and today is blessed.

do you know today is father's day?

today felt more directed to me though.

and i love my new ward.

the speakers we wonderful, and spoke with clean words.

all of the sisters are beautiful. all of them are welcoming and friendly.

all of them have such big hearts and full of love and pour out the spirit from their every action.

today in relief society was special. it was dear and full of love.

the sweet sister giving the lesson was lovely and glowing.

the lesson was on eternal families.

she shared with us of what her bishop shared with her.

he asked her not to be a mother that was surprised with a child and felt it was meant to be. he asked her to be a mother who goes to her Heavenly Father in prayer. to let him know that she was ready to have a child, and to ask him if he be ready, she would love to welcome their child into their life and home.

she did. with all of her children. including the child that was still born. she said that it was ok. it's ok that he wasn't able to be with them for very long, that she would be able to see him again. she believed in eternal families. and she was excited for their reunion one day.

i LOVED all the beautiful stories that were shared. and i have more of them written in my journal, but i wanted to share one more.

this was given by a beautiful, strong, 95 year old sister. she was absolutely lovely.

she told us that when she was 80, that she wanted to take her 4 (?) daughters to Hawaii. when they were on the plane on the way to their vacation, one of the daughters was sick, she was in pain. they believe she was having a heart attack. she couldn't stand, and she couldn't sit. they had her lay down. and went to the pilot and had him announce to all the passengers if there was an LDS priesthood holder to come and give this lady a blessing. one man came to them. and said he left his oil in his bags that were checked in, but asked if it would still be ok to give her a blessing. and they agreed it would be fine. he blessed that they would be able to continue their trip uninterrupted. and after he closed, she was beginning to feel better. and they were able to continued their trip.

i couldn't help but think that i wanted to one day be this strong lady. she looked so healthy, and ready to do anything. i was inspired and was excited to think that i COULD one day be just like her, and have such awesome stories to share. to be a loving mother, and to maybe take my children to Hawaii when i turned 80.

i wanted to stay in this room with these sisters and listen to more stories of their experiences. i could have stayed all day. 

i loved how much they love the gospel and how grateful they were for our heavenly father. it made me think more of my testimony and what i could do better to make it bigger and fuller and true. it made me think of my future children and how i could prepare myself as a one day mother.

i love my life. i love my husband, and that he is here right beside me to experience every part of it. he can make me smile no matter what situation. we are an eternal family and that's the most amazing thing to be able to say. i am SO grateful that he was able to drag my super tired body out of bed to get ready for this glorious day. to strengthen my testimony of this true gospel.

happy father's day.

in the name of Jesus Christ amen.