The hardest 6 weeks ( spoiler alert: a REALLY long post... :) )

October flew by! Here's a photo update of some of the things that filled our month:

http://www.smilebox.com/playBlog/4d7a67304d7a55324f54453d0d0a&blogview=true

In addition to everyday life, a friend of mine needed one more teammate for a challenge she was about to start again called Feel Great in Eight. She had talked to me about it this summer after she had just finished it and I thought it sounded REALLY difficult. But, she also told me about all of the great things she got from it.

So when she asked about 6 weeks ago I was initially going to turn her down. Jason is 99 % of the reason why I said yes. He STRONGLY encouraged me to do this. Once I told her I was in, and Jason and I read what it entailed I looked at him and said, "What was I thinking?! I can't do this!!" To which he responded, "Yes, you can!"

We are almost at the end of our 6th week, out of eight. Tomorrow is the start of week 7! I'll be honest this has been one of the most gruelling things I have ever done, but it has been a HUGE eye opener to me!! I have also seen so many changes that I plan on keeping, and some, not so stringently. At first glance it looks like a weight loss program. It is definitely a perk of it, but my friend that invited me is one of the most fit people I know. It involves diet, exercise, spirituality (fasting once a month, daily personal prayer and scripture study), and other things that I have been meaning to do, but don't always get around to (i.e. send thank you cards, do something you love for an hour, clean out your car, try a new recipe, you get the idea).

The adjustments that have proven especially hard were no high fructose corn syrup, corn syrup, hydrogenated oils, ( I had no clue how pervasive these things are), no white bread, white pasta, eating after 8pm, drinking 64oz. of water daily, and surprisingly getting 5 servings of a variety of fruits and vegetables a day, as well as 5 servings of other good foods found on a good food list (i.e. lean meats, milk, brown rice, daily vitamins, whole wheat breads-- more fiber than sugar, low sugar cereal--again, more fiber than sugar)... there were also foods that I thought would be considered on the bad food list, but are actually considered neutral, but also foods I thought were pretty good, which are also considered neutral, (and don't give me good food points). In some aspects I wasn't doing as poorly as I thought, and in many aspects I realized I also wasn't eating as well as I thought.

There is also a free meal once a week, where you don't dock bad food points and you can eat after 8pm without docking points. We paid an entrance fee. Part of the fee goes to the individual winner, and part goes to be split among the winning team. At this point I'm happy to finish! I'm not aspiring to any kind of monetary prize!

This has led to some neat spiritual experiences too. One morning at breakfast, while all of the kids were at school, I was reading the Ensign. An article I was reading brought the account of Nephi building the ship to mind, where Nephi asked the Lord where he might go to find ore to build the ship, and he was told to go up to the mountain that the Lord would show Nephi. I thought about where I could go to find strength to help me with this challenge, and the answer came, "Go to the temple", the "mountain of the Lord" :) . It was one of the neatest spur of the moment choices I made, to go to the temple for the 9:45am session! (Plus that week there was an item to do something for yourself that you have been wanting to do for a while). While I was in the celestial room, I had a tender experience. The Spirit whispered that Heavenly Father was pleased that I was trying so hard to better tune this sacred instrument that He has given me. My testimony of the Word of Wisdom has grown so much. Yes, the nos of the Word of Wisdom have not been too much of a temptaion for me, but I realized that in these past few weeks I had been living it to a degree I hadn't been before.

That's not to say that I haven't struggled, and I'll be sad when it's all over (I'll be glad, not gonna lie) :), ha, ha. But it's also been a testimony builder that I CAN do things that are hard for me. I can accomplish something that when I initally look at and say, "What was I thinking?! I can't do this!", if I listen with my spiritual ears I can hear the Holy Ghost tell me, "Yes, you can!" That just as Jason, my family, my teammates, and my friends have been there cheering me on through this challenge, they will be there to help me through my other challenges in life. And just as Heavenly Father and the Savior have been there for me through this challenge, (as well as all of the challenges in my life) they will continue to be there for me always.

Also, in the past 6 weeks, I received another calling. Currently I serve in the nursery. I love it! The kids are definitely the best part! Kind of funny though. Jason also received a new calling. He is now one of the Webelos scout leaders.

The secretary asked if the Bishop could talk with Jason (to issue this new call, and extend a release to him as ward mission leader). When Jason went, the Bishop asked where I was. Jason didn't know I was supposed to go. Bishop said it was fine if Jason extended the call. He told Jason I was asked to be on the R.S. activites committee. I thought sure, I can do that. This was on Wednesday night. There was a R.S. activity the following Tuesday, but I figured it was already planned, I would just go and help where needed.

