Seeing Life Through a Spectroscope.

A few months ago in Chemistry we learned about a spectroscope. Basically a spectroscope gathers light from a tiny slit made at one end of it while at the other end, there is a larger film like covered end for you to put your eye to see it through. But inside is something entirely different. There's almost a little meter showing the varying levels of light. And a rainbow of color depending on the light or color that is reflected from it. Such a simple device, but something that can make such an impact on the color and light we see everyday.
Simply put, life is rough. There can be whirlwinds of trial and hardship that can overtake the best of us. It's easy to get caught up in what the world wants rather than what our Heavenly Father sees fit for us. It can be a big obligation to fulfill everything that our life holds.
But just like the spectroscope, we can only see a tiny sliver of what's ahead. But through that tiny sliver, we can see the different colors, or paths that our Heavenly Father is setting into our vision. 

It's so amazing the colors or paths that Heavenly Father puts into our lives. And to think it only comes from such a little sliver of light or choice, is even more amazing. I love that we have free agency and that God lets us choose the path we will go. And if it's the wrong path, or less desirable that we can always turn back to him and he will welcome us with open arms. 

And for some crazy chemistry class, I'm glad to have learned about the spectroscope and even more grateful to see the spectroscope that Heavenly Father wants me to use everyday. God is good, and it's time to See Life Through a Spectroscope.

~Full of Smiles~

A few fantastical things from this week:
-Brandee came home!!
-Ben and Morgan came for a last minute visit!
-Fremont Girls Basketball got 2nd in state!
-This blog has reached over 4500 views!!! WHAT?!? Thanks to all who read this crazy blog!
-D&C 137:9 was my weekly goal--check that out this week! Fantastical.

Everlasting Love.

I wrote this about a month ago on the flight to Taiwan, I was deep in thought...or rather deprived of sleep and in the middle of a 11 hour flight. However, here it is. And since it was Valentines today, I figured why not?

Here I am sitting on my flight to Taiwan to start this new adventure. For those of you who do not know, I am headed to Taiwan to attend the wedding of my dads coworker and boss, Cooper to his bride to be Ellie.

My dad has had the job to be toastmaster of this whole thing. As he is sitting typing his thoughts and feelings as to what he should say, I can't help but think of what I think of love and what someday I will think of it.

First off, yes I am a 17 year-old girl who probably doesn't have a clue about what love is at this point, but I know what I want someday. An Everlasting Love. A love that can last through this life and into the next into eternity. Forever. And to me, love isn't something off of a Hallmark Movie. It's not getting to know someone for a short time, having a testing moment in the relationship, working it out and then marriage soon after. It's far from that really.

Although, I have not gone through marriage or anything serious like that--hallelujah! I do know that something that you want to be forever is a lot of give and take. But mostly give. You have to learn to be very unselfish and give of yourself.

But an Everlasting Love is something I someday look forward to. Someday I'm going to find a man that will make me laugh when I sure as heck don't want to. He'll frustrate me and make me want to scream. He'll have a burning testimony of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. He'll be proud of it. He'll be a hard worker and not be afraid of it. I can't wait for that day. But for now, single life is just dandy for me. :)

For funzies. :)

EVERlasting Love.

But there's something I think we all need to realize. There is one person that will love us no matter the mistakes we make. Someone that truly shows EVERlasting love to us. 

That is our Savior, Redeemer, Advocate, Brother, Friend, Jesus Christ. He loved us all so much that he suffered for our sins and bled from every pore. I cannot and will not forget the love he showed for me. Our Savior loved us enough to pay the price WILLINGLY. And even then we can still make mistakes and still be forgiven by the dear gift of repentance. 

I refuse to forget the Everlasting Love that our Savior has portrayed to us everyday. Christ shows us love even when we are upset or angry, when we are struggling with where we need to go in our lives, when we push his love aside, but HE IS THERE. I can't say it enough. 

The Everlasting Love that my Savior shows towards me each and every day is the Everlasting Love I want to remember every minute of every day. That's my Valentine to you. See the Everlasting Love that's been there all along and will continue into the eternities. 

~Full of Smiles~

But behold, the Lord hath redeemed my soul from hell; I have beheld his glory, and I am encircled about eternally in the arms of his love. 

2 Nephi 1:15

Natural Light.

There's this skylight in our main bathroom at home. It shines throughout the day bringing natural light into our bathroom and less of a need to flip on the switch to see. There's also another skylight in our family room, that if it's dark enough and some of the lights are turned out you can see the stars in the sky, or even during the day you can see the clouds float by. This is Natural Light.

