Attitude of Gratitude

New Year's is a great time to look back on my goals. I wrote about my 2014 goals here - It was great to post them so I could review. Some goals I was able to achieve, some goals I came close, and others I missed the mark - or other goals came up instead. It was an eventful year, and I am looking forward to getting settled here in Rolla and focusing on some new goals.

Because I had an eventful and sometimes trying year - I wanted to have a focus in 2015 as part of my goals or mantra. Because the Lord has blessed me more than I could ever know - I want to focus on gratitude. One of the goals I am most looking forward to is my blessing box. Each week (for my family home evening) I'm going to write down one blessing from that week, and then pull them out next New Year's Eve. I think it will be a great new tradition to start in my life. 

Gratitude is a feeling of appreciation and thankfulness for blessings or benefits we have received. As we cultivate a grateful attitude, we are more likely to be happy and spiritually strong. We should regularly express our gratitude to God for the blessings He gives us and to others for the kind acts they do for us. - lds.org

My theme for the year will be....

Attitude of Gratitude

It comes from a talk by President Dieter F. Uchtdorf from the April 2014 General Conference and you can find it here. Below are a few snippets.

Could I suggest that we see gratitude as a disposition, a way of life that stands independent of our current situation? In other words, I’m suggesting that instead of being thankful for things, we focus on being thankful in our circumstances—whatever they may be.......When we are grateful to God in our circumstances, we can experience gentle peace in the midst of tribulation. In grief, we can still lift up our hearts in praise. In pain, we can glory in Christ’s Atonement. In the cold of bitter sorrow, we can experience the closeness and warmth of heaven’s embrace.

We sometimes think that being grateful is what we do after our problems are solved, but how terribly shortsighted that is. How much of life do we miss by waiting to see the rainbow before thanking God that there is rain?......How blessed we are if we recognize God’s handiwork in the marvelous tapestry of life. Gratitude to our Father in Heaven broadens our perception and clears our vision. It inspires humility and fosters empathy toward our fellowmen and all of God’s creation. Gratitude is a catalyst to all Christlike attributes! A thankful heart is the parent of all virtues.

Doctrine and Covenants 78:19 And he who receiveth all things with thankfulness shall be made glorious; and the things of this earth shall be added unto him, even an hundred fold, yea, more.

I'd love to hear some of your goals for the new year. 

Christmas Cards and other things

My Christmas cards are lost in transit somewhere, so I guess
I will just wish you Merry Christmas virtually.

In May I earned my Master of Science in Organizational
Leadership. With my degree completion, a job search was on - which took me to
Maryland, Wyoming, and finally landed me in Rolla, Missouri. I now work at
Missouri University of Science and Technology. I was also honored by Snow
College as a distinguished alumni (40 under 40) as well as the Utah Department
of Health Tobacco Prevention and Control Program for Excellence in Policy
Efforts. Thank you for the prayers, love, and support with this new adventure!

Last week I went out to St. James and had lunch at this
place called Sybil’s. The food was good and the setting beautiful. I happened
to pass the Veteran’s cemetery and saw Christmas wreaths laid on each
headstone. I had to turn around and take a look. I of course forgot my nicer
camera for video so I just have a few pictures from my phone.

I’m a little behind the times with posting my new happenings

– so here is a video from a few weeks ago where I went to a giant flea market. 
 

Show Me

I’m more eloquent and expressive in my writing then in a video- but I did move to the ‘Show Me’ state – so I thought it would be fun to start doing short videos to show my life around Rolla aka a little Holla from Rolla. Let me know what you want to know more about or want to see as I navigate around this new city, job, and adventure (or if I should put down the camera and stick to blogging).

Change your Shirt - Change the World

Change your Shirt - Change the World

I have some pretty amazing friends that have done some pretty amazing things in their lives. One of those amazing things is Revive Service Tours.

What They Do:

Revive Service Tours helps develop and fortify individuals for a more meaningful and enriched life by facilitating service projects around the world. They aim to change the lives of both the recipients of the service and the volunteers who provide it.

Revive Service Tours brings well over 3 decades of world travel experience! Their tours provide a perfect balance of enjoyable in-country touring with plenty of hands-on, down and dirty, nose to nose, service activities with the locals from that country. It truly is a fantastic way to see the wonders of the world and also experience the rich history and culture of the local people. Serving, giving, making a difference, experiencing various nations, and having fun while doing it is what we are all about.

If you want to travel and discover the beauties of the world while participating in meaningful service with the local communities, then Revive Service Tours is a perfect fit for you! Whether you are a student looking to build a robust resume, a family desiring to have an enriching experience, a company wanting to provide your employees with a hands on in-service or ‘giving back’ activity, or a service group or individual wanting a fantastic adventure, they have prepared the perfect edifying venture for you.

#3dollartee:

If your like me, travel may not be in the cards just YET - but there is still an awesome way to get involved and spread the goodness of Revive - introducing the $3 dollar tee!

