"C" is for Choice

Because of my religion,

many people are under the impression that I am made to do certain things.

They think that I am not allowed to drink. Not allowed to smoke.

Not allowed to partake in pre-marital sex. Not allowed to wear sleeveless dresses.

Not allowed to swear. Etc, etc.

This is false.

I have the choice.

I choose to not partake in these things.

I chose not to drink, smoke, have sex before marriage,

wear sleeveless dresses and whatever else you may think of.

It is a fundamental belief of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints that the Atonement, when Jesus Christ suffered in Gethsemane and again on the cross, allows us to chose. It was Jesus Christ who presented the plan that we would be able to come to this earth and chose between right and wrong. We are not made to do anything.

I love that I get to chose.

I get to chose what school I go to, what I wear, what I eat, who my friends are,

what church I attend, if I even want to attend church,

what advice I take, what classes I take, etc.

I have never in my life been made to do anything.

Even as a little girl my parents never made me attend church.

I knew they'd be disappointed if I didn't go but I still had a choice. And I chose to go.

I chose to be a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

How did I choose?

I prayed to know if it was true.

I studied, and continue to study, the Bible and Book of Mormon. I attended, and continue to attend, church every Sunday for three hours. I am grateful that I have been given the choice to serve the Lord.

Can you imagine a life where you got to chose nothing?

You were simply made to follow a certain religious or political leader, no exceptions.

Can you fathom how awful that would be?

Think of how many choices, no matter the size, that you make every day.

How about every week? How about every year?

It's a lot, huh?

And the beauty of it all is that YOU get to chose.

In a General Conference talk given by Elder Dallin H. Oaks in October of 2007, he said,

"As we consider various choices, we should remember that it is not enough that something is good. Other choices are better, and still others are best. Even though a particular choice is more costly, its far greater value may make it the best choice of all."

Good. Better. Best.

Sometimes the choices we should make in our lives do not simply come down to good or bad. Sometimes it is between good, better and best.

In my life, those have been the hardest choices to make BUT at least I know that I can make them without be made to chose one way over the next.

Jesus Christ suffered.

He suffered for you and He suffered for me.

He was beaten, spit upon and nailed to a cross where He died

so that you and I might live.

"Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes was are healed." -Isaiah 53 4&5

All of those things He did willingly.

He chose to lay down his life for us. All of us.

Even those who chose not to accept his Atonement.

He loves all of us and is willing to welcome anyone who comes unto Him.

I am so grateful that I have choices but the choice I'm most grateful for is the one that we all have to come unto Christ and continue to come unto Him. No one is too far gone. Choose to come home to Him and He will open His arms and welcome you back. I know that's true. I hope and pray that you'll choose to come home. He's waiting for you.

"B" is for Basketball

I love basketball.

It's really the only sport that I feel confident enough to play on a team.

I played at the YMCA and I played church basketball.

I don't play much basketball now except for the occasional intramural games here on campus but let me tell you this: any chance I get, I take!

BUT aside from my love of playing the sport (not exceptionally well, but well enough, mind you,) BYU has a KICKIN' team this year.

Jimmer.

Emery.

Abouo.

Hartsock.

Seriously, those names send CHILLS down my spine. I honestly can't get enough of these boys. Jimmer with his INSANE ppg, Emery with his criminal steals, Abouo with his come-out-of-nowhere dunks and Hartsock with his "And-you-didn't-think-I-could-make-it-from-here-did-you-shots. (Plus he blocks so many shots with his massively TALL body...seesh!)

I mean, if you haven't seen these boys in action-WATCH THEM! They're CrAzY good!

My love for my Cougars even took me to Las Vegas this year to see them play in the tournament. While they didn't win in the Champ. game against SDSU (barf) they DID beat UNM for the first time this season and it was BEAUTIFUL!

So, what do I do now that the tourney is over?? Two words:

MARCH MADNESS!

I've been infected. Forget "Bieber Fever" or what ever the crazy that is! I have MADNESS MEASLES! You betcha! Bracket filled out and everything.

It's actually really nice. March Madness is the ONLY thing that gets me through March.

Seriously.

"A"ttitude of Understanding

"A" is for Attitude.

What?

Well, let me explain.

I work in an office and while I have a plethora of jobs to fulfill but one of the biggest things I have to deal with is unhappy customers. Customer service is a tricky thing and let me tell you now, the customer is NOT always right. In fact, they are usually wrong.

Okay, maybe not usually but they are wrong more often than not.

Anyway, I'm really grateful for those people who call in and are frustrated, or upset, or any number of things that usually make people unpleasant, but they keep their cool. They realize that it isn't our fault that the USPS lost their mail. They don't yell and curse at you.

They simply have an attitude of understanding.

Aside from work there are other times where other's attitude of understanding has effected me so much. I often run into things that frustrate or upset me, as I think everyone does. BUT there are people in my life who just know how to understand me.

All they have to do is look at me to understand that even though I put on a brave face

I'm not always brave.

They can look at my face and understand the confusion and pain I'm experiencing.

No words. No tears. No questions...nothing!

They just sit with me. Play basketball with me. Joke with me. They give me a hug. They cheer me up without trying to cheer me up.

They understand.

Because I know that those friends and family members understand,

though perhaps imperfectly,

I know that My Lord and Savior understands perfectly.

Nothing that I will ever go through will not be perfectly understood by Jesus Christ who died for me.

So "A" is for Attitude.

ABCs of Gratitude

I'm going to do a project here. Each day I'm going to give one thing that I'm grateful for. Each day will have a new letter to correspond with the alphabet. This will start tomorrow. I'm kind of excited!

Tonight...

SOMEBODY got JIMMERED!

UNM, never underestimate the power of a Cougar'd out arena and a JIMMER! (As well as the FABULOUS team that stand beside him!)

Sneak Peek to my Weekend...

This:

Plus This:

Equals...

Well, I'll keep you posted!

RAWR!

Back To December

So I know that Taylor Swift wrote this song but this is the exact "something" that I would like to say to an old friend whom I hope has forgiven me. Sometimes in life you realize that you've made a mistake and the only thing to do is keep moving forward. I just hope that my ending is a little bit happier than what I think it is most likely to be.