Blessed

I've talked about making family history videos documenting our journey.  Well, here they are!  We are in 2 but because they were made in our Stake, I know people from all of them.  I'm going tell you a little something about each because I love these people and so proud of them and how they represented themselves.  They all have something different to offer.  

Here is another quote from the book I'm reading that speaks to us all having something different to offer.  "our children will not all be bishops, presidents of stakes, or leaders in the auxiliaries, but they can all be Gods, continuing the works of the Father, glorifying themselves as they glorify him." S Michael Wilcox

If you're not sure what your role in the vineyard is, ask and if you still can't figure it out, start with doing the most sacred and saving work for your ancestors because it's the only path that leads back to our exhalation.  You will not only find your identity but you will find confidence in the kingdom and you will come to know what you were born in this time to do.   

So, have a look and see if anything inspires you.  If this is my future grandchildren reading this….it's doubtful you can still access these….although with technology being the way it is, you probably can….but rest assured there is a thumb drive….or what used to be…..holding all these videos .

First up- the big video below.  It is 30 something minutes and has, I want to say, 3 families represented.  

 Next one is of Julene.  I had the pleasure of working with her at girls camp and was immediately impressed by her, she had just moved to town and came right up to camp.  She had a level head, took the gospel seriously, she was very responsible and a willing leader.  She is fantastic and this video captures that perfectly.  She's actually in a lot of videos because of her awesomeness.  

 Next up is my favorite "no-poo" ginger.  I've known her for 5 years now and I'm always impressed by her.  Her video is my favorite, besides my own -but I'm trying not to admit that…oops, guess I just did :0)  She is mortified that there is a video of her out there and as of last night refused to watch it, she promised that she would after I told her she would be proud of it.  I going to miss her when she leaves for college in the fall.  

 I also worked with Sariah at girls camp and my favorite memory of her was her performing a spanish novella for a skit.  It was hilarious and a bit risque for girls camp which made it even more funny -That was also the year that I impersonated the biebs for the stake skit….it was awesome and I was knows as sister biebs for a long time after that.    

 Next up, my 2 awesome children.  I couldn't believe what a nice job they did with it.  I heard a lot of the answers that they gave to questions they got and I hadn't realized what great job they were doing.  Now there is definitely editing, but my kids did say those things.  We laugh because these were made over a year ago and Jared looks and sounds so young compared to now.  Emma hates that she didn't put more effort into caring what she looked like.  Jared has refused to watch the videos and wants to know how we can gain access to destroy them. lol We all went into the process thinking there was no way they were going to use anything we were in, so we were just ourselves.  

 Ok, here's mine.  I was seriously stunned the first time I saw this video and was rendered speechless (they showed it to me at my house).  When I asked a few months later to be able to show it to Nate's parents, I cried.  It's a little embarrassing that you can make yourself cry.  I'm not sure I can explain this, but I'll try.  I'm a pretty open person and sometimes I let people see me, really see me.   This time I got to see me.  It was the person I've been working so hard to become.  Now it's just going to sound weird and narcissistic so I'll stop there. 

Here's what I'm getting out of this.  I have already been using it as a missionary tool.  I first sent it to my friend in high school that introduced me to the gospel, because she doesn't know who this person is at all. I was a little apprehensive because of a couple of things.  First, there is, I'm sure, real pain when your non member friend gets married in the temple before you and then you are also unable to have your own children and here is your fertile friend and now she's got a video too.  I mentioned a thank you letter that I sent to her and had such a great experience with that.  I couldn't not let her see the actual fruits of the seeds she planted and celebrate together something that she played a huge role in. I also wanted to save her the heart attack if she stumbled across it on her own.   She ended up sending it to all of her family because she knew they would want to know and share as well.  It also made her happy to see how involved in the gospel I am.  

Next stop was sending it to all my family.  I was really nervous and messenger in fb is pretty sketchy.  On the desktop you cannot hit enter unless you are ready to send the message, so you can never separate paragraphs.  I was very cautious of this and got everything I thought I wanted to say and then wanted to do some cleaning up with the space bar……yep it just sent!  There was no turning back.  I really thought I was going to vomit.  Non of my family are members and we avoid talking about religion to keep the peace.  I wanted it to be presented in such a way that I wasn't trying to get churchy on them, I just didn't want them to find out about something like this later and not have it come from me.  I was hopeful they could support me and - oh my goodness the response was humbling and beautiful and I'm so grateful.  

I figured since I was on a vomiting streak I would just roll with it.  I vt my neighbor who hasn't been active in the church for years and her husband isn't a member.  They have been meeting with the missionaries for over a year now and I've worked up to giving lessons and praying with her.  I decided that she should be given the opportunity to see me and my children in a different light as well and hopefully further open the doors of communication and love.  She was excited to get to see them. 

I also sent it out on our family website to Nate's side of the family, but we haven't heard from them.  

What a great opportunity I've been given to share my testimony in a very non confrontational and uplifting way.  I will be forever grateful and indebted to the team that created it.  I had already figured that if my family and my future family were the only ones to ever see it (I've got several videos we personally took for the process), that would be exactly who was meant to.  I've gained so much from this experience that I can't even put into words and hopefully my children have too.   Well, I know they have, hopefully they remember.  

 Ok, last one.  Bridgette is in choir with me and her Mom is the choir director and my vt and one of my favorite people on the planet.  I don't know Bridgette that well, but I think she is a great girl.  She was also mortified that her video was online but I told her she had nothing to be embarrassed about, which she doesn't.