Things past and things to come

It's interesting how fast time can fly by when we are just going one day at a time! Yesterday I spent a lot of time reflecting on what happened 9 years ago and where I was and how I felt about the whole thing! It's weird to think that then I was a Freshman in high school and now I'm a college graduate! Granted, I still have no job and what to do, but still it's just really interesting! When people think about their "10 year" plans to they really know what or even if those thing would/ will happen to them!?! Well, next year I think will be very very different than this year, but that's how life goes!
 In other news this week will be an awesome week and so will next! Why you ask? Well, tomorrow, Monday my parents and I are going to the fair to watch the livestock shows! I'm sooo excited! It's been years since I went to one! Definitely taking the camera! I'll help mom clean up the house and probably go visiting teaching too! Then, Friday is a very good friend's birthday! Brad Williams will be 23!!!! YAY!!!!! I love that kid! He's such a good friend and brother like figure! This weekend I will be packing to get ready for my trip to New Hampshire and Boston! I'm sooo excited! Oh wait, you're probably wondering why I'm going! Well, my best friend, Mike Brown is getting married to Melanie Gray on the 25th sooo... I'm going to the wedding! It's kinda cool cause in our church you can't actually go to the ceremony part unless you are endowed member... 3 years ago my best friend, Bonnie got married and I wasn't able to go to the sealing, but I was outside waiting for her when she got out! However, this year I got my endowments so I can go! I'm delighted! the Lord always provides a way for things to work out! Well, also that night is the General Relief Society Broadcast so, although I won't be watching it with my awesome mom I will be watching it with Mike and Mel's moms!!!! I'm way excited! Anywho... I'll probably write some stuff later in the week, but yeah... that's about it for now! :D

No clue of what to do.

So, I officially have no clue what to do with life and for a job! I missed the passing point of the Literacy 2 test by 2 percentage points! I really don't want to spend another 4 months studying and then have it amount to nothing! I'm really getting bummed by it! I'm starting to wonder if I should choose a different career! I mean would it be possible to go back to school for something else? Should I try law? Or is there something else I should do? I feel like a failure at this moment and I'm really not sure what to say or do about it!

Good news? Well, I got a haircut about 2 weeks ago... in a month I get to attend my best friend's wedding! This last Monday I got to see a really awesome friend, Brad, we got to basically just talk most of the time! It was way good! Anyways, suggestions would be nice, and... here's a picture of my hair for ending!

My new look!

Many Decisions

I've been having to make a few decisions lately and start contemplating on many things. This week I went to Rexburg to take a Literacy 2 Test which hopefully I finally passed! I've been contemplating what to do about a job... at first it seemed like everything would work out with a montessori school in Idaho Falls, but they don't have any teaching positions left... sad day! However, there is a Sylvan in Idaho Falls! There are jobs in the Bonneville school district, but I'm not sure what I should do right now... and Sylvan has always been something I really want to do! I'm going to pray and fast about it and hopefully a decision will come up sooner than later. My friend, Ashley and I were talking about it and decided that if we can both find a job in Idaho Falls then we could get a 2 bedroom apartment with each other! That would be nice... cause then neither one of us would have to worry about many a brand new person and not getting along at all, and also we already know loads about each other and when not to bother each other! It would be way good... Pray that I figure it out! Please!


Other news: While in Rexburg I got to spend time with some pretty amazing people! I first took Shanna to surprise Emily... which was a classic! Then, I took my test and saw Ashley (who I may find an apt with)! Then, I went to a concert for the university band! It was soooo good I cried! They had a dialog about Elder Tuttle (one of the men who helped raise the flag in WWII the famous painting)! Well, then after that I went and saw Michael & Melanie! I love those two! I spent loads of time with them and loved every minute of it! I got to rest while they were doing homework, we watched Psych, I took cute pics of them, we went swimming and Stacey was there too! I did end up seeing Brad, but only cause I was at his apt! I do miss it up there, and hopefully can figure things out soon as to what to do next!

To My Amazing Bubba :)

4 years ago I met some pretty amazing people in college... people that I knew I would be friends with forever! One of these people is named, Mike Brown. He recently asked me how he became Bubba, and the truth is I don't remember, but I guess what matters more is that he is truly like a brother to me. When I was far away from my family I was blessed to have such amazing friends that I could call family, and to this day I am still close with them! They are some of the most wonderful people I know! Mike has been an inspiration to me and has helped me through those hard times that come in this life! I am honored to be his friend... he always lends his shoulder to cry on, and always has a good heart. He has taught me how to even love those that I don't see eye to eye with. Today is his birthday, and even though he is younger than me I sometimes feel like I am the younger one learning from his every lead. In a few months he will be married to his sweetheart, Melanie Gray, for time and all eternity. What a glorious thing that I am so grateful I get to witness. I feel very blessed to know such a wonderful young man, and I couldn't ask for a better friend than he on this earth! He has been a best friend that I will cherish forever. Many think it weird two people could be so close as he and I are and feel no attachment to each other... other than friendship. I am very honored to have met such a remarkable young man, and I love him very much! He is truly an amazing friend! And I know he does not care about his birthday, and that to me shows how humble he is... I am not sure how else to express how much he means to me, and I am and forever will be eternal grateful to my Heavenly Father for allowing me to meet him and many other wonderful people!

Mike and I after be reunited after his mission

Sissy and Bubba forever! :-p

Us talking about sharp pointy teeth from Monty Python

We so cool at Big Judd's

We are French...

Both of us with our best friend Brad!