When I was younger and we would have our fantastic "Sibling Sleepovers" or our occasional "Family Sleepovers" in our family room, the light would shine through and be almost blinding in the mornings. I would get so frustrated, and annoyed that I was trying to enjoy my sleep and it would shine so brightly in my face, sometimes it still bothers me.

But just the other day, I overthought about it. (As I do with most things.) And here's how it evolved in my crazy mind:

We are all born with some sort of amount of the Light of Christ in us. When I was younger I recognized the light shining dominantly from our skylight. We see the Light of Christ around us as we are young. It's pretty evident in the faces and countenance of many. But, still we are young and sometimes it's a strain to follow that Light because we don't exactly know what it signifies.

As time goes on, the Light can prove to be somewhat bothersome and we want it to go away. The Light of Christ is sometimes hard to hold. It's hard to hold up your own candle and keep it burning. Sometimes you have a brightly glowing flame, and other times it's barely a flicker of Light. But it still remains.

And one day we see that Light in our ourselves. It's something we cherish and something we want to share with others. Something that's so important to us that some go out for a period of 18 to 24 months to share their Light, and use their Light to light others candles and encourage them to not let them go out.

I know for myself, that however small my Light or anyones Light may be, our Heavenly Father and brother Jesus Christ will help us nurture our Light and keep it glowing. They will not leave us lonely in the dark. They will be there to guide us and comfort us, and if needed relight our candle.

Christ suffered for ALL of our sins. And because of him and his sacrifice, he gave each and every one of us the Light of Christ. To do good. To serve. To be HAPPY. To share that happiness. And to SHINE.

Friends, don't let your Light go out. It's a Natural Light.

~Full of Smiles~

Now for some pictures! --Bonus video!!--

Waiting for the bus to take us to the airport! She was so excited to take the bus...little does she know it's a lot less exciting the older you get. 

Mike showing her true Asian colors!

She's waited her whole life to meet her Uncle Adam!

Basically...

These two crack me up!

The missionary moms!

He's baaaaacckkk!!!

First picture with Uncle Adam!

Boy oh boy. 

My Best Fran.

Chick fil a+ family= <3

Silly Sam.

Lil Luke. 

Also, super pumped to add another grandkid to the family! They are sure crazy, but I love being an auntie! Congrats Ben and Morgan on the little addition! 

***And now that you've made it to the end, I will now grace you with a hysterical video.***

Mamas of Missionaries

Here's a link to my YouTube if that doesn't work...

http://youtu.be/6JGlgi5IYbI

Self-Bullied.

A few weeks ago while I was out in Taiwan, on my Facebook news feed came up a video about a young man who was bullied. However, to instead of retaliating back or feeling sorry for himself he simply stood and opened a door for those of his school. Something so simple but it made such an impact.

It got me thinking (since I'm such an over thinker) that bullying doesn't always come from just another person. Sometimes it comes within ourselves. Sometimes we are just self-bullied.

I think we often give ourselves a bad break. Life is rough. It's hard. And sometimes it is really hard to see what seems like everyone around you and that their life is absolutely perfect. But the hardest thing is to accept yourself. To take yourself as you are. You're the only person that's around you 24/7 every second of the day. But don't let yourself down. Be yourself. Love yourself.

Don't let yourself down. Don't let your Heavenly Father down. Be you. Don't feel sorry for yourself. Do something. Serve. Get out there and do something about the situation you're in. It's a rough transition I know, but it is worth it.

~Sometimes life just gets you down. But it can and will be a brighter and more wonderful path ahead of you. Don't be Self-Bullied, but Full of Smiles.~


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8nczw6xHJ0I

Cheers to my mom for reminding me of this video!

Secret Project

Here is the project I've been working on for about a month for a lesson for the young women in my ward. Let me point out this is my first and VERY amateur, so don't judge!

The lesson was on choices and oh man. I could go on forever about choices I have made and not entirely proud of. But there are also countless choices I've made with God, on my knees in constant prayer. Those are the choices I'm proud of. Not exactly because they did or didn't turn out in the way I wanted, but because I grew closer to my Savior and Heavenly Father. And it was worth it.

So here is the video. I am unbelievably lucky to have friends that are so willing to help me out with these crazy projects I have. So thank you if you're reading this! Remember, this was pointed to the Young Women in my ward, also it is VERY VERY amateur so it's not the best quality!!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iClopHf8sRM

I hope the link worked for you! It was a great experience to prepare a video for the great young women in my ward!

The choices we make do matter friends. Look unto Heavenly Father for every choice you should make. He won't let you down.

~Full of Smiles~

T-Minus 4 days until my best friend is home!!