John Bytheway
Beautiful Jenny Oaks Baker
Mercy River performing "Just Eat It" singing into spoons, rolling pins, and wisks.
Mercy River
The Group, Amber, Shariece, Marie, Me and Natalie
Natalie reading a fortune with her cookie in her mouth... must be a Texas thing. Hahaha.
This friday and saturday was a Time Out for women for the members of our church. It was my first time attending thanks to my mother in law for buying me a ticket for my birthday present (best present EVER!!!) I went with some gals from my home ward, 8th ward. The theme for the years event was having Hope in our lives. And oh my gosh... the speakers and the music just moved me. First thing they wanted us to do was to write down what we hope for. Here are some of the things I hope for:
I hope to find a home that is right for my family.
I hope that Chuck will make choices for his buisness that will help it.
I hope that our family will become stronger in the church.
I hope to learn more in the church and to fulfill my calling.
I hope that Chuck will become less stressed and more happy.
The speakers were Ardeth Kapp and she was a funny older woman. Some highlights that I noted from her talk were... "being a riteous woman is our calling inorder to return to our Heavenly Father and gain eternal life"... "Hope is a gift from the Holy Ghost"... "Inorder to hear what Heavenly Father is saying to us, we need to change our "Hearing Aid Batteries""... for one part she forgot her next topic and stated that she had "photographic memory just not same day delivery". She was such a sweet spirit and I enjoyed her talk.
The next speaker was one of my personal favorates... John Bytheway. His books and talks helped me get through highschool. Well now his talk was on helping our marriages and having HOPE to make them stronger. He used a lot of quotes from books which one book I am looking forward to reading is by Sister Hinckley called Small and Simple Things. He also had some funny moments like his wife wanted to marry Captain Moroni and instead got Coprait Moron. Auhhh his talks hit so close to home. Just Kidding... But one thing he mentioned was how we persue our marriages, by Appreciate/Expect/Demand. Appreciate is the beginning of the marriage when our spouses do something nice for us, we appreciate it, then we expect it, then we demand it. We need to always appreciate and never expect or demand. That is what will keep a marriage strong and its not just the men who have to do it but us women as well. I bought one of his books while I was there called "Behind Every Good Man". I am HOPING that this book will give me the insight on becoming a better companion to my priesthood leader in our home.
The music that they had was so great and they all had great sence of humors. Friday night is was Jenny Oaks Baker, a violin player who is awesome!!! And Saturday was Mercy River, a womens singing group that was butiful, insightful, and hopeful for whats to come when Christ returns. They also did a remake of Michael Jackson's Beat It call Just Eat It dedicated to the picky eaters called our children, it was so funny and ohh so true!!!
The next speakers were Emily Watts who spoke about being incharge of your life and always treasuring our children cause they grow up so fast; Amanda Dickson who was actually a non member who acted like a member her whole life and was funny and had facial expressions for everything. She spoke about keeping your hopes Up not Down. And looking for the Best thing that can happen... and not the worst thing that can happen cause some of the worst things, turn out to be the best things.;We also heard a tragic and hardship life story from Mariama Kallon from West Africa; Jill Manning about how to deal with pornography in our home and how to get rid of it. 1st Peter 5:8, pornography is the lion and we are the Elephants. Lions will not attack Elephants. (figuratively speaking);Last speaker was Emily Freeman and she was funny and spoke about never giving up on hope and spoke about her adopted neice who she would spoil with carmel candy and one day the little girl got a concussion and had to go into the hospital for brain surgery and after the surgery the doctors were not sure if she was going to make it and was waiting for her to wake up, and Emily wispered in her ear that she had carmel and the little girl woke up and all she wanted was the candy. It was very cute.
I am so greatful that I was able to go and be with all my friends. They too are great inspirations and examples and I love them all!!! Can't wait til next year.
