Opposition...

This weekend was General Conference for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  The Church has these conferences every six months.  For two days, (Saturday and Sunday) the members of the Church and other interested parties gather to hear the words and counsel that we believe is given to inspired leaders from our Heavenly Father.

In the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints there is no paid clergy. Everyone serves in a volunteer capacity. We believe that callings (or jobs/positions) in the Church are issued by inspiration from Heavenly Father. That includes the callings of our Apostles and Prophet.  Each member is regularly given the opportunity to raise their hand and sustain those who accept callings in the Church. They are also given the opportunity to voice an opinion to the contrary. Bear in mind, we are not voting to put or keep people in their positions. We are simply showing our public support of these individuals in their respective callings. It is an act of faith, not a popularity contest.

In the Saturday afternoon session of General Conference, a few members in the Conference Center yelled out "NO!" when asked to sustain the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. This came as quite a shock to many who had never seen an opposing vote before. Honestly, it surprised me a little, too.  It has been many, many years since I heard any opposition expressed at a sustaining of the Church officers.

One of the things I truly love about the Gospel as found in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, is the concept of agency. Agency is a gift from God which allows us the opportunity to make our own choices - good or bad. Although we are free to choose for ourselves, we are not free to choose, nor are we free from the consequences of our choices - good or bad.

God knows that we are all different. He created us that way. Thank goodness he did - or life would be pretty boring. lol  However, because we are all so unique, we each come to our belief, worship, and spiritual progression in our own way. I am grateful for that - God doesn't judge me by what someone else does or doesn't do. It's scary enough to be accountable for my own foibles and follies.

Those members who expressed their opposition in Conference did so for their own reasons. They are on their own personal spiritual journey and will progress or not at their own pace. I pray that they will be able to work out their feelings and find peace with Heavenly Father.

Their opposition did something for me that I didn't expect. It made me think about what it means to sustain our Church leaders. It made me realize that sustaining our leaders means more than just raising our hands. It means that I will live my life in compliance with the tenants of my faith. It means that I TRULY believe that these men and women have been called by God to serve in His Church. It means that because I raised my hand, I am committing myself to being obedient to my Heavenly Father and the counsel He gives me through His ordained servants. It means that I will back up my raised hand with my thoughts and words and actions.

Because of all it means...I raise my hand a little higher and think about what it really means to sustain the Prophet and Apostles of God.

He Lives!!!

He lives!!!  Because He lives, I know that one day I will be with my loved ones who have passed on, He gave His perfect life for each of us. He bore our sorrows, pains and afflictions so that He could have perfect empathy and so that He would know perfectly how to help us in our lives.  Because He died for us and rose on the third day, I know that we each will be resurrected as well. Because of Him, I have the hope of living with my Heavenly Father and my loved ones in a celestial, eternal family. Heaven be praised the for precious gift of the Son and thanks be to Him for loving us enough to save us all.

Happy Easter

It's been 12 years...

Twelve years ago, February 24, 2003, our beloved Daddy and Bonpa passed away.

Dad was many things... 

A loving and devoted husband...

His was the example I looked to when I dreamed of the kind of man I wanted to marry. Daddy loved Mom with all his heart and treated her like she was the Queen of the Universe.

Dad was a man of honor and duty. He gave his love, duty, and devotion in the service of this great Nation that he loved and fought for.

He absolutely adored his grandchildren and was so proud and happy to be their "Bonpa".

To me, he was my Daddy...the first man I ever loved. He was my rock and my example of so many things. I learned so much just by being his daughter and watching him live a life of honor and service. One thing I admired most about him was how very much he wanted to serve our Heavenly Father. 

He had a wonderful sense of humor and could tell the BEST stories. He knew how to meet people and how to make them feel special and important. It's been said that "Dad never knew a stranger". That was so true. After spending five minutes with him you felt like you'd known him forever.

Everyday of my life I have tried to live so as to make him proud. His opinion mattered to me, so much. He taught me honesty and integrity because that's how he lived. 

I miss him everyday. But I am so grateful for the legacy he left me and which I can pass on to my children.

I love you, Daddy. I miss you everyday!

Every year...

I know I post this every February 6, but I can't seem to help myself! It's hard not to celebrate something that makes you so very happy!

He asked and I said, YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Can't help blogging it...he makes me so happy!!!

Twenty-seven years into our Happily-Ever-After and he STILL makes me so happy!

Thanks for asking me, Kev!  I still love you most!

...did I mention that this makes me happy??? 

Just making sure you all knew! 

