True Belief and Faith

I could not have written this last week. Last week was emotionally charged and difficult. I had a hard time seeing the sun for the clouds. I had a lot of sadness and anger rolling around inside of me and I did not like it one bit. I doubted. I wanted to give up. Then, as always, when I humbled myself to pray for help, I received it. The things that were causing my distress did not go away, but my feelings about those distresses have slowly dissipated. I began hearing/reading/receiving words of wisdom and counsel that helped me change my attitude around:

"Belief isn't simply a thing for fair times and bright days...What is belief--what is faith--if you don't continue in it after failure?"--Sazed to Vin, Mistborn, pg.579

"No matter the burdens we face in life as a consequence of natural conditions, the misconduct of others or our own mistakes and shortcomings, we are all children of a loving Heavenly Father who sent us to earth as part of His eternal plan for our growth and progress. Our unique individual experiences can help prepare us to return to Him."--Elder L. Whitney Clayton, General Conference Oct. 2009

"No matter who you are or what you may have done, you can always pray...no one is left alone on earth without hope of guidance and redemption."--President Boyd K. Packer, General Conference, Oct. 2009

"Find someone who is having a hard time, or is ill or lonely, and do something for him or her."---President Thomas S. Monson

"And I will also ease the burdens which are put upon your shoulders, that even you cannot feel them upon your backs...yea, the Lord did strengthen them that they could bear up their burdens with ease, and they did submit cheerfully and with patience to all the will of the Lord."--Mosiah 24: 14-15

"In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I HAVE OVERCOME THE WORLD."--John 16:33

"Let's put this Bad Boy to BED!"

Or, in other words, Welcome to the St. George Marathon, 2009!

Before: Sparkly eyed and ready to go at 4:50 a.m. Kelsey wore a cute headband and pink shirt, I had on make up and Boyd was just trying to psych himself up to get through the race.

After: Victory! The goal has been achieved and all came through (fairly) unscathed. The only thing that really kept me going by mile 18 was the MEDAL (and the Blue Bunny treats at the end).
Kelsey ran SO STRONG! I was so proud of her. We kept together most of the way, but through out the race, and especially at the end she just pulled ahead, running her own pace, which made me so happy to see. Her time: 4:24. My time: 4:31. Boyd's time: 4:52.

AWESOME!

Unknown Brush with Future Fame

The other night Steve mentioned reading that Glenn Beck graduated from Sehome High School (Bellingham, WA). We speculated on how old we thought Mr. Beck was and if it was possible that I had gone to school with him, and I insisted that there was no way he went to my school because I would have remembered his name. The next morning I received an email from my mom that Glenn graduated in 1982 from Sehome. Okay, now I am bugged and have to get to the bottom of this--I trudged downstairs, pulled out the box that contained my yearbooks and pulled out my 1982 Windjammer (I was a Freshman that year), turned to the B's in the Senior Class section and lo and behold: Glenn Beck. Okay, I remember that face! He was in the Concert Choir and the Jazz Choir with Mr. Mattson (my most favorite class and my most favorite teacher at Sehome), and he worked with Dr. Beath in the theater department (another favorite teacher, plus I was good friend with his son, Joel). Who knew? (I actually thought the famous radio personality from our school would have been Allan "Al" Fee...)