Testing...1.2.3...

Over the past few months, Scott and I have had many difficult challenges and dilemmas. (Who hasn't though....) We've learned a lot and, most importantly, grown a lot. Yesterday after dinner, we were having a serious conversation (we've had a lot of those too!) about our spiritual growth and decided that we should give more to the Lord to test His promises. FHE has been something we've struggled with, so we decided it was time to actually do it and set some family goals. I've been wanting to lose weight since Sarah passed, Scott's been wanting more help selling, and we've both sought more from personal and family scripture study. We agreed to listen to Elder Christofferson's talk from the last General Conference about covenants and establish goals to help us keep ours more faithfully. Scott is a wonderful priesthood leader and I appreciate his willingness to accept the responsibility to lead our little family in whatever we pursue, and to follow the Spirit. We committed to consecrate more of our time, talents, and means to the Lord by sacrifice, as Elder Christofferson so rightfully suggests. These are just a few goals we set to help us increase our commitment to discipleship and test the promises of the Lord:

1. Wake up at a decent hour. We've fallen in to the bad habit of staying up late and sleeping in- I guess it comes with the job, but something doesn't feel right when we can't wake up by 11am.

2. Exercise together. This is mostly for my benefit because it's just so hard to get motivated when you're doing it by yourself. The apartments we live in have a great work out area to use for FREE (bonus) and a pool. You'd be surprised how exhausting swimming can be after a few dozen laps.

3. Companionship Study. I pretty much experience some type of "mission-sickness" everyday, and I've been home 15 months now. I just can't get over how much I learned and how good it felt to devote everything to the Lord- everyday. I know that's not what's expected of me at this stage in life, but sometimes, I wish it were. That being said, we are now having comp study together, along with family scripture time, and I rejoice! Hurrah for Israel!

4. Cultivate our talents. Again, this one is more for me because I have little contact with other people and lots of down time these days.

Each year my dad plants a huge garden in his acre lot and grows more vegetables than he can eat. I always hear this comment at least once during the summer- "I've got *fill in your crop of choice* coming out of my ears!". I want food to come out of my ears! Okay, that's a little extreme, but partly true. Ever since I was young, someone in my family has planted a garden and we've enjoyed the spoils of it. I have fond memories of running through my grandparents' corn fields as my brothers hunted me with their bbguns, or picking beans and peas along side some 4th cousin 4 times removed.(still haven't figured out how they are related....) My grandfather, to this day, plants a garden in my Aunt Nancy's flower beds (and boy is that irksome for her...) and he's 89 years old. A few years ago he was in the MS newspapers for growing the largest turnips in the county- bigger than his head! In fact, I'm pretty sure our family has farmed since the days of Adam. So by gardening, I'm accepting my heritage! (and cutting down on how many tomatoes we buy because Scott eats them like candy...) I also decided to try my hand at baking. I take pride in the fact that I was raised in a home where most of the food was made from scratch and I developed a love for cooking. I did not, however, develop skills for baking. Thanks to my Nana and dad, I can cook just about anything. When it comes to baking, I'm just good at the burning part. (I'm not sure what side that came from.) I made Scott some cinnamon rolls and to avoid the burning talent I've aquired, I took them out too early and they were a bit mushy. Same with the bread I was going to give to the neighbors. Can I get an A for effort??

This is our little tomato plant we've named "Tomayo" in honor of Jacob Rogers and his love for Cars. (and his inability to pronouce words correctly... it's just so darn cute!)

My lousy attempt at bread making. The one on the right is store bought, the mini piece to the left is part of my humble loaf. It still tasted alright at least.