Speedy Answers to My Fast

Before I begin, I just have to say how much I love the title I created for this blog post! #ifeelsoclever! Ha ha. Okay, now we may proceed! 😊

Remember how I posted back in December about my issues with some of my extended family members? Well, those separate relationship issues recently came to a head. One of the issues was extremely worrisome and significant enough to my soul that I made an appointment to speak with my bishop about it—I really wanted to get his ecclesiastical take on the situation.

As a side note, I might write about all of this in greater detail someday, but out of respect for my extended family members, I'm going to stay vague for now.

My bishop kindly listened as I very tearfully explained my story and that of my extended family member. After my bishop and I talked for a long time, and he could see that there was truly nothing else I could do on my end with this extended family member, he suggested that I fast for myself to help me through my struggle. My bishop gave a lot of great advice and counsel, but the fasting just for me idea stood out the very most. Here are the scriptures my bishop shared with me—I included some additional verses that I like:

Isaiah 58: 6, 8, 11, 14:

6  Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke?
8 ¶ Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thine health shall spring forth speedily: and thy righteousness shall go before thee; the glory of the Lord shall be thy rearward.
11 And the Lord shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones: and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not.
14 Then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth...

Aren't those verses awesome?! I've heard them before, but I'd forgotten them because there are so many great scripture verses to remember! 😇 

Initially, I was surprised at the idea of fasting for myself, but after I thought about it for a few minutes, I decided to try it! I've always had great faith in the law of the fast. I've consistently fasted throughout my life for everyone else—my fasting list for people that I care about is forever long! 😇 Also, I've fasted for Greg and I as a couple, and for our children, but I've never fasted specifically and only for myself.

At first, I felt kind of squirmy inside at the thought of focusing only on me and not fasting for anyone else this past Fast Sunday, but at the same time I knew it was exactly what I should do. So I did it! 😀 I fasted and prayed for my peace of mind, patience, and especially for resolution to my issues with my extended family members. How those things would be resolved, I had no idea, but I fasted for direction and comfort, and I was ready for any answer(s) I would receive!

I say "would receive" because I fully expected Heavenly Father to answer my prayers and fasting through the Holy Ghost. I had patiently endured my issues for a very long time (we're talking months, and years in one instance). I felt like I had done my best with what I had been "given." Yes, it was time for some divine intervention to help me move past those issues because they were starting to affect me in a negative way. And don't even get me started on the dreams (while sleeping) I was having in relation to my issues with those extended family members! Oh, my issue-related dreams were not my favorite! 😬

After Greg and I broke our fast together, I felt much better. Nothing had been resolved yet, but I loved hearing my wonderful husband's voice praying for me—yes, he specifically fasted for me, too, and I'll love him forever for it!! Of course, Greg and I pray together all the time, and I love him for innumerable reasons, but this (him fasting/praying specifically for me) just adds to my adoration of him! Speaking of my husband's wonderful voice, I think Greg should start doing voice-overs! I'm going to see what I can do to get him in that industry! 😃 #randomthoughtsbyAdrie! 😄

The amazing news is, one of my issues with one of my extended family members was resolved literally one day after I fasted!! Said extended-family-member and I had been emailing each other the day before my fast, and cleared up everything by Monday! Yay! Some might say that emailing isn't a great way to resolve conflict, but in our case, emails were the only thing that would have worked because even after seeing each other in person, it was glaringly obvious that we still had issues with each other. I even had a nightmare about said family member a couple of nights after we saw each other in person! When I awoke, I knew it was time for me to take action asap!

I also know that because I fasted that Sunday, I was inspired as to how to respond in my final email. My extended family member might not have particularly liked what I had to say, but, oh my goodness, it felt sooo great(!) to write what I hadn't been able to express in any way for seemingly endless months! I tried to show as much love and compassion with my words as I possibly could without being a door mat. Yes, it's a tricky balance to show love to others while simultaneously standing our ground and staying true to who we are!

The other issue with my other extended family member—the one I met with my bishop about—didn't go away quite so instantly (a one-day turnaround is pretty exciting, right?!!), and it felt like our situation got even more difficult the day after my fast—which was a little concerning, to say the least.

Interestingly, and not coincidentally (As I've always said, everything happens for a reason!), I went walking with two of my dear friends that same Monday morning after completing my fast (on Sunday). As we were walking and talking about each of our issues with our extended family members, my one friend said, "Have you heard about Bold New Mom?" I was like, "What?" because I had never heard of that bold new mom. My friend then explained about the podcast she had recently found and how she thought of me in my situation with my extended family member that I was struggling with. My other friend immediately chimed in and said, "I love Bold New Mom! She has some great stuff!" And that was the end of our discussion about Bold New Mom.

But later that night, my mind wouldn't let go of the podcast that my friend had told me about. I give full thanks and credit to the Holy Ghost for reminding me of what my soul needed to do! 💛 As I pondered if I should look further into the podcast, I reminded myself that my friend who brought up Bold New Mom is a very easy-going, go-with-the-flow type of girl. She doesn't usually give out advice, recommendations, or her opinions unless she's specifically asked—which is why it surprised me that she brought up the podcast out of the blue. Thus, I knew it was something I should definitely look into. I texted said friend about the podcast information, and the rest is history!

After Googling Bold New Mom, I discovered Jody Moore's website and especially her fabulous podcast—I linked you to her first episodes. Here's the link to her podcast, Better Than Happy, in iTunes. I don't know when she changed the name of her podcast, but I really like the new title! 😊

I never expected any of this to happen(!), but I have spent the last week cocooning myself in Better Than Happy podcasts, extensive note-taking, analyzing, pondering, praying, and writing! This amazing week of self-care has helped me more than I ever could have imagined! In my wildest, most faith-filled dreams, I could not have envisioned this specific result happening! And it was all made possible because of my special fast on Sunday, April 8th, 2018!

I mean, I had complete and utter faith that I would absolutely get the help that I needed from our Heavenly Father through fasting, I just had no clue as to how that help would manifest itself. I also couldn't have possibly fathomed how completely my soul has been healed over this past week! Yet that is exactly what has happened!

In fact, when I was talking with my bishop (two weeks ago), I explained to him how much I hoped I could get a significant/direct answer to my fasting and prayers because if I didn't, my situation with my extended family member was getting to the point that I felt I might need a therapist to help me get over it. Yes, it was that much of an issue for me. My bishop assured me that they (my ward in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints) would help me with therapy if my insurance wouldn't cover it. I was grateful for his kind thoughts, but I didn't feel like I was to that point just yet. I was definitely waiting for inspiration from the Holy Ghost as to what I should do.

So yeah, finding life coach Jody Moore was truly an inspired event in my life(!)—one that is not a coincidence and was most definitely meant to happen! Interestingly, that Monday walk-and-talk with my friends was the first time we've gotten together to go walking—and it was my idea! Yay! 😀 Yet when I say "my idea," I totally laugh because I know I was inspired by the Holy Ghost to suggest that my friends and I start walking together! (I texted them in March, and together we set up our walking date for April.) Also, I know my dear friend was fully inspired to tell me about Bold New Mom! If she wouldn't have spoken up, I don't know when or if I ever would have found Jody Moore and her fabulous, amazing podcasts!

Also, I feel strongly that I wasn't meant to find Jody's podcasts until now. That seems so silly to say because she's so helpful, but up until very recently (we're talking within the last month), I really didn't have any extended-family relationship issues that I couldn't deal with—and I was dealing with them just fine in my own way. I am a strong woman. I have confidence. I know who I am. I am spiritually in tune with our Heavenly Father. I study, research, ponder, and pray about everything in my life. I've never felt the need for a therapist or a life coach. I honestly didn't feel there was any issue I've dealt with (or would deal with) that I couldn't find an answer to or work through "on my own."

I say "on my own" because the Holy Ghost has always told/shown me everything that's best for me to do—and I've done it! I'm very much in tune with Heavenly Father as to who I am and what I need to do to make my life work in the very best way possible. Of course, I'm not perfect! That goes without saying! I've definitely had my struggles, but I've always found my way to sunshine and happiness—every time! 🌞😎😁

That said, I was also smack dab in the middle of grieving that specific relationship with my one extended family member (the one I spoke with my bishop about) for several months. Our relationship had changed drastically over the past few years and I needed to grieve all of it first before I could move on in Better Than Happy Land.

