I believe in Christ.

"I believe in Christ; he is my King! 

With all my heart to him I'll sing;

 I'll raise my voice in praise and joy,

 in grand amens my tongue employ.

 I believe in Christ; he is God's Son. 

On earth to dwell his soul  did come.

He healed the sick; 

the dead he raised. 

Good works were his;

his name be praised." 

-Hymn written by: Bruce R. McConkie

Listen to the whole song here. 

Jim (my wonderful husband) and I have been thinking a lot lately about how we can be better examples and better at sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ with everyone we know. So, today for family home evening Jim challenged us to make a goal of helping to spread the gospel to all the world. Our goal, as you might guess, was to use social networking to share our testimonies of the Savior.  This hymn that I shared above has been a huge part of my testimony of Christ since I was a small girl. A little back history on me then-- I started to play the violin when I was 6 years old and so music has been a monumental part of my life. When I started playing the violin one of the most exciting things for me was that I was able to play hymns and I thought maybe one day I might even get to play in church!
As I grew and was able to progress in my musical talents I was able to start playing hymns and "I believe in Christ" is one of the first songs I was able to 'pick out' on my own. I know that the spirit of the Lord can help us to feel the truth and I also know that music can be one of those ways that the spirit can 'speak' to us or help us to feel closer to our Savior. As I learned and mastered this song the music spoke to my heart and the words spoke to my mind telling me that I have a father in heaven and a brother - my Savior, who love me and who can help me along this journey of life. I came to gain a greater understanding of what our Savior did for us. I came to know Him on a personal level. Music brought me the beginning of my testimony and continues to help me build that testimony.

I know that each of us can have a personal relationship with our Father in Heaven as well as our Savior, Jesus Christ. I know that the way to begin this relationship can be something as small as a piece of music or a small and simple prayer. Our Father and Savior love us and they are willing to answer our prayers if we will but ask.

 "If any of ye lack wisdom, let his ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him." James 1:5

Image used with permission from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

BVHS 2007 Class Reunion

I don't know how many of my classmates look at my blog but I am trying really hard to make sure everyone knows about our up-coming class reunion.

http://paperless.ly/NkOf2j

 http://www.integratechs.com/

This is a very exciting time in our lives and gives us (Jim and I) confidence that we can survive outside of the college world that we have been living in for the last two years.

Jim just got a job offer for this company called integraTECHS. (I borrowed the picture from their site, thank you to them)  He will be working in their southern Utah office in St. George. For now he will work part time from home until he graduates, then he will be put on their salary. YAY, we are actually going to have jobs!

Now for the story...at the same time Jim got offered this job I also got offered an internship (as an alternate in a position, they were waiting for the first choice applicant to decide) in the Alpine school district at Manila Elementary. This was a very difficult decision to make because both were really great opportunities for us.

An internship for teachers means that I would have been the full-time teacher for that year and I would be paid 1/2 salary and 1/2 benefits, so this was a really good offer and not everyone gets these kinds of opportunities. I really wasn't even planning on hearing back from them at all. I really don't mean to boast but the story is really neat and it gave me confidence that I am marketable in my chosen profession. A teacher and the principal came to our college class and asked each of us, who were interested, to fill out a one page information sheet and then come in and interview. I did this mainly because it would be great experience for me seeing that I have never interviewed for a teaching job before. They asked me to send references, and I did later that day Then a couple days later I got the email from them stating that I was an alternate for the position. I was so surprised; I thought they must have called my references... but no, they didn't. I was even more surprised when I found this out. I felt very honored to be given that opportunity with only a bit of information on one page and a 5 minute interview.

As we weighted our options and counseled with the lord, we felt like the job in St. George was the one for us. I am so thankful for a father in heaven who loves and cares about our lives here on earth. These decisions are not easy ones to make, and having his guiding hand makes these decisions much more simple. I  know the lord helps us in our lives and often that help comes in revelations through the spirit.

DIY book page wreath

I have been dying to do one of these wreaths ever since I saw one at my cute friends house about a year ago. She told me how simple it was and I was so excited to try it and now, finally, a year later I have accomplished this task. Just a precursory note: this project was so time consuming, I couldn't believe that something that looked and sounded so easy could be so... so... yup, time consuming. Although, I am super ecstatic about my results.  

Also, for those of you who visit my blog pretty regularly (family, that's you)... this is my very first try at doing a tutorial, tell me how I do, ok? (leave out the spelling and grammatical errors, I know they occur quite frequently) 

Here is a super quick tutorial about how to consume your time with wreath making....

Supplies: 

• Foam wreath between 7-10$ at Jo-Anns
• An old book that you will never read again or buy a cheap one from D.I. or a thrift store, they are usually about .50 -$1 
• An un-sharpened pencil (or two, just in case)
• Hot glue gun ( and if your like me and have a super old hand-me down one that 'leaks' while its plugged in you will need lots and lots of the glue stick thingers...whatever they are called) 

Caution: Librarians please cover you eyes and ears .... okay basically don't read the first instruction it may be a bit graphic for you. In fact, you may want to choose an alternative wreath making activity. ;) 

Instructions:

*Think about popping in a movie or plugging in those ear buds while you are doing this, maybe you will be faster than me but this took me about 4, 2 hour sittings to get done. Its probably that I am just slower than all get out though. 

1. Take that old book and just rip the covers right off (HA remember the movie Up..."I ripped this right out of a library book"  *gasp*-- Gotta love Disney movies).  

2. Proceed to tear out the pages, I found it easiest to tear out 3 at a time and keep them together. Tear into pieces of about 2"X2". This is up to you how 'out there' or 'puffy' you want your wreath to look. 

3. Use your pencil to make a hole in the foam wreath.

4. Put a little dab of hot glue into the hole.

5. Put the 2x2 piece of paper around the pencil 

6. Stick it into the hole where the hot glue is waiting to do its job. 

*Just a suggestion... I found I was a little aggressive with poking the paper into the foam wreath and when I used the un-sharpened edge of the pencil I usually tore the paper so it wouldn't stick as well. So to remedy this I used the eraser end when poking the paper into the hot glued hole. 

7. Repeat steps 2 -6

8. Enjoy the great looking book page wreath that you just spent SO MUCH TIME making. :) Good Luck and Have FUN. Would love to see some others end results... 

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