Revive will release a new $3 T-shirt each month that will inspire, encourage, and motivate all to serve. Proceeds will go towards projects that will help change the world for good! The monthly newsletter will showcase the new T-shirt design, and also announce upcoming tours and events.

Click here - to sign up for #3dollartee 

Check them and me out on Instagram: @travelandserve @rolla.holla 

The Missouri Chapter

My last post was a bit depressing - but hopefully it provided hope or comfort for others going through the same thing.

My office building

After 9 months of wrong roads - I can finally say I found the right path. After months of interviews and exploring many options - I have found a new adventure in Rolla, Missouri!

I will be working with the Wellness and Counseling office as a health educator doing prevention work with the students for Missouri University of Science and Technology (MST). This is a shift I am looking forward to as I seek to further my career. I have enjoyed working with a local public health department, but have missed the passion that comes from working with students. I will be moving from Utah mid-November. I found a darling little house 10 minutes from work and it looks like its from a storybook. I will live there for about 2 months while the landlord finishes a little farmhouse on 160 acres that they own - and then move in there. The landlords younger sister lives in the temporary home.  I know there will be a lot of changes and it will be difficult to be so far from family and friends. Thank you for all the prayers on my behalf as I have searched for the right thing.
Once again, I have seen the Lord's hand in my life as everything has perfectly and quickly fell into place. God works in patterns, and I knew (even though it was hard) that this same pattern would follow if I was patient and faithful.

Also, before all this news, I got brave and chopped off all my hair. GULP!!! We'll see what the humidity does to this....

Wrong Road

"There are times when the only way to get from Point A to Point C is by way of Point B"
I haven't blogged in awhile to give an update on things. The biggest change of course is that I finished my graduate program! A Master's degree always seemed as a Goliath to me. Something that was daunting and most likely too much for my capacity. When I first started my education, I didn't have a lot of confidence that I could accomplish much with school. I am so grateful for the chain of events that my life has taken, and the many angels along the pathway to show me my abilities. I have often said that God has made so much more out of my life then I could have ever imagined. There are so many things that I have experienced and loved that I never even knew I wanted.

However, there are still times that I struggle maintaining that trust in God's plan and timing. I have been thinking about a talk I had heard about God allowing us to go down dead ends when two paths are placed before us so that we may know quickly which one is wrong. I finally found that source. It was a Mormon Message from last year by Elder Holland. You can click on the video below or find it here. It is only 4 minutes long and WELL WORTH YOUR TIME!

Elder Holland says it so much more eloquently than I could. "When making decisions, God expects us to pray, trust, and be believing and then not give up, panic, or "jump ship" when something doesn't seem to be going right." - Elder Holland
Even though my graduate degree was pursued for personal goals and achievement I believed that it would help me grow in my career and in other directions.  I have had to go down a lot of wrong roads it seems, and still haven't found the correct one. But, "God loves us. He is good. He is our Father." I know that what I am going through is a part of mortality, and many others may be having the same feelings or emotions as I have had. So, I thought I would send this out into my little part of the universe to share. This last quote has helped me during many of these wrong road moments.

LOVE LIFE! It will all be okay...

Springy Front Porch

For my sanity, I had to finish my latest project in time for Easter. A happy front porch makes a happy day! Happy Spring and Happy Easter!

Facelifts, Dinosaurs, and Black Bears

I decided it was time this ol' gal got a facelift.....no not me, my blog (although those wrinkles are starting to creep in....). I added all the social media buttons, widgets, gadets, galore (thingamabobs, I've got plenty) so you can truly know every move I make on the interwebs....ya creeps.
But for real, this has been on the 'to do list' for some time, and with my last 8 weeks of school starting up on Wednesday, I thought I better wrap this up while I still had a weekend. If your not following me somewhere on one or all of these, and not repinning my stuff, and following my blog (easy as hitting a button by the way). well then...For the love of Disney dishonor on you, dishonor on your family, dishonor on your cow!!!!

Just like this breath of fresh air for the blog, I also decided to get some fresh air my self and headed out to Dinosaur

for a fun drive and great views. Unfortunately, I didn't get as far as I wanted because of closures, something about Black Bears wanting to eat people...From this picture, they look harmless....

Anyway, it was a nice last week of freedom. I managed to keep my 4.0 with my last classes, so I will see you all on the other side of 8 weeks, hopefully still hanging on to that GPA with a diploma that will make you all have to call me MASTER. (That's how it works right?)

Sunshine in my Soul

I have a two week break before my next (and LAST!!!!!)  set of classes, so I can finally clean up the house and do a project or two. With the rain coming and the snow melting, I thought it was time for a fun new printable as I SPRING up the house. This song is always good for a pick me up. I love pastel colors, they are so CHEERY!

Click here for the PDF!

I went to the thrift store and got some cheap frames that I'm going to spruce up and create a whole little Spring homage. I'll post a pic of my completed décor soon and maybe even the redo of the frames.

Here is another version with a sun peeking out. PDF Download

UPDATE: With no homework to do, I was able to do my project right away tonight. I love how the whole thing turned out. Just a little corner of HAPPY!