you may remember a previous blog i wrote about a year ago about how awesome it is to have a warm towel. well, i would just like to reiterate how truly enjoyable it is especially when you have an actual towel warmer that was created for that very purpose and is not located in the other room, nay, but in the very bathroom in which you are taking your shower :)
Mike and I are the proud owners of just such a towel warmer which was given to us as a Christmas gift from my parents!! we loooooove it!!!! what a luxury it is to step out of the shower and not have to wrap yourself in a room temperature towel. pshhh! that's old school!! ;) we are really enjoying this gift though and i think it's really really neat that my parents took the time to find something fun like this for us that they knew we'd enjoy and probably also knew that we'd never buy for ourselves ha. how very thoughtful! thanks mom and dad!!! :) maybe i should write a blog on how much i would like to have an Audi... ;) just kidding!!
every once in awhile Mike and i check out the free song of the week that iTunes is offering (probably Mike more than myself) to see if it's worth downloading. i'm pretty sure that prior to this month i had only ever found one that i thought i would ever want to listen to again because all the other ones i'd heard were eww....i mean i couldn't properly appreciate them ;) anyhow that has since changed because we stumbled upon one last week that really turned out to be AMAZING!
i had first heard of the group SafetySuit through my dad - he has a song that they released a few years ago called "Annie" which i once heard playing on his computer and thought it was awesome (and i would suggest looking it up to listen to sometime if you haven't heard it before). i got that song and have been listening to it for a couple years. i played it for Mike at some point and he liked it too, so when he saw that the free song for the week was from SafetySuit we were both interested to hear it. and boy is it a winner!!! here, why don't you give it a listen:
wow!! when i listened to this song for the first time i remember thinking that it was so awesome to hear a pop/rock band that was giving a positive message through their music! (although since "Annie" was their first song that i heard i wasn't surprised that their music in particular would be positive) not that there aren't other bands who do the same, it just seems to me that the prevalent messages of the popular music industry tend to lean more towards either blatantly negative things, or just dumb things that don't really matter. as i've listened to this song more and more since then i have picked up on some gospel truths or thoughts that have popped into my mind when i'm listening to it. i think it is insightful how the singer mentions wanting to know why he is going through the trial, but realizes that, even though he knows there is a purpose for it, he might not get that answer right now. i also think that the message about hard times trying to define him is right on - satan would love for us to define ourselves by what is hard for us or the negative feelings we feel in life instead of focusing on our talents and skills, and the joy that love, service, and the gospel bring into our hearts and lives. going through a tough situation IS hard, but if you do start giving into despair and letting go of hope it is very difficult to change your way of thinking because despair really does have a one-track mind. and of course we know that there are always out there who are having a worse time than ourselves.
i had a particularly tough time sunday evening and monday morning because i was feeling really stressed out about work and some changes in expectations and things that have come down from the bigwigs of the company. that resulted in my not sleeping very well in addition to having lots of worries and doubts about my abilities running through my mind. i woke Mike up before i went to work and asked him to give me a blessing which he gallantly did :) it helped me a lot by bringing the Spirit into my heart to pierce through the negative feelings. on the way to work i rocked out to this song on repeat to help me remember that it would be okay and things would get better. it also helped me to think of all the people who don't even have a job right now and how much worse they might feel not being able to provide for their families or take care of themselves among other things. the power of the Priesthood, and this song coupled with my power song ("Life in Technicolor" by Coldplay) got me ready to go and make it a great day by the time i got to work that day. things have been going great with work since as i've been doing my best and just focusing on that :) isn't it amazing the power that music can have?
one more experience i'd like to share with this song comes from watching the video. i wanted you to be able to hear the song first before watching the official video because i know that when Mike showed me they video last night, i had a hard time focusing on the lyrics and the music because i was so focused on the people in the video.
