Friends

A friend is someone we turn to,

When our spirits need a life,

A friend is someone we treasure,

For true friendship is a gift.

A friend is someone we laugh with,

Over little personal things,

A friend is someone we're serious with,

In facing whatever life brings.

A friend is someone who fills our lives,

With beauty and joy and grace.

And makes the world that we live in

A better and happier place!

~Jean Kyler McManus

I'm grateful for friends. I visited another branch in our stake today and discovered that I have so many friends there. There were so many faces that made me smile. When you take into account my friends from home and/or high school, plus the ones I made out at school, plus the slew of mission friends--both here and there then combine all those with my new friends and my church friends and my family...wow. There are so many people I love. :)

Thank you. To everyone who is a friend. I'm grateful for you.

Shoes

I am addicted to shoes. Not in an I-love-to-wear-shoes kind of way 'cause anyone who knows me knows that I'm barefooted every chance I get. No, I'm addicted in an oh-my-gosh-those-shoes-are-awesome-and-I-must-have-them kind of way. Most of the awesome pairs of shoes I own, I bought impulsively. I can't seem to help it. Awesome shoes just call to me and make me their slave. Then, of course, I must shop for something to wear with the shoes...and then I might need a bit of jewelry to match...my coolest outfits were all definitely created around the shoe.

So, if I had several hundred dollars to spare right now, which I don't, I would buy these shoes:

and then I'd buy this dress to match:

Of course, in my head, I'd look adorable in them....for now, my debit card stays sheathed in my wallet and my feet stay bare. But I may have vivid dreams tonight involving red shoes and a houndstooth dress...

...don't judge me. :) I'm okay with this addiction...even when it results in shoe-storage issues in my home...lol

Camp Courageous 2010

So--girls' camp was amazing. :D We have some absolutely awesome, incredible girls. We had about 60 come this year. They have such strong testimonies of Christ already...it blows my mind sometimes. I think back to when I was a youth and I know they are much more prepared for the world than I was at that age--at least spiritually. As a presidency, we have been trying to focus more on spiritual growth and development than other things, and I believe camp was a success. We had spiritual workshops besides our certification and music and we had the girls try out a ropes course. We had group devotionals nightly and then had our YCLs (youth camp leaders) have devotionals with the girls every night in their years.

Our theme was Be Strong and Courageous--from the youth scripture for the year (Josh. 1:9) and we had our girls attend the "Warrior Training Center" to learn to become Warriors of Light. We taught them about spiritual preparation to ward off the evil arrows and darts of Satan. We used the Parable of the Golden Pathway by Jenny Philips as a lesson. We showed the film Forever Strong and discussed the importance of staying strong not only at camp, but at home as well. Of course, we had fun, too. There was a pool and our hike and the girls loved the craft cabin--they made journals and necklaces and shimmery pictures of Christ. Then, during our closing exercises, we had a devotional taken from 1 Thessalonians 5 and Sister Sheri Dew's You Were Born to Lead, You Were Born for Glory. We discussed the Atonement and how Christ is the key to salvation. Then we had the girls stand in a circle and present each other with silver key necklaces as a reminder to stay strong and remember Christ.

We had some of our leaders teach Zumba during free time--that was very fun. The girls played a midnight game of capture the flag. The girls thoroughly enjoyed the pool (and they wisely avoided the lake and the ticks and leeches therewith associated). You've Got Talent was a big hit. And, of course, there were pranks galore (luckily, they stayed out of the stake leaders' cabin). But no damage was done, there was very little, if any, drama, and we didn't have any girls that gave us problems this year. It was a ton of fun and I can't wait for next year. :D

Better

I'm better today. Yesterday was just a terrible, horrible day. I guess we all have those. Optimism (albeit subdues under the circumstances) is back and excitement for girls' camp is rising. :D

Umph.

Even looking for the sunshine isn't enough some days...some days are just dark. Even girls' camp looming around the corner couldn't brighten today. Maybe tomorrow will be better.

So many thoughts....

I have so many things that cross my mind to blog about...but I never seem to get them written. lol. For example, I missed my little sister's graduation and play--maybe I'll come back to those.

I've had to be pretty adaptable recently to change--goodness knows I've encountered a lot of that. And the steroids make my mood swing something fierce, but I try to be positive and I think I succeed most of the time. Well-part of these lifestyle changes include adopting new hobbies: I've begun sewing (love love love it) and knitting (learning to like it, especially after having to restart 6 hours worth of work because a missed stitch unraveled a big hole in the middle of my blanket) and recently just crafting, in general (believe me, Michaels loves me.)

The baby blanket I'm currently knitting will be for the Project Linus although I think I'll simply sew the other ones I've committed to making... :P

This weekend, I decided to try these knockoff moleskin notebooks: so great, but so much work! I decided to make them as gifts for the several ladies who so diligently are working for girls' camp, even though it's not their calling. Here's how they turned out:

But nothing in life is accident-proof and my pink book lends evidence to this fact:

It took a swim in my bowl of water I was washing my stamps in, then mom tried to dry it out in the microwave...result was lots of smoke and choking from the peanut gallery and lots of hard work up in smoke, literally. :D

As President Hinckley said: Things will work out. Keep trying. Be believing. Don't get discouraged. Things will work out.

One of my favorite Pres. Hinckley quotes that I've kind of adopted as my motto is this: "Stop looking for the storms and enjoy more fully the sunlight." If more of us took his advice, the world would be a brighter place.