"She..."

"She realized she was missing out on a great deal by being sensible.  Celebrate her spirit.  She turned her cant's into cans, and her dreams into plans.  Celebrate her goals.  She cried, but then rolled up her sleeves and looked forward.  Celebrate her determination.  She added so much to being human.  Celebrate her presence.  She not only saw the light at the end of the tunnel, but was that light for others.  Celebrate her compassion.  She realized she needed to pursue dreams rather than small realities.  Celebrate her priorities.  She threw her head back and laughed because she could.  Celebrate her security.  She decided to enjoy more, and "endure" less.  Celebrate her choices.  She went out on a limb, had it break off beneath her, and discovered she could fly.  Celebrate her faith.  She took a leap and built her wings on the way down.  Celebrate her daring.  She listened to her heart above all other voices.  Celebrate her wisdom.  She decided to live the life she imagined.  Celebrate her freedom.  She ran ahead where there were no paths.  Celebrate her bravery.  She said "bye-bye" to unhealthy relationships.  Celebrate her happiness."
-KOBI YAMADA
These are brilliant.  They are from a little book that my friend Cami has.  Last year we even found ourselves text messaging each other our own "shes" that we made up.  They were just little inspiring messages that we would send to encourage each other during hard times.  We would especially write them after those hard times, to sort of some up the lesson we had learned.   I would say it was a very bondingness thing for our friendship!  I love reading all of them, and try to fill my everyday with some celebration.  ;)
I'll probably post the ones that Cami and I wrote, someday.   A few of them are a tad bit personal.  I guess that is what makes them beautiful, but still.  Patience.

Earring organizers/boards

Complete view.  I made this one for my mom's room.  She helped pick out the paper for it.

Fun embellishments can be added!!

Themed paper is fun too!

This is my cousin's.  She just had me take a picture of her bedspread, and I matched paper to it.  These colors were a little tricky, but I got it anyway!  

I even added fancy dancy jewels for my cousin's board. 

This is just a little project that I have been working on for the past few months.  I sold one in a little boutique in Bountiful, and would love to make and sell more!  They are so fun!  I made one for myself one day when I was sick of chaotic earring messes.  It is just a cork board in a frame, with some toole netting.  The cork board is obviously for stud earrings, and the netting for hangy earrings.  I made a few random ones, but the majority of the ones I have made have been custom ordered to match bedrooms.  The price depends on whether or not I need to buy custom materials, but I have usually sold them around $25 (they take a long time to make).  I have more pictures, but not on the computer that I am currently using. :) So, yeah!  They are pretty cool, and I have loved mine!  Shoot me a message if you have questions.  I may or may not be able to answer them.

The friend at Midnight (luke 11: 1-13) This is a good one.

Today in my Parables of Jesus institute class, we learned about the friend at midnight scripture, when Christ's disciples asked him to teach them how to pray.  I strongly encourage you to pull out your bible and read these scriptures so as to better understand what kind of lesson we had today.  First I was comforted by the obvious scripture, verse 13, where I thought about how much my earthly parents want my happiness, and education, and eternal love/family.  If my earthly parents want that for me, I cannot even comprehend how much my perfect, selfless Heavenly parents want that for me.  The best part about that is, that I know they have the power to get it for me as long as I am faithful!  After looking deeper at the parable though, I was touched by what my institute teacher had to say.  Who are the friends?  At first someone suggested that the friend in verse 7 that gave with importunity was Christ, but my institute teacher pointed out that Christ would never turn us away at first, like verse 7 friend did.  Who is the friend from verse 5?  He concluded that the friend that comes at midnight is adversity.  Adversity comes at the most inopportune times like midnight, and asks much of us like 3 loaves.  The friend from verse 7 then, is the means by which we acquire peace, or our struggling with that particular trial.   Even though that friend (struggle) does not let up at first, it eventually does, and for this adversity friend, and from this struggle friend, we walk away with so much more than just 3 loaves.  What do we learn from adversity?  So much more than mere victory in overcoming trial.  We take away with us strength, knowledge, and most importantly testimony.  Thus, adversity is indeed my friend.  How does this parable answer the disciples question of how to pray, though?  Well, it teaches of the struggle, and the kind of prayers that must be said in order to gain/learn from the situation.  It demonstrates the wrestle that we need to go through as we pray with everything that we have inside of us. Enos is another great example of this.  He was not content just praying.  The peace that he gained after praying for hours and hours was worked for.  He gave his whole heart into the prayers that he offered to our Father in Heaven. What a valuable lesson this was for me.  We know that the Lord gives us trials to teach us, and strengthen us for even more trials that lie ahead, but studying this parable just confirmed that knowledge for me, and taught me the best ways to get through those trials.  We must work with the whole of our heart to ask, seek, and knock, and eventually enter into the presence of our Father.  "For the happy man prayer is only a jumble of words, until the day when sorrow comes to explain to him the sublime language by the means of which he speaks to God." -Alexander Dumas
I am grateful for those trials that come knocking at our doors in the wee hours of the darkest nights.  Because of their friendships, I am truly and eternally enriched.

Happy Birthday to me!!!

I absolutely love my birthday.  I look forward to it for months and am not afraid to tell people when it is.  For example this year, those of my closest friends and family were lucky enough to receive a text message from me at midnight saying, "IT'S MY BIRTHDAY!!!"  Out of all of my 19 birthdays, I think this has been one of my very favorites.  I was on spring break, so I was able to drive up to Logan all by myself (if you know me, you know that was a very hard thing for me to do, but I conquered my fears) and spend a couple of days with some of my dearest friends!  I stayed with Cami and Ashlena, and was able to go to a fun party with them.  The next morning, those two and Garen took me to breakfast for my birthday, and they basically each took turns with me following them around their classes and jobs.  You may think that part was boring, but I was a happy camper even in Physics and some Math class that I didn't even try to learn the name of.  Garen was nice enough to take me to the USU bookstore and buy me some nice comfy Utah State sweat pants for my birthday.  Sweat pants..."just for fun..."

When I got home, my family spoiled me by giving me two parties!  Friday night, we had a fun family tournament, where we competed in ping-pong, fooze-ball, just dance, and skittle.  I got some really fun gifts, and was just thrilled to be with people I love!  Saturday, some of my cute roommates came and woke me up to take me to yet another free breakfast at Sill.  They are kind to me.  Sunday night was my big fancy family dinner.  My grandma Gibb and Garen (he actually attended both parties at my request) even came!  It was a delicious meal, and I was just overwhelmed with gratitude for the love that I felt from the amazing people I got to spend so much time with over my "birth weekend."  Thank you, sweet people,  for your love!!

Game on.

Never were there such devoted sisters minus Cami. :(

Early

Fabulous Pavlova!

I have succumbed

I, Hannah Joy Russon, am now a blogger.  I don't know what I'm doing.  Sorry.