the moment, and Christmas is going to be a stretch.  So even though I hate working more than necessary, I'm glad I am able to for a bit to help offset the holiday next week.
 
That's another thing I'm grateful for - this Christmas, it was decided that we wouldn't do gifts at the Christiansen party.  Remember how I said we're quite broke? It's not like this was a person-to-person gift exchange.  It was entire families.  We lucked out the first couple years, getting Sharon and Greg, whose kids are grown and on their own, and then getting Tyler and Andrea, who at the time just had Kwin.  Not only was it an expensive adventure, but it was hard knowing what to do - do you do some games or movies for the whole family? Do you do individual gifts for each member of that family?  As more grandkids grow up and have their own families, it seems to be getting a little crazy.  So I'm really glad I don't have to worry about that this Christmas :)

All we really need are 3 gifts (Matt's sibling gift, and then two cousin gifts on my mom's side), and I already know what I'm doing for two of them, and they can be done rather cheaply.  I also know what I'd like to do for the parents... it will just be a matter of making sure we can afford it... And then there are the grandparents.  They may be getting a hug from us this year... Oh well.

On the plus side (that is totally unrelated) a hawk just flew past the window here at work.  I love hawks :)

Wow, talk about a struggle.  I even told Matt yesterday I still had to write a blog post, but then I didn't :)

So yesterday, we went up to my parents' house after church to pick up my sewing machine.  Nolan's friend couldn't fix it :( which means I have to pay Sears to do that, but it's okay.  Dad's eye is still giving him grief, so we hung out with them for the afternoon.  Nolan made BBQ roast that was pretty tasty, and we stayed for dinner.  It was nice spending the afternoon with my family, especially because Dad and Gloria have been in New Mexico for the last while.  I'm grateful they are close by again :)  


I'm also grateful for my step-family.  Saturday night, Makayla sent a text out for family fasting and prayers for Dad's eye.  Sunday he wasn't feeling well at all, and he could see blood.  We didn't know if blood was just moving when the bubble was shrinking, or if something serious happened.  He and Mom went to the doctor this morning, and he said things look good, so it was probably just some blood that had been trapped.  Yay for prayers :)


Also on Sunday evening, we met with the planning committee for the Christmas Party.  I'm so grateful we get to help out with the party planning!  I'm really excited to put on an awesome program for the ward, and for less active, inactive, non-members who may come to the party.  (While we're all helping with all aspects, Matt and I, along with the Butlers, are taking point for the program. I'm rather excited :))


The bishopric wants to omit Santa and bring the focus back to the true meaning of Christmas.  The Butlers (who are the committee chairs) had a cute little poem thing about different Christmas symbols entitled Santa Whispered, "Teach the Children." We talked about expounding on the different symbols, so I looked it up online because it seemed it had to come from a more fleshed out story, the way their handout was.  I found three versions, and I really like the idea of Santa being the one to refocus on Christ - that it isn't about Santa himself.  Now I just have to convince Brother Trotter on Sunday :)  Anyway, be sure you'll see pictures and hear more about that over the next few weeks (party is on the 10th).  I'm just grateful for the opportunity to participate and get to know some other ward members through this temporary calling :)

Yesterday was a pretty good day, which was a nice change of pace from the rest of the week.  After I took care of the animals and took the pup outside, I unloaded the dishwasher and reloaded it.  I stretched - which I really should start doing everyday :\ And then I pulled of the books out of the spare bedroom and spread them all over the office floor ;)  (I'm seeing what will fit on bookshelves when we can afford to get more, and then putting them back in boxes nicely.)  While I was sorting through books, I turned itunes on shuffle, and apparently a majority of the songs I have on here are LDS songwriters and Owl City, so I was thoroughly happy while cleaning :)

Today has been a pretty good day as well.  I slept in until 9am (which never happens without snoozing the 7:30am alarm, which I didn't even hear today).  Aside from having to work for a couple of hours (from home, so it didn't suck too badly), I've hung around the house with Matt.  I made french toast for breakfast, and we watched an episode of Star Trek: Next Generation before I had to work.  After work, I watched Matt play Xbox for awhile and took care of some stuff for church.  I caught up on reading blogs, and I talked to my Daddy, who still can't see yet :(  (I don't know if I mentioned, but he had surgery on his eye because his retina was detaching...again - he just went through this while they were in New Mexico.)  I've pretty much decided to hold off on my Walmart trip until Monday, and our dinner plans fell through, so we get to have a lovely evening in :)  Oh, and we just played with the puppy, both of us.  It's fun to watch her.  And I played with the kitty today.  It's fun to watch the animals :)

So today, I'm thankful for good days :)