A simple thanks

I was completely stressed yesterday getting ready for our Young Women's activity that night. We combine our youth activities each week with another ward so instead of our 5 girls that show up to activities we have 15-20. For this combine YW activity, we decided to make burb cloths, decorate onesies with freezer paper stencils and paint, and tie baby quilts. The secretary in our ward YW presidency is having a baby in November so we thought it would be fun to do some for her. She isn't able to come to week-night activities so it will be a surprise.

Anyway, the reason this was so stressful was because last week we moved up this activity to this week (it was supposed to be the last week in October) and I didn't have time to work on it until - uh - yesterday. I spent the morning cutting out the freezer-paper stencils. At 1 I quickly got "dressed" (into workout clothes), dropped off Sarah for her dance carpool and headed to Joann with Rachel and William to pick up the fabric to sew onto the burp rags. I got home just before Sarah got home at 2:30. I threw the fabric into the washing machine while I started to collect everything I needed for that night: iron, ironing board, sewing machine, pin cushion, thread, freezer paper stencils, fabric paints ... I attempted putting William down for a nap, but by 3 it was evident that it wasn't going to happen. Awesome. Rachel wanted to be held and didn't want to take a real nap either. Double Awesome.

In the midst of everything, my house became messier and messier - both from my projects and the kids stuff. I was stressing about being able to help everyone with the stencils while at the same time teaching those sewing the burp cloths essentially how to sew straight lines. I was a complete wreck and wondering WHY on EARTH I thought this would be a fun activity to be in charge of. I called my cousin Natalie to "talk me off the cliff" and enlisted Sarah to help clean up with being able to watch a "show" as her reward. (Yes, she is super motivated by being able to watch a show.) It helped immensely.

While the fabric was drying, I made stirred lasagna and popped it into the oven for dinner. During the "show" I hopped into the shower so I resembled a human being and I felt much better. I got dressed, got the kids in the car and headed to pick up Roger from BART. He made the profound (read: OBVIOUS) statement that "Young Women's is a lot of work." I was in charge of the Beehive class activity two weeks ago (we went to do baptisms at the temple last week) and we made file folder games for an orphanage in Haiti that a woman in our ward was going to visit.

So after dinner, I left Rog with the kids and headed to the church. I said a little prayer when I got there and headed into the YW room. I was 5 minutes late ... but it worked out since we have opening exercises for mutual with the young men. The room was set up with tables and chairs so I only had to add the onesies and burp cloth stations. The quilts were already on tables. Whew. I was ready when the girls came in. I put my YW president in charge of helping girls sew and I instructed the girls on how to do the onesies. We had a few more leaders helping with the quilts and roving to make sure everyone was engaged and knew what to do. And miraculously everything went fairly well. I felt at peace - not the crazy person I had been all day.

At the end of the night, while I was cleaning paint brushes in the bathroom, one of my laurels came up to me and sincerely said, "Thanks Sister Osness. That was fun." Wow. My bucket filled up so fast! Really, it wasn't much of an effort on her part, but the impact was incredible. It helped me remember "the why." I feel so grateful to work with the phenomenal young women of our ward. I sure love them.

A New Perspective

This past week I have been uplifted by a couple of different examples of faith in Jesus Christ. 

A few days ago I was able to watch a movie called "Soul Surfer."  It is about a girl named Bethany Hamilton who at a young age lost her arm in a shark attack.

One of my favorite parts in this movie was when Bethany was visiting with one of her religious leaders.  She asked, "How can this be God's plan for me?"  Her leader replied, "I don't know why bad things happen, but I have to believe something good will come from this."

Through her faith in Jesus Christ, Bethany has been able to find her purpose in life while inspiring others.

To see the preview, click
http://www.soulsurferthemovie.com/page/the-movie.html

Today I listened to a program on LDS Radio called Conversations.  It featured Christian and Stephanie Nielson who survived a plane crash while sustaining burns over most of their bodies.  They talked about their reliance on Jesus Christ through this experience and how their perspective of this mortal life has changed.  To listen to this broadcast, go to
http://radio.lds.org/programs/conversations-episode-26?lang=eng#d
to follow Stephanie's blog, go to
http://nieniedialogues.blogspot.com/

It's amazing how all of us have trials, some obvious and some hidden.  Through these trials we can choose to rely on Jesus Christ.  I know that He is able to heal each of us--no matter what.  I can testify that He knows us individually and cares about the little things in our lives.  I have seen this in my life as well as in the lives of others.  What an amazing thing to know!  I am so grateful for the knowledge I have of the restored gospel and of Jesus Christ.  How truly blessed we are!

My Family

The theme from our ward conference yesterday was FAMILIES.  A comment made in relief society referred to a song from the "Friend" magazine called "The Family Is of God"  The following quote from the chorus of the song really struck me . . .

God gave us families to help us become

what He wants us to be.

This is such an amazing phrase!  We're all in this together!

So next time someone is trying my patience, I hope I will remember this song and realize they are just trying to help me gain one of God's attributes.

To listen to this song, go to http://www.friend.lds.org/

SO Blessed

Today I am so grateful for the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the knowledge that we as a family can be together forever. What an amazing blessing. Sometimes I get so scared about losing loved ones. I need to forget that fear and dwell on the beautiful temple blessings. We are so BLESSED!

Can 37 and 2 be so similar?

On Friday I threw one terrific temper tantrum. I think my two-year-old would have been very proud of my abilities, had she not been shocked. Why at my age am I throwing temper tantrums? I have SO much to work on!
After my explosion I felt horrible, HORRIBLE. But some of the things I am grateful for are 1. a husband who didn't react and just suggested I go somewhere else and 2. for a loving Heavenly Father who knows we will make mistakes and has created the most beautiful plan, so instead of being eternally devastated we can be forgiven as we try our best to make things better. Does that mean no consequences, absolutely not, we still have to make amends and work things out, but it does mean that we have an amazing friend and advocate helping us out and bridging the gap.

I remember listening to the after game show of a BYU football game. The coach kept talking about how proud he was of his team. They had made some foolish, and bad mistakes in the beginning of the game, but he was so pleased with how they just kept going and didn't dwell on their mistakes, but went on to play out the rest of the game and win. This is so applicable to our lives. Often I make dumb mistakes, or do things I know I shouldn't and I just want to give up and hide my head. I'm slowly learning, that this doesn't work and I just need to get back in the game and try even harder.

Heavenly Father is so kind and I am so grateful for HIS Plan of Happiness. It truly is amazing.

This weekend I sure fell in love with my kids again. I LOVE to have our family around. We surely missed those who weren't here though. I can't imagine what my life would be like without all of you. The house is so quiet and now we have to get back to doing all the "stuff" that is normal around here. We love you all so much! {{hugs}}

Valentine's Day

I love Valentine's Day! What a fun day especially set aside to let those you love, know how much you love them. I love that everyone is decked out in red or pink. I love that I can make homemade valentines with lots of goop and show my kids what a real valentine is!
I love walking down the isles of the grocery store watching men try desperately to choose something for their sweetheart or grandmas with carts full of treats for grandchildren. I love how happy children are to go to school.
I just LOVE that you have one more excuse to give hugs to your squirmy children. I can't wait to put on some bright red lipstick and give them all a BIG smooch on their cheeks tonight :)


I'm also very grateful my husband is home from his week-long-business trip and he can help me deal with the SUGAR crash tonight!