Signifigant Sunday: Bri The Charity Case

I have two photographs in my office...the rest are paintings or prints. One is of my husband and I in 2007 and I'm like 30 lb's smaller. I believe it's the first time he outweighed me. Anyways the other is the one you see to the left. It's of me and 5 other women who went away for a conference one year ago this April.  It's also one of the most significant experiences of my life. Therefore as the one year anniversary looms it needed to go up on Significant Sunday.






Boy what a difference a year can make! In this picture everything I am wearing was either bought for me by someone or was a hand me down. We were so broke that I didn't even have money to buy clothes at the thrift store. My family and I had just moved into a small two bedroom apartment, our oldest son had just got sent away for personal problems, my husband didn't have a steady job and life was pretty bleak. Although I put on a brave face, well more like a joking facade, I spent a lot of time on my knees. So how did I afford to go on a trip to a conference in another state? This is where the charity case part comes up.

I'm approached by two of the women who say do you want to go to The BYU Women's Conference in Provo UT? ( yeah I know I thought BYU was in SLC too) I was elated. It was one of the things I had hoped I could one day do now that I lived closer in ID. Alas I told her I had no money to attend. Her response was there's been a scholarship awarded and your lodging, travel and ticket expenses have been paid.

So me and 5 dear women loaded up in a white Toyata Sienna and headed to Utah. Each of our situations were very different. Economic, financial, social and even familial were all very different. The binding fiber that grounded each of us was a desire to please God, a love for one another and an anthem learned within the doors of many a Relief Society meeting that "Charity Never Faileth."



Going to that conference was like a healing balm to a decaying soul. I'll forever be thankful to those women and that week that taught me to be a Lioness at the Gate. 

Bri

Signifigant Sunday...Taking A Day Off...But Holy Cow I Have a Deadline

As I look out my big bay window at the piling snow and the beauty it's creating I consider the fact that if we still lived in TN where we had to drive 30 minutes to get to church. It would be canceled. Admittedly it's an inviting thought to stay home. It's warm, the house always needs something done and I'm at least 4 chapters behind on my editing goals. If church was canceled I would most likely be able to catch up everything! Alas we live a block from our church in Idaho where snow is a seasonal thing and therefore they are prepared. 


Taking all those things into perspective I pose the question I know you are thinking. "Why are you blogging about editing when you could be doing it now?" I have decided now that writing is apparently my career or job choice if you will that I will refrain from working on Sunday. You have no idea the amount of panic deciding to do that has created. I'm over it now. For years I have counseled my husband not to work on Sunday...to exercise the faith that God has promised to those who are obedient to this commandment. Wow... boy is it harder to do when you are the one who should be doing it. Now do not think that I am judging or even counseling anyone else to do this. It's easier to make this decision when you are self employed.  And in theory if you work outside the home you would get a couple days off a week right? So I will take at least one.


What I won't do on Sunday...

• No shopping

• Don't participate in commercial activities like sports etc. 

 (By not doing these I won't be making people work for me on Sundays)
OK those you who know me know that I already don't do these things. Still I think I deserve a little credit. 

• Not to post marketing posts on Facebook, Twitter or my Blog

• Not to write, edit or even plot! (OK so I'll plot but I won't write it down till Monday)

The things that I will do on Sunday....

• Attend all my church meetings (Yeah Yeah...I deserve credit anyway!)
• Read leisurely.
• Study my scriptures and delight in the words I read.
• Serve my family and others.
• Plan my week out such as meals, appointments etc so I can use my time wisely.
• Have a night where we as a family will stay in and do something just as a family.
• NAP!!!!
•  Write my Significant Sunday posts
• Try to make at least one made from scratch meal for my family. (This one is last for a reason.)

While I will most likely do laundry, dishes or clean a little and some might count that as work I'll just file that under serving my family. 

Do you have a day or time that is sacred to you and your family? If so when and why?

Embarrasing Behavoir

So I recently was asked by my Primary President that I stop giving treats to the children on VIP Sunday. VIP Sunday is a positive reinforcement tactic I use for good behavior. My response was defensive and dare I say confrontational. I was having a particularly bad day and after that a bad moment. Let this be a public warning to anyone in the coming years that I will serve under in the church. I am volatile. However I do try to walk away digest and reassess. Which I did and I support my president 100%. We came to a compromise that is obedient and even better perhaps. I see that the task before her is no easy burden to bear. I am actually excited thanks to Gretchen, my ever loyal and tactfully honest, friend who lets me rant and rave even thought I'm usually over dramatic, I see now what the Lord is trying to accomplish. How can we expect the children to listen to the Spirit when they can't even hear it over the sound of candy wrappers. As a convert I was surprised to find out there are no longer lessons for the missionaries to use. It's all done completely by the Spirit. This ultimately forces the missionaries to be better, the parents to work harder. And the great this is they are. They are doing astoundingly well. And as teachers this gives us the opportunity to to be obedient.