I heard

A story. A good story! So good that I don't even remember where I heard it. So this is a rough paraphrase (I don't remember a lot of the details, I had to make up  the beginning) and if any of you know the author or where I can find the real one, please let me know. Mostly I just didn't want to type "devil" into google. :)

"There was a young man walking down a lonely road, off to seek his fortune. He was joined by an old man. 'Let me show you the land.' said the old man. The old man showed the young man the houses scattered among the hills. The young man pointed to a grand house with rich gardens. "Old man," said the younger, "there is but one small devil sitting outside of that grand house. It must be quite a good man who lives in there." The old man replied, "Oh, no, that man cares so much for his riches that it takes just one small devil to keep him on that path." After they had walked a little further,  the old man and the young man came to a small cottage. "Old man," said the younger, "there are seven huge devils surrounding that small cottage. Surely this man must be the wickedest of them all." The old man smiled, and said, "Oh no. That man is so humble and good, that the devil has sent his seven biggest servants to try to bring him down."

I love that story! Sometimes it feels like there's a lot of shafts in the whirlwind or a lot of devils/wolves at our door. The nice thing is, God is stronger. The other day I had an insight - God is omnipotent and omniscient, so if we prayed to him all day, every day, it wouldn't distract him from giving equal attention and care to every other citizen of the planet/universe. Just as my parents would listen to me at any time and try to help me (love you guys!), so would my Heavenly Father. And, I like this video. :)



Satan wants us to think that Heavenly Father is too busy to listen to us - it's not true! I need to remember that.

Money Matters and Other Things That Matter More

Work today was...wow. I got called in by some supervisors about a semi-serious situation, and it was quite stressful! Let's just say I cried and I was super embarrassed. Everything's fine now, if you were wondering, but boy I needed a pick-me-up!

Cue miracle. Seeking the good today was easy, thanks to Heavenly Father. So a while back I had gotten my deposit back from my last apartment in Utah. It was a lot of money, and I was so grateful! It was a time of need. Anyways, I noticed a mistake in her calculations (the landlady had given me 25-50 more than I thought was coming to me). I'm embarrassed to admit that I thought, "well, I've been cheated by landlords in the past, maybe this is just karma on my side" or "maybe it's not a mistake, maybe I am supposed to get this extra money." I didn't really want to call (I'm ashamed to say) but I did, and I'm so glad because the landlady called and said she was so impressed and grateful that she let me keep the extra. It was extremely generous of her.

Now I do NOT share this story to make you think how awesome I am, because as I mentioned earlier, I was so very very near not calling. But I did call, and Heavenly Father gave me this pick-me-up exactly at the time that I needed it. It was nice to hear I'd done something right. I'm so grateful! And I shrink to think what today would have been like if I didn't. Speaking of money and pick-me-ups, I think I would love to get this $5.00 back at a grocery store.

Image via

Anyways, this experience reminded me of how in high school when you went to tell a teacher they'd missed something you got wrong, they always let you keep the points. That's the way it works! If you do the right thing, it always works out in your favor (either here or there!). Simple, right?

Owl Eyes

Image via

Seeking the good, even at a grocery store! I was at Giant getting a refund for some VERY freezer-burned chicken (they were great about it) when I saw this little ceramic owl in the fall/halloween section. I immediately thought of Sarah, of course, and then I thought about how great that owl would look on a bookshelf someday with lots of great leather-bound books (which, I am assuming I will acquire in the future). Price tag? $3.00. Impulsive and totally worth it.

Okay, that isn't actually my owl, because my camera isn't working, but it's similar (mine's cuter). Today was a rainy, fallish, cookie-baking, oil-changing, indoor efficiency, wishing-I-could-light-the-pumpkin-gingerbread-candle-but-we-don't-have-any-matches kind of day.

Hope yours was wonderful as well! :)

Time to Vote!!!

Not the Romney-Obama kind, although I am SO looking forward to the presidential debate on the 3rd, 16th, and 17th. Will you be tuning in?

Speaking of tuning, these videos have impeccable...tuning. Haha. For day four of seek the good, take a look at three versions of the same song. These are my three favorite versions of ALL TIME. Such a beautiful song. It's hard to pick my favorite duo. If you're interested, take a peek and see which you prefer.



Celine Dion and Josh Groban. Celine's got soul!



Andrea Bocelli (love him!) and Katherine McPhee. Why don't people talk about her more often? Such easy control of her voice. I think Andrea has a crush on her.



This is a pretty special duo. Two teenagers, the girl helped the guy with his confidence issues, turns out he has a FANTASTIC voice and they made it to the finals on Britain's Got Talent. Pretty heartwarming! I think Bocelli and McPhee win out for me, but bravissimo to all!

Can-Can, Can you do the Can-Can??

Post three in seeking the good! Today as a stake we walked through neighborhoods and collected cans for a nearby homeless shelter.

