More Reason for this Blog

I was watching BYU TV yesterday and came across a talk from President Henry B. Eyring. I think what he said is part of why we're keeping this blog. His talk is called O Remember, Remember. I think everyone should read the whole talk, or download the mp3 and listen to it. It's a good reminder to look for the blessings in our lives and recognize them. Here's an excerpt from that talk -

When our children were very small, I started to write down a few things about what happened every day. Let me tell you how that got started. I came home late from a Church assignment... My father-in-law... was carrying a load of pipes over his shoulder, walking very fast and dressed in his work clothes. I knew that he had been building a system to pump water from a stream below us up to our property... I took a few steps toward the house, thinking of what he was doing for us, and just as I got to the door, I heard in my mind—not in my own voice—these words: “I’m not giving you these experiences for yourself. Write them down.”

I went inside... Although I was tired, I took out some paper and began to write. And as I did, I understood the message I had heard in my mind. I was supposed to record for my children to read, someday in the future, how I had seen the hand of God blessing our family...

I wrote down a few lines every day for years. I never missed a day no matter how tired I was or how early I would have to start the next day. Before I would write, I would ponder this question: “Have I seen the hand of God reaching out to touch us or our children or our family today?” As I kept at it, something began to happen. As I would cast my mind over the day, I would see evidence of what God had done for one of us that I had not recognized in the busy moments of the day. As that happened, and it happened often, I realized that trying to remember had allowed God to show me what He had done.

More than gratitude began to grow in my heart. Testimony grew. I became ever more certain that our Heavenly Father hears and answers prayers. I felt more gratitude for the softening and refining that come because of the Atonement of the Savior Jesus Christ. And I grew more confident that the Holy Ghost can bring all things to our remembrance—even things we did not notice or pay attention to when they happened...

My point is to urge you to find ways to recognize and remember God’s kindness. It will build our testimonies... you... will be blessed as you remember what the Lord has done... the challenge to remember has always been the hardest for those who are blessed abundantly. Those who are faithful to God are protected and prospered. That comes as the result of serving God and keeping His commandments. But with those blessings comes the temptation to forget their source...

Sadly, prosperity is not the only reason people forget God. It can also be hard to remember Him when our lives go badly. When we struggle, as so many do, in grinding poverty or when our enemies prevail against us or when sickness is not healed, the enemy of our souls can send his evil message that there is no God or that if He exists He does not care about us. Then it can be hard for the Holy Ghost to bring to our remembrance the lifetime of blessings the Lord has given us from our infancy and in the midst of our distress.

There is a simple cure for the terrible malady of forgetting God...

The key... is receiving the Holy Ghost as a companion. It is the Holy Ghost who helps us see what God has done for us...

Tonight, and tomorrow night, you might pray and ponder, asking the questions: Did God send a message that was just for me? Did I see His hand in my life or the lives of my children?

Brittny - 29 March 2009

Low - Samuel woke up at 7am and didn't sleep any appreciable amount until 3pm. That made for a VERY long day...

Highs - Eric was finally feeling better! Also, since we didn't make it to church (being sick all weekend will do that) we watched the BYU channel all day and I got to listen to lots of uplifting messages from different general authorities. Including the Young Women's broadcast from the night before, it was an inspiring broadcast. I really want to get a new Young Women's Personal Progress manual now and complete the goals for the new Young Women's Value - Virtue. Probably though the highlight of the day was having my visiting teacher come over and having Amber Phillips come visit us as well. I've been cooped up in the house for a little bit, and I hadn't realized how starved I was for company. It was SO good to have good friends over to visit with for awhile :)

Papa John's Pits

Weekend low: I got food poisoning from eating Papa John's pizza on Thursday night at work. That put me out of commission for the rest of the weekend.

Highs: Because I got sick Thursday night, I didn't have to take any personal days from work.

I was also able to figure out and fix my computer.

I calmed down a fussy Samuel so the entire family could sleep last night :)

Its a great day to be alive....

I have a hard time posting a "low" because I want to be positive but definitely my low at this time comes from the death of my brother-in-law Jay. It is not his death that makes me feel low, because I know that he continues to live through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The low is knowing that my sister and her family are mourning. Jay truly loved being a husband and a father and I know his family will miss him.
There are so many highs I can't list them all but here are a few:
Listening to the Prophet and the Young Women's leaders speak about virtue. I am so grateful to live at a time when we can receive instruction from such great leaders. The General Young Women's presidency has challenged the young women of the church to do three things every day. I think these would be good goals for each of us:
1. Personal prayer
2. Read for 5 minutes from the Book of Mormon
3. Smile

Next high was working in our yard. I love our yard and I love how everything looks during spring time.

