My Poor Blog OR Nerds Unite!

Hello folks, my last blog post was in JANUARY!! What the???

Oh yeah... I have 4 kids and I'm trying to go to college... AND this semester has LITERALLY been THE hardest one of my entire life (and my actual classes really weren't that bad).

I cannot believe today is May 2nd! Right now, I just finished one final and I'm waiting for another later today. I should be studying, but every time I look at my notes my brain starts to melt. (It's true) I am so done.

It's been a good semester in ways... I love Biology. I love it so much. I am such a nerd and I don't even care. I love that my kids love Biology. I love that my family knows how much I love Biology. I love that random people bring me "bugs" to identify (they're actually called insects.... bugs are a "subgroup" of insects.) Yep. NERD. :)

I'm starting to panic for my test now... I do NOT love Physics.

"Let me sum up" (BONUS points to the person who can identify this movie quote!)

February -- My son's birthdays with an emergency appendectomy for me right in the middle! (The biologist nerd in me was only *slightly* dampered by the EXTREME pain I was experiencing as well as my fear of surgery. Although, I have to say.... I feel so much better now. Who knew??)

March -- I had a birthday while recovering from my surgery... birthdays are awesome. I really like getting older. I'm not kidding. I'm 41. And I'm REALLY super excited that I will be 42 when I graduate from college. This is another side of my Nerdom. And if you know why 42 is significant, then, I honor you as a true nerd as well.

This next event needs another blog post entirely and I'll post a picture when I get home too (I'm at the campus computer lab at the moment and I just LOVE to think of all the 20-somethings reading over my shoulder and wondering who this weird old lady is?!?!)

On March 6th, my sweet Dad passed away. It still feels like a dream... I cannot believe he's really gone. It's going to take a long while for me to process everything that happened. I can't believe how empty the house feels with just my cute little Mommy there. HUG your parents. CALL them. You never know. Whenever I hear the Eagles on the radio... I think of riding with my Dad in his old blue Chevy. Love you, Dad!

Later in March, my older son had 2 surgeries.... lots of time at the doctor this Spring. And then, in April, one daughter had a birthday and another got her learner's permit.... April is a blur.

Here we are: FINALS!!

(and all I can really think about is the fact that Wednesday will be STAR WARS DAY!!!)

May the 4th be with all you cool nerds like me! :)

Still 100%!

Wow, I seriously need to update my blog. Most of the links don't work and the pictures are gone...

Every time I sit down to do so, I get overwhelmed and depressed and just leave it. Well, it's January and I always feel like that's a good time to start over. So, I'll try to fix things up when I can, but for now, I'm just going to move forward. Wow. That is probably a quote for all aspects of my life. Sometimes all we can do is move forward.

One of my all-time favorite quotes:

"On particularly rough days, when I’m sure I can’t possibly endure, I like to remind myself that my track record for getting through bad days so far is 100%, and that’s pretty good!"

So... my last post was in August. Most of the time in between then and now I have spent studying genetics and anthropology and sitting in a classroom full of 20 year olds and feeling like an idiot. However, let me be honest, I really enjoyed it! These young adults are pretty dang cool. They were especially cool with me -- they don't care how old I am, they're just glad to have someone along for the ride, to laugh and joke about all the homework and to commiserate with each other when a test didn't go so well. Anyway, I survived Fall Semester. I even got a 3.0! (Which is amazing for me.) I'll start up again on the 11th... which could mean, you may not hear from me much after that until May, but I will try.

Also, did I tell you I have been teaching the Sunbeam class in Primary since July? It was challenging, but very fun and you know how church callings go (at least for me), just when I thought I was getting the hang of it, they released me. Huh. I wonder if there is some profound meaning to that. Probably not to most people... I'm always trying to find more meaning in things than there might be, I guess. Speaking of profound meanings... I had one of the little Sunbeams who LOVES animals (as much as I do), tell me that a mole (the animal) isn't a "mole", it's a "nipple"! Oh, man, I got a kick out of that!! Ha ha ha! He's the cutest little boy.

Anyway, on to a new adventure, right? So, now I'm the Primary Chorister. It's been about 2 months or so. I have to admit I've ALWAYS secretly wanted this calling. I LOVE the Primary music and I've had so much fun watching really good choristers make Primary so awesome just because of the music they choose and their enthusiasm (Ellen and Lorie, I'm talking about you!). However, BEING the chorister is way different from experiencing a good chorister. It will take some time, that's for sure, but I absolutely LOVE it and I feel SO blessed to even get to do it for this long. I've had a few hiccups... maybe I'll blog about that later, but it really is the best calling ever. I asked Zeke if he had anything to do with it, but he says it was all up to the Primary President and Bishopric counselor over Primary. Well, Thank you, I'm so grateful for this opportunity!!!! 

I've been SO stressed with the holidays and school and other things, my mind just cannot shut down. I've felt very negative and depressed and overwhelmed, but I've had to prepare for singing time (thank goodness). I think Heavenly Father knew I would need something powerful to help me feel the Spirit and overcome these negative feelings. Music is so powerful. Music can help me feel the Spirit when NOTHING else can. I haven't been sleeping well at night and I wake up stressing about things, but all through last week I was trying to memorize a new song to teach to the Primary kids last Sunday.  The chorus says, "And if I listen with my heart, I hear the Savior's voice". This inspiring phrase has been going through my head nonstop for over a week now and I know it has helped me to feel better and encouraged me to pray and to keep trying. 

This song and its message also helped me to think of another song, "The Family is of God"

Our Father has a family. It’s me!

It’s you, all others too: we are His children.

He sent each one of us to earth, through birth,

To live and learn here in fam’lies.

God gave us families to help us become what He wants us to be—

This is how He shares His love, for the fam’ly is of God.

A father’s place is to preside, provide,

To love and teach the gospel to his children.

A father leads in fam’ly prayer to share

Their love for Father in Heaven.

God gave us families to help us become what He wants us to be—

This is how He shares His love, for the fam’ly is of God.

A mother’s purpose is to care, prepare,

To nurture and to strengthen all her children.

She teaches children to obey, to pray,

To love and serve in the fam’ly.

God gave us families to help us become what He wants us to be—

This is how He shares His love, for the fam’ly is of God.

I’ll love and serve my family and be

A good example to each fam’ly member.

And when I am a mom or dad, so glad,

I’ll help my fam’ly remember:

God gave us families to help us become what He wants us to be—

This is how He shares His love, for the fam’ly is of God.

This song really speaks to my heart; here's a link for you to hear it. I love ALL of my family so much and I want for us to be happy together. My dear friend, Lora, took this picture of my little family in October.