I made it!

Today was my last day of seminary. Yippee! As much as I loved (most of the things about) teaching seminary, it is really nice to know that I don't have to wake up early or spend lots of time preparing lessons for the next couple months. I just get to focus on getting ready for this little babe to get here, and that is a big relief. I know I will miss it though.

Still, I sure felt happy sitting next to the fire after I got home, eating homemade bread and jam, sipping hot cocoa, and watching the snow fall. Very happy indeed. 

 

Here are a few things I learned this semester:

1. Teaching seminary while pregnant, especially when you're in your third trimester, is much more difficult that when you're not pregnant. 

2. It's really hard to tell if/when anyone is getting anything out of your lesson, but often -- even when it doesn't seem like anyone is paying attention -- there is still progress being made. And that is both exasperating and relieving. 

3. Teaching is the best way to learn, by far, and the lessons you learn go way beyond stuff that has to do with the curriculum.

Like I said before, I know I am going to miss seminary, and even though I whined about it quite a bit I'm so thankful to have had the chance to teach. It was really good for me to get out of my comfort zone every day. And even if I often doubted whether my rascally students ever learned much from me, I think they did, and that makes it worth the work.

Happy snippets

Seminary went better today than it has in a while. At least, I was more satisfied with my lesson than I have been lately, like I wrote about here a couple days ago. I'll never know whether my sleepy students got much out of it (#holidayweekendproblems) but at least I felt I did my best. To me, that is a victory, and I'm so thankful. I hope things keep improving from here on out.

I'm making big progress on the nursery! We should be ready to paint in a couple days (at the latest) and I've finished painting the ugly brass sliding closet doors. They turned out SO well and I'm really relieved! I was a little skeptical, but they look really nice and it's an enormous improvement on the whole room. Now I just hope that the thrifted glider I'm working on will turn out well too! We should be getting our crib and some other furniture this weekend and I can't wait to set it all up.

Dallin and I made pizza last night and it was amazing. I forgot how much I love that stuff. After a failure of a squirrel hunting trip with Marc and Becca (Dallin's brother and his wife) in which we didn't see one single squirrel, something I didn't think was possible, at least we ended the night with a big fat win. And yes, we are rednecks... and proud of it. ;) (Also, don't tell Dallin... but I'm slightly relieved we didn't get any because eating squirrel meat is definitely not something on my bucket list. I know I'll have to try it though!)

My sister is expecting twin girls due next month, and my youngest siblings still refer to the "babies" in my belly since they seem to think I'm having twins too. It seems like they think I've been gypped because they give me such a funny look when I tell them there is just one in there, not two. Pretty sure they are thinking, "You only got one? Geeze, what a ripoff." If it is a ripoff, it's a ripoff I'm okay with, thankyouverymuch. ;)

On a somewhat related note, Marc, Becca, and their little 2-month-old baby Levi have been living at our house while they work on getting moved into my in-law's empty house (they are on a mission in TX right now). I was facetiming my siblings the other day when my 4-year-old brother Luke saw Levi and ran off yelling, "Mikaela has her baby! Mikaela has her baby!!!!" The whole herd came a-running and were sorely disappointed to find that it wasn't actually my baby. Sorry, kiddos... He still needs to bake for about another three months! ;)

Lastly, please tell me you love this video as much as I do. Hahahaha!

(P.S. All the Captain Literally sketches they've done are excellent as well... if you haven't watched them, DO IT NOW. You're welcome.)



Happy Tuesday, errbody! Hope your holiday weekend was a good one!

On failure (and doing your best anyway)

You know that exhausting feeling of failure that sometimes comes when you put in so much work and still don't see results? Have you ever poured all your energy, time, and attention into something and wondered if you made a difference at all?

This semester of teaching seminary has been very, very challenging for me. I'm sure a lot of it has to do with the fact that I'm pregnant, since apparently making a human being kind of affects you juuuust a little bit, both physically and emotionally. Who would have thought? ;) My class is also very different this year. I switched from the seniors to the sophomores and it's been an adjustment. Things that worked last year just don't work with this group of students; they have very different personalities, needs, and levels of understanding. 

Whatever the reason, I've been struggling. Big time. Multiple times I've driven home from class in tears, feeling like a failure when my lesson went poorly, seriously considering the possibility of playing the "I'm a pitiful pregnant lady card" to get released early instead of sticking it out to the end of the semester like I planned. I've tried different things to get myself out of this funk, but so far nothing has worked. To put it simply, I guess I'm a little weary of putting so much into this calling when I never seem to see any results of my hard work.