Going to the beach and seeing the dolphins. I love being close to nature.

Hearing or seeing in texts or emails, honestly I don't care how it is communicated, "I love you" from my family.

I feel the Lord leading and directing my life constantly. I am so grateful to live at this period when the Gospel is restored in its fullness.

I love you all.
The Momster

Brittny - 28 March 2009

I like starting with my low so that I can end with the high. It's something I picked up from Pregtastic - a podcast I listened to a lot while I was pregnant. Anyways...

Low - Having a super sick husband for the past couple of days. You need to get better Eric!

High - Getting to take a shower and get all dressed. Who knew that taking a shower was such a luxury?!

RadDad - 28 Mar 09

High -- Attending the General YW Broadcast and dinner at the stake center. We have an awesome stake YW presidency. (The General YW Presidency aren't too bad either) ;-)

Low -- Finding out my brother-in-law Jay had passed away late last night.

RadDad - 23 Mar 09

High - Attending my grandmother's funeral and being reminded of my blessed heritage.

Low - Observing how casually so many members of my family are in living the Gospel

Brittny's First High & Low

Sorry, I can't limit it to a single high, so here are my highs for the week in no particular order -

• Going to church for the first time since Samuel was born (and getting him all dressed up and looking super cute). You start to forget how much you miss being at church if you miss for awhile, it was good to be back.


• Having Dad come stay with us for a couple days and get to play with Samuel


• ... then seeing the rest of the family this week (thanks Grandma Bonnie for dying so everyone could come!)


• The Relief Society bringing us dinners for the past week - I never realized what a necessary blessing those meals are until having my own baby. Just feeding a baby takes a lot more time than you would think! I have a hard time finding time to eat or go to the bathroom in a day. At least since someone else was bringing the meals I could easily eat at least once a day!


• Samuel finally sleeping in a bassinet - I love cuddling with the kid, but it's nice to be able to do things (like write this blog post) while he sleeps!


• Eric having the last two weeks off of work to help out at home. Paternity leave ROCKS! I don't know how I'd have done it without him (although I guess I'm going to find out starting tomorrow :P )


• Taking Samuel to the doctor and being told we're doing a good job as his parents and that he's still healthy and looking good!


• Discovering that Samuel is pretty happy in a carseat


• Getting to go out and get some new shirts and a bunch of random necessities (and not so necessities) at Target with Mom on Saturday

I'm sure I've missed some of my other highs, but that's a good start on the list :) My only real low for this week has just been being sick on and off again, but fortunately I'm doing better so I can't even complain too much there!

Food High, Tech Low

My high was not having to worry about food. This has been the case for about the last entire week! And knowing that Brittny doesn't need to stress out about what to make for dinner makes me feel happy for her, too.

My low, and this is a biggie, is that I inadvertently corrupted my Windows Vista partition. Not a big deal itself, except that it has a ton of backup files on it!!!! Off to try and save it... I don't know how much sleep I will get tonight.

High and Low!

My high for today is being able to have Turkey with great gravy, potato's, corn, and amazing rolls. Yes you can say I am easy to please or in Taylor's words "Fresh and easy!".
Low would be laying on the floor as it is the only comfortable spot to be right now!

The Story of US!

The idea of highs and lows comes from one of Mom and Dad's favorite movies - The Story of Us. Unfortunately the movie is rated R, but we bought an edited version for them one year for Christmas. Anyways, in the movie the family has a tradition of having everyone tell what their high and low was for the day while sitting around the dinner table. It's one of our family's favorite scenes in the movie for this exchange -

Dad: What about you? What was your high today?
Josh: Gary Ellis' mom bought a new juicer and I went to his house and drank a chicken.
Dad: And your low?
Josh: I don't have a low.
Dad: You gotta have a low.
Josh: I've been racking my brain. I do not have a low.
Dad: We'll enter the chicken smoothie in the high and low category.

We tried to have this same tradition at dinner when we were all at home, but now that the family is getting more spread out we needed a way to share our highs and lows from across the country. A blog seemed like a fitting way for us to do that since everyone can contribute and view it this way. Plus it's a cool way for us to keep a record of all of the blessings (or highs, whatever you want to call them :) ) that we have through the years.

So, enjoy the Anderson family highs and lows... and chicken smoothies :)