Sunday comes. One of the counselors in the Bishopric asks if Jason talked to me. Yes. Is it alright?Yes. When Jason and I are standing beside eachother, he was getting sustained for his calling and as I'm getting sustained, the counselor says as the Relief Society Activity Chair. My eyes get big and I sideways look at Jason, and from the side of my mouth, "You said it was as a committee member!"

"That's what the Bishop said!" He side of mouth whispered back. Of course, the counselor sees all of this from the stand. He tells his wife, who is a counselor in the Relief Society presidency, is the counselor over me, and also my friend that invited me to do this FGI8 challenge, he thinks something got miscommunicated. She came in during nursery, pulled me aside and explains the call was in fact for the Chair. Is it still ok? Of course, just a little bit of a surprise. (I tell her the story).

So the Tuesday RS activity is planned alredy, naturally (whew), and I helped, and got a small taste of what was to come. Gulp.

Now, we are planning our R.S. Super Saturday craft day. About two weeks ago, I went to my first RS activity committee mtg to plan it. (Fortunately, Christine is easing me into this, especially since I've never done this before). We were supposed to come up with simple craft ideas for projects and bring them to this meeting so we could decide what we were going to do.

Naturally I went to Pinterest, and found some things I had pinned already and pinned some new things.  When I brought up a version of this advent calender to our committee, the two sites made this sound like such an easy thing, and we felt this was a doable craft for our day.

We set a goal to have samples of our project the following week. ( I think in all, we'll have 6 crafts?) The calender was almost halfway done at that point. My indecision and inexperience got the better of me.

I worked on it until about last Wednesday, when I got to this point:

I showed the counselor over me, told her some of the concerns/issues I had while making mine, and brainstorming with her on possibly how we could fix them for the ones the sisters would make.   By Thursday she and I realized that we might have to save this for next year. My demo was made from materials I had at home (with the exception of the nails). We would be using different materials for the ones the sisters would make. (We were indecisive in wheter we should use the same materials from the get go...) The demo would look considerably different from their finished product. It would be possible, but it would take a great deal of advanced preparation so that they could assemble it there. With all of the other projects we were doing, sigh.

Part of me is so sad, I was almost finished! Part of me is also sad because I also think some of the sisters would love this idea, and that I spent so much time doing this, when I could have been working on the other crafts.  Oh well.  Now I have experience making one. Now I know where I can make improvements. I guess I also have an almost finished Christmas present :) I heard that our R.S. president acted really bummed that we postponed this, but never verbalized it.   Maybe I will finish it, and gift it to her ...there are still some things I need to tweek first.

Anyway, so then we needed a project to replace the calender. After our first planning meeting I was talking to my mom on the phone and she emailed me what they are making for their Super Saturday. These little paint stirrer ornaments were one of them. I spent most of Friday getting the supplies and working on them, and finished them Saturday night, after a full day of watching and transporting the girls to six soccer games. (I'm sure my more experienced crafting friends & family would have cranked these babies out in no time!)

Here are the ones we displayed for our sisters to start signing up for today (wishing I had a better camera, well.. maybe not, cause the imperfections would be more obvious :) ). We could only get four ornaments per stirrer, and Christine picked up one for free from Home Depot. 

 

 

 

 

 

(There is a pattern on this paper but it's hard to see, even in person)

 

I also was in charge of another craft.  (I had no clue what I was getting myself into!) We were trying to keep the crafts simple and inexpensive. I found ideas for using old Christmas cards and turning them into something new! We thought a banner, gift tags and bookmarks were pretty easy.

 

So I spent some time Tuesday afternoon and made a card banner:

 

 

This morning I finished up some samples of gift tags, bookmarks, and the sign up sheets.

(I'll have to add more pictures later)

 

Oh, and in addition, we are going to have two cooking demos. I have one covered. The other I have asked a sister but it won't work with her schedule. So I have got to find another sister to teach that. 

 

 I'm realizing I need to learn a lot! A friend of mine gave me excellent advice, delegate.

I'm realizing (I'm sure you've noticed by now too) I need to improve that skill. I have also been trying to get better about working on things way more in advance than I used to...and prioritizing.  But sometimes, like my mom likes to say, "you gotta roll with the punches", sometimes life happens, and your best laid plans are out the window! I'm also remembering I  tend to make things way too complicated (not intentionally) and my indecision is a crutch too... I guess that's one of the blessings of accepting callings. Each one I learn from and grow from, and never would have picked for myself, with one exception...After working in the Primary in the previous ward I was apart of, I thought, a Primary teacher would be such a neat calling to have! For the first year in our new ward I was able to do that! :) 

 

Anyway, there you have it, the unabridged edition of reasons for why there were no posts for the month of October! I think this one is long enough to make up for all of the missed ones, yeah?  :)