An Antidote for Sorrow

Thanksgiving Break was simple and absolutely glorious.

I slept in, went on nice, long runs by myself, ate delicious food, caught up on some reading assignments, did homework, watched movies (including The Glass Menagerie and Newsies, both fantastic films), relaxed, talked with old friends and new ones, talked with family, and did some good ol' writing. It always feels good to write.

I got to spend Thanksgiving dinner at my bishop's cozy home in Lexington, VA just 15 minutes away from Buena Vista. The food was fantastic and it was nice to be in a cozy home. They gave me leftovers that lasted me three meals! I was grateful for that.

One night, Friday night, I made the mistake (or is it?) of writing just before bed, which of course got the crazy wheels turning in my head and I accidentally stayed up until 4 in the morning writing. Here is one of the poems that resulted from that joyous writing spree:

If I could only thank the Lord

for everything in sight,

I’d thank him endlessly

through the day and through the night.

Each breath is a blessing,

each smile a gift

but still I am asking

the question of "if."

If  I could thank the Lord

for these blessings galore…

but wait! I can!

I can, and there’s more!

For by living His standards,

obeying His truths,

I show Him I’m thankful

for this is the proof.

For out of gratitude we love

and out of love we obey,

so in word and in deed,

thank the Lord every day.

Granted it still has some rough patches. But it's a good start for a 3 AM poem, I suppose. 

I hope you enjoyed :) Thanks for stopping by.

Quote for thought:

"When you make the decision to be grateful, you make the decision to be happy."

   When I was a little girl, I remember learning about the ten lepers who Jesus healed and how only one of those lepers came back to say thank you. As a little girl, this struck me hard. I can remember the very classroom I was in when I learned this. It made me so sad that only one of them had thanked the Lord. I am so grateful that at that young age I was able to recognize the importance of being thankful and expressing thanks. Of course I didn't realize this on any brilliance on my behalf, but was taught it by my mother and father. I think part of the reason I've been happy throughout most of my life is because of my decision to be grateful. Gratitude drives out sorrow and hate, jealousy and bitterness, pride and feelings of inadequacy. I was reflecting upon this just a few weeks ago, and that is when I realized the power of gratitude, and that gratitude is an antidote for sorrow. When you make the decision to be grateful, you truly do make the decision to be happy.

Muffins, Movies and More

      Wow, it hasn't even been a week and I'm blogging again! Can you believe it? Haha. This weekend has been really wonderful, especially Saturday. I started the morning out by doing a service project. I gathered with a group of about twelve other SVU students and we raked leaves all around campus and in a couple yards. Of course we did take some time to have some fun and jump into the piles of leaves.

Rachel and Lindsay.

Alli.

Ali, Mindy, Linea, [Me] jumping in a giant leaf pile!

Raquel.

      After spending an hour and a half raking leaves, I gathered with a group of friends at Kent's house. Since it was one of my few free Saturday's that I didn't have a cross country meet, we decided to have a Muffin and Movie party. Kent lives in an apartment all alone, but he isn't usually alone because there are almost always people over there. He is very generous with inviting people to his apartment. So Kent and I started making strawberry and chocolate muffins until the rest of our friends showed up - Caitlyn, Kailey, Joanna, Nic, Daria, and Caity. We ate the scrumptious muffins and then snuggled up in blankets to watch "Brother Bear." When it was over, most of us fell asleep, but I had to get up so I could leave to work. Ah, but I felt so warm and comfy! Haha but it's okay, because work was really great too and it went well. I talked to quite a few prospective students and their parents!

Mmmm yummy, warm muffins!

      When I got home for work, I did homework for a little while and then went over to Kailey's room because she offered to do my hair for the Fall Ball. She did a great job!

Yay for curly hair! Ha, I rarely actually do my hair, so
this was nice for a change.

      We all had fun getting ready together, and of course the dance was a blast! I only attended the last hour however because the rest of the time I was skyping my wonderful family because my beautiful sister Brittney got married to Christian Anderson! Since I couldn't attend in real life, skyping the reception was about as good as I could get. The dance was great though. It was in Chandler Hall where our performances are and on the stage was a live jazz band, which was really cool! Even though I went really late, I got the chance to dance with a few different guys. I wish I would have gotten there earlier, but at the same time it was good to skype my family.