So even if someone would have told me about Jody previously, I wouldn't have felt a particular need to check out her content. Even when I wrote about my extended family issues back in December, 2017, I was handling everything okay; even when I was struggling, I wasn't truly ready to find Jody's brilliant advice. Yes, I had to get to my personal breaking point—and I arrived there about three weeks ago. Thus, last Monday was literally the perfect time for me to discover Better Than Happy!

Do you see how all of this was so meant to be?!

It's mind blowing and humbling in the same moment to think about everything that has transpired in just the past three weeks(!):

1. I was inspired to meet with my bishop.
2. My bishop was inspired to counsel me in the way that he did—and especially in advising me that I should fast and pray for myself.
3. Greg was inspired when he prayed for me as we ended our fast together.
4. I was inspired as to how to respond to my one extended family member over email.
5. I was inspired to set up my walking date with my friends—far in advance of my important week.
6. My walking/talking friends were inspired to take our conversation in the direction it went—about our issues with our extended family members.
7. My one friend, in particular, was so inspired to tell me about Bold New Mom.
8. I was inspired to later ask my friend for information about the podcast, research it, listen to 37 episodes, and do the "self" work that needed to be done.
9. Jody Moore was inspired to become a life coach and begin her own podcast series!
10. Brooke Castillo was inspired to do all of the study and research she did in order to create The Life Coach School (with her husband) in the first place!

Not only has this experience helped me tremendously with resolving my extended family relationship issues, it has strengthened (yet again!) my unshakable testimony of fasting and prayer.

I have never doubted nor questioned my relationship with our Heavenly Father—through our Savior, Jesus Christ—but there have been times when I've felt picked on because I didn't receive the immediate answers from Him that I so desperately desired—answers that I knew He could freely give me if he wanted to! *And yes, I fully acknowledge that Heavenly Father gives us trials to help us grow and become our best selves! That said, there have been times when I've wished my "trial" path was a smidgen of a bit easier! 😉

Several weeks ago, this thought entered my mind so strongly:

Trials are meant to strengthen you and give you compassion for others.

I 100% believe in and agree with that brilliant statement! Again, trials are given to us so that we can truly become our best selves! I've written about trials before in my blog post, "Receiving Our Trials with Thankfulness." So even though we may not want those soul-trying trials at the time, in the end, they are always given to us for our best benefit!

All of that said, I still have some significant work to do in relation to my other extended family member. I'm not out of the woods quite yet, but thanks to this amazing week I've had—of doing the self-care work I know Heavenly Father wants me to do—I can actually see a glimmer of the Road to Resolution that I've been searching for! And I will happily hike the remainder of my journey through the thick trees because I know I can do it! 👊😁🌲

I'm so grateful to Heavenly Father for listening to my prayers, accepting my fasting efforts, and blessing my life in exactly the ways I needed! 💛 I'm unbelievably happy (and slightly overwhelmed!) to have received such speedy answers to my fast! It's truly amazing to me!

Finally, here's a wrap-up about my experience with listening to the Better Than Happy podcast:

Even though I could have listened to Better Than Happy through iTunes, or on my iPod Touch, I chose to access Jody's podcast through her website on my smartphone. (My LGV20 is my absolute favorite!) Instead of listening from Episode 1, I started listening at Episode 5—which was my friend's recommendation.

After finishing Episode 5, I knew I wanted to explore more of Jody's awesome thoughts! Thus, I went through the entire Better Than Happy podcast list and opened the links to all of the podcast topics that I felt applied to my situation with my extended family member in any way.

I initially listened to the following episodes (not in this exact order): 3, 6, 8, 13, 14, 16, 17, 21, 29, 33, 65, 81, 94, 97, and 122. After I finished those episodes, I decided to look at Jody's podcast list again and see if there was anything else that interested me. As you might have guessed, yep(!), I found an additional 17 podcasts to listen to! Here's round two of the Better Than Happy podcasts I listened to (not in this exact order): 27, 36, 37, 47, 50, 53, 73, 77, 81, 83, 85, 86, 87, 107, 110, 114, and 126! After I felt satisfied with my podcast learning, I went back and listened to episodes 1, 2, 4, and 141.

If you're wondering how and why I kept track of the episodes I listened to, I just opened each episode in a new window of my phone's Chrome browser. When I finished listening to everything I was interested in, I went into my Chrome browser again, wrote down all of the podcast episode numbers I had open, and then I closed all of those tabs. I kept track of those podcasts because I want to know which ones I listened to—in case I want to refer back to them at a later date.

I listened to a bunch of the Better Than Happy podcasts out of numerical order, which was fine, but after I take a little break, I'm going to go back and listen to Jody's podcasts from Episode 1 all the way to her most current episode! I can't wait to begin this adventure again! 😊 Her podcasts really are perfect for listening to while doing household chores—they make the time fly by! And they're simultaneously turning listeners into better humans! It's a true win-win!

*If you want to start listening to Better Than Happy, I highly recommend starting right at Episode 1, as she guides you through everything you need to know from there. Yes, you can understand what she's teaching if you start at a different episode, but based on my experience, I believe it's better to start at the beginning because it's a very good place to start! 😁 #DoReMi 🎶

I seriously wish I could recommend the Better Than Happy podcast to every human on planet earth! 😀 Jody Moore is a living example of the parable of the talents. She knows and understands the talents she's been blessed with, she's practiced and honed her skills in marvelous ways, and she is actively blessing humanity by freely sharing her special gifts with us!

As a fun tidbit, Better Than Happy has received 1,671 reviews (to this date—her reviews keep increasing daily) on iTunes and only four of those reviews (0.0024%!) have been negative! Jody should feel ecstatic that she continually produces a five-star podcast! ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Wow! I'm so happy for her success! And I'm grateful she's continuing to create so many helpful podcasts!

I also researched The Life Coach School, which is where Jody received her life-coaching certification. It looks like a really great program, they've turned out some amazing life coaches! I listened to the first three podcast episodes of The Life Coach School, and they were great, yet I just didn't feel the deep connection to Brooke that I instantly felt with Jody. There might come a day when I feel the urge to listen to more of The Life Coach School's podcasts, but right now isn't the time.

I greatly enjoy Jody's connection to my beloved church; I believe it helps that she's a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints because she brings an additional spiritual perspective/dimension that I didn't feel/experience (so far) while listening to Brooke. That isn't meant to be anything negative (not in any way!) against The Life Coach School, it's just that I found the important connection I was looking for in Jody, and I'm sticking with her for the foreseeable future! 😁

Thanks for reading, I hope you have a wonderful day! 😘

Adventures with William Wurlitzer!

In March, 2017, I went on a piano adventure and bought a new/used piano! But before I get into my new-to-me piano story, let's take a walk down piano-memory lane...

I had been using my great grandparent's old Story and Clark piano since 2003—when my Grandpa Charles was so generous to give it to me after my Grandma Ardis died (in 2001). My grandpa's gift was such a blessing in my life!

At the time I received my great-grandparents' piano, my church calling was Primary pianist. Before my grandpa so generously helped me out, I had to go to my church building to practice the assigned Primary songs. Thankfully, my weekly outings to my church building didn't last long. I was thrilled to be able to practice Primary songs in my very own home! I was also excited to refresh older songs I had "perfected" in my youth while taking piano lessons and performing in recitals and Federation competitions.

Because my family's historical piano was moved nine times while in my possession, it really started showing wear and tear everywhere. I felt so badly about its worn-out condition, but we needed our piano, so it always went with us wherever we moved!

Fast forward 13+ years.

Once I gained many more piano students (I don't remember the exact tally, but it was more than 15), I decided I not only wanted but needed a newer piano. I asked Greg what he thought about me buying a new/used piano and he agreed it was a good idea—a smart business decision! Up until that moment, I had never realized that I was a small-business owner, but it's true! 😊

As I prayed what to do about my piano needs, I received the distinct impression that I should go to the Piano Gallery in Murray, Utah, and buy the black Wurlitzer piano. That was a very random thought considering there's a Piano Gallery closer to my house up north, and especially considering the fact that I was being told so specifically which piano brand and color to buy. Thus, I knew it had to be divine inspiration and decided to follow through on my answer.

