The Anointing of Christ

A woman came with a box of precious ointment and poured it on the Saviors head. The Apostles do not understand why she did this. They feel she wasted it and should have sold the ointment and give the money to the poor. But Christ states that she did it to anoint him for his burial and that she had done a great thing. He said that there will always be poor among them, but he will not always be there. In Mark 14 verse 8 Christ says she “hath done what she could” which means she knew that in His eyes she was doing something great even if it seems small to others.
This is important to remember because Christ sees even the small acts of kindness that we do. He knows our intentions and loves us for giving all we can, even if the world does not appreciate our sacrifices. The woman is a good example of a humble and true follower of Christ. She exemplifies putting Christ first. The Lord values things of the Spirit, not things of the world. In his eyes some of the good sacrifices we can make would be our time, our efforts, and our love. Giving him our devotion and acting in faith will prove that we love him.

Happy Halloween!! Just in time forThanksgiving!

Originally I wanted Taeli to be a turtle for halloween becasue I thought it would be funny to see a little crawling turtle on the floor (I know you just pictured that and laughed like I did) BUT My crazy girl was already well on her way to full on walking so I was thinking a bunny... Ya know a fluffy tutu with a tail and little ears with pink bows on them (adorable I know) HOWEVER I found a Peacock costume on Pinterest (addicted) which just happened to sport a pair of random orange tights with white polka dots from Gymboree that I already owned, ( I know who actually owns orange tights with white polka dots?) WELL the answer is ME!! I was sold. I needed to make a Peacock costume and the cutest one on earth at that! The hunt was on. Thanks to pinterest, etsy (addiction #2) and a few other blogs PLUS my own creative genius (its the only time I can claim genius) the worlds cutest peacock was born. I totally accepted the fact that the feathers where going to drive her crazy and the costume would be short lived but I didn't care! Fortunatly Halloween provided enough noise and visual stimulation that she forgot the feathers and had a great time!



This was my favorite pic and showed the costume the best. It was the end of the night but she was still going strong!
We went to the Gammons with our cousins Bailey and Shadi and had a fantastic evening. All three girls were just the cutest Trick-or-Treaters ever. (seriously EVER) I though Taeli wouldn't be into it but boy was I WRONG! She watched as the two big girls started trotting up to a house and to her amazement she got to go too!! OH if you could have seen the joy in her 10 month old little face, or should I say body because her happiness is a full body experience. She giggled and screeched and (while holding my fingers) ran as fast as those little legs would go! It was like she was running a baby marathon and enjoying every moment of it! Shadi was so cute she would come up to every door with us and announce " This is my cousin Taeli" or "This is Taeli, my cousin" and then hold her bag out for a second piece of candy. It was awesome. Door after door Taeli ran her little body up to get a piece of the action. She knew we where collecting something and watched intently as candy was placed in her bag. She lasted as long as the big girls, only getting tired at the end of the road.



We all went back and as tradition fallows we sat on the front lawn passing out candy to the other kids that came by and enjoying the spoils of our evening. Taeli watched everyone pull candy of the bags and start eating it and caught on pretty quickly. She pulled all her candy out and bit each piece (wrapper on) only to be displeased with the taste of plastic wrapping. She tried every one and then went on the hunt for anything sans wrapper. I did relent and give her some pixi stix.

It was a great night of family and fun and I would say a costume success :)

Happy Halloween!! Just in time for t

Be Prepared

There are three things that if we watch for then we will know the Lord will soon come. One is that many false prophets will arise to lead us astray. Another is that even the greatest of Nations will be turned against each other, and one is that the earth will tormented with great natural disasters in all areas of the world. The Lord counsels us in Mark chapter 13 that if we watch for these things we will know he is soon to come. Likewise we must build our testimonies so that they are so strong that we will not be led astray in the last days, but be ready to receive Him.
There are many ways that we can prepare for the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. The most important is to accept Christ as our savior and redeemer. (D&C 45:56-57) Believing Christ is the principle of the Gospel. Without accepting Him, we have nothing to base our testimony on. He is the life and light of the world. He gives us everlasting life if we believe in his light which is the Gospel. We must have a strong testimony of these truths. (D&C 33:17) We need to pray, and diligently build our testimony. We can do this by preparing mentally, physically, and spiritually for his second coming. We must gain knowledge of what to look for, be active so we can physically face what ever trials are laid before us, and spiritually be strong so we are not led astray. One more way we can prepare is to stand in Holy Places. (D&C 87:8) We should actively attend church meeting and the temple so we will draw closer to the spirit and hear and head its promptings. By doing all these things we will know there is nothing to fear in the Second Coming and rejoice when our Savior returns.

The Widows Mite

One day when Jesus was watching people give money to the city treasury a woman, a very poor widow, gave a farthing. This was all the money she had at the time and for her it was a very big offering not just of money but of faith. For as Jesus described, she gave all she hath hoping to be blessed in return. This widow gave more than the rich who although they gave in abundance, they gave because they had to and just enough to feel satisfied with an offering. Their gifts had no meaning to them. But the poor widow gave all she had, just as we should give all for Christ.
The example she sets shows us what type of offering is acceptable to the lord. He asks for all we have, money, time, and love for fellow man. In 2 Nephi 25:23 we read “For we labor diligently to write, to persuade our children, also our brethren, to believe in Christ, and to be reconciled to God’ for we know that it is by grace that we are saved, after all we can do.” This typifies how we should serve and after giving our all, we are saved by grace.
There are many ways we can be better examples of Christ, one being to be dedicated to our families and do all we can to serve our children and spouses. We can also magnify our church callings. Many times we try to scrape doing to bare minimum but to reap the benefits and blessings God wants us to have, we need to commit to our callings completely. This doesn’t mean they have to take up all of our though and time, but we should actively try to do our best.

Two Parables of Heavenly Rewards

When reading in Matthew 19:16-30 we learn what is required to achieve eternal life. In these verses a man come to Jesus asking what he needs to do and the Jesus lists the commandments. Afterward the man says he has done these things, so what else is there? Jesus replies, give up all you have and give it to the poor and needy; follow me and you will have eternal life. Saddened, the man goes away, because he is rich and does not want to give up his possessions. Jesus goes on to state the rich have a hard time excepting the Gospel because they value worldly possessions over gifts of the spirit. We are promised by the Savior that if we sacrifice in life and follow his commandment, we will be given eternal and one hundred times the blessings that we had on earth. As Jesus explains to Peter in verse 28, those who follow Christ will sit in glory in heaven, be greatly blessed and have the gift of everlasting life.

From the parable of Serving in the vineyard we learn that no matter how long our service is, each hour is just as important as the last. In this parable we read that some were hired in the morning, and some every three hours till the eleventh hour. Each was promised a penny a day, even those who only worked one hour.

No matter how long we have been in the service of our God, each person we bear testimony to, each act of kindness we give is just as important as the first. For converts this means they have not missed out on ANY blessings of the gospel. An old man who is baptized is just at important in the kingdom of heaven as the child of 8 who was born into the church. To those who feel they deserve more for working longer I would ask why they are more important than their brothers and sisters in the Gospel. God loves all his children equally and wants us all to come unto him and return to him one day. Our reward in heaven is not determined by the length of service rendered, but by our sincerity in testimony and love of Christ.