The Best is Yet to Be

"The past is to be learned from but not lived in. We look back to claim the embers from glowing experiences but not the ashes. And when we have learned what we need to learn and have brought with us the best that we have experienced, then we look ahead and remember that faith is always pointed toward the future. Some of you may wonder: Is there any future for me? What does a new year or a new semester, a new major or a new romance, a new job or a new home hold for me? Will I be safe? Will life be sound? Can I trust in the Lord and in the future? Or would it be better to look back, to go back, to stay in the past? I call out, Faith is for the future. Faith builds on the past but never longs to stay there. Faith trusts that God has great things in store for each of us and that Christ truly is the "high priest of good things to come." -Elder Jeffrey R. Holland

Christ: The Real Gift of Christmas

How to Have a More Worshipful Christmas

• Replace some holiday decorations in your home with reminders of Christ.
• Politely decline requests that will take you away from family.
• Play more Christmas music.
• Donate gently used items to a thrift store.
• Go Christmas caroling.
• Avoid mad rush shopping times.
• Say thank you as often as possible.
• Schedule a night to help another person or family.
• Call someone you normally wouldn't to wish him or her a Merry Christmas.
• Delegate some holiday preparations to children or other family members.
• Trim the gift list.
• Simplify a traditional activity.
• Find quiet time to pray.
• Write down great memories as they happen.
• Set and stick to a holiday budget.
• Forgive a grudge.
• For more ideas go here.
  

Sneak Peek...

Drop me a note if you want a Christmas card!

Up Close and Personal

Watching and listening to the Nets next plays...

Christy and Charlie Fruits-Charlie was in basketball heaven!

Shan and Jeff

Nets coach and player...nice size difference!

On November 27 Jeff and I went to the Sacramento Kings game with friends and family. We had a great view and had tons of fun! The Kings rocked the house against the New Jersey Nets. The Nets coach was a little crazy on the court, but I suppose thats why he was fired 3 days later... oh and the fact they hadn't won the last seventeen games.

Missing the hubby...

Jeff is in Alabama for 11 days for a mission companion's wedding. Bring on the chocolate, the shopping and the HGTV channel...

Conference Buns

Jeff and I were really excited to watch Conference a few weeks ago. We love listening to the talks and feeling inspired to do better and be better and serve more. I decided this time that I would try making some of Tammy Scott's famous cinnamon rolls, and try to make it a "semi-annual" tradition when we watch General Conference to have them. These are homemade delicious wannabe Cinnabons that melt in your mouth and should only be eaten every six months because they are so sweet and you can really get carried away with eating them all! Thanks Tammy for your delicious recipe and all your help with getting the ingredients! It is a pretty intense recipe, but well worth all the effort! If you want the recipe, let me know.

Bye Bye Summer

Summer is over and fall is here! The air is turning crisp and I am getting the urge to bake...or at least attempt it again. Maybe this year my cookies will turn out? Probably not.

School started on August 31 and ever since then life has been a blur. Jeff is taking 15 units and I am taking 12. He is working 4am to 9am at UPS and then going to school and I am working 8am to 3pm and then going to school. Monday, Tuesday, Thursday nights are class and Wednesday night is mutual. Wooo what a load...but I can honestly say I LOVE IT! I am 29 units away from my BA in Child Development, which I am aiming for next Fall to graduate with Jeff. My house has never been cleaner and my health has never been so...healthy! I am sleeping better than a baby and working harder than most adults (ok...maybe not so much).

I would be lying if I told you it was all because of me that I have been so happy and energetic. I am really putting every day in the Lord's hands. There is no way I could do what I am doing without the Lord's help. He has blessed me with things I didn't even know I needed. He has blessed me with confidence in my educational abilities, He has given me opportunities for my self esteem to increase, He has calmed my fears and brought balance to my life, He has quieted my anxieties, He has brought opportunities for growth in ways I never would have imagined, He has stifled my temper. I am trying not to let harsh judgments or cruel criticism linger in my thoughts, I am focusing on the things that matter most, I am a better driver, I am a happier person, I am truly becoming the person that the Lord wants me to be. I am setting goals and accomplishing them, I am reading scriptures every night and finding similarities with me and Nephi, I am talking to my Savior and my Eternal Father in a very real way and asking for help with my faults and weaknesses and every day life. Surviving this semester has meant sacrificing my time and hobbies and really focusing only on the things that have an eternal consequence- my family, the gospel and my schooling. When there happens to be a night that I don't have something going on, I find myself feeling unproductive. There is always work to be done and I have learned this in a very few short months. Whether it is serving others or serving the Lord, we should always be anxiously engaged in a good cause.

I am grateful for the lessons I learn when I don't even expect them. Life is good and I am happy.