This weekend I spent a lot of time mulling over all of this, trying to figure out what I could do to fix things, and searching for comfort, motivation, and the excitement I used to have about teaching. While I was sitting in church I thought about it some more and felt like it would be a good idea to read through the chapters I'll be teaching in the next few weeks to get myself ready to teach it. While skimming through the upcoming chapters, I came upon the story of Abinadi, which is one of my favorites. 

If you aren't familiar with the story or need a refresher, here's the very condensed version. (If you're interested, the whole story can be found in Mosiah 11-18)

King Noah was a wicked king that didn't follow the good example of his father, King Zeniff. Instead of taking care of his people, he taxed them heavily so he and his groupies (wicked priests that he picked to replace to righteous priests his dad had chosen) could afford to live extravagant, lazy, extrememly immoral lifestyles. Things were heading downhill quickly, so God sent the prophet Abinadi to call him and all the wicked people to repentance. King Noah didn't take too kindly to this (big surprise) and ordered his people to bring Abinadi to him so he could kill him, but they didn't find him and Noah kept on a-doing his thang. 

Fast forward two years. Abinadi comes back, in disguise, calls them to repentance again, prophesies of their destruction if they don't, and is imprisoned where he continues to teach them about many things including the Ten Commandments, Christ, and the atonement. Again, Noah is not impressed. Nosiree. He tells Abinadi that unless he recalls his words he will kill him. Abinadi, being a righteous man with integrity that I admire so much, refuses to take back his words, so he was then bound, scourged, and burned alive.

I like to put myself into Abinadi's shoes here. Can you imagine how he must have felt after doing his very best to help these people mend their ways, not only to have them refuse to listen, but end up killing him too? If I were him, I would have been so discouraged the first time that I'm not sure I would have gone back... but he did. That blessed man went back, knowing that they wanted to kill him, and tried again to get them to understand that they needed to change. What love he must have had for them to still try, even when he never saw the results of his efforts.

It gets even better though! Get a load of this... One of the priests, a young man named Alma, listened and believed. Although Abinadi probably never had any idea, his words sunk deep into Alma's heart. He knew they were true. He pleaded with Noah not to be angry with Abinadi and let him go in peace. This made King Noah extremely angry, so he cast Alma out and sent servants to kill him. Alma managed to hide from them, where he wrote down the words of Abinadi and went around secretly teaching those words to anyone that would listen. Many people (around 450!) began to gather to listen to him teach and they ended up being baptized, organizing themselves into a church, and then fleeing from Noah who was none too happy when he discovered them.

The part that really amazes me is that those 450 people are only the beginning of the the influence Abinadi had. Check this out, taken from this article in the February 2005 New Era:

Abinadi
Abinadi’s testimony to wicked King Noah cost him his life (see Mosiah 17:20), but changed the life of one of the king’s priests, Alma the Elder (see Mosiah 18:1), who at the time was “a young man” (Mosiah 17:2). 

Alma the Elder
Alma helped bring into the Church about 450 of King Noah’s people (see Mosiah 18:35). They joined the Nephites at Zarahemla, where Alma became the high priest of the Church and baptized many more (see Mosiah 25:18). His son was Alma the Younger (see Mosiah 27:14). 

Alma the Younger
Alma was the Nephites’ first chief judge and high priest of the Church (see Mosiah 29:42). He helped convert more than 3,500 people and converted many more during later missions to Nephite cities. Alma’s sons served missions as well. His oldest son was Helaman. 

Helaman, Son of Alma
Helaman kept the records and was one of the high priests of the Church (see Alma 46:6). At about 73 B.C. and again about 54 B.C., he reestablished the Church after years of war (see Alma 45:22; Alma 62:46). He led the 2,000 stripling warriors. His son was also named Helaman. 

Helaman, Son of Helaman
Helaman kept the records of the people as well. He became chief judge of the Nephites. During his righteous rule, “tens of thousands” joined the Church (Hel. 3:26). He had two righteous sons, Nephi and Lehi. 

Nephi and Lehi, Sons of Helaman
Nephi was chief judge before leaving to preach the gospel with Lehi. These brothers were such powerful missionaries that most of the Lamanites were converted to the gospel (see Hel. 5:50). Nephi turned the records over to his son, Nephi. 

