What a Weekend!

On Friday, Nov. 4^th, Christie, my mom, and I headed off to Tucson to pick up Alllie and McKay and head off to Phoenix in order to attend Time out for Women.  We drove a lot of Friday and we heard speakers on Friday evening and Saturday, until about 4:00.  Then we quickly got in the car and returned home.  It was one of those whirlwind weekends, but I did hear a lot of great things that made me think and reevaluate my own life.  I was thankful that Allie encouraged us to all go together.  I do not have any sisters by blood, but I have gained great sisters through marriage and I enjoy the time I get to spend with them.

I gained a lot of appreciation for my husband and his ability to drive at night on this trip. It was better for mom not to drive much on this trip in order to rest her arm.  So Chrisite and I drove most of the way.  After Christie drove quite a few hours on our return trip, she passed it over to me.  I really had to work hard to keep my eyes open.  I was drinking pop, eating whatever I could get my hands on, blasting cold air in my face, and listening to stories on the mp3 player.  I40 is also the worst highway for semi trucks.  I get a little weary passing all of those semis, so it seems to take extra care on my part.  I was so relieved when we safely arrived in Albuquerque.  I was so tired, but it still took me a while to go to sleep. 

Then next day, Sunday, I felt quite drained.  I only had about 5 hours of sleep and I was working on about 3 to 4 day with not much sleep.  My kids were not well behaved during sacrament meeting and I was happy to pass them off to their classes on Sunday.  I then went to practice a song, for the first time with the accompanist, that I was going to sing in Relief Society.   This was a special meeting where they wanted all the women in the ward to attend.  I was singing the song, “Who You Are,” by Hilary Weeks (who I had just seen at TOFW).  This song really touched me and I would sometimes choke up while I was practicing it with the youtube version.  When I practiced with Melanie at church, all seemed well.  I took a quiet moment and said a prayer asking my Father to help me to be a vessel through which the spirit could be felt by those in attendance.  I am not sure if my prayer was answered for the congregation, but I sure felt the spirit.  I began to sing and got through the first verse, but then I was overcome and I just started crying.  Now, I have cried before when I sing, and I can usually get a hold of myself.  That was not the case this time.  I was not just tearing up, I was sobbing.  I had to stop for a moment.  Then we started up again, and I basically had to just speak the words to the song, in between my tears.  I felt quite embarrased, but it was what it was.  At the end of the day, I wanted everyone to feel the spirit.  I think many did, but I wish that I could have kept it together. 

The fact that the song applied to me, that I was tired, and that I offered this heart-felt plea before I sang all contributed to what happened in Relief Society.  I just wanted to convey the fact that Heavenly Father knows each of us individually and that we are all daughters of God.

After the meeting, I quickly grabbed up my kids and headed to the car.  Corey came out and asked me if I had been crying.  This brought up a bit of a funny discussion on the way home in the car.  After we were changed at home, I grabbed some food and was eating it on my bed while reading something.  Corey came in and we started discussing how the spirit can be felt.  I told him that music is one of the great ways to convey the spirit.  He then opened up to me that he really feels the spirit when he plays “The Restoration Medley” on the piano.  This is a piece that he learned over the summer and played in church back in September.  He still practices it all of the time and he told me that he wants to continue playing it because it testifies of the truth of the gospel to him.   We also discussed why some people we know have left the gospel.  It is always hard for me to understand this, but I tried to explain to Corey that people stop doing the small and simple things and many times they get involved reading literature that Satan uses to try and turn us away from the gospel.  I told Corey that in order to keep his testimony, he needs to always do those small and simple things and not listen to those who would try to deceive him.  He then explained to me that he could not understand why people do not believe and that he does believe.  Wow!  What a capstone to my weekend.  I had my ups and downs, but I felt the spirit so much during that weekend and then to have my son talk about how he loves the gospel and knows it is true – that was definitely the icing on the cake.   

Jake took this picture while I was gone.  After he took all of the boys to school, he and Reagan came home.  Reagan played with some toys and Jake worked.  Soon enough, Jake heard Reagan snoring.  Sure enough, this is how he found her.  How come Reagan never takes a nap when I am home with her?  The power of dads.