Our Ranunculas Life: 2017

Engagement Photo Story

This photo is the one we sent out with our wedding announcements. There is a story behind this photo. My sister-in-law was taking our engagement pictures. We decided to go to a park with a small waterfall. It was very picturesque. We took a bunch of nicely posed pictures there. When we were leaving we drove passed and decided to stop at The Flower Fields, in Carlsbad. I wanted to see the flowers up close. The flowers that they plant are called Ranuculas. The plant rows and rows of the flowers on the hill, and they plant them by color. If you ever have the chance, you should go visit. It is very beautiful.

While we were there my sister-in-law said squat down by the flowers and I will take some pictures, so we did. I had taken off my shoes, because heals don't work to well in loose dirt. I was squatting with my dress hiked up to my mid thigh. Brian squatted down behind me, we smiled and Vicki snapped a few pictures; then we left.

This was in the days before instant digital photography. We had to wait a few hours for the picture to be developed so we would know if they had turned out. As we looked thru them, I was kind of disappointed. The pictures didn't seem very flattering to Brian or me. I was thinking, we are going to have to take more pictures, not very fun. Then we came to the pictures from the flower fields. They were great! We were very relieved that we had pictures we could use to send out with our announcements. We both looked great in the pictures.

This picture has always been a reminder that things aren't always as they seem. It wasn't very comfortable getting this picture taken. If you could see our legs you would laugh at how we were squatting. That is just how life is sometimes, we can't always see the big picture. Sometimes things are hard and uncomfortable, but they are going to turn out beautiful in the end. Sometimes we look at others and their lives seem perfect from the outside looking in. We can't always see the trials they are going thru. Brian and I have been married almost 20 years and there have been trials and hardships, but our lives are beautiful.

Sunday, February 26, 2017

Fear Ye Not

What are you afraid of? I think we all have fears, one of my greatest fears has always had to do with how other people perceive me. Was I good enough, pretty enough, smart enough, tough enough? Because I had these fears I was easily intimidated by others. If somebody with a big bold personality would get in my face and challenge me I usually backed down. I hated confrontation (I still struggle with it) and I would question if I was guilty, even if I knew I wasn't. In my reading of the Old Testament this week and after reading another student's post about it I realized that this was a way that Satan has had control over me in my life. I was reading Isaiah 51:7 and it says:

7 ¶Hearken unto me, ye that know righteousness, the people in whose heart is my law; fear ye not the reproach of men, neither be ye afraid of their revilings.

8 For the moth shall eat them up like a garment, and the worm shall eat them like wool: but my righteousness shall be for ever, and my salvation from generation to generation.

This was talking to me, when I let others intimidate me, when I am afraid, I am not trusting in the Lord. He will protect me, he will always be there for me I just need to get rid of my fear and have faith in him. I am being like Laman and Lemual from the Book of Mormon when I am letting other's control me by being afraid of them.

Laman and Lemual were on an errand for the Lord. It was an extremely important task that would affect their children for generations if they didn't accomplish it. They tried, but when they faced resistance they were ready to give up. There have been many times as a mother when I have faced resistance I have been ready to give up. I have called my husband and said "I am done". Even after seeing an angel of the Lord Laman and Lemual complained that they couldn't accomplish their task. They were afraid and army of fifty men might be sent after them. Laman and Lemual had a younger brother with them on this journey. He wasn't ready to give up. He knew what the scriptures taught and he had faith that the Lord would help them accomplish their goal. He reminded his older brothers that the Lord is mightier than all the earth, so he is mightier than fifty of even tens of thousands of men. He then proceeded to accomplish what the Lord had asked him to do. I will ask the Lord to give me strength to face my trials and confrontations and I know that as I show faith in him and his power, I will be strengthened to face the trials in my life.

Sunday, January 29, 2017

Achieving the Impossible

Have you ever been faced with a task that seemed impossible? You just couldn't see any way to accomplish it? I am going to college again as a mom of 4 children and it seems that way. I never really thought I was smart enough to graduate from college. I wasn't a great student in high school and it was hard, college seemed impossible. It is going to take me longer that the typical 4 years to graduate, I am in my 2nd year back and I will still be a sophomore this time next year too. I am taking another Old Testament class this semester. This time it is the 2nd half of the book of scripture. This week we read from Ezra, Nehemiah and Esther. They were all faced with tasks that seemed completely impossible, yet they were the will of The Lord so they were able to accomplish them.

The first impossible task was the rebuilding of the temple in Jerusalem. The Jews were in bondage to the Persians; I am sure none of them thought they were going to be able to go back to Jerusalem. I am sure some didn’t think about it, but I am sure others were praying that they would be able to go back. It is so amazing that Cyrus read a prophesy about himself and that inspired him to command the Jews to go back and build the Temple. It wasn’t an easy task for them, they faced opposition along the way, but they were able to accomplish the Lord’s will.

I don’t think I had ever read the book of Nehemiah before this. He was mourning for his people who were struggling undefended in Jerusalem. Nehemiah was a friend of the king (his cup bearer) and the king sent him to go help. Nehemiah went to Jerusalem and build the wall around the Temple to protect the people. It had seemed an impossible task, but he did it because it was the Lord’s will. When he was laughed at and scorned he replied "The God of heaven, he will prosper us; therefore we his servants will arise and build." When he was asked to take a break (only to cause problems in the building of the wall) he replied "why should the work cease, whilst I leave it, and come down to you?" He was committed to accomplishing his task, and he completed it in 52 days. It required hard work and a steady commitment, but with the Lord's help he was able to complete his goal.

The final impossible task I would like to discuss is Queen Esther. Not many women are mentioned in the scriptures, but I love to learn from the lives of the righteous women in the scriptures. In the book of Esther all of the Jews were going to be killed by the king. It was a conspiracy by his servant Haman to kill them, but the king didn’t even know it was The Jews who were going to be killed. Because Esther's uncle, Mordecai had been inspired to present his niece to the king as a possible wife, she was able to do what seemed impossible and save the lives of all of the Jews. She had been blessed with great beauty and that attracted the king to her, but she was also blessed with wisdom and bravery. She came up with a plan to talk to him. She went in unto the king when she could have been killed just for approaching him. She knew she was not alone, she asked that all the Jews fast and pray for her so that she could accomplish her task. The Lord was with her and blessed her and her people and saved them from death.

The tasks that I face in my life are not as daunting as the tasks that I read about this week. I know that if I work hard like Nehemiah and the builders of the temple that the Lord will too help me accomplish any task I set out to do. I will keep taking classes and I will eventually achieve my goal of a bachelors degree. In setting out to accomplish this goal I have learned I am smarter than I thought I was, and accomplishing any goal is just putting one step in front of the other. If a step is too high, I will ask the Lord for help and he will help me climb.