Little Blessings

It's often easy for me to get so focused on the challenges in life that I don't recognize the blessings in my life. We all have challenges, but we are all also very blessed. I've been working on recognizing those little blessings in life that make life joyful:

- I've been working with one of my little violin students for about three months, and last week she finally played Twinkle Twinkle Little Star all the way through. It was such an achievement! Her mother and I cheered and cheered, and she looked like she had just won the New York Marathon. It was such a glorious moment.

- We had a studio recital for my university students a few weeks ago. One student in particular has been struggling with feelings of confidence. When we met for his lesson the day before the recital, he told me that he had every intention of "falling flat on his face" in the recital, including memory problems. He told me that if it did happen, he would just walk off stage without finishing the performance. After a long talk he agreed to try and change his thinking. At the recital, he performed beautifully. Another great moment.

- I am the nursery leader in my ward. Sunday is always an adventure. We have a junior and senior nursery to help create a little more order, and it works quite well. The other week we decided to play some games in senior nursery. Duck duck goose is always a favorite. We start out playing it the normal way, but slowly the game unravels as random kids decide they want to be "it", or be the one chased, or as kids demand their same seat back when they sit down. It ends with the three adults sitting in the circle while all of the children are running around in a circle chasing each other. It never fails to make me laugh.

- I don't spend a whole lot of time in junior nursery (18 months-2 years), mostly because we only have a few kids in there and they most just sit quietly playing with toys. I do, however, bring in the treats each week since the food is stored in the senior nursery room. The kids have been well trained to recognize me as "the food lady", and whenever I come in they try to get the table and chairs out, and they get so excited. They get very upset if I come in early just to check on them and I don't have food. These little guys may not be able to talk yet, but they are sure entertaining.

- Tuesday afternoons are a treasured time in my family. Every week I go out to lunch with my mom and two sisters. We go to a different place every time. Sometimes one or more of us has already eaten, but we still come because we always have a great time talking and laughing. Wherever we go, we always seem to be the loudest table.

I already feel better. I know that I am truly blessed, and I'm going to work harder at recognizing those little blessings as they come.

Enduring Hardships

My heart has been touched many times recently by the hardships people are facing. It is incredible how many people are struggling with financial, emotional, spiritual, or physical challenges (or a combination of several). As I work with my students on campus, I find myself having to spend more and more time acting as a counselor to lift their spirits and encourage them to keep persevering through the challenges of school.

Life is hard. I don't think anyone would argue that fact. Sometimes we each get so buried in our own challenges that we have a hard time seeing the heartache that others are going through. I hope we can all take a bit more time to lift one anothers' burdens, and at the same time, try to recognize the blessings that are hidden amidst the trials (I often struggle with this).

I came across an excerpt of Elder Quentin L. Cook's General Conference address from October of 2008, and I thought it was applicable:

The incident I just recounted, while a difficult travel situation, was brief, and there were no lasting consequences. However, many of the trials and hardships we encounter in life are severe and appear to have lasting consequences. Each of us will experience some of these during the vicissitudes of life. Many listening to this conference are experiencing situations of a most serious nature at this very moment.

We resonate with the Prophet Joseph’s petition after he had been falsely accused and imprisoned in Liberty Jail for months: “O God, where art thou? And where is the pavilion that covereth thy hiding place?”

The Lord’s answer is reassuring:

“My son, peace be unto thy soul; thine adversity and thine afflictions shall be but a small moment;

“And then, if thou endure it well, God shall exalt thee on high.”




I hope we can remember that there is always light at the end of the tunnel, even when that light seems very, very far away.

I'm still here

It's hard to feel like blogging when I just do the same thing all day, every day. I don't think you all are that interested in the goings on of my teaching schedule, or the snail's pace of my dissertation. We are doing well, however, and life is overall pretty great for us.

So instead, I'll post a few pictures from a girl's weekend I took with Mom and Grandma. We drove down to Albuquerque to visit David, Emily, and their adorable boys. I think we ran on about 10 hours of sleep the whole weekend, but we had a great time!

New Mexico Ruins:



A lunch stop in Roswell:


The cute boys:






A tarantula we spotted as it was crossing the highway. One of the highlights of the trip!


And the main event, the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta. It was amazing!

A Couple of Weddings

May was busy, to say the least. My two beautiful sisters got married nine days apart. Our family barely survived. I'm pretty sure my mother had one or two nervous breakdowns. The ceremonies were beautiful. David and Emily's family were able to come up and join us for the festivities. I'm so happy for both of them, and we're happy to have Chade and David join the family. My mom did all of the decorations for the receptions. We even had a photo booth.

Abby:






















Joni:

Spring Break- DC/NY

Tyler and I took a trip to Washington D.C. in between fall and spring semesters to visit his brother. It was quite a whirlwind trip, but we had a great time. Needless to say, we saw all the sights and did plenty of walking (sometimes in the rain):


Lots and lots of cherry blossom trees (the festival had just ended when we got there).




All the monuments and museums,



Mount Vernon

The National Cathedral


We even ran up to New York for a day:


It was a bit rainy, so you couldn't see much from the top of the Rockefeller Tower,



but we did manage to take in a show.



We also rode the Staten Island Ferry in honor of Andy, my brother who's serving a mission in New York (no, we didn't get to see him). In one of his areas, he rode the ferry back and forth all day talking to people.




We also saw Arlington National Cemetery,


the White House,
we played around with the camera for a while,

and spent a VERY rainy afternoon at Gettysburg.



We had a great time, but we are so happy to be spending the summer taking it a bit slower here at home, with a trip or two over the mountain to play in the Grand Teton Festival. Happy summer!!