Sometimes, I have Thoughts

First off, Happy Birthday to my Deacon, he turned 8 today, I'm excited to see him be baptized and receive the amazing gift of the Holy Ghost.

I was going to find a picture with him and me, but this one was too good to pass up. Love him.

Now, in my family upon the day of our birth get to choose who says the family bedtime prayer. Deacon chose me and as I knelt with my family I thought of something shared with me. I don't remember if it was in a class or what, but they said something to the effect of, when we are asked to pray we need to remember and cherish how amazing it is that we get the privilege of being the mouthpiece for our family to our Father in Heaven. Pretty awesome to think about it that way, I'd say, but since I heard that I've been doing my best to remember these great opportunities. It's really a cool experience to pray with that in mind.

Another thought I've been mulling for awhile. "Not my will, but Thine, be done." Luke 22:42 As He prayed to the Father in the garden of Gethsemane, my Savior spoke these words when He knew He was about to take upon Himself all the sins of the world. He knew how much pain and sorrow He was about to endure. He bled from every pore for every single sin, every stupid thing ever done by man, every guilty feeling, every time someone cursed HIS name! He felt all of those ALONG WITH the pain, the sadness, the heartache, the sting of a loved one gone too early. ALL OF IT!!!! Now, like I said, He knew what was coming, He asked His Father, "If thou be willing, remove this cup from me" but ended it in that powerful phrase, not my will, but thine, be done. My thoughts are this, why is it we have something we think we can't bear and it is soooo hard for us to say Thy will be done, Father. Thou knows best and will only give me what I can handle. Such a hard concept for us! Turn it over to the Father! He will help you get through anything and will not give you more than you are able to bear.

Also, quick disclaimer, I did say my Savior. I know He is the Savior of the world without a shadow of a doubt and am excited to preach His restored Gospel for the next 18 months. I just also know the Atonement is very personal and He is also MY Savior.

One last thing, I leave precisely six weeks from today. SIX short weeks! I'm geekin' out! Soooo excited!!!

Oh Baby I'm in Love

I know, I know, it's not the hateful holiday just yet. Not that I have anything against it except when I work in floral and get to watch all the nice boyfriends buy flowers. Yuck:) but seeing as I work in a grocery store and we've had our candy display up since right after Christmas you'll have to bear with me. The candies above are my absolute favorite ever! I sent a poor missionary an entire package full of them because I didn't know his favorite candy so I sent him mine... Unfortunate elder wasn't even all that fond of them. Oh well ha I made the mistake of buying one today... With a chocolate milk which I am slightly in love with at the moment... So unhealthy, I did however share one with my little brother Deacon. I'm pretty sure I'll buy a king size one of these bad boys at least twice a week until they're gone... I will share one of them with a sibling, but if I've got a little spare tire going on, come February 14th, you'll all know why and I won't be the least bit ashamed.

Picture Catch Up

Yep, I'm posting again today, but hey, you're all excited for some pictures right?? And I promise there will be fewer words in this post than normal posts ha

This was supposed to be at the bottom, but blogger hates inept users like me.

Parentals

Grandparentals

Whoops chose the one of him talking. Oh well:)

Grandpa Bishop

Twenty-11

It's a new year! Yes, it's five days in, but hey that's better than five months in.

Things I loved about 2010:

• I decided to go on a mission.
• I got cold feet and freaked out about going on a mission for about 4 months.
• I sucked it up and started working on papers.
• Golden turned in his papers and made me so jealous about going. He is my inspiration for going.
• I received my endowments. I love love love going to the temple and it was awesome going through on the same day as Golden.
• Got my call to Uruguay, Montevideo!
• Dropped Golden off at the MTC and realized I still had two and a half MONTHS to wait!
• I wrote in my journal every single day from October to December! This is a huge accomplishment for me, I rarely keep a journal more than a couple days consecutively.
• Made awesome birthday gifts for my mom and Golden an awesome Christmas present.

I'm so excited for 2011!! It's going to be such an awesome year! I'm sure I'll have my ups and downs, but I have so many things to look forward to! Namely:

• Teaching Gospel Doctrine, that's right, this girl got called to teach once a month. Yikes! I'm really nervous about it. I have to teach a week from Sunday, hopefully all goes well..
• Spending tons of time with my family before I leave.
• Finishing the Book of Mormon twice before March. I'm working hard for this one, but the Lord is definitely helping me by giving me times when I have nothing else I can do besides read so it's good.
• Attending the temple as much as possible and learning from the amazing Spirit there.
• Oh and of course leaving for Uruguay! I've heard it's about a 20 hour flight which I'm actually really excited about. I love airports and flying.. Weird, I know.
• Going to the MTC in Argentina!
• Learning Spanish.
• Learning how to teach effectively so when I meet amazing people in Uruguay I can tell them the amazing message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
• I'm soooo so so excited to serve my Father in Heaven and Savior Jesus Christ! I'm excited to tell people about the Book of Mormon and hopefully convert more than just myself, with the Spirit of course... Ok so I'll just be the instrument so the Spirit can do all the converting, but hey, I get to be the tool! Exciting!

So with all my long-winded ways, here's to hoping 2011 is an amazing year!