But before we went to the Piano Gallery, I decided to do my due diligence and check KSL.com's classifieds. (I always do my part when receiving heavenly answers!) There were so many used pianos and I searched through every single one of them(!), but nothing felt right. Greg and I even looked at purchasing a 30-year-old Yamaha upright in our own little city, but when I saw/played it in person, it was nothing close to what I wanted. I was most definitely not feeling it! To me, the price of that old Yamaha was outlandish for a piano in not-great condition!

As I prayed again—this time to "present my case" and confirm my decision—I had the same impression: Piano Gallery, Murray; black Wurlitzer piano.

It was a rainy Saturday when we pulled into the Piano Gallery's Murray parking lot. As cheesy as it sounds, I can truly remember it like it was yesterday! Aww! They were having a sale that day, so I was super hopeful at what I'd find...until I walked through their side-front doors! I was blown away at the high prices of their pianos! That dinky little used Yamaha upright was looking pretty great at that point! Ha ha.

After practically drooling over the amazing, gorgeous, lovely, and inspiring grand pianos (Oh, they were so unbelievably great!), I yanked my soul back into reality and forced myself to walk to the smaller used pianos section in the back of the gallery. Yet I was pleasantly surprised at what we found: I saw many great used pianos! Yay! There were also new, beautiful Yamaha spinets and uprights, among other brands that I don't remember. Still, there was nothing in my price point that I wanted to pony up for, so I walked mindlessly toward the section of used medium-grand pianos.

That's when I stopped in my tracks: I saw a GORGEOUS black Wurlitzer grand piano! It was sooo shiny and looked absolutely perfect! But once I saw the price tag—which included the on-sale price that was still too much money(!)—a little, tiny piece of me died inside. It was waaayyyy over our used-piano budget. 😢

As I continued walking through the rest of the store, I never saw another black Wurlitzer piano. Add to that, I never saw another Wurlitzer piano at all! Not a one! It was true: The only Wurlitzer piano in that entire store was a black, medium-grand beauty!

I was very befuddled in that moment. I had received very direct and specific inspiration of what I was supposed to do, yet what I found at the Piano Gallery was not at all what I expected. But I had followed through on said inspiration up to that point, so I decided to go back and play the black Wurlitzer. I was nervous as I walked over to play it because I knew I was entering dangerous territory! You laugh, but when you follow inspiration like I do, there's a point of no return and I knew I was nearing it!

When I finally played the lovely, black, medium-grand Wurlitzer, it absolutely did something to my soul! I was overjoyed in that moment of contact! I knew I just HAD to have it! I also didn't know what to tell my husband! Aahh! 😄

Greg was taken aback when I told him of my gorgeous find, and about the inspiration I had received. The look on his face said he wasn't entirely sure of what to do. He suggested asking if the Piano Gallery was firm on the Wurlitzer's price. They were very firm on their price and pointed out it was on sale, but they also said that we could do in-store financing if we wanted. (It was zero percent interest if the piano loan was paid off within six months.) We asked the store manager, Mike, how long the sale with special financing would be available. I don't remember what he said, but we told him we'd think about it and let him know. I'm pretty sure he envisioned that we wouldn't be back! Ha ha.

I felt defeated when we left the Piano Gallery. I was super bummed we hadn't bought a piano that day like I planned! Frustration set in as I literally could not stop thinking about the black, medium-grand Wurlitzer! It was at the forefront of my mind for endless hours—and especially while I folded laundry!

At my extended family's party that Sunday night (one day later), I told everyone of our piano adventures. I explained how difficult it was going to be finding a piano we could afford that was nice enough and made my soul sing like the black Wurlitzer medium-grand did!

Greg and I talked about the beautiful Wurlitzer grand piano again on our drive home. I was shocked when Greg said, "Let's buy you your piano!" I argued with him, explaining our tight budget (Greg was still attending Harvard online; our expensive, growing children; etc., etc.), and pointing out everything that was wrong about buying the expensive-to-us Wurlitzer. Greg rebutted with the fact that my piano-lessons money could pay for the piano within a year and that it could be written off as a business expense! While both of those were valid points, I still completely worried about what such an expensive purchase would do to our family's budget and well-being! They were legitimate concerns!

That very next Monday, March 27th, two days since I first met Mr. Wurlitzer, I went online and searched for "my" piano. I was stunned to see the price of it online was $1,000 less than the sale price in the store! I excitedly told Greg and he said, "We are buying you your piano!" I squealed and replied, "Really?! We're doing this?!!" He said, "Yes! We'll finance it and pay it off with our savings before the loan starts charging interest." My soul soared!

At that point, I had a new worry: that my incredible find would have already been sold out from under me! I immediately called Mike and asked him about the price of "my" piano. He said the online price was correct and the piano was still for sale. I asked him if the price could be lowered any further than that, considering the internet price was lower than the price in the store, but he said that was it. I told him I wanted to buy it, but I'd have to come later that day. He said he would hold it for me until 4:00 p.m., but after that, it would be available for someone else to purchase. I said okay, thanked him, and told him I would see him soon!

I was absolutely giddy with excitement! Not only was I was purchasing the black Wurlitzer that the Holy Ghost specifically told me to buy(!), I was also buying the piano that I fell head-over-heels in love with! Again you laugh, but piano love is a real thing! People have fallen in love with pianos for centuries! I have nothing to back up my statement, but Google it and you'll see that I'm right! Ha ha. 😍

I drove myself to Murray (so Greg could pick up our kids from school) asap to buy my piano. I was glad I'd be finished with everything before my piano lessons began that afternoon! I had so much time on my drive to think of ways to shrink our budget for six months—so we could get a head start on our piano loan payments; I knew we could do it!

When I went into the store and told them which piano I wanted, I could barely contain my excitement! I looked over the black, medium-grand Wurlitzer one last time (to be absolutely certain of my decision), found a piano bench I wanted, and headed over to sign the paperwork. As a funny side note, I took longer deciding what piano bench to buy than I did my piano! 😄

While sitting across from the store manager, Mike, I looked at his family photos around his desk. I suddenly realized...I knew this man! I was 99% certain he had been in our ward (church congregation) 13 years ago! I asked him if he had ever lived in Layton, and he said, "Yes." I then said, "I think you were in my ward in Layton!" We talked and confirmed that we were indeed in the same ward!

I was utterly amazed when I remembered that Mike was on my list of "substitute pianists" for my calling as Primary pianist! Oh, wow! I had suddenly come full circle! I also remembered the incredible vocal talents of his darling wife, Stacie. Even now, 14 years later, I can still recall their soul-touching performances in our ward's sacrament meetings! I was stunned to learn that his wife had never created an album of her astounding gift! As we talked, I was blown away thinking of the many things that had to fall into place for that moment to happen!

I mean, comon'! What are the odds that I would choose the very piano store that not only produced my perfect-for-me piano(!), but also included the man who used to be in my previous ward who was on my list of substitute pianists?! Those odds are ridiculous, and most definitely not a coincidence!

Back-in-the-day, I tried to convince Mike's fabulous wife that she needed to create a CD of her vocal talents. As I recently searched the internet for Stacie—to see if she's created a CD like I recommended (😁)—I was disappointed to see she hasn't done anything yet. I remember Mike telling me that Stacie now teaches singing lessons (or something like that), which is truly wonderful for her to pass on her gift!

Side note: I found a performance of Stacie and Mike (from their family reunion) for you to watch! So yeah, please feel free to say, "You're right, Adrie! She's amazing!" Ha ha. Yes, I'm an internet sleuth! #notastalker! 😆 Of course this performance is not professional, and I wish you could see them in a sacrament meeting setting(!), but their talents as a musical couple are impressive!

Stacie and Mike Raddatz Opera Aria

The next several days were a blur of getting my house ready for my black, medium-grand Wurlitzer to arrive! I spent a long time researching where I should place my piano and realized I had to switch around my entire living room! You see, the bass side of a grand piano needs to be on an inside wall, away from windows with direct sunlight, and away from blowing/direct air. I actually had a great time rearranging everything! It totally reminded me of moving houses/cities/states again, which I was so grateful we didn't have to do!

In my spare time before bed each night, I researched my new piano (the make and model number) to make sure I had made a good decision. I know, I know!, that seems like such a backward move—especially considering that I'm such a researcher! Yes, I should have researched my piano before I bought it! Yet I was so completely certain of my actions that I didn't feel the need to research any of it beforehand.

