Day 24 - A picture of something you wish you could change.

Negativity

More funny stuff here.

If I could give everybody a good shot in the arm of positive thinking, I would! It's not that I hate negativity. I mean, I do, but I also understand it. Nobody can be happy every second of every day. We have to have really bad terrible no good days to appreciate the really good days. I just struggle when someone is having a really hard time and I can't fix it. I just want to make everything better! I want to make the sun shine when it's rainy, so to speak.

My own personal way of dealing with dissappointment is, quite honestly, to find the best in it. Of course I have to first come to grips with it first and really have a chance to feel, well, dissappointed. But I can't stay there very long. It's dangerous to stay there. I know I have to pick myself up by the boot straps and get moving.

I am Pollyanna.

You know I am. I am my life's ultimate spin doctor. I can play the Glad Game like nobody's business! I want to find that silver lining.

I still have really rainy days, though. Days where the sun is behind so many layers of dark gray clouds, the silver is completely hidden. But I know it's there. The sun is ALWAYS on the other side of the clouds... no matter how many layers there are. That's just how the universe works. Heavenly Father never ever leaves us completely alone. He is always in the same place, beckoning for us to come to him, to kneel and ask for help.

With HIM on our side, how can we fail? :)

It's way more fun to spend life focusing on the good than to always find the bad. 'Nuff said!

She's so cute, isn't she? :D

Day 23 - A picture of your favorite book.

Multiple authors, one Source. History. Principles that strengthen my testimony. Will continue to read them over and over and over.

Beverly Cleary

My favorite childhood author.

Laura Ingalls Wilder

Another favorite.

Jane Austen

Love her.

J.K. Rowling

Fantasy rooted in the real world. Love it!

C.S. Lewis (above) and J.R.R. Tolkein (below)

Fantasy at it's greatest and most epic.

Cornelia Funke

Imagination.

Day 22 - A picture of something you wish you were better at.

Not just scrapbooking, but digital scrapbooking.

Playing the piano.

Quilting.

Day 21 - A picture of something you wish you could forget.

Let's be honest, I spend so much time and energy trying to remember stuff, it would be contradictory to try to forget something. :D

But really, even the bad stuff has made me who I am. Would I want to forget the first boy who broke my heart? No, because I learned from that and someday I might be holding my crying daughter and I can be understanding. Do I want to forget 9-11 and all other catastrophic tradgedies? How could I? They changed the world that I live in to be what it is today. I can't listen to Have You Forgotten? and not remember exactly where I was that day.

Everything... every little tiny thing... makes up who I am.


Live without regret, now there's a mantra I can get behind! :)

Day 20 - A picture of somewhere you'd love to travel.

IRELAND!

Day 19 - A picture and a letter.

This post is brought to you by the letter D and also the letters that spell Ladybug. :D

This would be at the beginning of my name if I was a fairy.

This would be at the beginning of my name if I had looked into the Eye of Sauron.

This would be at the beginning of my name in the book wherein is written a sonnet about me.

Don't we ALL need a little more Vitamin D these days?!

A little tailoring and you KNOW I would wear this! :D

A painted rock! How many times have I painted rocks in my life? Not a few!

If I lived alone, I would totally own this! Maybe for a guest room someday! ;D

Day 18 - A picture of your biggest insecurity.

And there's always this post.

Day 17 - A picture of something that has made a huge impact on your life recently.

If it were even possible (not to mention privacy issues) I would put a picture up of all of the awesome girls I have the privilege of associating with these days. First, I was just in Activity Days. Then I was in Young Women AND Activity Days. And now, I am in Young Women. I remember thinking how much I would love to be in Young Women... and then I would remind myself of all of the DRAMA involved! :D I am learning to love the drama. And I pray all the time that I will be able to say the right thing at the right time to minimize some of the drama.

Girls Camp Sunday has ALWAYS been my favorite! You know, the first Fast Sunday after Girls Camp when they all go up and tell about how their testimonies were strengthened and how the bonded and what scary, gross or annoying thing brought them closer together. Be it rain, or bears, or what have you.

You may be thinking that your Ward has the best and brightest Young Women in the world. And you're probably right where YOU are concerned. But as far as I am concerned, we have the most capital A AWESOME girls! Their integrity and strength of spirit amazes me. Their testimonies are so strong! They are valiant and talented. They are so kind to each other! In a world where their age group is not widely known for such a trait, in fact.

I am excited and humbled and oh so happy to be working with the youth in my neck of the woods. And I am thrilled at the direction the Personal Progress goals take me and I can't wait to earn my medallion... again! :)