Discovering the Divinity Within: GC 1

Surprise to me, soccer practice ended two weeks earlier than I thought it was going to. Which means we now have two more evenings open to just be home!

Eric and I played a game with the two oldest boys last night and we talked a little about a conference talk I read yesterday.

This was the first conference talk of the October General Conference given at the Women's session. I loved this talk when I listened to it in the chapel of the Stake Center (what a way to start conference!), and reading it was no different.

Rosemary M. Wixom started by saying "Life is a gift. God has a plan for each one of us, and our individual purpose began long before we came to this earth."

I believe that is true. There is a purpose and a mission for each of us. Our purpose and mission will help us grow and learn and allow us to do the work of the Lord and help others. It is our privilege to figure out what our loving Heavenly Father needs us to do. Understanding our divine nature is key.

Sister Wixom quoted Elaine Cannon when she said "There are two important days in a women's life: The day she is born and the day she finds out why."

She goes on to say that we know why--to help build His Kingdom and prepare for the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. "With every breath we take, we strive to follow Him. The divine nature within each of us is refined and magnified by the effort we make to draw nearer to our Father and His Son."

She reminds us to "take our validation vertically from Him, not horizontally from the world around us or from those on Facebook or Instagram." It doesn't matter how many "likes" or comments we get or followers we have. We need to remember that we are children of God. If we ever question that, she challenges us to "kneel in prayer and ask Heavenly Father, "Am I really Thy daughter [or Son], and dost Thou love me?" The answer will come.

Once we know who we are, we can ask "Therefore what? . . . What will I do to live my life as a child of God? How can I develop the divine nature that is within me?" Such important questions to reflect on often and take inventory of our lives!    

She goes on to say "President Dieter F. Uchtdorf said,'God sent you here to prepare for a future greater than anything you can imagine.' That future, a day at a time, comes alive when you do more than just exist; it comes alive when you live your life to fill the measure of your creation. This invites the Lord into your life, and you begin to let His will become yours." A day at a time, do more than just exist, but live your life. And you can when you align your will with His.

Two more quotes I couldn't ignore:

"I am so glad I have a family, Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost who can be my companions whenever things with friends go wrong."

"Once we begin to see the divinity in ourselves, we can see it in others."

pumpkin carving and Halloween 2015

We ended up with some pretty cute jack o' lanterns this year.

Eric takes the lead on this fall tradition and helps all the kids. I love that.

Layla dressed up as Cookie Monster for her preschool party. She had her heart set on it. Not a ballerina or a fairy or a princess or anything girly. Just Cookie Monster.

I convinced her to be something different that night at the Halloween party. She decided on a pink princess.Yeah, I got to dress my girl up! That night, we also had a cowboy, a sad and creepy clown, and a mummy.

 Eric went in his Microsoft onesie as an Xbox gamer. ;)

Be careful princess, it's a creepy clown . . .

On Halloween night, Cookie Monster returned with a clown. A Monkey joined them. And Kyler ditched the mummy wrapping. When asked what he was, he said, "I'm an All-red." ha ha--clever kid.

We had pizza with friends before a fun evening of trick or treating.

I took the half of our family with short legs around while Eric took the other half with the long legs (and a drive to get as much candy as possible).

It rained for a few minutes, but that didn't slow any one down. We came home with lots and lots of candy. Layla was excited to sort hers this year.

Perry was excited to eat his. He was a cute little trick or treater. He was really into it. He would hurry ahead of me and ring the doorbell multiple times until I stopped him. Before anyone could come to the door, he was shouting "Happy Halloween" and "Trick or Treat". When he as told to, he would choose out his candy (usually m&ms) and say "just one" (because that's what I told him when we started out that night.) Many times people would say, have two or take a handful. He usually just repeated "just one". But without fail, as soon as we turned away from the door, Perry was asking "Mom, can we get more candy?" He repeated his question over and over until I told him yes. And he repeated that question every time we walked away from a house.

The older boys went with some friends to collect their loot. Eric and Ryan stayed close by. Oh, did these boys bring home a stash of candy!

Kyler counted almost 250 pieces.

Kacin was too busy eating to count.

As part of the Halloween festivities, Eric and I went on a date to a corn maze.