new year, same me... trying to be better

we rang in the new year with the parsons family, at about 9pm, (before they went home and we threw our kids in bed...) with sparklers in the front yard. oh the life of a parent with young kids!

so. i know we are all supposed to say wonderful things we are going to do whenever there is a new year... but as i said a few years ago, new years resolutions (in my opinion) are stupid - we need to make new years commitments, if we are going to change our lives and ourselves.

so without further ado, these are the things i would like to achieve in 2019

personal
-daily prayer and scripture study for myself
- attend the temple once a month
-get (and keep) blog up to date
- lose at least 10kg 

family
-daily prayer and scripture study
-study come follow me program throughout the year
-create a budget to allow for savings... so we can:
- build up savings for samoa trip
-new car for doug

wish me luck! ♥

a new year, same resolution

doug and i went to the 7am endowment session at the perth temple this morning and i loved being there so early... we had to arrive at 6:45 and although i am not at all a morning person (anyone that knows me can attest to this) i didn't mind it! it was such a lovely morning.

after the success of my new years commitment last year, the only thing that i could think of when the new year rolled in almost a month ago, was making another one i knew i could keep. so here we go again, with another year of attending the temple at least once a month. i know i can do it and will be blessed for doing so, so it seems a no brainer. 

january down, 2017, here we go! 

the house of the lord

on friday evening i had the chance to attend a session at the perth temple, for the first time in a really long time. it was so wonderful to be there! to learn and to think in the quiet rooms. i have made a resolution to attend at least once a month this year (writing it down here, as a goal unwritten is simply a wish!) so i am officially one twelvth of the way there!

it's funny though, how you hear things you need to, when you need to... the relief society lesson on sunday was based on a talk entitled: shipshape and bristol fashion: be temple worthy in good times and bad times. it spoke of the importance of always holding a current temple recommend, regardless of whether your circumstances allowed you to attend the temple or not. 3 points i thought particularly important were 1. to practice righteous self control and conduct at all times 2. honouring the sabbath will increase righteousness and be a protection for the family 3. divine protections are provided when we are righteous. exactly that. when we are righteous. heavenly father loves his children, but he excepts us to be obedient and turn to him.

a sister in our class spoke of an experience where she had attended the wedding of a close family friend, had waited excitedly in the waiting room and then passed her recommend to the clerk at the desk, only to discover it had expired the day prior. she said she felt as one of the foolish virgins, who had not brought their oil and had been left outside. what an awful lesson to learn! but what a lifelong reminder to be prepared at all times to receive the blessings that can only be found within the walls of the temple.

i am so excited to attend the temple each month and know that i can and should do so, as this year will truly bring me closer to my father in heaven. 

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I hold before you two credit cards. Most of you are familiar with cards such as these. The first is a bank credit card. It permits me to secure merchandise on credit and then pay for my purchases at one time. It is a valuable thing and something to be safeguarded. If stolen and dishonestly used, it could cause me great loss and perhaps considerable embarrassment. In accepting it from my bank, I enter into a contract and become bound by obligations and agreements. In accepting the card, I agree to meet the conditions under which it was issued.

It is issued for one year only and must be reissued each year if I am to enjoy the privileges afforded by it. It is not really mine. The bank retains ownership. If I fail in my required performance, then the bank may shut off the credit and repossess the card.

The other card which I have is what we call a temple recommend. It represents a credit card with the Lord, making available to me many of His greatest gifts. The bank card is concerned with things of the world, the recommend with things of God.

To secure a temple recommend, the receiver must also have demonstrated his eligibility, and that eligibility is based on personal worthiness. Once granted, it is not in place forever, but must be reissued each year. Furthermore, it is subject to forfeiture if the holder does anything which would disqualify him for its privileges.

Eligibility for a temple recommend is not based on financial worth. That has nothing whatever to do with it. It is based on consistent personal behavior, on the goodness of one’s life. It is not concerned with money matters, but rather with things of eternity.

The bank card opens the door to financial credit. The temple recommend opens the door to the House of the Lord. It is concerned with entry into holy precincts to do sacred and divine work.

This recommend which I have and which so many of you have is a precious and wonderful thing. It makes one eligible for an exclusive and remarkable privilege—the privilege of entering that House which says on its wall, “Holiness to the Lord—the House of the Lord.” Live worthy to serve in that House. Keep it holy. Do your part to keep from the Lord’s House any unclean or defiling influence or person. Enjoy its beauty. Enjoy the wonder of the things that are spoken there, the beauty and the blessing of the ordinances there administered.