In the hours I spent looking online, I realized that I could not have made a more perfect piano purchase if I tried!! Even if I had spent hours upon hours researching pianos and pricing, I still would have absolutely come to the same conclusion: the shiny, black, medium-grand Wurlitzer was the perfect piano for me and my situation! Even today, knowing all that I know with hindsight being 20/20, I would still make the same decision over and over again! And that backed-up/solid/researched knowledge feels incredibly great!

My new piano was safely delivered and installed (woohoo!), and my great-grandparents' piano was sent to my dad's living room! He was super excited to receive his family heirloom and is looking into getting it restored. Yay! Yay! Happy piano days!

After I had my piano for a few hours, I decided I'd better name my black beauty, I also decided my piano is a boy! I know, I'm the silliest! I looked at all the "W" boy names and narrowed it down to like nine or 10. In the end, William Wurlitzer sounded the best to me and I named "him" exactly that! I'm very happy with my naming choice! 😁 Oh, and I forgot to mention that William was tuned a few weeks after I brought him home!

In an email I sent April 3rd, 2017, I told the family of my birth how much I love my piano and presented some of the reasons why I have such cheesy piano love:

• I love it because it sounds so amazing!
• It's so beautiful to look at! 😍
• It challenges me in my mind, heart, soul, and physical abilities.
• I'm able to create something from inside of me that doesn't exist without my piano.
• It gives me all the feels! 💛
• My piano connects me to my family in ways that I can't without it.
• It brings an amazing spirit into our home.
• It energizes me as a player, and as a listener. Sometimes I'm like, "Wow! I just played that! That just happened!" 😄 Ha ha.
• My piano makes me feel like I'm contributing something 100% worthwhile to our world—it's an activity that's actually making the world a better place!

Nearly one year later (almost exactly 😁), those reasons still totally apply! Buying William Wurlitzer was and is one of the best decisions I've ever made! Thankfully, my Gregor agrees with me! My medium-grand piano is literally the purchase of my lifetime! It's been a financial struggle, for sure, but it's worth every penny. The great news is, our bank account has nearly recovered from our life-changing purchase! Yay! I still remember the oh-so-happy day I paid off my piano, I was so excited and jumped for joy!! There is just something about finally owning what you love and have worked so hard for! 😍

*By the way, no, this blog post is not an advertisement to get you to go buy a piano! Ha ha. I'm simply stating the fact that there is almost nothing on Earth so lovely as live music that you or your loved ones create yourselves!

I've also thoroughly enjoyed watching my wonderful students fall in love with my piano as well! They're fascinated to watch all that goes into making a piano play! They also love playing their own songs they've created on my piano. Wow, I love watching their growing minds work! So yes, buying William Wurlitzer has been highly beneficial to my piano students, too! We have such a great time playing the piano together! I absolutely know that having my students play on an "above average" piano truly helps inspire them to play their very best!

All of that fun aside, last fall, a few of my piano's keys began sticking. #ohno! 😬 I became really concerned when they weren't becoming unstuck! I worriedly thought, "Did I buy a lemon?! Did the Piano Gallery pull the wool over my starry-eyes and take advantage of me?!" I researched everything that could possibly be wrong with William Wurlitzer and came to the conclusion that, no, the Piano Gallery didn't do anything wrong—sticky piano keys are very common, especially in older pianos like mine who've been through big transitions. The only thing I could do was hire a piano tuner/technician. Thus began my search for a piano doctor!

While I liked the piano tuner I used to tune my great-grandparents' piano, I couldn't find a website for him anywhere (and I really searched!), so I didn't know if he did piano repairs, or not. Because William Wurlitzer means the world to me, I decided to go with a piano tuner/technician who has an active, functioning website that clearly states all of his/her services, accomplishments, certificates, and customer reviews! After all of my research, I narrowed it down to one gentleman who has really great piano credentials—and his resume outside of piano tuning/repair is truly amazing!

I then texted my friend (and wonderful mother of three of my darling piano students!) who recently had her piano tuned, to see if she could share her piano tuner's information with me. I wanted to make sure there wasn't someone better than the guy I chose. Yet after waiting 27 minutes (I checked my sent texts 😄), I felt the Holy Ghost tell me that I'd made a good decision and I should call William Wurlitzer's new piano doctor immediately! 😁

By the way, "piano doctor" is not our piano tuner's company name—it's just the nickname I gave him! I clarified that because there's a piano doctor website, but he's not the piano guy I chose.

When I called to set up William's appointment, I signed him up for every treatment the piano tuner/technician offered besides an appraisal! It was a pricey list of services, but it was fully worth it—and I can write it off as a business expense for my 2018 taxes!

It was a super exciting day when William Wurlitzer was taken apart, completely dusted inside and out, cleaned, fully repaired, and perfectly tuned by our new piano doctor! I was utterly fascinated by everything our piano technician was doing! He really knew his stuff! And he made my mind completely relax when he told me that William Wurlitzer's sticky keys were 100% fixable! Oh, it was such a relief to my piano-loving soul! I could finally breathe again and boundlessly love my piano without any worries! I know my reactions are extreme, but this is how much I truly love my piano! 😍

My favorite part of this whole "Fix William Wurlitzer!" adventure was when our piano doctor began playing my piano (to see how in tune it was)—he's a fantastic pianist! I felt like I was an important patron at a five-star hotel restaurant! ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Greg mentioned how great of a pianist our piano doctor was, too! But the best news (besides the repair of William's sticky keys) came when our piano doctor began tuning the piano. Turns out, William Wurlitzer held his tune pretty well from his initial tuning in 2017—which shows, again, that I bought a high-quality piano! Yay me! 👍

I was super impressed with our piano doctor because he tuned mainly by ear! Our previous piano tuner used an app on his smart phone to check his work—which is totally fine, don't get me wrong! But I love the fact that our new piano tuner/technician understands pianos and music as a whole to the degree that he knows every note by ear! #amazing!

And it gets even better! There was one octave, or so, in the higher notes of William Wurlitzer that always sounded a little bit "pingy" or "tinny" when played. It's like they were in tune, but just one teensy little degree out of tune. And those notes had been "off" since I bought the piano, so I thought there was just no fixing them. Yet our piano doctor put those babies right in tune, and they no longer have that tinny/pingy sound! Hip hip hooray!

As I was getting ready to pay William's piano doctor, we ended up chatting while he cleaned up everything. It was a nice conversation, but I was floored when he said he just moved into a house east of my neighborhood! He moved into my stake (several church congregations grouped together) less than one month earlier! I was beyond amazed at the new/additional "coincidence" to go along with William Wurlitzer's story! But I know it's not a coincidence!

I mean, seriously, what are the odds that out of all the internet options available, I would choose a master piano tuner/technician that just moved mere minutes away from my house?! Yeah, slim to none is what I said, too! Ha ha. Yet I know our piano doctor wasn't my discovery: I know the Holy Ghost inspired me with my best possible outcome for fixing William Wurlitzer and putting my mind at ease!

After experiencing nearly one full year with William Wurlitzer, I say yet again: the Holy Ghost is a legitimate spiritual personage—the third member of the Godhead who tells us the will of our Heavenly Father! The Spirit speaks the truth, and He told me exactly what was the best choice for me at each crossroad of my piano adventure! Any and all who will cultivate a righteous life and continually listen to the Holy Ghost, and act upon what He says, will be blessed forever! I'm so thankful I was given so many opportunities to rely on my faith throughout this past year with my beloved piano!

These amazing experiences (among many others) remind me that we are known and deeply loved by our Heavenly Father, and our Savior, Jesus Christ. Our Heavenly Father gives us exactly what we need, and, many times, He gives us what we want! 😁 The nicest thing is when we, as individuals, align our needs and wants with our Heavenly Father's knowledge of what is best for us!

We must always remember and never forget just how loved we are(!) and that we matter to our Heavenly Father! Our lives are most definitely not small, nor insignificant! Each of us are a vital part of God's very great plan of happiness!

