A little extra light

I have a friend serving in Iceland right now, and in the winter time there are only a few hours of sunlight per day, so to give him a little extra "light" and "warmth" and "son"shine, I found several scriptures that talk about those very things.  I thinks it's wonderful for all of us to remember the true light in our lives, so enjoy!!

“The light of Christ is just what the words imply:  enlightenment, knowledge, an uplifting, ennobling, persevering influence that comes upon mankind because of Jesus Christ...”

“A teacher of gospel truths is not planting something foreign or even new into an adult or child.  Rather, the missionary or teacher is making contact with the Spirit of Christ already there.”

“I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen; not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else. “

-CS Lewis.

Rev. 22: 5, 16

 5-And there shall be no night there; and they need no candle, neither light of the sun; for the Lord God giveth them light: and the shall reign for ever and ever. 

 16-I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches.  I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning star. (You and I both know that the sun is actually a star...so...it works.) :)

Peter 2: 9

9-But yea are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.

2 Peter 1:19

19- We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts.”

2 Sam. 22: 29-36 (so only the first one has to do with light...but the rest of these are awesome too!!!)

29-For thou art my lamp, O Lord: and the Lord will lighten my darkness.

30-For by thee I have run through a troop:  by my God have I leaped over a wall

31-As for God, his way is perfect; the word of the Lord is tried:  he is a buckler to all them that trust in him.

32-For who is God, save the Lord? and who is a rock, save our God?

33-God is my strength and power:  and he maketh my way perfect.

34-He maketh my feet like hinds’ feet:  and setteth me upon my high places.

35-He teacheth my hands to war; so that a bow of steel is broken by mine arms.

36-Thou hast also given me the shield of thy salvation:  and they gentleness hath made me great. 

D&C 88:49-50

49-The light shineth in darkness, and the darkness comprehendeth it not; nevertheless, the day shall come when you shall comprehend even God, being quickened in him and by him. 

50-Then shall ye know that ye have seen me, that I am, and that I am the true light that is in you, and that you are in me; otherwise ye could not abound.  

D&C 84: 45-47

45-For the word of the Lord is truth, and whatsoever is truth is light, and whatsoever is light is Spirit, even the Spirit of Jesus Christ.

46-And the Spirit giveth light to every man that cometh into the world; and the Spirit enlighteneth every man through the world, that hearkeneth to the voice of the Spirit.

47-And ever one that hearkeneth to the voice of the Spirit cometh unto God, even the Father.

D&C 14: 9

9-Behold, I am Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God, who created the heavens and the earth, a light which cannot be hid in darkness.

D&C 50: 24

24-That which is of God is light; and he that receiveth light, and continueth in God, receiveth more light; and that light groweth brighter and brighter until the perfect day.

Psm 27: 1, 36: 9, 119: 105

1-The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?  The Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?

9-For with thee is the fountain of life:  in they light shall we see light. 

105-Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.

Eccl 11:7

7-Truly the light is sweet, and a pleasant thing it is for the eyes to behold the sun (son).

Isa 60: 3 (missionary work!)

3-And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of they rising.

Luke 1:78-79

78-Through the tender mercy of our God; whereby the dayspring from on high hath visited us, 

79-To give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.

Rom. 13:12

12-The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light.

Mosiah 16: 9

9-He is the light and the life of the world; yea, a light that is endless, that can never be darkened; yea, and also a life which is endless, that there can be no more death.

Ether 3:14

14-Behold, I am he who was prepared from the foundation of the world to redeem my people.  Behold, I am Jesus Christ, I am the Father and the Son.  In me shall all mankind have life, and that eternally, even they who shall believe on my name; and they shall become my sons and my daughters. 

Doom

Well, the day has come.  The day that I have been anticipating for quite some time now...has come.  The day where I am no longer able to upload pictures on my blog because I have used 100% of my GB space.  NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!  Now my options are to either pay more, or make a book of my blog (which is actually quite the tedious process, and it won't even look like my actual blog, and the layout totally gets all skewed), then go back a delete certain posts so as to create more space.  Boooo.  Those of you who have encountered this doomsday event, what have you done?  It's not THAT expensive...but still.  I don't know!  HELP!

I'm 20 but...