Reeva, Kailey, Daria, Caity, Caitlyn, Joanna, [Me], Raquel, Elise, Lexi and
Anneli. Beautiful girls, all of them! 

[Me] and Caitlyn, redhead buddies. :)

Caitlyn and Kailey live across the hall from me and are some of my best
friends. They help me in many ways. I love these girls so much. :)

      I hope the weekend treated you all well! Keep on keepin' on everybody. :)

Sometimes It's All For the Weekend

    My apologies for taking such a long time to post again! This week has been Bee Uoo eSss Yii BUSY! Up until this week, I've been pretty good at going to bed at a decent hour, however now that is not the case! Some nights I was up past 3 A.M., but hey, that's the life of a college student! (or high school student, or busy parent, etc., etc...)
    School:
      Classes are going pretty well. I am finally starting to enjoy my Western Literature class, which is nice. We are reading the Odyssey right now and I really enjoy it! Although I do wish we only had to read one or two chapters a night instead of five... Spanish is...well I don't know. Sometimes I feel really good about Spanish and think I'm actually understanding it but then the irregular verbs such as "gustar" get thrown at us and get all messed up because I'm barely getting the hang of "ser." You Spanish speakers know what I'm talking about. I don't currently have anything else I really want to say about any of my other classes. But...
    Work:
      Work is great! We just started up again this week and I am so excited! I love my job. I work as a student ambassador at the Southern Virginia University call center. We mostly call prospective students and donors, and I just enjoy it so much! I enjoy helping the University that I love so much grow. Already it has been cool to see the new Freshmen walking around campus and talking to them and realizing that a good handful of them are here because of I phone call that I made! It makes me happy :) Plus I have an awesome boss and awesome co-workers, the hours are nice, and it makes me feel productive.
    Cross Country:
      I started running pretty consistently this week! I didn't do all the same workouts as the team, but I'm working my way back to running with them regularly. I am so extremely grateful at the rate in which my ankle has been able to heal. I know Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ have been right there with me this entire time and I know that I have been blessed. I'm so grateful I was able to receive a priesthood blessing from a friend who is striving to uphold his priesthood duties and being a good friend to me.
    Church:
      Church was really good today. It makes me sad and disappointed in myself because since it's been such a busy week, I've felt that my spirituality wasn't as up to par as I would like it to be. I taught Sunday school today and it went really well, even though I was a little rushed. Yesterday was the Relief Society broadcast and I was so grateful for that because it really lifted my spirits.

    I also had the wonderfully amazing opportunity to go to the temple in Washington, D.C. yesterday with a small group of girls on the cross country team with me. We were all really sleep deprived and it had been a busy, stressful week for each of us, so it was so nice to be able to go to the temple and feel the comfort of the Holy Ghost. I have so much to be grateful for and I know it. Please enjoy the pictures of this beautiful House of God.

Shelbi, Leah, Jacey and [Me].

 

   The week was rough, but the weekend was really enjoyable. Sometimes it's all for the weekend :)

The Crutches Like to Party Too!

    The weekend arrived and I was kind of nervous that I would just feel lame because it's hard to have fun with crutches...however, the weekend was still super fun! Acting class was very entertaining and it was fun using my crutches as props in an exercise similar to charades. On Friday night I went to an Elephant Shortcut concert, followed by a dance. I only stayed at the dance for about half an hour, but I didn't let my crutches stop me from dancing! Except dancing on one leg is a little more difficult than using both legs, and I got tired really fast. On Saturday I went with the team to the cross country meet on a Civil War battlefield in New Market, VA. It was really cool and even though it was disappointing not being able to run, I had a good time cheering the team on. When we got home, after I did physical therapy and took a nap, I went to a luau at the Institute followed by a surprise birthday party for my lovely roommate, Delaney Gustafson! This morning I got a call at 7:30 from Patrick. He was really sick and did not feel able to come to church, so he asked me to teach the Sunday school lesson again...I prepared for it in thirty minutes, but I think it went really well and the spirit was so strong! It's been a good weekend. :)

Spencer and I both got injured on the same course! It's not exactly fun being injured, but at least we're in it together!

Spencer and I enjoying the Elephant Shortcut concert with our crutches

My team :)

The vistor's center at the New Market Battlefield

Ice bath! (the bubbles make it look warm, but don't be deceived - it was 40 degrees!)

Delaney and I :) (DG squared)