This past weekend I had the wonderful opportunity to attend Time Out For Women! It is an amazing event full of women leaders of the church giving amazing talks. I went with a group of friends and we agreed that it was even better than Women's Conference at BYU! This was my second time to TOFU and was even better than the last. I was so uplifted and encouraged that I had to share. The whole tour had a theme of "Hope", Exactly what I needed! Two of my favorite speakers were Virginia Pearce and Sheri Dew.
Virginia Hinkley Pearce is the daughter of President Hinkley. She spoke on "How to live a successful life." What is your definition of success? Are the ideas of the world influencing your definition of success? "Peace, Joy and Hope is available to those who measure success properly." "When I have the Spirit, I have no trials" (Eliza Snow.)
Sheri Dew is the former RS General President. I have always loved listening to her strong testimony. Her talk was focused on ensuring we remember who we are and why we are here. The Lord is aware of us and our needs. All of the individual trials we endure are necessary for our personal eternal salvation. We hear of the pioneers who were "Grateful to be deemed worthy to be a pioneer." Sheri Dew says "I am grateful you and I were deemed worthy to come now when EVERYTHING was on the line!" " How easily are we influenced?" "Who is influencing us?" "No one has more influence on their husband or children than us." "The only way we can do what we have been sent here to do is if we are fixed on the finish."
One year older equals 27! I don't know why, but I love getting older. Maybe it is because of all those times when I was in public with a 1 year old, a 3 year old and pregnant with another and Kendra would insist on telling everyone that her mom was a teenager! She thought it was funny because Ed would tease me about it all the time!
My family and I celebrated at a local restaurant and Ed surprised me with cupcakes from Sprinkles! They were so yummy! My mom knows that fall harvest is my favorite and gave me a huge pack of beautifully wrapped canning supplies. These came in handy because I had 50 pounds of peaches ripe at home! The girls were a huge help this year. They had finally learned the ropes from the years past and had a full on assembly line going in no time. Kingston was in charge of washing the peaches. Kennedy would put them into the boiling water then to ice water and peel the skin. Kaili was in charge of cutting, putting in lemon water and then to jars. I was in charge of processing. The peaches were in more of junks than beautiful slices and we had juice and peach everywhere but the skills my girls practiced and the time we spent working together was worth every hour spent cleaning!
As if General Conference, TOFW, Fall Harvest, and a Birthday isn't enough of an emotional high, I was able to attend the Temple with my cousin Brett for his first time. Brett and I are 2 days apart and grew up next door to each other. He was born with several birth defects and has had a difficult life suffering from severe seizures and learning disabilities. He is unable to read but was able to learn the discussions and teaches with the missionaries on a regular basis. His testimony is undeniable. I am thankful that we were able to be so close. He has definitely been saved for "generations!" It was a very neat day.