• coloring is still one of my favorite activities.  I do it frequently.  My mom bought a Hello Kitty Christmas coloring book for me.
• I just recently found out that R.O.T.C. does not in fact stand for Representative Of The Country.  
• no matter how many times I make spaghetti, I can never make the right amount of noodles. 
• snuggling in bed with my mommy is still one of the most calming things for me (sometimes she snuggles with me in my bed too).  
• whenever it is an option, I still choose pink.  Always.
• I still love it when my daddy reaches back to the back seat to hold my hand while he drives.
• I still tap the gas peddle with my foot before stepping on the brake peddle, just to make sure that the gas peddle is NOT the one that I press hard on.  I think I mostly do this because my oldest brother once mistook the gas peddle for the brake peddle and drove through our garage into our kitchen.  Literally.  
• I just had to ask my mom if brake as in car brake is spelled B-R-E-A-K or B-R-A-K-E.  Welp...*backspace*...doin' good, Hannah.
• sometimes I mix my words for other words, or mix popular phrases up.  For example, "Mom, do you think I sin in omnipotence?"  Yeah, I meant omission.  "Adam, I am starting a new leaf!" "Don't crutinize me!"  What?  That one I completely made up.
• I remembered, the other night, that there are vending machines down the hall at the Conference Center and gave my friends around me quite a startle when I gasped in remembrance/excitement. "TREATS!"
• still sleep with a special "snuggy."  
• Beauty and the Beast is just as magical (if not more) as it was when I was little onefa. 
• boys still have cooties.  Usually.

So....anyway.  Those are just a few.  I could probably go on and on, but these are the only ones I could think of right now.  What are some of your child-like quirks? :)

Crunch, crunch, crunch!

Things That Made Me Happy This Week

• Hearing a forgotten lullaby from my childhood.
• "JUST shepherds..."
• I totally witnessed a mom holding her little boys hand, walk him into a pillar at the grocery store (don't worry the kid was fine or else it wouldn't have been funny), and it made my day.  I had to turn away so the mom couldn't see me laughing.  
• Sunday dinner with my mom and dad.
• SPARKLY SNOW!!!!
• Wit.
• Getting stuck in my Savior of the World costume.  I could have died, guys.  Still, it was hilarious.
• Conversations with people I love.
• Fading zits!
• Colorful paper
• Spicy buffalo wings.  The ONLY spicy thing I can handle.  For some reason I LOVE them, and crave them frequently.
• BABIES!
• Turned the fireplace on for the first time this week!
• Found a place to live in Logan, got everything cleared up as far as transferring goes, possibly got an academic scholarship.  Possibly (please bless!!!).
• Grumpily muttering to myself whilst driving in the car, then seeing a little girl skip down the sidewalk.  Grumpy:  gone.
• Reconnecting with old friends.
• Being RIGHT!  HA!
• Nail polish.

"All Flesh is in His Hands."

Last night after finding out the outcome of the elections, and in an effort to escape all of the negativity, mockery, and disrespect found on my facebook home page, I opened my scriptures.  Soon after beginning to read, I found my mind wondering back to the worst-case scenarios and "what if"'s.  Almost immediately in response to those questions, the thought came to my mind, "then we will depend on the Lord."  I then read  the following scripture (not because I purposefully turned there, but because it "happens" to be exactly where I am in the Book of Mormon):
 "Wherefore, ye must press forward with a steadfastness in Christ having a perfect brightness of hope and love of God and of ALL MEN.  Wherefore if ye shall press forward feasting upon the word of Christ, and endure to the end, behold, thus saith the Father:  Ye shall have eternal life." 
A small smile went across my face as a feeling of peace filled my body.  "Yes," I thought, "then we will depend on the Lord because 'All flesh is in His hands.'"
There is little about all of this political stuff that I really understand, so that doesn't leave me with a whole lot of room to create strong opinions for myself, so today while mowing the lawn (where I actually tend to do a lot of pondering) in the beautiful fall air, I tried to figure out exactly where I stand in all of this.  I could only think of last night.  I was overwhelmed with gratitude and hope!  I could only think of how grateful I am for the country that I live in.  As people all over the place tease about moving to other countries, I am grateful for this one - that we don't know what it is really like to have a terrible, dictator-like figure as the leader of our home-land, like in other countries.  Grateful to know that no matter what goes on in this world, it is NOT what we need to depend our happiness on.  Grateful to know that all hardship that we face in this life will be compensated for because of Jesus Christ.  Grateful to know that the Lord cares enough about me to give me a little peace of mind when others around me seemed to be in utter panic!  It's going to be alright!
I pray for the leaders of our country - whoever they may be.  I pray that we can continue to "lift where we stand" no matter the circumstance.  More than anything though, I pray that all can come unto Christ and find peace in His promises.

