just can't stay put.

Yeah, I went to see my family in Atlanta for Christmas.

Yeah, I ended up in Minnesota for three days.

Its just what I do. I go places.

I got to see a really great friend I haven’t seen in 2 years and 1 month…not like I was counting or anything…

We had fun reliving old memories and making some new ones! 

Old Memories

Minnesota State Fair.

Everything on a stick.

Yeah, it was closed, but driving around the grounds without the crowds was fun!

My old house..

Over 12 years of memories.

Pretty depressing that it’s not mine anymore. 

North Park.

I loved getting lost in the many passageways when I was 6,

 and getting lost in my inner child when I was 16.

New Memories

My time was short, but we did make it to the Como Zoo!

Somehow in my 18 years living in Minnesota I never went to this particular zoo.

I loved it!

We also stayed up all night talking about the many ways we’ve changed, 

and the many ways we are still the same two people.

 I never knew how much I really changed until I talked with someone that was my best friend, 

yet I hadn't spoken to in over two years. 

I felt like I was viewing myself in a different way than I ever had. 

A strange experience, but I’m glad I had it. 

And I’m glad for my friend…who never stopped caring. :)

the most wonderful time of the year

The most wonderful time of the year comes as the celebration of when Christ was born into this world so that one day he could die for us, so that we all could be saved. Each of us have been blessed by this marvelous gift he has given us.

Luke 2:

9. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. 

 10. And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. 

 11. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.

 12. And this shall be a ^asign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.

 13. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,

 14. Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.

And of course, I do have to put in a video of children. It’s just what I do. :)

Merry Christmas!

what teachers make.

I heard this poem a long time ago, and after searching and searching finally found it again. It describes my exact feelings on being a teacher. Watch the video, it is only 3 minutes long.

 And I hope that you never ever look at teachers the same again.

 

I am so proud to be able to join the ranks of the teachers in the next year. 

Why?

 Because I want to make a difference. Even if in the life of one child.

That child may be your son or daughter; your brother or sister; your niece or nephew...

So for that one child...it will be worth it.

home.

so glad to be home.

i came in yesterday, sadly lost two hours of the day because of the time difference. 

that's the only sad thing that's happened so far. 

played with Lukie, my puppy. he was so excited to see me! 

he may be a dog, but that much excitement just to see me does make me feel good. 

pathetic? 

naw. i love my puppy. 

had a much needed talk with my mom.

it's nice sometimes to just unload on someone you know will never judge you. 

went to church this morning and listened to beautiful christmas music. 

spent the rest of the day just being with my family.

i even got to talk with my best friend, who has been away for two years!

 he's doing so great.

 i sure missed that guy!

haven't had to do any homework, or even worry about doing homework.

bliss.

what more can i ask for?

walking in a winter wonderland

isn't it beautiful?

unfortunately, it was on the way to the dreaded testing center for yet another final.

just one more day. 

Giving Helps the Giver, Part 2

I hope you read Part 1, it has a little to do with this post. 

Mosiah 4:21: And now, if God, who has created you, on whom you are dependent for your lives and for all that ye have and are, doth grant unto you whatsoever ye ask that is right, in faith, believing that ye shall receive, O then, how ye ought to impart of the sub­stance that ye have one to another.

The Lord has blessed us, has blessed me, with so very much. Sometimes it’s embarrassing to think about how much I have, and how much I have failed to give to others.

After reading Brook’s speech, I can understand so much better why, for his birthday, our wonderful prophet President Monson did not ask for presents, but instead asked each of us to serve others. President Monson was giving us the gift of giving. I hope with these last couple posts, I have touched at least one person’s heart so that I can be giving the gift of giving this Christmas season. Along with that, I am going to try my hardest to not be a hypocrite. I realize that writing all about this is one thing, taking action is another.

 “Let it be a time of forgetting self, and finding time for others.”

-President Thomas S. Monson

best roommate. best friend.

The other day I was having a not-so-good day. I went to bed not-so-happy. When I woke up, still not-so-happy. I considered skipping class, or at least sleeping a little longer and being late (3 hour class, didn't matter that much, right?). But of course, I couldn't fall back asleep because apparently I drank too much water the night before. I went into the bathroom and this is what I found:

How could I go back to sleep after seeing something like that?? I couldn't. So I got ready for school and had some much needed scripture study time. Turns out my roommates and the Lord know exactly what I needed that morning. 

Thanks so much Jen for being so amazing! Love you!

Giving Helps the Giver

I’ve had giving on my mind a lot lately. For my job, I ask people to give. [Yes, I’m a “telemarketer” if that’s what you want to call it, but it’s not to sell, it’s for a cause, and I generally enjoy it]. At this job we talk about giving a lot. We watched a speech about giving. In church we talk about giving. Sunday night, speakers at the Christmas devotional spoke on giving.

So since it’s on my mind and I think its an extremely important thing, I’m going to tell you about it in two blog posts. This one is all about the speech we listened to at my work, called Why Giving Matters by Aruthur C. Brooks [no, he is not a professor at BYU; he is President of the American Enterprise Institute and a devout Roman Catholic].

Brooks decided to set out on a mission to prove that a statement her heard, giving makes you richer, was completely and totally false. As an economist he knew there was no way in the world giving money away would help you get even more money.

Well I am here to tell you that Mr. Brooks did not prove that statement wrong, he proved himself wrong.

“Specifically, here’s what I found. If you have two families that are exactly identical—in other words, same religion, same race, same number of kids, same town, same level of education, and everything’s the same—except that one family gives a hundred dollars more to charity than the second family, then the giving family will earn on average $375 more in income than the nongiving family—and that’s statistically attributable to the gift.”

Seems impossible right? Well let’s think about this. And actually, let me just sum up Brook’s hour long speech. Giving makes people happier. Giving and serving and volunteering give people what psychologists call the “helper’s high.” Research shows that giving literally makes people happier and reduces stress. And think about that. Think about it opposite. What happens when we are stressed? We can’t perform as well. We become overwhelmed. So when we are aren’t stressed, we perform better and we succeed.

Successful people can hold jobs better, they can progress in jobs better. Not only that but when people see that you are a giver, they see you as a leader.

So it’s true. Giving helps the giver. In many ways.

Now, with this holiday season approaching, we don’t want to be selfish right? We know that giving helps more than those that we give too, but how can we help people even more than that? This is what Brooks said:

“Now I’m going to ask you to take a pretty sophisticated understanding here of charitable giving. As Christian people we are taught that giving is important to help others. I’m telling you that the data say giving helps you, so if you want to help others, don’t just give to them—think about what you can do today to help somebody else to give. The main beneficiary of a charitable gift is the giver him- or herself.”

So how can we help others give? The most obvious way, ask them. That’s what I do at work, and that’s why I love my job. But depending on your circumstances, that just might not work. Brooks suggested simply being an example. As we give, others will see our happiness and want to become givers as well. In this way we are not only helping the people we give to, but we are helping others become givers, become happy, less stressful, and more successful along the way. 

image: https://anitagrant.com/images/stories/Blog/GivingBackjpgTxt.jpg

Look What I Found

The organization that I volunteered with this past summer, a huge organization with a ton of different project opportunities in many countries all over the world, put my picture on their website! Of course, it is just the page for the specific preschool project I did in Ghana, but still way cool! Check it out [you may have to click on it to see it bigger, so you can actually see me]:

Pretty stellar. 

Also, look how adorable my kids are! :)