Life with Sarcoidosis

Most of you know that in August of 2014, I was diagnosed with Sarcoidosis. Sarcoidosis is an inflammatory disease which can attack several different areas of the body. In my case, it is in my lungs and joints, mostly. The cause is unknown, and there is no cure. It is, however, treatable. In more severe cases, oral steroids (usually prednisone) are used. In other cases, the symptoms resolve themselves over time. My case is somewhere in between the two. I am being treated with inhaled steroids which gets the treatment directly into the effected area.

Most days, I feel fine - although I get tired more easily than before. Sometimes it effects my ability to breathe, so I have to use a rescue inhaler. But, mostly I do ok. I'm learning to pace myself. We've discovered that if I over-do things one day, the symptoms flare up and I am down for the next couple of days. 

I can always tell when it's going to be a day to take it easy because I start to run a fever. It's never very high, just enough to make me feel like I'm starting the flu. I've been foolish enough to ignore this warning sign and try to "muscle-through" it. I've learned not to do that! lol The fever gets higher and the joint pain can be excruciating.

Now, lest you think I'm looking for a "pity-party" with this post, let me assure you that I'm not! Please, not at all!!! Last August, before they came to the diagnosis of Sarcoidosis, they thought I had lung cancer!  I am grateful to have what I have and not something worse. lol

It's just that this experience is teaching me things that I want to share. 

I have good days and bad days. I'm happy to say they're both getting better. But I believe Heavenly Father is using this as an opportunity to help me grow and progress - to refine me, if you will.

There are days, the worst ones; when it's all I can do to drag myself out of bed. Everything hurts and I have no energy. The easiest thing in the world would be to give up and crawl back under the covers. And some days I simply have to do just that. But it would be SO easy to do that EVERY time it's a bad day, and I can't live with myself if I give in to that. So when I can, I drag myself up, make the bed (so I won't be so tempted to crawl back in) and try to get some small thing done that day. On those days, I find myself seeing tender mercies from my Father in the smallest things - reading my scriptures, a break in the fever, easing of the joint pain, a deep-full breath of air, someone else making dinner lol, looking outside at the beautiful place I get to live, helping my kids, prayer, etc... On these days, when I am SO aware of the tender mercies from my Father, I look ahead to the good days with such eagerness. It helps knowing the bad days don't last forever.

On good days, I still have to be careful exerting myself or I run out of air REALLY fast, and that's REALLY scary. But, I'm learning to listen to my body and pace myself. On those days, I get to be "me" again and do normal stuff like going to the gym, doing my visiting teaching, tending my home and family, serving my friends and neighbors, and learning new things. I'm still learning to pace myself, but it's getting better.

I saw a quote on Facebook the other day that really appealed to me. It said: "When a train goes through a tunnel and it gets dark, you don't throw away the ticket and jump off. You sit still and trust the engineer. Trust God today, no matter how dark your situation. God says: "You are coming out!"

I guess why I'm sharing all this is because I know we all have to endure hard things. But those "hard things" don't need to define or defeat us. Kevin always says, "It doesn't matter in life, what happens to you. How you deal with what happens to you is what's important". What a wise man - no wonder I love him so much! lol

My point is that when difficulties happen, we can use those times to learn and grow and triumph, or we can run around screaming, waving our hands in the air, give up, and be miserable. Marjorie Hinckley said: 

“The only way to get through life is to laugh your way through it. You either have to laugh or cry. I prefer to laugh. Crying gives me a headache.”

I have Sarcoidosis. It's making my life difficult and challenging. It's teaching me to do "hard things". It's teaching me to appreciate all the wonderful aspects of this existence - great and small. I have Sarcoidosis, but that's NOT who I am. I choose to live my life to the fullest. I choose to be good and I choose to be happy.

No matter what happens in our lives, we each have a choice. We can choose to be  good, productive, and happy in whatever circumstances occur in our lives, or we can choose to give in and be miserable. There is SUCH power in that! WE get to choose for ourselves! What a gift!

Thanks for all the love, prayers, and support! I can honestly FEEL your prayers! 

Love,

Netty

PS: I went for a 3 month follow-up visit to my  pulmonologist today. My most recent x-rays show the inflammation (inflamed tumors) in my lungs are shrinking a little. It's small progress, but it's going in the direction we hope for. Slow and steady win the race!

It's for me!

I've had some interesting experiences, thoughts, feelings, etc. about my fitness goals and progress, lately. 

Yesterday was measuring day at the gym. My trainer, Jerry Shannon, was SO proud of my progress. Especially after my diagnosis with Sarcoidosis has kept me from doing as much as I have wanted. The numbers for this measuring day were up six pounds of muscle and down 9.2 pounds of fat! I was SO excited!  I've been at this for two years. For the first year and a half, the scale didn't move...I mean, AT ALL!!!  That was because I was losing and gaining equal amounts of fat and muscle. From the beginning, Jerry has said, "The scale is NOT your friend!" He was right.  It took a lot of mental gymnastics to keep myself from getting discouraged when the scale wouldn't move.