More Halloween!

More celebrations!!  I love Halloween!

For my second Halloween party, I was a pirate.  My trusty "parrot" came along with me and was a hit!

Then I got arrested in our Human Clue game for attempted murder.  Bishop Cottle wouldn't let me date his son, because I was knownas the "black widow" of the ward - many ex's. Who wrote this script?! haha  So, naturally, I tried to murder him - "Miss Snow in the lobby with the necktie."

So shameful.

Cheese!!!  I looooove gutting pumpkins!  Hazzzaaah!!

Tink's Halloween getaway!  Pretty simple, but the little girls loved it!  The door even open and closes, thanks to a couple of tooth-pick hinges!

So Adam went all out and did stuff like shading and stuff.  Pretty impressive, eh?

For my 3rd party/actual Halloween night, I was Black Widow!  I know, I know, it would have been more fitting for me to be her for my ward party seeing as that was what my character's nick name was.  However, I didn't quite process that in time.  Plus I wanted to take Gilly. 

Adam, some of my wardie friends, and I went to Davies' annual Halloween party where we ate yummy soup, homemade donuts, candy, and played Mormon Mouthful.  Haha fun game.  Kinda like MadGab, only with Mormon terms.  We laughed al lot!

Avengers together again.  Well, at least 2 of them.  I don't even know who's child this is, but he's cute!

  I hope everyone had a happy and safe Halloween!

Look to God and Live

"Katie Lewis is my neighbor. Her father, Randy, is my bishop; her mother, Melanie, is a saint. And her older brother, Jimmie, is battling leukemia.

Sister Lewis recently recounted for me the unspeakable fear and grief that came to their family when Jimmie’s illness was diagnosed. She spoke of the tears and the waves of sorrow that any mother would experience with a prognosis as grim as Jimmie’s was. But like the faithful Latter-day Saints they are, the Lewises turned to God with urgency and with faith and with hope. They fasted and prayed, prayed and fasted. And they went again and again to the temple.

One day Sister Lewis came home from a temple session weary and worried, feeling the impact of so many days—and nights—of fear being held at bay only by monumental faith.

As she entered her home, four-year-old Katie ran up to her with love in her eyes and a crumpled sheaf of papers in her hand. Holding the papers out to her mother, she said enthusiastically, “Mommy, do you know what these are?”

Sister Lewis said frankly her first impulse was to deflect Katie’s zeal and say she didn’t feel like playing just then. But she thought of her children—all her children—and the possible regret of missed opportunities and little lives that pass too swiftly. So she smiled through her sorrow and said, “No, Katie. I don’t know what they are. Please tell me.”

“They are the scriptures,” Katie beamed back, “and do you know what they say?”

Sister Lewis stopped smiling, gazed deeply at this little child, knelt down to her level, and said, “Tell me, Katie. What do the scriptures say?”

“They say, ‘Trust Jesus.’” And then she was gone.

Sister Lewis said that as she stood back up, holding a fistful of her four-year-old’s scribbling, she felt near-tangible arms of peace encircle her weary soul and a divine stillness calm her troubled heart.

Katie Lewis, “angel and minister of grace,” I’m with you. In a world of some discouragement, sorrow, and overmuch sin, in times when fear and despair seem to prevail, when humanity is feverish with no worldly physicians in sight, I too say, “Trust Jesus.” Let him still the tempest and ride upon the storm. Believe that he can lift mankind from its bed of affliction, in time and in eternity."

(From a talk given by Elder Holland.  "Look to God and Live.")