It was for the "day of service" declared by the governors of Maryland, Virginia, and DC. It was a blast!  So many people were extremely generous and thanked us for what we were doing - others waved us away from the door before we had finished explaining who we were. Oh well. Maybe they were in need? Anyways, it was still fun because we got to see some of the gorgeous rustic old houses in the area. So lovely! I saw a door like this and fell in love:          

 Image via  (I'm going to start adding links to my pictures. I don't have a camera so basically everything I use is from google!)

I just love old houses, and I am SO happy that fall is in the air! It's my favorite season. It's taken me my whole life to make that decision, but it's definite. It's hard not to love the season you're born in, even though Fall is pretty bleak as far as birthday months go! I love pumpkin bars and cider.

Speaking of pumpkin bars, this recipe was really good. I splurged and bought the stuff to bake it one day. :) I think baking is calming after a long day of thinking - it's nice to have something mindless and concrete to do.

Old houses, treats and friends. It's been a good morning. Off to start my thesis proposal. No idea what it's going to be about. What do you think about, "The impact of media's portrayal of therapists on public perception of the practice?" Yeah. No idea. At least I could watch and code movies for homework!

Of Lightning and Laughter

Second post of the "Seek the Good" project, my way of keeping zeal for life during an emotionally challenging grad program! I have a couple of tender mercies to document that have been keeping me going today. :)

Firstly, last night we had an amazing lightning storm. I saw electric yellow webs of lightning in a purple sky (pretty Halloweeny!) on the way home from institue, it was so cool. Our house shook and we heard the roar of wind rushing into the atmosphere's burned-up space. Meanwhile, my roommate was baking banana bread. We bonded over the rain, and had our first good chat. Like, seriously, we were laughing and talking for a good 30 minutes! I was reminded how much I need people, and how much I need laughter! I felt so filled up, it was fantastic. My roommate is 38, and she was telling me all about how technology was in her day, how they used to have to rent VHS players from the video store and how confused she first was with the concept of "electronic mail." That's where I was cracking up. It reminded me of this clip:



Speaking of electronics, last night (while I was BRUSHING MY TEETH), this:

fell into this...

and did THAT. 

Not really. But it is broken, and I've been laughing on and off about it all day. Mostly, I've been laughing at how willing I was in that moment to thrust my hand into a toilet - that's a new one for me. 

Anyways, lightning and laughter made it a pretty good day. :) And if anyone wants to get in touch with me, texting is the only thing that works right now. I'm going to have me some buff thumbs. 

The "Seek the Good" Project

Hi all. :) I've been absent from the blogosphere for a few months. Explanation? I've graduated from BYU, moved to VA, and started grad school at VA Tech. Let's get one thing straight: I really like grad school! I love the emphasis on becoming something through your studies, as opposed to cramming information for a test and forgetting it the next day. It's been a big adjustment and it's a lot of work, but it's a blessing to be learning about something I feel so passionate about. And, for the first time, I really do like reading my textbooks! Woohoo!!

Still, it's been a big change moving from Provo, where your ward and your support system is built in all around you, to an area where the LDS folks are more spread out and isolated. I do have a great ward, it's just trickier to put down roots here (I guess this is real life! Your best friends aren't always going to live two doors down!). My roommates are fantastic, but quite busy, so often I spend my nights at home studying. It can get pretty quiet around here! Thank goodness for my boyfriend Dave, who skypes with me for hours every day.

I have a plan to take care of this isolation. I'm going to FHE, institute, volunteering for every church activity I can - I'm slowly but surely building a support system, which I'm coming to find is CRUCIAL to success in the marriage and family therapy field. It is pretty draining to study emotional issues and observe therapy sessions all day. I'm learning early on the importance of taking care of yourself first! So I'm going to reach out to the people in my ward more and hopefully start doing some really fun things with them.

As part of my plan to keep upbeat and not lose the zeal I always want to have for life, I'm going to start what I want to call the "Seek the Good" project. Lately I've felt overwhelmed by how many dark things there are in the world and how Satan really has a hold on so many people. I just want to remind myself of how much good there is all around me and how light always triumphs over darkness.

So what this boils down to: every day I'm going to be sharing a little inspirational something on my blog (a picture, a video, something I love, something that has helped me) to encourage me to seek the good and to acknowledge my blessings. I hope that light and truth will become a theme of this blog.

For my first post in the "Seek the Good" project, I want to share with you this beautiful song. I've been a little scared in my house lately - it's dark, I'm alone, I'm not sure who the people in my neighborhood are, etc. I prayed and read the scripture, "No weapon formed against thee shall prosper." What a comforting phrase! It's been running through my head ever since. Anyways, I found this song on my brother's Ipod, and I've been listening to it as I go to sleep. It makes me feel calm and safe and protected, almost like I'm a kid again and Heavenly Father is calming me after a bad dream.



Much love and thanks to my amazing family, who are the best support system I could ever have. :)