Lastly, my grand piano adventures with William Wurlitzer show that creating beautiful music is very important to our Heavenly Father! We have all been given access to inspiring, uplifting, soul-changing music through multiple avenues. Our musical options in today's technological society are unmatched by previous generations! We are so blessed to have music everywhere! Some people are obviously more talented than others in the music world, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't all still try to create beautiful music to the best of our abilities! Yes, each of us needs to decide now how we will daily incorporate essential music into our lives...I know what I've chosen! 😀

Blogging for Conflict Resolution

You might have noticed that I've put off blogging for quite a while. As I described in my previous post, I've been very busy. Yet at the same time, I've tried to analyze myself and figure out why I've not been blogging like I truly desire. I finally realized that I haven't made blogging a priority because I've been having some issues with my extended family. It's difficult to write that here on my blog—a wonderful public space I've created for myself, but it's true.

I've struggled mightily over the past several months due to feelings of frustration and sadness over a lack of closeness between myself and some extended family members—both in my family and Greg's family, but especially mine. And no matter how much time has gone by, or how many efforts of goodwill I've extended, those issues frustratingly remain to some degree, or another.

I've been greatly misjudged on many levels, which tears at my soul! So many times I've found myself tearing up saying, "I can't believe they honestly thought that way about me! I can't believe they didn't think to ask me about the real story! I can't believe they wouldn't call to talk to me in person instead of jumping to such conclusions based on hearsay! —because we all know what gossip and judging without actually talking with the person you've been offended by does.

I'm such a happy person—it's true! 😀 I live my life very well—exactly how I desire! 😁 So when you love people as much as I do and some of the very important people in your life misjudge you and put you into a category that you don't belong, well, it feels horrible. Of course, I'm the type who will happily keep going about my life, day in and day out, without letting someone curb my enthusiasm, but that doesn't mean their actions don't affect me—especially when I care deeply about said souls!

I won't go into the nitty-gritty details because there's no point. Suffice it to say, my heart has squeezed with sadness more than once over the past several months. Forgiveness has taken on an entirely new meaning to me! I've forgiven everyone, but I don't know and can't tell if they've forgiven me, or not—which is a struggle to my soul that I consciously and continually push away. I keep striving my best every day to say and do the Christlike right things, but that doesn't mean my heart doesn't still twinge with tears.

I don't know if any of you have experienced anything like this before (and I'm sorry I'm not being more specific), but, to me, it feels like no matter what I say or do (or said or did), those select extended family members have placed me in the new classification of "other," or "no longer welcome," which feels terrible—and it seems as if there's no way for me to be reclassified! 😞

So. What I've been trying to do is learn from these torturous feelings. I've tried valiantly to see where other people are coming from—even if their actions/words don't make sense to me. And, I've let my extended family members "go," to the extent possible—which is unbelievably hard for me, but I let go because I love them.

I'm hoping that by finally writing about my issues here, I will feel better and be able to move on. I love writing so much(!)—it works wonders for my soul! Thus, it's been difficult when I've felt that I can't speak of my situation (my truth!) here on Enthusiastic Fantastic because someone might misinterpret my words—which is why I stayed away from blogging for such a long time in the first place. But that ends right now with my version of conflict resolution—or, what I like to call "Blogging for Conflict Resolution"!  I think it should be the hip new call to action, don't you?! Ha ha. 😃

Now I'm going to share what I'm thankful for...and just know that these thoughts relate somehow to the situations I described previously—meaning the lack of those actions, too. Did any of that make sense?! 😄

In no particular order, I'm truly thankful for:

• genuine smiles
• looking me in the eye
• happy hugs
• questions asked in a kind and truthful manner
• "likes" 💖 and comments on my Instagram posts
• continuing to follow my Instagram accounts (I absolutely love my Instagram world I've created!)
• responding to texts and emails I've sent
• giving me the benefit of the doubt
• not jumping to conclusions
• talking to me directly instead of gossiping about me
• loving me and liking me 😊 (you know, because families must love each other even if they don't like each other very much)
• desiring to understand where I'm coming from
• sharing time and energy with me
• having a willingness to listen to what I have to say
• valuing my thoughts and opinions
• acknowledging that I have something to contribute
• respecting my differing opinions
• recognizing boundaries and not overstepping
• staying connected to me even though we see things differently
• sharing your world with me even though it looks vastly different from mine
• not being jealous of my happy life
• recognizing that I consistently work very hard to have my wonderful life
• acknowledging that my happy, wonderful life isn't easy—unlike others who have misjudged it as such
• being genuinely happy for the amazing and endlessly-loving eternal marriage that Greg and I have created together
• appreciating my sincere endeavors to make this world a better place without labeling me as a "show off," or a "bragger"
• accepting my true friendship efforts with the intent they were offered
• letting go of any resentment or anger directed towards me

Now I'd like to share some lovely quotes I've really appreciated over the past few weeks—they've helped me tremendously!

Remember: "Despite how open, peaceful, and loving you attempt to be, people can only meet you as deeply as they've met themselves." – Matt Kahn 

That genius quote deserved a typographic design of its very own! I really enjoyed creating this one! 🌲

"Being positive in a negative situation is not naive, it's leadership." – Ralph Marston 

"There's a common denominator in our human experience... Everybody wants to know: Did you hear me, and did what I say matter?" – Oprah Winfrey

With that, please enjoy these inspiring lyrics from "I'll Begin Again," by Leslie Bricusse, in the movie musical Scrooge. Yes, I'm totally applying these wonderful thoughts to myself, but I truly believe they should live in all of our hearts every day of our lives! 😇

I'll begin again
I will build my life
I will live to know
That I fulfilled my life
I'll begin today
Throw away the past
And the future I build
Will be something that will last  

I will take the time
I have left to live
And I will give it all
That I have left to give
I will live my days
For my fellow men
And I'll live in praise
Of that moment when
I was able to begin again  

I will start anew
I will make amends
And I'll make quite certain
That the story ends
On a note of hope
On a strong amen
And I'll thank the world
And remember when
I was able to begin again

I absolutely love this inspired version by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir!

Lastly, I know this is not one of my most enthusiastic fantastic posts, but it's where I've been for quite a long time, and I felt the need to share. So, thank you for making it this far with me! Your reading efforts are greatly appreciated! I hope you have a wonderful day! 💙💛

What I've been up to...

Happy Saturday afternoon, everyone! Can you believe it's already September?! I can't! Every summer month of 2017 felt like it ended after two weeks—and I didn't like it! Ha ha.

Before school began, I sincerely wished I had at least 21 more days with my babies at home (when they weren't with their friends), but my wish wasn't granted. #sosadface! My three darlings went back to school 10 days ago, and I've been in denial ever since. I just wish they could stay home with Greg and me forever, but that's not going to happen. That said, I'm utterly grateful for the excellent schools they attend—in one of the best school districts in Utah! We are so blessed to live where we have access to such great education!

So, what I've been up to these past few months is varied...yet the same. I'm sure I sound like many other stay-at-home moms during their summer vacations. My little family and I greatly enjoyed our summer break! We loved staying up late and sleeping in! We loved not having a schedule that we had to stick to! Well, I was teaching piano every weekday, so I wasn't completely off the hook, but our summer days were pretty darn awesome!

We didn't do a whole lot of adventuring, but we did get to go on an extended family vacation (thanks to my generous mom) to the incomparable Sun Valley, Idaho! 🌞 It was a (mostly) marvelous experience, but there were a few instances where I struggled with the sometimes lack of communication between my extended family members and me.

Yet isn't that always how family vacations go?! 😄 Don't we all have these grand ideas about how our vacations will be sheer familial bliss? Yet when reality hits, we remember that everyone is imperfect with their deeply-held likes, dislikes, and opinions?! Yes, that is exactly how family life is miraculous: we all somehow come together, despite our differences that are as vast as the seven seas!

I've also been a piano-lessons-teaching machine! It shocks me to write that I'm now teaching piano to 24 students(!)—including my daughter! Yay! My youngest son is taking a break from piano, but he should be back to it shortly. So I guess I'll be teaching 25 students(!) very soon!

