Me

Life is like an old time rail journey--

delays, sidetracks, smoke, dust, cinders, and jolts,

interspersed only occasionally by 

beautiful vistas and thrilling bursts of speed. 

The trick is to thank the Lord for 

letting you have the ride.

~Jenkins Lloyd Jones

Right now I'm learning how to thank the Lord for letting me have this ride.

Some of my favorite things include MUSIC, talking, wind, FaMiLy, sunshine, yogurt, bicycle rides, sunsets, chips, PEACE, physiology, mirrors, horses, sewing, READING, hiking, mountains, but especially the Gospel of Jesus Christ.   

I do not like change. I am learning to be happy with it. 

One of my many goals is to start running/exercising on a consistent basis. 

Eventually I hope to become a labor and delivery nurse, but being a wife and mother is by far my biggest dream. 

In February, I am leaving to be a full time missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Long Beach California. 

I have considered becoming a masseuse. And/or a midwife. After I finish nursing... 

I can't believe I've been in college for 4 years. Ridiculous. 

Some of my favorite songs include It's Only a Paper Moon, The Call, Amazing Grace, All the Pennies, Back Up and Push, You Raise Me Up, and  The Way I Am, I Do Adore, Crazy Love, Everybody Everybody Wants to Love.

I love books. Some of my favorites are Up a Road Slowly, Pride and Prejudice, North and South, The Story Girl, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe series, Little House on the Prairie, Silas Marner, The Fire of the Covenant, and the Lord of the Rings.

I am a big fan of quotes. Here are a few of my favorites:

"The ability to qualify for, receive, and act on personal revelation is the single most important skill that can be acquired in this life" (Julie B. Beck, And upon the Handmaids in Those Days Will I Pour Out my Spirit). 

"Sometimes the very moments that seem to overcome us with suffering are those that will ultimately suffer us to overcome" (David B. Haight, Come What May, and Love it). 

"The Lord compensates the faithful for every loss. That which is taken away from those who love the Lord will be added unto them in His own way. While it may not come at the time we desire, the faithful will know that every tear today will eventually be returned a hundredfold with tears of rejoicing and gratitude"(David B. Haight, Come What May, and Love it). 

"We become what we want to be by consistently being what we want to become each day" (Richard G. Scott, The Transforming Power of Faith and Character). 

I used to think life was easy, simple, always happy. Then it got hard. But now I'm learning again how truly easy my life is. Until recently the saying "find joy in the journey" did not seem very applicable to me. I always found joy in life, was it really that hard? However I am learning that the real challenge is to be happy when I don't really feel like being happy. To find joy when, to my narrow understanding, it seems like there is not much to be joyful about. Because really, there is! 

"The gospel of Jesus Christ is on earth once more, and its simple truths are a plentiful source of joy!" (Dieter F. Uchtdorf, Of Things that Matter Most) 

"Our birthright--and the purpose of our great voyage on this earth--is to seek and experience eternal happiness" (Dieter F. Uchtdorf, Happiness, Your Heritage). 

So, if you so desire, join me on my quest to find joy, not just when life is easy and simple, not just when things are working out exactly as planned, but all the time. When there are delays and sidetracks, when there is smoke and dust and cinders and jolts. And the key to my happiness, I believe, is to truly thank the Lord, my Savior, Jesus Christ, for letting me have this beautiful ride.