He squished me... :-)

To Brother Joseph

What a remarkable man Joseph Smith was... 166 years ago Joseph Smith and his brother Hyrum died as martyrs... they were killed by an angry mob. They were some of the most prominent men in the beginning of the church. Nothing can explain things better than the section written by John Taylor in Doctrine and Covenants 135 "1 TO seal the testimony of this book and the Book of Mormon, we announce the martyrdom of Joseph Smith the Prophet, and Hyrum Smith the Patriarch. They were shot in Carthage jail, on the 27th of June, 1844, about five o’clock p.m., by an armed mob—painted black—of from 150 to 200 persons. Hyrum was shot first and fell calmly, exclaiming: I am a dead man! Joseph leaped from the window, and was shot dead in the attempt, exclaiming: O Lord my God! They were both shot after they were dead, in a brutal manner, and both received four balls.

  2 John Taylor and Willard Richards, two of the Twelve, were the only persons in the room at the time; the former was wounded in a savage manner with four balls, but has since recovered; the latter, through the providence of God, escaped, without even a hole in his robe.

  3 Joseph Smith, the Prophet and Seer of the Lord, has done more, save Jesus only, for the salvation of men in this world, than any other man that ever lived in it. In the short space of twenty years, he has brought forth the Book of Mormon, which he translated by the gift and power of God, and has been the means of publishing it on two continents; has sent the fulness of the everlasting gospel, which it contained, to the four quarters of the earth; has brought forth the revelations and commandments which compose this book of Doctrine and Covenants, and many other wise documents and instructions for the benefit of the children of men; gathered many thousands of the Latter-day Saints, founded a great city, and left a fame and name that cannot be slain. He lived great, and he died great in the eyes of God and his people; and like most of the Lord’s anointed in ancient times, has sealed his mission and his works with his own blood; and so has his brother Hyrum. In life they were not divided, and in death they were not separated!

  4 When Joseph went to Carthage to deliver himself up to the pretended requirements of the law, two or three days previous to his assassination, he said: “I am going like a lamb to the slaughter; but I am calm as a summer’s morning; I have a conscience void of offense towards God, and towards all men. I SHALL DIE INNOCENT, AND IT SHALL YET BE SAID OF ME—HE WAS MURDERED IN COLD BLOOD.”—The same morning, after Hyrum had made ready to go—shall it be said to the slaughter? yes, for so it was—he read the following paragraph, near the close of the twelfth chapter of Ether, in the Book of Mormon, and turned down the leaf upon it:

  5 And it came to pass that I prayed unto the Lord that he would give unto the Gentiles grace, that they might have charity. And it came to pass that the Lord said unto me: If they have not charity it mattereth not unto thee, thou hast been faithful; wherefore thy garments shall be made clean. And because thou hast seen thy weakness, thou shalt be made strong, even unto the sitting down in the place which I have prepared in the mansions of my Father. And now I . . . bid farewell unto the Gentiles; yea, and also unto my brethren whom I love, until we shall meet before the judgment-seat of Christ, where all men shall know that my garments are not spotted with your blood. The testators are now dead, and their testament is in force.

  6 Hyrum Smith was forty-four years old in February, 1844, and Joseph Smith was thirty-eight in December, 1843; and henceforward their names will be classed among the martyrs of religion; and the reader in every nation will be reminded that the Book of Mormon, and this book of Doctrine and Covenants of the church, cost the best blood of the nineteenth century to bring them forth for the salvation of a ruined world; and that if the fire can scathe a green tree for the glory of God, how easy it will burn up the dry trees to purify the vineyard of corruption. They lived for glory; they died for glory; and glory is their eternal reward. From age to age shall their names go down to posterity as gems for the sanctified.

  7 They were innocent of any crime, as they had often been proved before, and were only confined in jail by the conspiracy of traitors and wicked men; and their innocent blood on the floor of Carthage jail is a broad seal affixed to “Mormonism” that cannot be rejected by any court on earth, and their innocent blood on the escutcheon of the State of Illinois, with the broken faith of the State as pledged by the governor, is a witness to the truth of the everlasting gospel that all the world cannot impeach; and their innocent blood on the banner of liberty, and on the magna charta of the United States, is an ambassador for the religion of Jesus Christ, that will touch the hearts of honest men among all nations; and their innocent blood, with the innocent blood of all the martyrs under the altar that John saw, will cry unto the Lord of Hosts till he avenges that blood on the earth. Amen."

There is also one song that can explain the sacrifice he gave... he says that he went as a lamb to the slaughter...

LAMB TO THE SLAUGHTER

Written by Jason Deere

The morning was clear on the road from Nauvoo
A tear touched his eye as his home fell from view
The journey was silent and few words were said
As he leaned to his brother and quietly said

As a lamb to the slaughter I willingly go
And die for my Father, His strength fills my soul
I’ve lived for my Savior and I’ll die for Him too
And with humble heart I lay down my life a prophet of truth

Four humble men sang with the angels on high
“He asked if I for him would die
The flesh was weak, my blood ran chill
But my free spirit cried I will!”
For I know this day I shall see my Savior’s face

As a lamb to the slaughter I willingly go
And die for my Father, His strength fills my soul
I’ve lived for my Savior and I’ll die for Him too
And with humble heart I lay down my life a prophet of truth

A noise from the stairway, a shot through the door
The first martyr fell to the floor
Tears filled Joseph’s eyes, Oh my dear brother Hyrum
Today you’ll find peace
Oh Lord my God release my soul, set my spirit free

As a lamb to the slaughter I willingly go
And die for my Father, His strength fills my soul
I’ve lived for my Savior and I’ll die for Him too
And with humble heart I lay down my life a prophet of truth
And with humble heart I go to my grave a prophet of truth