Yes, piano lessons are keeping me very busy. Even though I "only" teach piano for two-and-a-half hours a day, Mondays through Thursdays, one-and-a-half hours on Fridays, and a half-hour on Saturdays, I am totally wiped out when I finish teaching! It's definitely a tiring endeavour as I have to be on-my-game 100% of the time! Yesterday when I was so utterly exhausted after a long week, I mistook an "e" half note for a "d" half note and incorrectly told my student what to play! Yeah, I had to quickly correct my mistake, and my student probably thought I was nuts! 😆

I've also been trying my best to keep up with my growing children. If I'm not shopping for their food, I'm shopping for their clothes, or shoes, or school supplies, or, or, or...the list goes on and on! Interestingly (and going along with the theme of my growing children), my little family is at the point where Greg and I don't really have to help out very much with homework anymore! We'll still have random projects where our kids will ask us a question, but for the most part (in terms of homework) they're fully self-sufficient! It's a strange feeling, for sure!

Paying our endless bills seems to take up a good chunk of my time, too. Each time I think, Oh, yay! I don't have any bills to pay!, something unexpected will pop up—every time! Ha ha. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love paying bills, but it's just time consuming to make sure Greg and I are current on everything.

I'll never stop being grateful for my first fully real/grownup job in a finance department! I learned so much from my time there! I learned about creating Excel spreadsheets to keep track of bills and purchase orders, and creating budgets, and allocating money to/from cost centers. There's more, but I won't bore you. 😉

I'm also grateful to my parents for helping me see that we should try our very best not to use credit cards unless we can pay them off immediately that next month when the bill is due. Greg and I don't always perfectly follow that advice because we've had legitimate emergencies in the past where there was truly no other option other than to charge our credit card. But we always try our very best to get our credit card balances back to zero as soon as humanly possible. I don't think we've ever carried a credit card balance longer than six or seven months (at the very most), most are paid off the month they're due, or within two months.

But I digress...

I've posted fairly frequently on Instagram this summer, but it's a pretty tiny snapshot of my life compared to everything that goes on. Yes, Instagram is still one of my happiest of happy places ever! I absolutely love Instagram! I'm sooo grateful for the connections I've made there, and for the beautiful pictures I get to see. I get inspired by my Instagram peeps every single day! 😁

I've also been able to workout a lot more lately than I have in the past year! Yayayayayayayay! Fankle still gives me painful grief, but I'm continually working through it. I'm progressing ever-so-slowly every day, and that's what matters!

I'm so excited because I implemented a new laundry system at my house this past week! I'm seriously jumping for joy at my new inspiration! So, for nearly twenty years (next week!), I've been the laundry queen of the Peterson household. You see, not only do I love serving my little family, I'm also very picky about the way our laundry is done. I won't settle for anything less than very clean, great smelling, nicely folded clothes! Yet my desires for a well-dressed family has taken a huge toll on my free time—i.e., no time for blogging! 😢 I've spent quite a bit of time each week doing laundry.

With the addition of so many new piano students—and still trying to keep up with everything a mother and wife needs/wants to do, I was feeling the time crunch worse than I have in years! And yet our family totally needs the income I receive from teaching piano lessons—it's truly not an option for me to quit...unless we want to downsize and move again, which will not happen! We are here to stay! (Unless something randomly "hits" us out of the blue...)

Thus, I decided to stop my laundry insanity and quit being such a sweet laundry lady for my family. The good news is, I have zero guilt about it, so I know it's the right thing to do! Ha ha. My husband and children aren't thrilled with my new system, but they know they totally hit the jackpot with me doing their laundry for 19+ years, so they didn't complain when I gave up my crown! 👑 Hahaha. Greg helped out with our family's laundry many times over the years, but my persnickety-ness mainly kept him away (I don't think he minded!)...until now! 😆

I bought a few extra square laundry baskets from Walmart to make this system work. I wrote my family members' names on 4x6 blank note cards and taped them with strong packing tape on the laundry baskets—under the handle areas.

Each of my family members now have two big laundry baskets—one for whites and one for lights/darks. I've situated the laundry baskets on and under my laundry table in the basement for easy access.

I still separate and wash all of my family's laundry because I know the best settings to use on our washer and dryer—plus, we need to wash/dry full loads to save energy.

Once our laundry is dry, I separate it into each of my family member's baskets. If I easily see two socks that match, I'll pair them up, but otherwise, I try to divide/separate our clean laundry as quickly as I can into the appropriate baskets!

Obviously, I fold my own laundry and all the household linens, and put them away. But for the rest of my little family, they're on their own!

I can't describe how liberating(!) it is to not have to worry about folding all of my family's laundry anymore! I've cut my laundry time significantly! Yay yay! Happy day!

I've told my family it's their choice what they choose to do with their laundry. I make sure everyone's clothes are clean (As long as their clothes are in the hamper they'll get cleaned; if they're on the floor, they'll stay dirty until they're put in the hamper!), but they know they have to put everything away themselves.

It's been interesting to see who decides to fold their laundry and put it away, vs. who likes to keep their laundry in a basket and hastily hunt through it in the morning—or at night when they're ready to take a shower! Ha ha. I just laugh to myself and joyously think, "It's not my problem! I've done my job so I can rest easy!"

Just as a reminder, I very happily chose to fold and put away my family's laundry for all those years—no one forced me to do it. I'm sure I could have implemented a less-time-consuming system years ago, but I chose not to. I'm also very happy with my decision to quit providing that laundry folding/putting-away service!

Lastly, I've been listening to and watching so many great talks, speeches, articles, and podcasts while working around my house, and I shared them on Pinterest! So if you want to check out the amazing speakers and uplifting subjects I've enjoyed, check out my Pinterest page! *And please remember that I don't receive any sort of kickback or payment from you visiting my page—I'm not sending you there for any reason other than I want to share all of the goodness I've found! #fulldisclosure! 😀 I spent quite a bit of time pinning today because I felt all of it was soooo important! Thus, it would make me super duper really happy if someone out there benefited from my sharing! 😁

With that, I must end my blogging for today. I hope all of you readers are enjoying this glorious weekend! Now, go hug your loved ones and tell them how much you love them, and how important they are to you!

P.S. I'm totally praying for Houston. I have been utterly shocked at the devastation people are enduring there. I can't even imagine how deeply their hearts are hurting! 💔 My heart so goes out to all of them! 💖 That said, I absolutely love what my church and its members are doing to help out—we truly love serving and helping our brothers and sisters! 💛

"UPDATE: Church Encourages People to ‘Just Serve’ Hurricane Harvey Victims

First Presidency offers organized ways to volunteer in relief efforts"

"7 Ways You Can Help with Hurricane Harvey Relief"

I Love My Blog!

The other night, I clicked on a link inside a Google Domains email I received. Google wanted to confirm and/or update my blog's contact information. While nothing has changed in that area, I wanted to check and see what info they had for me, and I wanted to make sure it was all private. Thankfully, everything is in check—my blog looks great and is good to go!

Before I left Google Domains, I looked at how long my Enthusiastic Fantastic domain is good for—i.e., how long I've paid to keep and run my own website. I was happy to see that my blog is paid up through October, 2020. I thought, "Wow, I still remember when I switched from Go Daddy over to Google Domains, which didn't seem very long ago!" Yet, if I remember right, it's been two entire years since I made the switch! I cannot believe how time has flown by!

I also debated whether to pay to extend my website for a few more years. Yet because my family's budget is tight at the moment, I decided to wait for a while to extend my blog. Oh, who am I kidding? My budget has been tight for the past 19+ years! 😆

As I thought about Enthusiastic Fantastic and all that it means to me, I realized I've not given it the time and attention it deserves. Not to mention, I really want to spend more time here! I love my blog! Yet my lack of posting on a regular basis indicates otherwise.

So why the procrastination of putting thoughts to keyboard? Well, it's because my life is busy (not a good excuse) and there are a million ways to spend my minutes (a better excuse)! I think my lack of posting also comes from a subconscious worry that I won't have time to create my posts in the way I so deeply desire—so if I don't start them, I won't be frustrated when I literally don't have time to finish them. That personality trait of mine is also why I never joined the scrapbooking craze of the early 2000's. (Which, by the way, I don't regret in the least! I have all the essential photos of my children's lives—they're just not cleverly put together on a scrapbook page!)

But let's revisit the money it costs to run Enthusiastic Fantastic. When I really think about all that goes into this website, it's not an inexpensive hobby. Yes, I only technically pay $12/year for my spot on the www, but I don't make any money from blogging, either. And in terms of my hours spent writing, creating typographic designs, and posting (here and on other social media sites), well, Enthusiastic Fantastic is definitely an expensive little spot on the web for me! Remember, time is money!

