Emily

My sweet sister came out for a visit today. I haven't seen her in a long time. It meant a lot that she thought of us and came out. I'm grateful Heavenly Father has blessed me with three brothers and for sisters. I hope we can bring about much good together in the years ahead.

Settlers

Kids having a great time playing together. The Lord has blessed us so much with each other!

January Health Points

Our family started a health point system to help us stay motivated, exercising, and eating right during long, cold January. The kids seem way excited and are earning points like crazy. I'm grateful Heavenly Father helps us set goals and fun ways to achieve them.

Leftovers

Are leftovers wonderful?  Even though I love cooking some days it's nice just to reheat.  I'm grateful Heavenly Father has given us fridges, freezers, dehydrators, and canners to make our lives so simple and easy.

Jordan's Funeral

It was good to visit with family at Jordan Lyle's funeral. I'm grateful there is no true sorrow except sin. I'm grateful I don't have to judge. I'm grateful for my low drama life and associates. I don't regard drama as sincere, but I'm sure it's just a different way of expressing sincere feelings. I am grateful these extended family things aren't everyday. I'm not very good at them. That's because I'm not as Christlike, humble, charitable, forgiving, and non-judgmental as I should be.  I pray the Lord will give me the only gift that keeps me from being worthless:  charity. I struggle to love people naturally and freely. I automatically judge and get annoyed by people who believe or live differently than what I deem right. How disgustingly arrogant of me! Then I just want to leave. I have to totally stop myself analyze my feelings and sins. Then I have to make a labored decision to love others and make sure I am helping them feel valued, encouraged, and accepted. It is ridiculous how this is such a difficult, unnatural process for me. The Lord does help me change my attitude, but I someday (like tomorrow or a decade ago) I wish unconditional love and concern would just flow out of my heart without having to be reasoned, prodded, and prayed out.

Home for the Holidays

We have totally enjoyed relaxing at home this Christmas season. We've read, played games, swam, played in the snow, etc.  It's been nice to just have loss of family time. I'm so grateful Heavenly Father has bleed us with down time.  After a break it feels great to get back to work!

Moving Grandpa

Jaremy, Benjamin, Moroni, and Hyrum are moving Grandpa Michael today to his little rental house in Garland. I hope they are safe. I hate the thought of them getting hurt while moving something heavy. I also hope Michael doesn't pawn too much stuff onto them. He's a packrat. I'm glad I couldn't go. I'm a minimalist. I get annoyed and disgusted by hoarding. Whenever I help move someone or visit someone with a lot of stuff I go home and start throwing things away.

You have just got to read, "Lose 200 Pounds This Weekend" by Don Aslet. Don makes a very persuasive case for getting rid of junk. It holds you back in so many ways. If you have decided what is most important in life and have created a plan to get there, get rid of what you don't need to accomplish the plan. 

For instance, I got rid of tons of knitting supplies. Leaning to knit and knitting is way down on my priority list, so why store the stuff. Clear room(physically and mentally) to focus on top priorities. Having extra stuff around just distracts from what really needs to be done. Just because something is fun, develops a talent, or takes up time doesn't give it the right to be in your life. Life is short. You have a very limited time to serve and accomplish what God has sent you to earth to do. Money and other resources are also limited. So many people suffer in want while we buy more stupid, unnecessary stuff.

I can see so many people who are owned by their junk. It ruins their relationships, jobs, health, wealth, productivity, enjoyment, mobility,and purpose. They worship stuff.  They are continually shopping and paying for junk,  thinking about it, moving it, cleaning around it , fixing it, discussing it, storing it, and finding it.   They spend more time with their junk than they do praying, going to the temple, reading scriptures, or serving others.  Family and friends become unable to visit, especially if they have children.  Knick- knacks have become more important than children, grandchildren, friends, spouses, or anyone else. They eventually get to the point they can't handle it all alone. So they call neighbor kids, elders' quorums, or their own kids and grandkids to help them sort, store, transport, sell, or deal with their junk. They spread their problems and junk onto others. Or they die and leave insane amounts of stuff for others to go through, get rid of, and oddly, fight over.  Disgusting!

This is a huge problem with so many today. Jaremy and I consider ourselves minimalist in this time and country. However, even we can do much better. I get a high from dejunking. I think I'm going to go throw some stuff out. It's a great way to clear the mind.  I'm grateful Heavenly Father has led me to minimalism.  But I pray He will lead me to unconditionally love those who like their stuff.  I'm way too judgmental and mean. I get on a high horse when it comes to some people. I know this is way worse than collecting junk. I pray the Lord will change my heart. Not about the junk, but about the people. I pray He will help me sincerely love everyone.  I wish getting rid of a hard, judgmental heart was as easy as getting rid of stuff.