I went to this special Stake Relief Society program a few weeks ago that was incredible, but left there with an experience I didn't expect to have. First of all there were a ton of sisters there, the stake program was mostly musical pieces (which were gorgeous), and it was so nice to catch up with alot of people from our old ward. However, amongst all of this amazingness something more amazing happened. When we walked into the sacrament room I ran into a new girl from our ward. She is a great and beautiful person, who always seems to be happy. I spotted her, and asked her to come sit with me and my friends. Once we were seated, the program started, and of course Addisen wanted to sit and play on my lap, and not in the car seat,( which I secretly love). Anyways, Addie was being so good and sweet, she could not stop smiling at my new friend in the ward. I have never seen her be so amuzed with someone, but she just loved staring at this girl and smiling. A few minutes later I apologized to her for my daughters infatuation, with staring at her and trying to grab her over and over again. This sweet sister friend just smiled and said, It's okay, I think this is the first time I have smiled all day, today has been really hard. I almost cried when she said this. When I got home that evening while I was putting Addisen to bed, rocking her in my arms, I could not stop thinking about this. Then it became so clear to me. Your children teach you how to be better, even when their vocabulary is bababgagaahgoo. We should be more childlike, that we could look into a strangers face, and if we see pain or distress just smile at them with honest love, until they smile back. Ever since I have been a member of this church I have been trying to let the truth of the gospel help me become a better person, but I always feel like I continue to fall short. Now having Addisen in my life, I realize that I want to work even harder to be a better person, and I want to be the best mom, wife, saint, sibling, daughter, friend, co-worker, and person possible. I never want her to be ashamed of me, I want her know honesty, love, & charity . I love my family so much, and find it hard to believe sometimes the blessings the Lord has given me in this life. Thus, the Lord wants us to raise a family in Zion because if our heart is truly in the right place, we find hidden greatness we never knew we had in us by becoming a mother to a child of God. Just a thought (a very long one)...
7 comments:
Awww, you are so amazing!!! I had a similar experiance when Sadie was a couple months old. Her and I went to go get her social security card...this homeless guy came and sat right next to us. Everyone was clearing away from him...even I found myself scootching a little further away. I looked down at Sadie and she is grinning ear to ear looking at him. It made him so happy and I almost bawlled my eyes out. Right then I thought to myself that she 100% had the pure love of Christ. No judging, just love.It's amazing how much we can learn from our children!!
btw- to answer your question...Jess does have teeth, but noth girls didn't start getting teeth till almost a year old!!
What a great experience! Reminds me of a scripture .... Moroni 8:12
"But little children are alive in Christ, even from the foundation of the world; if not so, God is a partial God, and also a changeable God ..."
That is soooo true!
what up jen-o-jen. sorry it's taken me so long to get back to you, i never even saw the post you left us until about ten minutes ago. hope you didn't think we were trying to ignore you, cause that ain't the case; the Smith's have much love for the Lanier's. ok dudes, i hope you know that you opened a can of worms with you question. it just so happens that my major is exercise physiology. i'm all fired up about this type of stuff. first off, as far as the average for a 10k, that would vary considerably on the difficulty of the course. take for example the last 10k we ran in vegas, the first 3.1 miles was all up hill (with some pretty steep spots). so your time, especially at first shouldn't really be a big facto, (YET). i guess the first thing i would recommend is, focus on nutrition. 1)no more refined sugars or artificial sweeteners in your diet. 2)cut soda completely out of your diet (your body is made up of 70% water not soda) 3)absolutely no more trans-fats in your diet (any hydrogenated oil = trans-fat, read ingredients) 4)eat at least four-five meals a day (good healthy/wholesome meals), i know that sounds contradictory to most diets but trust me on this. 5)eat with an overall healthier mindset. (instead of cake/cookies, an apple/banana/orange. instead of snacking on a bag of chips, snack on celery/carrot sticks. ok, now on to the exercise portion, always remember milk before the meat. focus on an extended period of time with an accelerated heart rate (ex: 1/2 an hour with at least 5 minutes warm up and 5-10 minutes cool down, at least 3-5 days/week) for conditioning. we'll talk about speed increase a little later on. try not to over do it (seriously, i know jen you've got the heart of a lion, but an injury will put you out of commission for months and then nothing gets done, don't over do it. increase gradually). start on some push-ups and sit-ups every morning and afternoon, strengthen your core. dude, i just realized how long this is. see, you got me all talking about it. i'm stoked your running. we're doing the marine corp mud-run in june, and i'm prepping for the burley, idaho sprint triathlon in july. we also might be doing a 40 mile relay (5 separate 8 milers in late june). we should totally link-up and do some funning around. think you and your hubby would be down for a marathon by august??!! if not maybe the one in october?? we're doing both. dude, how rad would that be? it's so good to hear from you guys. get nic and her hubby going on it, huh? write back, the Smith's
p.s. it's good to see that you're still letting the lord guide the way jen. keep up the good work.
Where are you, dude? Honestly! We didn't go on Thursday. We need to reschedule though! Can ya'll go out this coming Thurday night? Let a peepster know, could ya!
I just have to say I love you girl! You seriously have the most amazing heart of anyone I know. You're the best example to those around you. There are no doubts in my mind that Addi will know what kind of amazing person her mom is. WE can't wait to see you guys in August! I am so dang excited to have you around...even if it is just for a week.
I'm kind of bummed that I'm not under your best people you know section. Honestly, I still love ya though! I am seriously so excited to see you guys in August! Cohen cannot wait to see Addie!!
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