One of the best

I oughta post about this before I forget. Oh who am I kidding? Who could ever forget a day like last Saturday?  I went through the Temple and received my Endowments! It was a beautiful day.

Before I went through I kept having hot flashes, I was about to have a heart attack, and kept freaking out. I did all of that for nothing. People kept telling me that I would feel uncomfortable, that it is strange. Uh you are all wrong. It was perfect. I felt so much peace in there. Right when I walked back, the instant love of God was near. He gave me this opportunity. That's love.

After I talked to the Matron, I went and waited for the session to start. Can I just say that I probably have the best support system! So many people came. It was a reminder that where I am in life is right where I need to be. When I saw all my friends in the Celestial Room, I got so excited. Knowing that if I keep upon His path, I will lead others and myself back to Him. The Temple is so peaceful and so gorgeous.

I cannot wait to go back.

One of the best days of my life.

If you have questions, go here. Pray and ponder about it. You will get your answers.

Now here are some pictures:

Emily and Annie were there for me throughout High School.
Emily was a good friend that I could always go to for advice. Annie
was actually a teacher (my adviser) and gave me my first Book of Mormon.

Ron Lowe. He was the one who baptized me. He has seen me very nervous
yet he just helps me through everything and makes it easy and fun.

Marilee Lowe. I love her soo much. She was there for me when
I went through some hard trials in life. 

Alyssa, Ron, and Lori. Lori and I go far back. I've known her since the fifth grade.
I'm so please with my decision of having her be my escort. She is so wise
and always knows what to say. I am so grateful for her in my life.  

 Well there you go. I'm now endowed and I'm loving it. It was a perfect day and I cannot wait to go back. I want everyone to enjoy this experience and can't wait to share the Gospel to those who are ready for this wonderful gift.

On Sunday I went to St George and had a BBQ with my family. I haven't seen my nieces and nephew since Thanksgiving. I was in Heaven with all of them. I love them so much.

She has gotten so big since Thanksgiving. I love Sophia!

Hope everyone has a superb day!

Merry Christmas!

My wonderful friend Chelsea put this questionnaire on her blog and I thought it would be fun to do the questions myself.

1. Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate?

Most definitely Hot Chocolate. Next time you have a cup of it, put a dollop of peppermint ice cream in it. Divine I tell ya.

2. When do you hang your decorations up?

Since I'm living away from family and don't have a family of my own, it's whenever my roommates and I can do it. However, my family have always done it sometime after Thanksgiving. Usually a few days after December.

3. Favorite holiday memory as a child?

I just loved being with family. For some reason I remember one Christmas specifically, and all us girls got a tea set that was passed down in the family. Mine was Humpty Dumpty theme. We all sat there and talked about family and then after playing with our new toys, we went to each of our families' house in Cedar to visit and have dinner.

4. What's on your Christmas list?

Honestly, I'm not really looking forward to anything. Money is tight right now with a lot of people so all I care about is being with friends and family and making it the best. Doing acts of charity is my favorite part of Christmas though (i.e, shoveling sidewalks, making candy for neighbors, etc,.).

5. What's the most important thing about Christmas to you?

Like I said earlier, being with friends and family and celebrating His birth. It's about Christ and I feel like a lot of it is about who gets what and we all get caught up in it. I like to step back and look at the true meaning of Christmas.

6. What is your favorite tradition? 

I always remember doing a Christmas dinner and making treats/candy. My favorite one though was making Wishing Dust. It was sparkles, rice, beans or whatever you want in it and before you go to bed on Christmas Eve, you make a wish and then throw the Wishing Dust in the air. I can't wait to make traditions with my family though. It's going to be great.


7. What is your favorite Christmas song? 


Right now, it's definitely All I Want For Christmas Is You by the one and only Michael Buble.

More traditional one though is Little Drummer Boy.

8. Does Santa wrap presents or just set them under the tree?


Santa definitely wraps them. I think it's more exciting. As a child, I remember my presents were on the right back side of the tree. So when I ran into the living room Christmas morning, it was exciting to see all the wrapped presents on "my" side of the tree.

9. Do you open gifts on Christmas Eve?


I don't ever remember opening them unless we asked our parents to. I don't think it was a tradition or anything. I love the tradition of opening PJ's on Christmas Eve though, so I will most likely be doing that one when I have my own family.

10. How long did you believe in Santa?


I think I was about 8 years old when I found out he wasn't real. Fun memory though; when my family lived out in Enoch, I remember doing the Wishing Dust and wishing to see Santa (just a glimpse). I didn't see him but my Dad got on the roof and ran across the entire house to make it sound like the Reindeer landing on the roof. It was spectacular. I made sure to keep my eyes closed tight and fall asleep.

Well I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday and safe new years!

Merry Christmas!!

Opa!