i hope you felt as touched as i did when i watched it. i admit that i cried through pretty much the whole thing and the first time through as i watched it i felt so sad to see that there are so many people going through a hard time. but the second time i was touched more by the fact that all of these people know that it will pass. i also was really touched by the how the lyrics mention holding your head up high despite what's going on around or inside of you. i think the gospel and the light of Christ that every person has within them are things that help us to have hope and to have the ability to still try to hold our head up high when times are hard. this video makes me want to always have hope with me so that i can try to give some to others whenever i come upon someone who is having a hard time - which we know that pretty much everyone is experiencing some sort of a trial at any given time whether of a lesser degree or a greater. i hope this song did something similar for you or at the very least helped you to know that whatever trial you're experiencing right now will pass and you'll make it okay :)
i am so grateful for the gospel which helps me to know that there is purpose in our trials and that even though these times are hard, they will pass and the future that we have to look forward to is more glorious than we could ever imagine :)
HOLY COW!!!!!!!!Christmas finally came!!!!!! i don't know that i typically start thinking a whole lot about Christmas until the fall arrives and, though i usually start pulling the Christmas music out in September or so, it doesn't occupy a good chunk of my brain space until around Halloween-time. but this year was different. i bought the plane tickets for Mike and i to fly out to VA for Christmas in June or July so i started telling people about our planned trip way back then which got me pretty excited about it right from the beginning :) it had been about 4 years since my family had a Christmas where everyone was home together to enjoy it - i was on my mission in Seattle one Christmas, Megan serving her mission in Long Beach the next, and then Mike and i here in MN for the following Christmas because we had just gotten married and couldn't afford to fly out to VA. so there are the past few Christmases to set the scene. and looking towards the future on top of that, with Megan and Josh's getting married and being poor and in school, and the likelihood of Hilary following suit (with the married part anyway) in the next year or two who knows when we'll all be together for Christmas again. (p.s. i suppose we are poor and in school also so that is not to single them out or anything ;) so i feel justified in using the word EPIC to describe this event! from talking to my manager at work i found that even others were looking forward to this trip FOR us because of the excitement i'd been projecting about it:
Me: Sharon! I can't WAIT to be in VA for Christmas!!!!!!!!!
Sharon: Jaime, I am excited FOR you because of how much I know you've been looking forward to it!!
haha :) well in my mind Christmas is worth being excited about and so i'm glad i could project that Christmas excitement to other people and hopefully get them filled with happiness and anticipation too!
basically everything about our trip was wonderful!!! here are just a few of the highlights in no particular order. to write them all would take...well about 9 1/2 days since that's how long we were there ;)
vacation! - i can't deny that having a chunk of time designated such that the pressure/stresses of work, normal schedule, school, and all that external stuff were very minimal if not present at all for most of the people involved in this trip was GLORIOUS!!!! never underestimate the power of taking a break from all that keeps you busy in everyday life :)
people i love! - obviously seeing my family was a BIG part of what i was excited about!! i get to talk to my mom and dad every sunday but getting to SEE them and in particular on vacation as i mentioned was something i was REALLY looking forward to. i feel like my mom specifically was much more relaxed and carefree than i've ever seen her so that made me really happy to see :) i text with haleigh periodically throughout the week, but being able to receive a big haleigh hug and hear her boisterous laugh were two things i couldn't wait for :) hilary is so busy at school with all the things she is involved in and i don't get to talk to her much so i was excited to reconnect with her and to make her laugh and/or roll her eyes at me as much as possible ;) [which btw i feel like i got way more laughs this time than normal! score!! her sense of humor must be developing much more into what it should be for that to happen ;)] megan and josh have been out of the country since the latter part of august so the communication with them has been less than what i am used to with megan although we did exchange some delightful emails towards the end of their trip :) but face-to-face is always better!! also i hadn't had much of a chance to hang out with josh when i met him for the first time at their wedding (for obvious reasons) so i was really looking forward to getting to know my new brother better! he's the only one i have here and i've never had a Christmas morning with a brother there so what a new experience! :) also it was so nice to see Grandma Dolly!! she is such an awesome lady :) so nice and pretty funny too! we went over to her house as a group for several of the holiday festivities, but Mike and i were able to go out to lunch with her one day too while we were there which was really great :) Anny also flew out to VA to be there for a few days after Christmas and i always love being around her - she is such a happy, kind person and it feels nice to be around her :) i wish that we could hang out with her and dane more often! having several states in between us does make that difficult though...
