Faith in God

Another good week has gone by with only 2 weeks left until Thanksgiving! This week was very easy for me because I didn't have clinicals at all. I may have even gotten lazy. I am ashamed to admit that I even watched New Moon with the director's commentary (yes I'm a Twilight freak).

Dinner last Sunday with our friends from church went very well. The Warners even invited us to their house for Thanksgiving! It was so cute watching the excitement their kids had for Halloween. In light of Thanksgiving around the corner I decided to test out some desserts to make for the special holiday. Thursday afternoon I made a chocolate mint torte. It turned out really well. Unfortunately I discovered that I'm not really a "torte" girl. I prefer brownies and cookies...any baked good really.

Since I had Thursday evening off Dan and I went out to dinner and then bought one of these at Home Depot:

Snow Shovel

For our sakes I HOPE (fingers crossed) we won't be using this tool very much this winter. After we returned home from dinner I discovered this mess:

Torte spill in freezer

My dislike for tortes might have something to do with the above picture. After all, this would not occur with baked goods. The only way brownies can be messed up is if they are overcooked...or undercooked.

Friday was a great day. First off, our place has not changed too much from the first pictures we took of the place (remember the ones with empty rooms?). We still have unopened boxes lying around and things sitting on floor out of lack of space to put them somewhere. Also, no photos/frames have been mounted on the walls. Well on Friday that last part changed. It's not much but 3 months into our stay I started with this:

Pictures

Check back 3 months later and we just might have frames up in the living room! One room at a time people...
That afternoon I made a last minute decision to go to a spin class on campus. Outside of going once since we've lived here I have not been to spin since last spring (how sad!). I guess I can only stick with one form of cardio and running has been dominating for the past 6 months. Needless to say that spin class kicked my butt!

Friday I arrived at work only to discover that I did NOT...I repeat did NOT... have to work that evening. What an amazing feeling that was! It's like waking up at 6am Saturday morning thinking you have work/class and then once you're actually awake you realize it's Saturday and so you go back to sleep. Yes, it was that great. So I drove back home and spent the evening with Dan. He may have convinced me that night to watch a certain Transformers cartoon movie. Cartoons sure have come a lonnggg way since 1985.

Yesterday morning I decided to be ambitious and run 4 miles despite the 35 degree weather. I was fully decked out in all of my winter gear (including gloves). Using all of my winter clothes in November makes me wonder what I'm going to do for December-March. After my run I made these AMAZING lil' pumpkin cakes. You MUST make them. They're very easy and quick to make:

YUMMY deliciousness

I used real butter with them because I didn't have Smart Balance butter. But I recommend using the lightened version, it's cuts 100 kcal out from each cake! Recipe can be found here: http://preventionrd.com/2010/09/11/fall-fling/. Saturday evening I went to work. It was a rough night. I didn't have a great section and I kept getting sat with large parties so my service went downhill...and so did my tips.

This morning I woke up to this wonderful surprise:

BREAKFAST IN BED! Yes, that is a heart shaped piece of toast with jam on top. I know I've already typed this but my husband is the best anyone could have. Thank you babe!

Ignore my greasy post-work hair

This evening we had the sister missionaries over for dinner. It was so much fun getting to know them. We all  loved Dan's jokes. They even helped us polish off the last bit of chocolate mint torte! Dan made an amazing dinner (blue rice included!).

Tonight I started listening to the young adult CES fireside online (http://lds.org/video/ces/index.html?lang=english). So far Elder Ballard has spoken some great words and asked some questions that has caused me to ponder my personal faith, steadfastness, and obedience towards God. Some of his questions that triggered my thoughts were: Are you happy with the direction your life and faith in Jesus Christ is going? Do you love God with all of your heart, soul, strength, and mind? Are you doing the simple everyday things in your daily life? Are you saying your prayers every morning and every night? Are you reading everyday from the holy scriptures? My answer to every question SHOULD be yes but sadly it is not. Elder Ballard then went on to talk about how we let life's distractions get in the way of what's truly important in our lives. We are all targets of Satan who tempts us to drift from our commitments to others and from our covenants we make with the Lord.

It's important to know that all of us have imperfections and that it's ok to have them. We each have our struggles that challenge us everyday. BUT it is also important to know the purposes of those imperfections in our lives. Imperfections challenge us to grow. To become better than we currently are. Without struggles life would have no meaning. That may be a little too general of statement but if you know the purpose of our life here on Earth then that statement makes sense. There's a favorite scripture of mine that sums this up perfectly: "For it must needs be, that there is an opposition in all things...if Adam had not transgressed..they would have remained in a state of innocence, having no joy, for they knew no misery; doing no good, for they knew no sin." (2 Nephi 2:11-23). Basically what I'm trying to get it is that struggles ARE good for us if we approach them the right way. Good example: Having a busy schedule challenges me to correctly prioritize what things need to get done first. If I simply pray for help in this area (that I struggle in) and do the best I can then things will work out.

Have a good week everyone!