The Fellowship of the Unashamed

The Fellowship of the Unashamed

I am part of the fellowship of the unashamed. The dye has been cast! I have stepped over the line. The decision has been made; I am a disciple of Jesus Christ. I won't look back, let up, slow down, or be still. My past is redeemed, my present makes sense, and my future is secure. I'm finished and done with low living, small planning, smooth knees, colorless dreams, tainted visions, worldly talking, cheap giving, and dwarfed goals. I no longer need pre-eminence, positions, promotions, plaudits or popularity. I now live by faith, lean on His presence, walk with patience, am uplifted by prayer, and labor with power. My face is set, my gait is fast, and my goal is Heaven. My road is narrow, my way is rough, my companions are few, my guide is reliable, my mission is clear! I cannot be bought, compromised, detoured, lured away, divided or delayed. I will not flinch in the face of sacrifice, hesitate in the presence of the adversary, negotiate at the table of the enemy, ponder at the pool of popularity, or meander in the maze of mediocrity. I won't give up, shut up, or let up, until I have stayed up stored up, and paid up of the cause of Christ. I must go till He comes, give till I drop, preach till I know, and work till He stops me. And when He returns for His own, He will have no problem recognizing me. My banner will be clear.
Henry b. Eyring

We had an awesome recently returned missionary talk today.  He quoted this at the end of his talk.  He seemed to have it memorized!  Way to go Elder Jensen!  It is obvious you were a great missionary!

Valenitnes Day

A friend of mine blogged about her Valentines Day activities.  I started thinking about why I hadn't done that?  After all, this does serve as my journal most of the time.

I usually do a nice Italian theme dinner with lasagne, pasta, garlic bread, or that sort of thing.  I make Raspberry Cheesecake, or cookies, or some other yummy treat.  I get sparkling cider, and set the table with a table cloth, candles, confetti hearts strew all over, etc.  you get the picture.  I also have these red plastic goblets that I bought years ago that I fill with various pink and red themed treats. 

This year I planned crock pot lasagna, home made pizza, cake balls, chocolate dipped strawberries, and again filled the goblets and bought everyone a dragon fruit vitamin water.  It was all planned out.  And then plans began to fall apart.  My oldest daughter made plans to go out with friends.  My youngest wanted to spend time with her friends.  So that leaves hubby and I for a nice romantic evening all by ourselves.  Okay, I couldn't complain about that, could I?

Valentines Day came and I thought I would try to let hubby sleep in a bit.  At 7:30 the sound of his phone going off filled the house.  He got off and I went to see who had woke him.  I asked if someone was calling to see why he wasn't at work yet. (he owns his own business so he doesn't have hours set in concrete most days, but usually does have many hours to put in a day).  He said, worse, I have to go to Idaho.  He hurried and packed and I ran to get his bag of Valentine Peanut M & M's to throw in his bag.  And off he went.

Usually I don't mind being alone.  I love it during the day time because it is easier to get stuff done.  BUT, at night it can get lonely, and even more so when the love of your life is in another state.  I should be used to it.  I knew what I was getting when I got married.  I knew there would be many days and nights with him working out of town.  I also knew he would be a good provider and had a great work ethic.  I knew he would take care of us.  I do think this is the very first Valentines Day in my life that I have been alone though.  I was sad, felt sorry for myself, but in the end, I have to be thankful because there are people who are alone a lot more days than I am. Oh yeah, I ate lasagna, pizza, strawberries, cake balls and watched tv.  And I remembered the love I have for my family.

Pinterest

Just when I thought I was on the right track, I discovered Pinterest.  Okay, I didn't seek it out--people kept inviting and enticing me.  It is my own personal bulletin board, but even more so, I look at it as my electronic assistant, scrapbook, journal, cookbook, and dream journal all wrapped up in one place!  So cool!

Catching up

It has been a LONG time since I blogged.  December 15th, Destinee came home from Guatemala.  Things have just been busy since then.  It is nice having her home, and she adjusted well.  She was rehired at her job at Cinemark, and today she met with her college counselor to go over her graduation requirements.  She has 3 semesters left.

Kade will come home on May 29th.  Now it is time for me to paint and fix up his bedroom.

Tyler graduates with his Masters in Physics in August.  He has been applying for some jobs, and who knows where his life will now take him.

Kiana will be a senior next year, and then head off to college.  I am not sure where she will end up, but she would like to live away from home.  It is my hope that she will at least stay here for one year.

I am thinking today that it is time to change my blog name.  It was fitting when I was the missionary mom of two, but now I am "a very blessed mom of 4".