july join in: a stake relief society activity

yesterday i had the chance to go to an amazing stake relief society activity at our stake centre. the relief society presidency had put a bunch of work in and it showed. seriously... the hall set up was epic, check it out!

on arrival, we were sorted into groups to do a round robin of a few activities during the afternoon. first up was a mini workshop about the importance of making friends and keeping up with our ministering... a girl i was in primary with taught it and she was excellent. kept us all engaged and laughing... perfect!to start off gave everyone a bag to pull a random coin from. we were to look at the year on the coin and tell about something important that happened in our lives that year. such a great way to get to know more about someone!

class number two was a singing workshop, in which we learned to sing an arrangement of "give said the little stream," which i lovvvvved. it's always been one of my favourite primary songs and singing it with a group of likeminded women was an beautiful experience. 

class number 3, a cooking class, in which we learned to make a soup and a salad which were prepared (a different set for each group)... ready for the feast after all the activities were done -

where we all sat in this beautifully decorated hall (seriously, our stake relief society presidency is amaaaaazing!) look at the effort they went to! the food was delicious and we were even waited on by the boys in their local ward.

our final activity before that dinner was making a family proclamation with fine art mini prints of the saviour on the framing mat. they looked so beautiful when they were finished and i can't wait to get mine home and frame it!

(update and added photo of mine complete and framed! i am giving it to a friend as a housewarming gift who i am certain is going to love it! they have just bought their first house and are so excited... we love all the same things and i just know it will be perfect for her house)

we ended the day with a fireside, which was so lovely. our stake relief society president spoke of the love they have for us and how important it is to remain firm in the faith. we united sang our arrangement of give said the little stream which was just incredible and then prior to closing watched a video about the relief society general presidency and board entitled "just like you." this was so eye opening. i don't know about others, but i tend to think of those women as being so righteous that they wouldn't have the same petty issues in life that we do. but they do. and sometimes more and others that we haven't even thought of. i loved it so much and will definitely be showing it to the young women, soon. 

i am so grateful for relief society. i learned so much about the importance of it and the bonds it creates during my time as president. it can help and heal so many women and i wish some who struggle to attend could see that. relief society is truly god's gift to women. emma smith stated when she opened their first meeting, "sisters, we are going to do something extraordinary." and over the years, we truly have.  

a wedding gift made with love

as i posted about a few days back, my beautiful friend aniwa and her husband myron got married last week. we have become very close and share a wonderful friendship and love for the gospel. 

my dad performed their marriage ceremony and i was asked to do a reading at the wedding, so i chose something that spoke of the purpose of marriage within the gospel and the importance of being together as husband and wife. but then, what to give as a gift? i found the perfect solution, in having my reading placed over a beautiful photo of them that I'd snapped at the wedding. my new found friend from lemons that are pink in the uk was only too happy to oblige in making one up and i was thrilled with the results!

♥♥♥

The First Presidency and the Council of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, solemnly declared more than 20 years ago in the Family Proclamation, that marriage between a man and a woman is ordained of God and that the family is central to the Creator’s plan for the eternal destiny of His children.

The first commandment that God gave to Adam and Eve was as husband and wife, that they would have a solemn responsibility to love and care for each other and for their children.

The family is ordained of God. Marriage between man and woman is essential to His eternal plan. Happiness in family life is most likely to be achieved when founded upon the teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ. Successful marriages and families are established and maintained on principles of faith, prayer, repentance, forgiveness, respect, love, compassion and work.

In True to the Faith it also says: If you are married, remember that the friendship and love between you and your spouse should be your most cherished earthly relationship… Remember that marriage, in its truest sense, is a partnership of equals, with neither person exercising dominion over the other, but with each encouraging, comforting and helping the other.

♥♥♥

and clearly they loved it too...

happy days are ahead m & a, this is just the beginning. i love you both!

one year down!

monday marked one year in our kendall dream house and i was so proud of myself, because the photo wall was done with two days to spare! i promised doug when we moved in that i would have it done before we had been here a year, so i realised a few weeks ago that i would have to get my act together if i was going to make the deadline.

when we moved in, the previous owners had kindly left their frames in place for us to have... and i was so grateful, as it was done beautifully... all perfectly spaced, aligned, matched... every ocd's dream. also amazing as i would have had to a) find new frames that perfectly fit into the spaces that were left, or removed all the screws, filled, sanded and repainted the wall. ummmmm, nobody has time or patience for that!

so onto etsy i went. i had a rough idea of a few prints i wanted to purchase, and got looking for the family proclamation with the option of adding our own wedding photo, the thirteen articles of faith and the living christ (the testimony of the twelve apostles) my search came up great when i stumbled across lemons that are pink on etsy, who had all three prints that matched, but was willing to go the extra mile and create me a custom family proclamation to match them. yay! i was completely and utterly amazed by her customer service and attention to detail, as all three prints came out beautifully, were sized perfectly to the measurements i gave her and she sent 3 proofs of the family proclamation with ever so slight changes, with no problems at all. i highly recommend samantha... she's the best!

i am so beyond happy with the wall and how it turned out. i couldn't help myself for the first few days, i would just go into the hallway and stare at it. so happy! 

a picture says a thousand words... but this wall says a million ♥