Ok...here goes nothing.

Slowly and reluctantly I am coming forth into the blogging universe. Seems like my sisters have been at it forever, and even my 8 year old niece Lydia is ahead of me on posts. I was thinking though last night of the many times my mother has said to me, "You have to write that down!", and I have meant to but then somehow it slipped away in a tide of laundry, homework, grocery lists, and the like. I used to write letters weekly to my siblings on missions, which turned out to be a kind of diary of sorts, and I wish I still had all of them to go back to now. I am committing now though to do better at this if for no one but my beautiful daughters, who deserve to be able to later recount charming stories about themselves and their audacious adventures growing up as one of my offspring.

We are in the process of moving this week, something which always inspires a sort of self inventory in me as well as a physical inventory of things. What things do we carry with us, and what do we leave behind? Moving is such an immense physical task that it is actually rather overwhelming to me, and of course all the other daily tasks that have to be accomplished when you have kids. I really have to remind myself not to get lost in the details, and try to more thoughtfully hold onto my more spiritual core. My sister Ashley recently forwarded the church's monthly message, this time by Pres. Uchtdorf, and I thought it was quite profound. My goal is to let this thought sink in whilst in the middle of the temporal chaos of moving,

"May I invite you to rise to the great potential within you. But don’t reach beyond your capacity. Don’t set goals beyond your capacity to achieve. Don’t feel guilty or dwell on thoughts of failure. Don’t compare yourself with others. Do the best you can, and the Lord will provide the rest. Have faith and confidence in Him, and you will see miracles happen in your life and the lives of your loved ones. The virtue of your own life will be a light to those who sit in darkness, because you are a living witness of the fulness of the gospel (see D&C 45:28). Wherever you have been planted on this beautiful but often troubled earth of ours, you can be the one to “succor the weak, lift up the hands which hang down, and strengthen the feeble knees” (D&C 81:5)."