New Year's Resolutions

It's been almost a year since I posted. I thought I would post my goals for 2011, and hopefully, this year I will do a better job at posting. I have been thinking a lot about a book I read many years ago, and as a result, these are my New Year's resolutions:
Agreement 1
Be impeccable with your word - Speak with integrity. Say only what you mean. Avoid using the word to speak against yourself or to gossip about others. Use the power of your word in the direction of truth and love.
Agreement 2
Don’t take anything personally - Nothing others do is because of you. What others say and do is a projection of their own reality, their own dream. When you are immune to the opinions and actions of others, you won’t be the victim of needless suffering.
Agreement 3
Don’t make assumptions - Find the courage to ask questions and to express what you really want. Communicate with others as clearly as you can to avoid misunderstandings, sadness and drama. With just this one agreement, you can completely transform your life.
Agreement 4
Always do your best - Your best is going to change from moment to moment; it will be different when you are healthy as opposed to sick. Under any circumstance, simply do your best, and you will avoid self-judgment, self-abuse and regret.

I believe if we could make these a part of our daily lives, we will be much happier, live with more peace, and live as our Heavenly Father would want us to. I ask my family to help me with these goals and remind me if they see me not keeping these agreements. (Oh, and I promise I won't get mad if you say, "Mom, remember the agreements!!) ha ha.

CHILLIN' AT GRANDMA'S HOUSE

"I'm so cute!!!"

"Are you lookin' at me?"

"My name is Ava Kate and I look like this 95% of the time, especially when Uncle Shad is making funny faces at me!"

" Grandma gives me the silliest things to play with"

LIFE IS A TEST

"If any man or woman expects to enter into the celestial kingdom of our God without being tested to the very uttermost, they have not understood the Gospel. If there is a weak spot in our nature, or if there is a fiber that can be made to quiver or to shrink, we may rest assured that it will be tested. Our own weaknesses will be brought fully to light, and in seeking for help, the strength of our God will also be made manifest to us." George Q. Cannon

WOW!! BUSY YEAR!!

With just a few hours left in 2009, I am reflecting back on what an amazing year it has been. Brett came home from his mission in July; we welcomed our precious granddaugher, Ava Kate, into our family on September 3rd; then 12 days later, September 15th, we officially welcomed Annika into the Sommerville Family as we celebrated Brett and Annika's marriage. We have been truly blessed with these wonderful events and additions to our family. It was so nice to have our entire family together this Christmas season, after being separated the last two years. There is nothing better than being surrounded with all of our children, laughing, playing, and of course, in our family, a whole bunch of teasing and sarcasm. Unfortunately for Robyne, she seems to get the brunt of it from her three older brothers. I keep telling her it is the way they show their love, but for some reason (ha ha) she doesn't believe me!! We look forward to finding out what 2010 has in store for us!!

WHAT WE KNEW BEFORE

"We knew before we were born that we were coming to the earth for bodies and experience and that we would have joys and sorrows, ease and pain, comforts and hardships, health and sickness, successes and disappointments, and we knew also that after a period of life we would die. We accepted all these eventualities with a GLAD heart, EAGER to accept both the favorable and unfavorable. We EAGERLY accepted the chance to come earthward even though it might be for only a day or a year. Perhaps we were not so much concerned whether we should die of disease, of accident, or of senility. We were willing to take life as it came and as we might organize and control it, and this without murmur, complaint, or unreasonable demands"--Kimball, Faith Precedes the Miracle, 106

THE REASON FOR THE WORLD

This is what I learned this morning in my studies as I sit here feeding my beautiful grandbaby. We have all the answers as members of The Church but the most important thing we are here on this earth to learn, we sometimes forget..... without charity, the pure love of Christ, we are nothing.
This is a post that I came across that says it all. Be sure and listen to the song at the bottom of the post. It is amazing...
http://mormonmatters.org/2008/02/10/the-reason-for-the-world/

TEMPLES

As I am preparing to teach the Old Testament to my Sunday School class next year, I have spent my morning reading time learning about the ancient Temples. The importance of the Temple has been on my mind continuously and I want to make it a goal next year to attend the Temple much more often than I did this year. As I was reading this morning, I came across this quote which perfectly states my thoughts I have been having these last few weeks:

Elder Vaughn J. Featherstone, emeritus member of the Seventy, said:
The season of the world before us will be like no other in the history of mankind. Satan has and will unleash every evil, every scheme, every blatant vile perversion ever known to man in any generation. Just as this dispensation is the fullness of times, so it is also the dispensation of the fullness of evil. We and our wives and husbands, our children, and our members must find safety. There is no safety in the world; wealth cannot provide it, enforcement agencies cannot assure it, membership alone in this Church will not guarantee it.
As the evil night darkens upon this generation, we must come to the temple for light and safety. In our temples we find quiet, sacred havens where the storm cannot penetrate to us… Before the Savior comes the world will darken. There will come a time when even the elect will begin to lose hope if they do not come to the temples. The world will be so filled with evil that the righteous will only feel secure through their faith in Christ and within the temple walls. I believe the Saints will come to the temples not only to do vicarious work but to find a God-given haven of peace. The true and faithful Latter-day Saints will long to bring their children to our temples for safety’s sake… There will be greater hosts of unseen beings in the temple. Joseph told the brethren, “And I beheld that the temple was filled with angels” (History of the Church, vol. 2, page 428). I believe prophets of old as well as those in this dispensation will visit the temples. Those who attend the temples will feel their strength and companionship. We will not be alone in our temples.
Endowed faithful members of the Church who keep all their covenants including the sacred coverings will be safe as protected behind temple walls.9

I am so grateful for my membership in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the privilege I have been given to be sealed to my family in the Temple of the Lord. I am blessed to live within walking distance to the Temple and know that I will be held to a higher standard as to my attendance. We must become a Temple-going and Temple-loving people in these last days, as that is the only thing that will give us the power we will need to withstand the troubled times ahead.