i love and appreciate old friends even more these days since i live in a place where i am away from so many of the friends i've made over the years. i have found that at times it is more difficult to make friends in the places that i used to look to for creating friendships since those people may be at different stages in their lives which aren't so conducive to having lots of time to do much friendship-building. one of my favorite parts of our trip was that one of my best friends ever from our BYU days, Kim, was able to take a road trip up to my parents' house with her husband Tim and their new baby Addison to visit us!!! their trip was short but the little time that we did have to spend together was priceless and i treasured every minute of it!! it was so kind of them to make that several hour trip up from GA to visit!! i was able to get to know Tim a little better since the only time i'd met him before was at Kim's wedding last december (and again, for obvious reasons didn't get to talk to him much! i need to start getting to know people before their wedding day when they're too busy to talk! :) i was also able to meet their little girl Addison who is so beautiful and seemed to be a very happy baby. we would have to ask Kim and Tim their thoughts on that though to confirm or deny it since they are the experts ;) i really wish that they lived closer because friendship with them comes so easily and is so fun! we have a lot in common! it was great to see Mike enjoying their company as well. we'll have to get together sometime in the future for certain!!!
traditions! - old traditions, new traditions...i love them all!!! it has been interesting to me to marry into a family with far fewer traditions than those of the family i grew up in. mike didn't have very many traditions associated with Christmas so last year when we just had our own Christmas morning here in MN we adopted most of my traditions - which i was very okay with because i love them so much! but i kept feeling like i was running the show since Mike didn't have too many things he had grown up doing. anyhow we really enjoyed the well-established traditions of caroling, Christmas Eve party at Gma's along with dad's bday celebration, opening presents one by one on Christmas morning (aka afternoon and into the evening haha), sharing Christmas memories, trip to D.C. temple to see the lights, and lots of yummy treats constantly surrounding us just to name a few :) we are excited and welcome the new traditions of writing notes to family members to put in each person's heart box, combining resources to help a struggling person or family have a better Christmas, and daddy-daughter/daddy-son and mommy-daughter/mommy-son outings :) i may have to write another blog on those but for now we'll just leave it at that :) "traditions are the glue that holds a family together" and i felt so close to my family as a result of doing all these things together and making so many wonderful memories!
i better stop there before i completely lose track of time reminiscing, but all of those things combined with the joy of celebrating our Savior's birth and the peace and the love that Christmas always bring into my life made for an absolutely amazing holiday for me and seems to have left me stronger as a person. my love for the Savior as i've taken the time to appreciate and contemplate more on His life have rejuvenated my spirit and filled me with a glorious joy of life and the gospel and people in general :) the love i've felt from friends and family has reminded me that i am not alone and i have been blessed immeasurably to have such incredible people in my life. being able to share my beloved family traditions with my husband first-hand and being with him in my parents' love- and gospel-filled home has strengthened our resolve to create a similar home where all who enter feel welcomed and at peace from the weariness that the world can bring, and where we know that our future children will feel safe and be able to grow in truth and righteousness. these feelings are ones that i don't want to fade away as Christmas memories and feelings seem to do so quickly with the world in general as the new year brings a return to the daily schedule and tasks and moves us one calendar page at a time from that blessed Christmas day. i've been making an effort to fill my life with the gospel, with continued contact with my family, with activities that bring me joy and fulfillment, and with acts of love and kindness for Mike and for those other people that are around me so that i can keep that Spirit of Christmas that i felt so strongly while at home and do not want to let go of. i am resolved to go over my talk from last year about keeping Christmas with you and if you are looking to hold firmly to the Christmas spirit you've felt over the last few weeks then i encourage you to click on the link there to that blog entry and read it too! hopefully it will help in your endeavors :) i have also really enjoyed a song that my dad posted on his blog not too long ago about keeping the Spirit of Christmas with you throughout the year:
happy two weeks after Christmas and merry rest of the year everyone!!!!!!! :)