All of that said, again, I love my blog! I love writing! I love creating! I love leaving my thoughts for my posterity! Whether those wonderful future people will enjoy my thoughts remains to be seen. 😄

Will everyone in today's technological society be seen as annoying to future technology users—simply due to the fact that there's an overwhelming amount of information to sift through? While I like to think that my great-great-great grandchildren would be thrilled to read of their third great grandmother's life and thoughts, the fact is, they just might not! Ha ha.

But even if no one finds my blog to be helpful or exciting, I still really love blogging! I want to put more of my time here. I am going to create more space in my life schedule to contribute to Enthusiastic Fantastic more frequently!

And with that, I'm signing off to start writing my next post! Funny thing is, I've been writing it in my head for months now, so it's high time I get crackin'! 😁

Daughters of God—Be a Force for Good!

On March 12th, 2017, I taught my ward's Relief Society lesson, "Daughters of God." Unfortunately, I was unable to give my entire lesson because our opening exercises—with our ward's darling young women in attendance—ran extremely long.

Normally, I wouldn't care in the least that I had less time to present my RS lesson, but this was a very special lesson that was jam-packed with goodness in every section! Because of our lesson's phenomenal nature, and my desire to share all of its amazingness, I'd spent a lot of time preparing it. To say I was seriously bummed that I wasn't able to share everything I had prepared would be an understatement! 😢

I find it super interesting that "Daughters of God" is one of the longest RS lessons I've seen in 2017—so I was sort of "doomed" from the beginning 😉. In my defense, I didn't realize just how long it truly was until I began preparing my next RS lesson, "The Whisperings of the Spirit," that I taught in April!

Yet how could I not share such wonderful thoughts and heavenly principles with my dear ward sisters?! I had oodles of information to present, and I really wanted to hear what my lovely ward sisters had to say!

Because I was so disheartened that my RS lesson didn't go as planned, I decided to turn my heartache into something better! 😀 I'm so happy to finally be sharing my thoughts about the wonderful Daughters of God lesson right here on my blog! Yay!

Not only do I feel better in finally sharing everything I prepared for my lesson, but I would absolutely love it if someone here in Internetland finds my post helpful! 💕 The funniest thing is, I actually began writing this blog post clear back in March(!), but the months dashed away from me like a scene from "The Incredibles"! Hey, better late than never!

Daughters of God

Let's start by reading part of the introduction on page 95:

"Throughout his life, Gordon B. Hinckley expressed appreciation for the abilities and contributions of women. He also expressed his strong witness of the importance of women in God’s eternal plan. He delighted in women’s increasing opportunities, as well as in their faith in the Savior and their devotion to their families and the Church."

I can so attest to this wonderful truth about President Hinckley! He was always sincerely praising and honoring women. He made sure all women felt unending and unconditional love from Church leadership!

I loved reading about Gordon B. Hinckley’s sweet mother, Ada (introduction, page 95). She was bright; educated; loved literature, music and art; raised eight of her husband’s children and five of her own(!); learned to manage a large household; had a tremendous influence on Gordon, and was a force for good throughout President Hinckley’s life 😊 I'm truly in awe of Ada Hinckley. Certainly her accomplishments are impressive, but what sticks with me most is the impact she had on President Hinckley. Because of Awesome Ada, millions of people throughout this entire world were and are positively affected for the best through her son, Gordon B.!

Gordon B. Hinckley’s wife, Marjorie (introduction; page 95), was a very strong woman devoted to the gospel of Jesus Christ. She had extraordinary faith and a cheerful disposition. Marjorie loved life, was quick witted, and very wise. She was a voracious reader and an intense seeker of knowledge. Best of all, Marjorie was down-to-earth—she connected well with everyone, yet she was confident, alert and refreshing throughout her life! 😊

I love these paragraphs from section 1 (pg. 96–97):

"Each of you is a daughter of God. Reflect on all the wondrous meaning of that one paramount fact. 

"If you live up to your privileges, the angels cannot be restrained from being your associates. 

"You are very precious, each of you. ... You occupy a high and sacred place in the eternal plan of God, our Father in Heaven. You are His daughters, precious to Him, loved by Him, and very important to Him. His grand design cannot succeed without you. 

"Let me say to you sisters that you do not hold a second place in our Father’s plan for the eternal happiness and well-being of His children. You are an absolutely essential part of that plan. Without you the plan could not function. Without you the entire program would be frustrated."

During my RS lesson, I wanted to ask many questions, but I was only able to get to a few of them. I didn't personally answer all of those wonderful questions here in my blog post, but I'm sharing them anyway. I hope we ladies will contemplate these questions to help remind ourselves of our great worth and importance!

Question: Why is it important for us to understand the "high and sacred place" of women in God’s eternal plan?

Question (section 2; pg. 97): Let’s review the Lord’s advice to Emma Smith found in D&C 25: 1–16. What can we learn from those verses about being an elect lady (ourselves)?

Here's what I came up with after studying D&C 25. These points are my opinion, not Church doctrine—each of these points are separated out by the corresponding verse:

1. Listen to the Lord; if we receive the Lord’s words, we’ll be sons and daughters in His kingdom.
2. Be faithful and walk in the paths of virtue; if we do those things, we’ll be preserved and receive an inheritance in Zion.
3. Our sins can be forgiven; we can all be elect ladies.
4. Don’t murmur about the Lord regarding things we haven’t seen or don’t understand; everything will be revealed eventually.
5. Support our husbands (if we’re married); speak kind words; be humble.
6. *This wasn’t written in the verse, these are just my thoughts: we should write about our marriages and our family history.
7. Read/learn from the scriptures; share what we learn at church—as we are inspired by the Holy Ghost.
8. Utilize the gift of the Holy Ghost; we should spend much of our time writing and learning things of the gospel and about the world.
9. Don’t ever feel undervalued in The Church; our husbands and other priesthood brethren support us; have faith.
10. Don’t be hyper-focused on worldly issues; seek the best things in life that enhance our spiritual progression; I believe Luke 10:38–42 goes perfectly with this verse:

38 ¶Now it came to pass, as they went, that he entered into a certain village: and a certain woman named Martha received him into her house. 

39 And she had a sister called Mary, which also sat at Jesus’ feet, and heard his word. 

40 But Martha was cumbered about much serving, and came to him, and said, Lord, dost thou not care that my sister hath left me to serve alone? bid her therefore that she help me. 

41 And Jesus answered and said unto her, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things: 

42 But one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her.

11. We don’t have to write hymns, but we should use our musical abilities and share our talents.
12. We should sing uplifting spiritual music—we’ll be blessed when we do.
13. Be happy; look at the bright side of life; keep the covenants we’ve made.
14. Be humble; don’t be prideful; delight in our husbands; be close with our husbands; support our husbands; The following isn’t in the scripture—they’re my thoughts: If you don’t have a husband yet, live your life worthily so you’ll be ready for celestial marriage when the opportunity presents itself—which could be in this life, or in the world to come…remember, the Lord keeps his promises!
15. Keep the Lord’s commandments; if we keep the commandments, we’ll receive a crown of righteousness (We’re daughters of a king!); we’ll also be able to be with our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ again one day.
16. The Lord's voice is for all sisters, not just Emma.

Question: What aspects of the Lord’s counsel to Emma Smith are especially helpful to you?

I love all of those recommendations—every single one of them are helpful to me! It's like the perfect recipe for a successful, happy life!

Question (section 3; pg. 99–101): What are your impressions as you read President Hinckley’s following counsel to mothers? (I totally enlarged all of the text because it deserves to be emphasized! 😊)

"The true strength of any nation, society, or family lies in those qualities of character that have been acquired for the most part by children taught in the quiet, simple everyday manner of mothers. 

"It is the home which produces the nursery stock of new generations. I hope that you mothers will realize that when all is said and done, you have no more compelling responsibility, nor any laden with greater rewards, than the nurture you give your children in an environment of security, peace, companionship, love, and motivation to grow and do well. 

"I remind mothers everywhere of the sanctity of your calling. No other can adequately take your place. No responsibility is greater, no obligation more binding than that you rear in love and peace and integrity those whom you have brought into the world. 