Nephi, Son of NephiNephi became a great prophet. He taught and baptized many in the wicked days before Christ’s coming, even raising his brother from the dead (see 3 Ne. 7:15–26). He was chosen as one of Christ’s 12 disciples when the Savior appeared (see 3 Ne. 12:1). The disciples helped convert all the Nephites and Lamanites after Christ’s coming (see 4 Ne. 1:2). 

Isn't that a little mind-blowing? Although he may never have been able to see even the smallest success, Abinadi had an incredibly far-reaching influence. Plus, each of those people converted by Abinadi, Alma, and Alma's posterity certainly affected others, who in turn affected even more people. Not to mention everyone today that is blessed by learning about it by reading the Book of Mormon. The impact of Abinadi's message was and is enormous, even if he never saw any of it while on earth.

I love that. 

Re-reading Abinadi's story today gave me the comfort I needed by reminding me that just because I may not see results doesn't mean that I'm not doing some good, whether in my calling as a seminary teacher or other aspects of my life. You don't always know when you are making a difference, and sometimes it's the simplest things that have the greatest impact. I will probably never have the kind of influence Abinadi did, but I can still do good in the world in my own little way, and that might make all the difference to someone.  

Also, even with its challenges, teaching seminary is one of the best opportunities I've ever been given. I wish I could explain how much I have learned, how much I love my students, and what an impact teaching has had on my testimony of the scriptures. The blessings far outweigh the challenges, and even the challenges are often blessings in disguise. And even though I'm looking forward to sleeping in and passing the stress onto someone else, I am going to miss it when I'm released next month! 

Seminary, sleep, and a haiku

Fall break is officially over (*insert dramatic sigh here*). It has been glorious. I slept in until 7 or 7:30 every morning and enjoyed it thoroughly. 

In fact, maybe I enjoyed it a little too much because I think I died a little inside when I turned my seminary alarms (yes, plural) back on this afternoon. 5:45 isn't that early, right? I can do this, right? I'm not going to be a grumpy mess from Hades in the morning, right? 

Ah, hopefully those things are all true. We shall see.

To summarize my feelings, I wrote a haiku. Please enjoy.

How I Feel About Waking Up & 

Putting On a Bra at 6:00am

No no no no no

No no no no no no no

No no no no no

Good thing I love my students so much, eh? Even though this waking up early thing has become much more difficult now that I'm pregnant, I'm happy to do it, I promise. I might whine about it, but I love it. It is challenging but rewarding, and I know I will miss it, even if that is hard to remember at zero dark thirty when all I want is sleep. Wish me luck... I'm going to need it!

I will go and do.

One of my shortcomings is my fear of doing difficult things, especially the ones that really stretch the boundaries of my happy little comfort zone. 

You know, things like attending the Spanish branch when I only have a small, patchy understanding of the language. Or being asked to play the piano in that branch, even though I only know a handful of hymns that took me a very long time to learn. Or teaching early-morning seminary five days a week to teenage kids that really aren't that much younger than myself! Each of these things really test my ability and willingness to take a deep breath, put on my metaphorical big girl panties, roll up my sleeves, and just do the best I can. 

One of the scriptures that has most influenced my life is 1 Nephi 3:7. 

"And it came to pass that I, Nephi, said unto my father: I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded, for I know that the Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them."

Seriously, Nephi is pretty much the man. To give you some background, here's a quick sum-up of what's going on here. Lehi (Nephi's dad/prophet) has a vision in which he sees the destruction of Jerusalem. He warns the people, leaves his home to seek safety in the wilderness with his family, and then has another vision in which the Lord tells him they need to return to Jerusalem to get the brass plates from a dude named Laban. Nephi's rather whiny older brothers, Laman and Lemuel, do their thang and start whining ("murmuring") about how that's too hard. 

1 Nephi 3:7, in contrast, is Nephi's response to this commandment.  "I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded, for I know that the Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men save he shall prepare a way from them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them."

In other words, "I'm gonna go and do what the Lord asks, because I know he will never, ever ask me to do anything that I cannot do."

Even if it is difficult, maybe even extremely difficult.

Even if at first it doesn't seem possible. 

