Treasures

I have a couple of treasures I would like to share with you.

1. For a Christmas present I have been telling Steve for 2 years that I wanted a jewelry box. Last year he attempted to get me one, but it was a quick buy at Walmart and not what I was looking for. So, I took it back and asked again this year. He was looking for one at all the Christmas markets that he went to with his parents, and couldn't find one. So...he decided to make me one. He started it 2 days before Christmas and had it almost done by Christmas morning. I am thrilled with it. I love that he spent time on it and put thought in to it. Those are always my VERY favorite Christmas presents. He did an amazing job on it and it will always be a treasure to me.
{Isn't that cool how he did the corners all professional like!}


2. This past summer Steve and I have had a change of heart in how we want to live our lives. We have realized that the leaders of the church give us council for a reason, and our lives will be much happier if we apply that council to OUR lives, instead of thinking it is directed at everybody else. In July we began reading the Book Of Mormon together EVERY night. We read it on days we were out late, on days we were jet lagged and could hardly keep our eyes open, and on days when we forgot to read and remembered at 1am when we finally decided to head up to bed. I think we only missed maybe 3 days in the past 7 months and I think that was because we were away from each other for the night. We each read half of the chapter out loud and would mark the verses that stood out to us as we read. Then we went back and told why the scripture stood out to us. We just finished reading it on Thursday night and it was Amazing! I have such a greater love and understanding for the Book Of Mormon now and for the valuable lessons it is teaching us. I also have so much enjoyed hearing Steve's testimony and bearing my testimony about gospel principals on a daily basis as we told what the verses meant to us. It has been a wonderful tool in bringing Steve and I closer together. The Book Of Mormon is a wonderful treasure that I hope I never take for granted.

3.Steve had to work unexpectedly tonight so I am home alone. I put the boys to bed early because of a rough night last night, and decided to look at lds.org to see if I could catch President Hinckley's funeral. Lucky me, it had just started. So, I sat and listened to it and enjoyed it tremendously. I felt a strong witness that President Hinckley and the men he worked with are leading the Lords church. I am so grateful for President Hinckley's service and awesome example. The way he made people feel was amazing. So many people have expressed similar feelings to me when they heard about his death. I am so happy for him to be with his wife again, and I can't imagine how many people were waiting to greet him in Heaven. I feel such a tremendous peace because I know we are being led by the Lord through a prophet and that I can have my answers to life's difficult questions answered for me. One of my friends said that President Hinckley was the only prophet she ever knew. I heard tonight that church membership increased by 31% while he was the prophet, so I guess he is the only prophet a lot of people knew. My testimony of having a man of God lead and guide Christ's church is a treasure to me that I plan on always nourishing.