In the last six months however, the scale has been starting a downward slide that makes me really happy. I'm losing more and more fat as I gain muscle. Gaining more muscle actually helps you burn fat - go figure. lol

Today something wonderful happened at the gym AGAIN!!  This time, I was on my own, doing my leg-workout. OUCH!!! By the way...it really hurts! But it's a GOOD hurt, lol. Two women whom I have seen at the gym since I've been there, but not really gotten to know; came up to talk to me. They said they've been watching my progress and really noticed a difference when I came in today. They complimented me on how much better I looked and encouraged me to keep it up. They certainly gave my morning a lift!

On the flip side of this, there have been people in my life who have doubted my resilience and determination. They've said hurtful things and told me that when I talk/post/blog about this, it's a little annoying. While such comments hurt my feelings, they don't deter me from my goals, thank goodness.

I am not one who seeks the spotlight. I am - or have been - very shy throughout my life. Kevin has helped me overcome that a bit. But on my own, I am a sit-at-the-back-of-class-and-don't-speak-up kind of person.  I felt a little awkward when these two wonderful ladies talked to me, today - even as I felt lifted by their encouragement. As I went through the rest of my time at the gym, I had some thoughts about all this.

Over the years, as I've fought my weight issues, I've tried SO many different things....for a myriad of reasons. To get my mom off my back, to try and get pregnant, to please Kevin, to avoid health issues, etc.  This time, I am doing this for me. The nutrition-program that Jerry devised coupled with the exercise routine that is tailored for me combine in a complete wellness program that has me feeling better, stronger and more energized than I have in my entire life!!!! Even If I never lost another inch, I wouldn't stop doing this - because it WORKS and because I feel GREAT!!! 

As I thought of all of this, along with my discomfort from getting attention; another thought occurred to me. I would stand on a stage in front of any number of people and tell my story - in the spotlight, so to speak - if it meant that I could help even one other person find what I've found and feel as much better as I do!  This process has given me hope. Because I've learned to do hard things (including this), I'm finding that I have the courage to try new things. My entire life is changing because I'm learning to believe in myself and have the courage to spread my wings.

So let the doubters doubt and the haters hate (as my son-in-law said to me the other day). This bird is gonna fly! ...And if along the way I can inspire or encourage others in their flight, I'm more than happy to do it!

Thanks to all who have encouraged, supported, and cheered me on! You're helping more than you know!

New Year - New Beginnings...

I know I said this in my last post, but...Happy New Year!!!

I love celebrating the New Year!  It's like opening a brand new book or pulling out a fresh sheet of paper to write on, or starting a new project....it's all about possibilities.  I'm all about possibilities! I look at people, and I see potential and good possibilities! It makes me happy!

For me, the New Year is about choice. It's an opportunity for me to openly and HONESTLY reflect on my life, my character, and my choices from the year before (or from the years before). In that open and HONEST reflection, I try to let go of things I don't like. Things that cause me (or someone else) hurt or discomfort. Things that are preventing me from becoming the daughter of God my Heavenly Father would like me to be. 

Sometimes that HONEST reflection is painful. It's in our human-nature not to like criticism, even self-criticism. But the ability to see ourselves as we truly are, be honest about it, and make it better is - I believe - one of the main reasons we come to this earth. So for me, the New Year provides me an opportunity to become better.

The nice thing is that Heavenly Father does NOT expect us to become better all at once. Thank goodness!!!  Line upon line, here a little, there a little - steady upward progress is what He looks for. 

So it's the New year! Let's evaluate ourselves and see what we can shed. Get rid of things that bring you down and make you sad. Let go of anger, negativity, and sadness. Shed some baggage, shed some pounds! lol It doesn't have to be a HUGE thing, just change one thing, stick with it, and see how much better you feel. 

Do you want to lose weight? Change something about how you eat or drink. Cut out one soda a day and drink water instead - or make it two! You want to feel productive? Learn a new skill, develop a new hobby, or volunteer. Serving others is a great way to feel better!  Are you depressed, anxious, or sad??? Get help!!! Let go of the things in your past that drag you down. Learn from what you've experienced and move on to a lighter, happier you! If you can't do it yourself, find professional help that REALLY helps! 

Embrace the possibilities! Embrace the New Year! Go out there and make a happy, healthy, wonderful life for you! It's your choice! Choose to be happy!  ...and have a wonderful new beginning of a WONDERFUL New Year!  

Love to you all!!!!