Live For God

Derek and me on our 32 Anniversary adventure in May
In front of the Jordan River Temple where we were married.

Me and Derek
We went to the conservation gardens in West Jordan.  It was fun.

I haven't written in a long time.  So many important things have come and gone, and we are in the middle of busy, stressful, joyful things.  Not only did we decide that during what we affectionately(?) call "The Apocalypse" was a good time to sell our house, I also decided this was a good time to go off one of my anti-depressants and caffeine to try to figure out what side affects are coming from which of my medicines.  I haven't quite pulled off the caffeine yet since for sure I get super pounders once I get down to less than 30 mg a day.  Still -- progress has been made.  Connor is getting married to Amanda next month, it is time to register Dan for school, and we are trying to keep everything in the yard alive until we move and can pass that responsibility to someone else.

Connor turned 22.  That's how old Derek was when we got married!  Connor will be
almost two months older when he marries Amanda than Derek was when he married me!

Dan, Connor, and Amanda for the "This is what Connor got for his birthday" picture.
Teddy is there too of course.

I have felt a huge variety of emotions, sometimes all on the same day.  This morning I woke up with my head pounding and received the immediate tender mercy of hearing my sister Tina (via Marco Polo) saying how much she wished she could come help me, and a little later my sister Jenny talking about how exhausting it is to move.  I cried -- but mainly because I felt thankful to have people I love talking to me, and caring about me.  Life is so busy and complicated and the people we love make a huge difference!

Here are some of the people I love!  Trisa, Jake, Tia and Mike.
I love the animals too.  Jake is snuggling with Teddy, and Mike is by Chewy.

This day was very productive.  A lot got done, but as I went at noon to pick up my groceries I was feeling tired and stressed.  The Christian radio station was on and someone was giving a talk about "getting on the love train".  Mainly he was saying that Heavenly Father sent His son who died for us and who loves us.  Essentially, once we accept Christ, we are His.  We are living for Him.  I don't even know if I can explain well how comforting I found this.  I think that it reminded me of God's character -- His compassion and love.  It reminded me of the fact that we are here to love.

The last year I get to take a picture of my rose bush.

God created us, and He knows what He has to work with when we are living for Him.  He doesn't expect us help everyone, and solve world hunger, and create world peace all by ourselves!  He doesn't even really expect us to get through hard days with a perma-grin -- because I'm pretty sure if we tried that our grins would start to look like grimaces.  He loves us for who we are, and He loves to help us help others and to help us become the best us possible.  I love Him, and I love those who share good messages of God's love to remind me in the midst of a chaotic time that I can live for God, and love the best I can, and that what I can do is good enough.

More of the roses!
Love to you from me!