Feeling Strengthened

Recently I have thought about decisions I have made in the past, and how things are going to work out for me in the future because of them.  I have questioned myself and those decisions.  I have found myself doubting and afraid.  I have wondered if "maybe I could try to date so-and-so again.  Maybe I didn't give it enough of a try", or "maybe I could go back to Provo instead of go to Utah State - that might be easier."   "What exactly do new relationships, or a new school, or a new environment hold for me?"  These questions are talked about in one of my favorite talks by Elder Holland "Faith is for the Future."  He tells the story of how one night he and his new bride were walking along BYU campus feeling slightly discouraged at the things they were lacking.  Particularly money.  He turned to his wife Pat, and in a moment of despair and desperate confusion told her, "we can go back, I can get a decent enough job to provide for us, we don't have to be here."  She then grabbed him by the lapels and told him, "we are not going back.  The future holds everything for us."  It is this very story, and those very lines that come to my mind whenever I think about taking the less frightening or possibly easier rout.  Elder Holland said that years and years later, after that experience, he would sit on BYU campus and watch young students much like his old self walk around with expressions of their faces that seemed to ask the same questions that I have asked myself in the last while.  To them - to me - he said to some effect:  "Faith is for the future.  The future holds everything."
I know I cannot go back.  Am I scared?  Yes.  Will it be hard?  Most definitely.  However, I am where I am for a reason.  Maybe lots of reasons.  I don't really know what the Lord has planned for me,  I know it's something though, so for now I go with that.  I told my Becca the other day, when we were talking about life and growing up, "so we step into the future and into the unknown with our fists clenched to hide our shaking hands, our heads held high to intimidate the enemy, and with faith in the Lord to lead us to victory.  We will not go back."  Okay, I didn't say exactly that, but it was close and it's true!  I love the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  I love Him.  He LIVES!  He conquered death and lives.  It is through Him that we live as well.  Now and forever.   We are children of a loving Father in Heaven and He is all knowing - and WE WILL BE GUIDED.  "Faith is believing that the outcome with be good.  Worry is believing that the outcome will be bad.  Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ is believing that whatever the outcome, it will indeed be for our BEST good."  So, my friends, I've said it a thousand times, and I'll say it again.  "The future is as bright as your faith," and "we are NOT going back."
Happy Sunday, indeed. :)

Halloween Party!

We Russons know how to throw a good Halloween party.  Halloween has become one of my favorite holidays because of this tradition.  It gets more and more intense every year, and I love getting ready for it!!  Here are some fun pictures from last night's events!

Costume parade!  We had a little dalmatian, a sassy witch, a little 'Cars' character (I don't remember his name.  Somethin' Piston, Mario, Repunzel, the Candy-corn witch, Anikan Skywalker, Bane, Mario, and a skeleton luchador of sorts.

We all know how much I love butterflies, so I threw together this "butterfly queen" stume.  My nieces thought it was magical!

Nerd.  What's new?  haha jk.  Adam is cool.

A pirate and his wench

Spider-ella

Hippie bishop

Somethin' somethin' the friendly undertaker.  

Bay watch dude.

Angel Roxy

You can't tell in this picture, but I'm covered in sparkles.  I think that and the mask were my favorite part.

We take this very seriously.

Scary story time!

And a cool craft, of course.  Good job, Stace!

Oh, so proud.

I Love Him

Joshua (little boy):  I still don’t understand why He had to die.  

Mary:  Come here, Joshua.  Did you know that once, when he was not much older than you we lost Him?  

Joshua:  No!  Where?

Mary:  Here, in Jerusalem.  For three days Joseph and I searched fratically, worried for His safety, afraid He was lost.  And finally we found Him.  In the temple.  He was teaching grown men, doctors, priests!  And he said to us, “Wist you not that I be about my Father’s business?”  You see, it was His Father’s will that He leave us those three days.  And for these past three days, when it seemed we had lost Him again, it was the will of His father He’s been doing as always.  That’s why He laid down His life, so that He could take it up again, and us with Him.  

Rebekah (little girl):  I don’t ever want to lose Him again!

Mary:  You don’t have to, Rebekah.  If you follow Him and keep His commandments, you will always feel Him near. 

Rebekah:  I’ll follow Him then.  Wherever He wants me to go!

Joshua:  What if we don’t know where that is, or what if we can’t?

Mary:  It is good to wonder about yourself, but you need never wonder about the Lord.
(My very favorite scene from Savior of the World, and this year I'm so excited that I get to actually BE in this scene.)

Tis Finished!!

My room, I mean.

This was what it was themed after.
Ummm I love butterflies.  10 points if you can spot all of them throughout the room!
Ready, GO!

This used to have white in the little cracks.  Then I painted black acrylic paint in them and wiped off the excess.
Very pleased with the result.

That used to be white too.  Spray paint.

I kind of like not having closet doors.  Kinda like a walk-in closet but not....

Shelves used to be white too.  Again spray paint.
Say hi to Gilly!