To those who have not yet been to the temple, may I suggest that you take advantage of the opportunity of being baptized in behalf of the dead. And then let that sacred experience become an anchor to your lives, that you so conduct yourselves at all times and in all circumstances that, at the proper time, you may secure a special and restricted credit card with the Lord, even a recommend to His holy House, there to enjoy all of its blessings and privileges.

-Keeping the Temple Holy: President Gordon B Hinckley (Ensign May 1990) Read the full talk here

sometimes it's really hard

i really tried to be kind, i tried so hard... and this week i saw red, let my mouth go and said something i regretted instantly, to someone i needed to try really hard with, who i fear i may have ruined things with. although i apologised quickly and very genuinely, i know that's the awful thing about words, once they are said, there is absolutely nothing you can do to take them back and you have to live with the consequences,

i truly felt genuine sorrow for what i did and stressed endlessly (and even cried somewhat about it) and although i know i'm okay and past it now, i really felt like i learned a lesson in all of this. i made a promise to be kind and now i know the grief that comes from not trying my hardest, i feel like i can try again and try harder.

"three things there are that will never come back, the arrow shot forth on its destined track, the appointed hour that could not wait, and the helpful (in my case, apologetic) word that was spoken too late"

kindess begins with me

2016 resolutions

it's a new year, a fresh start, a clean slate, a new chapter, all of those nice things and the time when people make resolutions of things they will do, stop doing and change about themselves. a few years ago i read a blog online where the person had decided to choose a focus word (a single word) each year to work on. 

although i have made a few different resolutions this year, there is one thing above all else about myself that i need to try harder with. i need to be kind. to try harder to be kind. and to be kind to people who may not be kind to me. to remember that as that old primary song says, "kindness begins with me." and as president thomas s. monson said in his october 2015 general conference address, "speak with tolerance and kindness." i know i can make a difference if i only but try, not just to others, but to myself. 

so 2016 is the year i will be kind. ♥

a new year and a new resolution

so here it is. there has been two thousand and fifteen years since christ was born. that's a really long time. especially considering i've only been alive for just over 31 of them. 

i saw online a few years ago a girl who had decided to make a single word resolution... what a fabulous idea. because let'd be honest, when you make a list and are too specific it's sometime only days (or even hours) before you've broken some or all of them. when you focus on one thing, it's much easier to make it happen!

so my focus this year will be to become closer. 

closer to my husband, my children, my family and friends.

and of course to the lord. to read and pray and think more and make myself better that way... and as a side note, maybe try and be a little less critical. (i am the queen of silent judgement :( )

so here goes 2015. come at me. (i think) i'm ready!

2013

"we would not worry so much what others thought of us,

if we knew how rarely they actually did"

so. 2013 is here. it feels like last week that 2012 began and here we are, pulling the cork out of another year and getting ready for whatever it has in store for us. last year i made a one word resolution for the new year and this year i have decided to do the same. this year is going to be comfortable. i am going to learn to be comfortable with myself, and in my own skin.

i have to confess, cause if you're reading this, you're either a complete random that's stumbled upon me on the www, or a close friend, so either way, it either a) doesn't matter that you know this or b) you would have know it anyway. i overthink everyday - about everything. and i mean everything. i quite frequently spend an entire day worrying about something i have said to someone or something i have done, or even a look i may have given someone. i can't help it, it's just the way i am, it's my cross to bear. but i am working on it. i hope that by the time the bells ring in 2014 i won't care as much and have some room in my crowded headspace to think of things that matter, instead of things that don't.

i also want to be comfortable to just be me, to eat better, to exercise... and make my me, a better me. this is not some public declaration that i am going to lose 20 kilos this year (cause i sure as hell doubt i am going to) but i just want to look in the mirror and be happy with what i see, inside and out.

so there you have it folks, 2013 is the year that i learn to be comfortable with 

who i am

2012

so here it is... 2012

the year that the world is supposed to end -

but so far for me it's going pretty well.

no end of the world here...

so - my new years resolutions? i know you're all dying to know - my big wide audience of what? 4 people? 6 at the most?? well - i saw a fabulous idea on one of the blogs i read, the author has decided to choose a one word resolution. i thought it was great, so i am going to do the same.

my resolution is: "family"

my little family has grown by one member this past year and what a joy she is to us... i love spending time with her and doug, just the three of us... but also with our extended family too!! so this year, i'm going to spend as much time with my family as possible. immediate and extended. doug, maddie and i are off to new zealand in may for the unveiling of his grandparents graves and for maddie to meet the rest of doug's family and we are very excited...

so bring on 2012, with it's challenges, hopes, dreams and...

my little family!