"Rear your children in light and truth. Teach them to pray while they are young. Read to them from the scriptures even though they may not understand all that you read. Teach them to pay their tithes and offerings on the first money they ever receive. Let this practice become a habit in their lives. Teach your sons to honor womanhood. Teach your daughters to walk in virtue. Accept responsibility in the Church, and trust in the Lord to make you equal to any call you may receive. Your example will set a pattern for your children. 

"God bless you, mothers! When all the victories and defeats of men’s efforts are tallied, when the dust of life’s battles begins to settle, when all for which we labor so hard in this world of conquest fades before our eyes, you will be there, you must be there, as the strength for a new generation, the ever-improving onward movement of the race. Its quality will depend on you."

Isn't President Hinckley's advice amazing?! I love his words so much! He's such a happy, inspiring guy! 😀

Question: For parents, why is "no obligation more binding" than rearing their children "in love and peace and integrity"?

For me, the answer is obvious. Parents have been given the ultimate responsibility in the creation of the bodies and the raising of Heavenly Father's children! He's literally allowing us to act in place of Him! Thus, we must do our very best to accomplish His heavenly goals for His children...our children! Oh, how grateful I am to have been given the heavenly opportunity of being a mother! Children are a most wonderful gift! 💛💙💚💜

Question: We have all seen marvelous examples of women in the Church with "strength and great capacity." What are some ways that we women can help bring to pass "the immortality and the eternal life of all of the sons and daughters of God"?

To help answer that, let's read from section 4, page 101:

"God has given the women of this church a work to do in building his kingdom. That concerns all aspects of our great triad of responsibility—which is, first, to teach the gospel to the world; second, to strengthen the faith and build the happiness of the membership of the Church; and, third, to carry forward the great work of salvation for the dead."

To go along with that, I found this great quote while researching Susan Easton Black Durrant. (She spoke at my stake's 2017 Women's Conference, and I wanted to find out more about her.) Susan said,

"Many people leave the Church because they have so many questions, but we have stayed because we have received so many answers."

Amen, sister! I couldn't agree more with you! We must stay and help build God's kingdom!

Continuing on, let's read some more of President Hinckley's fabulous words (section 4; pg. 101): {Isn't this fun?! 😁}

"Women in the Church are associates with their brethren in carrying forward this mighty work of the Lord. 

"We expect leadership, and strength, and impressive results from your management of the organizations for which you are responsible. We uphold and sustain you as daughters of God, working in a great partnership to assist him in bringing to pass the immortality and the eternal life of all of the sons and daughters of God."

Question: Why is it important that men and women work together to move the Lord’s work forward?

As I've said many times before, I believe men and women need each other. Men are not better than women! Women are not better than men! We are supposed to work side by side with each other because we each bring something important and different to the table. 😊 The Lord needs all of us to help be his "hands" here on Earth!

I read the other day about a great, new scientific discovery: Stars are born in pairs!  Interestingly, when stars are created they aren't identical to each other, but they're definitely companions! Just like each amazing star in the heavens is created with a companion star, men and women are created to have a companion—and it all started with Adam and Eve! Heavenly stars and Heavenly Father's children are not meant to be alone! 🌟⭐

Yes, men and women are meant to influence each others' lives for the better!

Moving right along, let's read the following (section 5; pg. 101–102):

"The women of the Relief Society are literally encircled eternally in the arms of our Lord. In my judgment, this is the greatest women’s organization in all the world... 

"Who, even in the wildest stretch of imagination, can fathom the uncountable acts of charity that have been performed, the food that has been put on barren tables, the faith that has been nurtured in desperate hours of illness, the wounds that have been bound up, the pains that have been ameliorated by loving hands and quiet and reassuring words, the comfort that has been extended in times of death and consequent loneliness?"

For those of you who are members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, ponder to yourselves: What blessings have come to you from the efforts of Relief Society sisters, including those who are serving in Young Women and Primary?

For those of you who aren't members of the LDS Church, I highly recommend looking into the benefits that Relief Society can bring to your life! 😇

For me, the Relief Society has been my anchor ⚓ throughout my adult life. Every move my family and I made to a different city was made easier by my association with wonderful Relief Society sisters! No one is perfect, but the sisters of the Relief Society truly and continually try to help others in Christlike ways! 💛 I am grateful for my membership in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and my subsequent access to the Relief Society!

Question: How can we each strengthen the Relief Society in our own wards?

Here are some ideas found in section 6 (pg. 103–104):

"No one can calculate the tremendous force for good that you can become. 

"I feel to invite women everywhere to rise to the great potential within you. I do not ask that you reach beyond your capacity. I hope you will not nag yourselves with thoughts of failure. I hope you will not try to set goals far beyond your capacity to achieve. I hope you will simply do what you can do in the best way you know. If you do so, you will witness miracles come to pass."

I love how President Hinckley clarifies that we sisters are not supposed to sacrifice ourselves to the point of destruction. Yes, there's a fine line between doing enough and overdoing it. We must be aware of our human limitations, but we be must also be willing to push just a little further to improve in tiny increments! 😀

In "Preach My Gospel," there's a wonderful section that helps us identify if we are doing "enough":

"You can feel certain that the Lord is pleased when you feel the Spirit working through you." (The Spirit is also called the Holy Ghost.)

Isn't that idea so beautiful?! It's the perfect way to gauge our efforts! (I didn't include that part in my lesson because I just found it today. Oh, how I love finding new gems of jewels!)

Questions: How can we gain a better vision of what God sees our potential to be? How can we progress toward reaching our potential?

Obviously, those questions will be answered differently by everyone. For me, the way I learn more about myself and what Heavenly Father knows I can become is by searching and seeking. I'm constantly reaching out to our Heavenly Father through prayer, scripture study, endlessly researching gospel topics, going to church every Sunday, serving others, attending the temple, etc.

The way I progress toward reaching my eternal potential is, first, by having endless faith that Heavenly Father loves me(!), that He will answer me (eventually!), and that He will help me every step of the way!

Secondly, I never, ever give up! Even when I make mistakes or sin, I never stop striving to become what our Heavenly Father knows I can be/achieve. I always try to think of and thank our Savior for the marvelous opportunity He has provided for me to be connected to heaven!

If I ever start feeling down about myself, I pray pray pray! 😀 Then I listen for inspiration/revelation from the Holy Ghost, and I act on what He tells me.

Now I'd like to share a little homework assignment! 😁

Susan Easton Black Durrant spoke at my stake's Women’s Conference about wonderful, prominent LDS women who did extraordinary things in their lives. It really was amazing to hear of those phenomenal women's contributions. While the majority of us will never become "prominent Mormons" in terms of the public spotlight, that doesn’t mean we can’t be prominent to our families, or the people in our communities! 😊

*By the way, I searched on LDS.org about the current membership numbers of the Church. As of March, 2017, MormonNewsroom.org showed that The Church has 15,634,199 members throughout the world. When I did a Google search about the number of prominent Mormons, the biggest website I could find listed 857 members of The Church on it. So, our chances of becoming "prominent Mormons" are a measly .00006%! That's quite the statistic! The good news is, each of us have at least a 50% chance of being important to our families! Of course, that all depends on what we choose to do with our lives! 😉

Thus, I want all of us to ponder President Hinckley’s statement and think about when we have seen examples of the "marvelous … power of women of faith." What can we learn from those great women that will help us in our own lives?

Let’s all take the opportunity to write in our journals—or a blog (Yay! #EnthusiasticFantastic! 😄), or some other form of social media—about the kind of women we want to become. Let’s really evaluate ourselves with an honest heart (our strengths and weaknesses) and set realistic goals to achieve our desired potential—as well as our heavenly potential!

At the end of my lesson, I handed out this 3.75 x 3.75 card to all of my ward sisters to help remind us of our great potential and capacity! (I created it in black and white because my printer is a basic laser printer, and I wasn't really planning on sharing it here on my blog! Ha ha.) It makes me happy every time I read it!

Well, friends, we've finally made it to the end of my lesson! It feels great having shared it with all of you(!)—especially since I was just recently released from being a Relief Society teacher. I was immediately called to be a Sunday school teacher (there are two teachers; we alternate teaching every other Sunday) for the 12–13 year-olds in my ward.

I'm truly excited for this new opportunity(!) as I've never been a Sunday school teacher before! I'm fully prepared and ready to teach my first lesson tomorrow—which feels great! Let's just hope my 12-year-old son is okay with me teaching his class! 😂 #sayalittleprayerforme! 😊