Blessings Blessings Blessings!!

This weekend was one of the most relaxing Daniel and I have had in a LONG time. It was nice to finally get to stay home for once and just talk and snuggle and all that fun stuff. Ahem...Okay so enough with the mushy stuff. Conference was AMAZING! I really enjoyed all the sessions! Technology is really amazing! You can actually watch it on the internet as its happening. And then if you happened to miss a session, you can go back and watch whichever one you want! Except the Priesthood session of course. Man, I just LOVE conference. Everytime I get that feeling of being reproved and that I need to be better, but its always accompanied by a feeling of peace and encouragement that I CAN do it! Elder Nelson's talk on Saturday was one of my favorites! We really are all responsible individually for our own exaltation! Man, I really need some work! I also liked how he said, "The home is to be God's laboratory of love and service". I thought it was just cute at first, but after I thought about it a little, I understood that a laboratory is a place where you labor. And another word for labor is work. And what is God's work? To bring to pass the immortality AND eternal life of man. So, in that cute and short sentence, Elder Nelson said, The home is supposed to be a place where God can work with love and service to bring to pass our eternal life! Oh man, my home needs work too! I don't know if our home is a place where God can actually dwell. There seems to always be laundry, or dishes, or clutter somewhere that I can't get rid of. Not to mention, sometimes I am not the nicest person to my wonderful husband. But I will work very hard to make my home a place where God can do His work, and I will try to be an instrument for Him. (Hopefully in the process, I will become a better wife, and be more prepared to be a loving mother!)

And now, I have to tell y'all a story. One time, there was a woman named Dawn. She had three beautiful daughters. They had a happy life, but the girls were all stuck in a tiny bedroom with no dresser. Their mother did not know what to do. She wanted her girl's to have a place to put their clothes, but could not afford to by them anything. This woman believed in God, and had a strong testimony of the power of prayer, so she decided to take her troubles to the Lord. She asked Him to supply her with either a dresser for her children, or the means necessary to purchase one. A few days later it was trash day in her neighborhood, as she was passing by someone's yard, she noticed there was a very nice dresser set at the end of their driveway ready to be taken by the trash man. She could not believe someone would throw something like that away, but then she remembered her prayer. She knew this was a blessing from Heavenly Father for her and her family. So she got out and loaded up her car with the items and brought them home. They fit perfectly in the room and helped everything to be more organized. Dawn was grateful for Heavenly Father's unconditional love and that she had recieved an answer to her prayer.

You would think the story was over, but there is more...This woman had a younger sister. Her name was Jessica. Jessica visited her family quite a bit. She had a great love and admiration for allof her family, and when she was not being proud, she usually learned great things from them. On one of her visits, Jessica saw this dresser set and inquired how Dawn was able to come by it. Dawn told her little sister it was a blessing from Heavenly Father after she prayed mightily for a miracle. Jessica thought this was a nice idea, and thought she might give it a try sometime. But as soon as she returned home, she forgot about that miracle and went about her normal life as if nothing happened. One day, Jessica was trying to shove both her and her husband's clothes into thier old little dresser. They had used only this dresser since they had been married and it NEVER held all the clothes it needed to. She was VERY frustrated as she looked at the drawers.Some were half-way open because they were too full to close while others had clothes hanging out all over the place. She wondered what she could possibly do to fix the situation. Then Suddenly...she remembered her sister (she must have been in tune with the spirit from watching conference)! And she knew that if God could do it for her sister, He could do it for her. Jessica prayed to Heavenly Father that he would bless her and her husband to find an affordable dresser that they would be able to use to organize their home and keep things cleaner. Although she knew God answers prayers, she also understood that sometimes it takes time. And she was content to wait. That evening, after finishing up the dishes, she really wanted to take the trash out. (She had made chicken for dinner and knew it would stink up the house by morning) So, she put on her flip-flops and asked her wonderful husband, Daniel to accompany her to the dumpster. They enjoyed their walk. It was a beautiful evening and when they got there, Jessica flung the trash bag over the side of the giant dumpster. As she was doing that, Daniel discovered a treasure! Guess what it was, yes a dresser! It was beautiful! In GREAT condition! And it was just the right size! Jessica wondered how God could be so gracious! But wait there's more. When Jessica and Daniel were looking at this treasure, it looked pretty easy to carry, but it was A LOT heavier than it looked. So, because Jessica was having a hard time carrying it, they had to make frequent stops. They were in the midst of one of these stops when a nice young man offered to help. They accepted and the man helped Daniel carry the dresser all the way to their home. Once they got there, Daniel and Jessica learned the name of their helper. His name was Mark. And an idea popped into Jessica's head. (Probably because the missionaries were ALWAYS bugging Daniel and Jessica about missionary work) She thought, "This man helped us with our treasure, now we need to show him treasure without price." Yes, she knew this was all Heavenly Father's plan to begin with. Nothing is a coincidence. Mark was put there for a purpose. Just as someone threw away their perfectly wonderful dresser for a purpose, and just as Jessica wanted to throw the trash away late at night for a purpose. Jessica thinks to try to teach Mark and his family the gospel of Jesus Christ would be a great way to try to repay her Heavenly Father for His great and swift blessings. She will bring them cookies this week! I will include pics of the dresser later!

P.S. I have decided to not post pictures of myself and surprise everyone in AZ with my gorgeous self! Haha just kidding...and I can't wait for this weekend! We are going to visit the Alabama Curiel's! Superfun! (Can't wait to see the sexy slim Mrs. Curiel! She's awesome)
P.S.S. Happy Birthday to Kelly!!