Even if it means pole-vaulting over the confines of your comfort zone by, I don't know... attending the Spanish branch, or playing the piano in church, or trying to teach "spirited" teenagers about the gospel. :)

The Lord can and does prepare the way for us. I know I've experienced this many times, especially recently. For example, playing the piano in church is a very real, very difficult struggle for me. I rarely get through a song without messing up at least a few times and I get very anxious and tense every week. My goal  is not to play perfectly, but just to keep the song going. I've almost lost it a couple of times, but somehow my hands fall on the right keys, or at least enough right keys to keep the melody flowing well enough for people to sing along until I get back on track again. 

Each week I become more confident, especially as I learn to trust and lean on the Lord to help me do it. It's really something to feel my anxiety get swept away or to "magically" have my hands fall on the right notes, even when I've completely lost my place. I am so thankful for that help and support. I couldn't do it otherwise. 

Also, it was providential that Dallin's parents "happened' to give us their piano just a couple months before we were called to the branch. Don't you try to tell me that is a coincidence! :)

P.S. I survived the first two days of seminary! My class is great and so far everything is going very smoothly! You know, this is a demanding calling, but I'm really going to miss it when they release me. It's the best.

So long, summer (kinda)

Seminary starts next week. It is so close! I can't believe my lazy summer is almost at an end and that today was my last lackadaisical weekday morning for a while. Here's some of the things I'm mourning already...

• No more going without some of the non-essential pieces of clothing that one doesn't need to wear when they are a bum at home all day. In other words, I will now have to wear a bra. Life is so hard sometimes... *sigh*
• No more sleeping in until 7:00am every morning, which is my favorite time to get up. Early, but not too early. 
• Likewise, no more staying up "late", which for this old fogie means any time past like 9:00 or 9:30. We're pretty exciting around here, lemme tell ya. 
• No more leisurely weekday breakfasts with Dallin. 
• No more showering in the morning. (Ain't no seminary teacher got time for that!)

On the bright side, there's a lot of things I'm really looking forward to, such as...

• Teaching! It can be difficult some days, but I love that it challenges me, and I hope I can do some good in the lives of my students. I know high school was a very defining time for my character (in other words, it was misery... but I learned from it!), and I know seminary played a part in helping me avoid bad influences and decisions. 
• Preparing lessons! I learn so much when I'm studying the scriptures and lessons manuals. It really helps me study with a purpose. Also, the new manual is going to make this much less stressful than last year... yippee! 
• No longer being a bum all day. It was nice to take it easy for a little while, but I've started to feel a little useless just hanging out at home all day by myself. There's only so much cleaning, reading, and Netflix-watching one can do before it gets a little very monotonous. I kind of wish I could be working, at least part-time, but employment around these parts is hard to come by, especially good employment (as in something that doesn't make me work on Sunday and isn't a bad environment like the job I quit a while ago).
• Being forced to get dressed and "prettied up" in the morning. It really makes a difference in my day to get home at 8am already dressed and with makeup on. I tend to be much more productive when I start my day early.

Wish me luck! (I need it...)

Printable Scripture Mastery Cards/Bookmarks

Seminary is getting closer and closer! I've been busy preparing lessons, getting materials together, and (to be honest) kind of dreading getting up early. I think I've been a little spoiled this summer!

Grumpy Cat always understands me.

This year, along with the new curriculum, eight of the twenty-five Book of Mormon Scripture Mastery scriptures are different. Unfortunately this means that a lot of the materials are still in the process of being updated, and a lot of the free printables and things I've been using from other seminary teachers are no longer current. Bummer! So... I made a couple of my own. I figured I would post them here just in case there are any other seminary teachers looking for something like this. Feel free to print or edit them any way you like! 

I made this one to be the same size as the new Scripture Mastery cards. Last year some of my students (and myself, to tell the truth...) had a hard time keeping track of their cards, so this year I put them on rings and added this list to the ring. I figure it is a good way for them to have everything in one place so it's easy to pull out and hopefully won't get misplaced as easily. 

(Left click to enlarge, right click to save and print)

To get the card the right size, I printed them as wallet sized pictures (on white cardstock). The tricky part is cutting them the right length because the new cards are kind of long. I messed up a couple of sheets, so... good luck! :)

Also, because of the way the new SM cards were printed, the only way to punch holes in the cards without losing text is to do it in one of the bottom corners. Keep that in mind if you plan on putting them on rings!

The finished product!

I also made a 4x6 version for my students to use as bookmarks, especially since we don't have the new ones put out by the church yet. (Plus these are cuter... which is very important, am I right? :P)

(Left click to enlarge, right click to save and print)

I plan on printing this on the back so they have a place to keep track of the scriptures they passed off besides the poster at the front of the class. This is partially because we had a couple problems with people putting stickers in the wrong places... sometimes accidentally, sometimes not. ;) 

Last one... I have had this quote hanging on the wall in front of the classroom and decided to make one that was a little more eye-catching (but still simple). 