Today has been a very eventful day. Why I'm still awake is beyond my knowledge. If this doesn't make sense it's because I should have waited till I was more lucid to write it.

Whose sister drives to Cedar to pick her car-less sister up just to turn back around and go back to St. George? My sister, Candace. I really should get a car. It was fun to spend an hour with her and catch up with each others lives though. So I wont complain. She's crazy busy with three jobs. 

When I got to St. George I went to go visit my Grandpa at his new apartment. He's so stinkin' cute! He's looking significantly better since he's been cared for down there. He loves it where he's at. 

Afterwards, we went to wal-mart (Me, Lydia and the ragamuffins) to go grocery shopping, went home and had lunch, then off to the Staheli Corn Maze for Lexy's birthday party. .It was a load of fun! We were there for about two hours. There was a petting zoo, live music, playground for the kids, and a hay ride over to the corn maze. When we were in the corn maze we got pretty lost so we stayed pretty close by the exit. We got in corn fights and scared each other. 

We gathered the kids together and went over to Basila's Cafe for my Grandpa's 88th birthday dinner. It's hard finding good Greek restaurants that compare to the Greek Easter/family reunions that I've been raised going to. Not tonight. The food was so good. The lamb was a little tough but that's okay. It made me miss my big fat Greek family. 

Well here are some pictures I took throughout the day (go check out my Facebook for all of the cute pictures).

My beautiful sister, Lydia!

Sadie Lee

Daniel

Alexis

Sophia

I'm oddly obsessed with this picture.
I think it's the colors. 

She's cute, right?

This is sort of creepy to me but, again, I'm quite obsessed
with it.

She's just too cute!

She loved that swing.

One of my favorite pictures I have ever taken

Baklava

Greek Salad is delicious 

Yup, that was my day. I love my family.


Opa!!

Step two: Repentance

Elder Carver and Elder Trubey wasn't going to give up on me. What can I say to get out of it this week? That only lasted about two weeks though. I enjoyed when the missionaries came over. I instantly had two best friends that would come over whenever I needed them to-- the true happiness they brought through loving something so strong was something I admired most about them.

I didn't know much about the "Mormon" Church so I asked them if we can start from square one. What they believed in. Why they thought it was the true Church.

I had a problem towards the Temple. Why couldn't I go in? Was I looked down on by not being Mormon? The missionaries always had the right answer to all of my questions. I couldn't argue against anything-- they always had applicable answers to my questions.

They asked me to pray. I don't know how to pray. Who do I pray for? What do I pray for? They simply said (not direct quote), "You talk to your Heavenly Father." Hmm I could do that-- it's not that hard. I felt awkward when I first prayed. It was something unfamiliar that I never experienced before. That feeling came back again when I knelt down and starting "talking" to God. I didn't stop praying though. I just let Him know that I was new at praying; I didn't know what I was doing, I didn't know why I was doing all of this. Rachel's saying popped up into my head, "things always happen for a reason." I don't know why I suddenly thought of that but it really calmed me down.

The next appointment I had with the Elders was about me praying and what I felt. I told them about that feeling I have had when thinking about Church and while attending. They broke out into the biggest smiles. Did I say something wrong? They replied, "that's the Spirit Mary." The Spirit? What did they mean by that?

That day they discussed with me that I needed to pray about the truth of the Church. Okay. They said that I need to forgive myself and ask for forgiveness to those things that I may have done that wasn't acceptable with the Church; drinking, smoking, etc. Things that contaminated the word of God. Okay. 


The lesson that stood out most was the Atonement. I had no knowledge on this either, so they told me an easy way to understand. The Atonement is offered to us Children of God to return back to our Heavenly Father. Through our Agency (our right to choose) we might choose the wrong. But no worries, the Atonement fixes everything. The Lord wants us to know that there is always a way back.

I again prayed that night. This time I felt comfortable with it; I had something I can pray about. I prayed that I would feel the Atonement work in my life.

While I was going through the lessons I had family issues evolve. I soon didn't go back home. I moved in with the Lowe's (Alyssa and her family). My sisters got angry and stopped talking to me, my mom and dad were angry with me, and I felt like no one understood where I was coming from. Although I had support from Rachel and Annie, the Lowe's, and the missionaries, I have never felt so alone in my entire life.

But I was never alone. I soon learned thar Jesus Christ bled for my sins (my trials) he has felt exactly everything that I have gone through. I soon started gaining more faith-- remember? The first step?-- that all of this was happening for a reason. Why was I given this trial? 


I wasn't depressed-- you would think I would be. I was content. I wasn't out of the world happy and I wasn't depressed. Shouldn't I be depressed? The missionaries saw my progress. They taught me everything I needed to hear. Everything was fitting into place. Just like that missing puzzle piece.

They asked me if I would get baptized.

Repentance: The Greek word of which this is the translation denotes a change of mind. Example; a fresh view about God, about oneself, and about the world.