The colors are a little dark in the download because my printer tends to print things lighter than they should be, so feel free to tweak the colors if it doesn't print quite the way you want. 

Here's how it looks in real life. See what I mean?

Well, there you have it! Let me know if you have any questions! Also, I plan on making (and posting) more seminary printables so if you have suggestions or ideas feel free to shoot me a comment or email. 

October (...Really?)

I really can't believe it is already October. The past few months have been flying by so quickly, probably since life in our neck of the woods has been pretty busy lately. Hence the lack of blog posts. (Like anyone really cares, but hey... leave my ego alone and let me pretend people actually read this :P)

Things are pretty crazy, but life is so good and I feel so blessed. The past few months have been full of lots of challenges -- the main ones being some health problems and juggling a very stressful job and my calling as a seminary teacher -- but I'm grateful to know how to handle them (thanks to the gospel and a good family) and for the opportunity it gives me to improve myself, gain some much-needed patience, and remember that I can't do everything on my own.

The good definitely outweighs that bad though, so let's talk about that instead. :) Seminary is going pretty well! Hopefully my students love coming to class as much as I love teaching it! They are such good kids and I'm really happy to get to teach them. I love that this calling requires so much preparation time since it kind of forces me to study and learn from the scriptures on a whole new, deeper level, and studying with the teaching mindset really helps me see things I might have missed otherwise. We're studying the New Testament this year and I've really, really enjoyed learning so much about my Savior and his life and example. The more I learn about him, the more I love him and appreciate what he did for me. Ah, the gospel is so true! I just love it.

I'm still working full-time at the same job... yup. On the bright side, I have a job. And I am not flipping burgers. Also, I know a lot more about cell phones than I ever thought I would, and just might be turning into a bit of a tech nerd. I'm fighting it though. Fighting hard. ;) It's pretty stressful, especially when I get chewed out all the time by customers who think I am the sole cause of their problems and also have the power to fix them, but oh well... I guess that's how it goes. Sometimes when they are yelling at me I just imagine that I am on a hammock hanging between two palm trees on a beach in Hawaii sipping on pineapple juice with that cute husband of mine. Of course, the nasty customer in question is the one serving me said pineapple juice and anything else my heart desires. Oh and is also giving me a foot massage while they're at it. You know why? Because my feet are extremely ticklish and I have the uncontrollable tendency to kick -- and kick HARD -- whenever someone just brushes my toes. I think you can see where I am going with this. ;)

Work and seminary are definitely the two main things going on in my life now. Y'know, besides being awesome with this guy.

Mystery Canyon

Mesa Temple

I know, I know... pretty much every single post ends with something sappy about that handsome husband of mine. I'll try not to be too nauseating, but seriously... he is awesome and it just keeps on getting better every day. I am really, really lucky blessed. :)

Totally unrelated, but this is awesome (Just like everything these guys do... I'm a big fan) so you should watch it. That's all.

Busy

I've been using the word "busy" to describe my life probably for the last 10 years. It's kind of funny how every stage of life brings a whole new meaning to being "busy". The past couple months have been particularly chaotic, and it is funny to think that in the future I'm probably going to look back and laugh to think I thought I was busy now when it's just the two of us.

So what has been keeping me busy? Well, I started a new job a little over a month ago, and have been working a bit more than I was expecting. I guess that is a good thing though. I'm just really thankful that I don't have to work Sundays.

When I'm not working, I am preparing lessons since I was recently called to be... a seminary teacher! I was definitely surprised, but I feel so lucky blessed and humbled to get to teach (and by taught by) my awesome students. It's a lot of responsibility, sometimes it can be stressful, and when I often don't get home from work until 7:30pm, it's not easy to get lesson planning in. It's so worth it though and I am so thankful for this opportunity. I couldn't ask for a better calling. I am really going to miss my primary class though. :(

My job and my calling are the two main things that take up my time, but of course there are a thousand other things that keep me busy when I'm not working or preparing a lesson. But you know what? I like it. It's much better than before when I just stayed home and vegged out all day while Dallin was at work. I cooked and cleaned a lot more then... but it is nice to have places to be and things to do, even if I get overwhelmed sometimes.