What Made Me Cry Today...

My door creaks, and in steps Mom. “Marie, what’s the matter?” She sees my scriptures and my watery eyes. “What are you doing, honey? What’s wrong?”

It splutters out of me all at once. “Boys will only love you if you’re beautiful. It’s always the first thing. They aren’t attracted unless you’ve got beauty. They don’t get attracted, you don’t get married. You don’t get married, no exaltation. I took a survey. You and Grandma and Rebekah, Rachel, and Esther. And I’m never getting married! I’m never going to be able to live with Father in Heaven! Look, look at this verse. “I beheld a virgin, and she was exceedingly fair and white. … A virgin, most beautiful and fair above all other virgins … bearing a child in her arms” (1 Ne. 11:13, 15, 20).

Mom touches my arm gently and lifts my scriptures from my hands, “Bearing a child,” she slowly repeats and looks at me with soft eyes. “Marie, may I read you another scripture about that child?”

She doesn’t wait for a response. “He hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.

“He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: … he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

“Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows” (Isa. 53:2–4).

She pauses while I lower my chin into my chest.

“Maybe … maybe you’re right, Marie. Maybe men only love and desire that which they think is beautiful. After all, they didn’t love our Savior. They despised Him. They crucified Him.”

I shake my head slowly. “But He was the most beautiful of all.”

Mom doesn’t respond. Her eyes are expectant. She wants me to say more.

“They just …” I pause. “They just couldn’t tell.”

“Why not?”

“Well, they didn’t recognize it. They couldn’t tell that it was beauty. He was beautiful because …” I blow a frustrated gust of air through pursed lips. “I can’t explain it. He was beautiful in the way you just can’t see.”

Mom nods in agreement and reads, “‘Therefore, what manner of men ought ye to be? Verily I say unto you, even as I am’ (3 Ne. 27:27). Marie, you don’t have to look like Grandma or Esther or Rachel or Rebekah. For all we know, their kind of beauty was as invisible as our Savior’s. The only beauty you have to cultivate is His. If you can be beautiful like He was beautiful, you won’t have to worry about winning an Isaac or Jacob. Men who saw no beauty in our Savior may also not see your beauty. But men of Christ, acquainted with His grief, will come to love you and say, ‘She is the most beautiful of all.’ There may be pain caused by those who don’t know you, but you will draw closer to the Savior as you emulate Him. And until your Isaac or your Jacob comes, you will know that Christ has borne your grief and carried your sorrows. And He will comfort you.”

She places my scriptures back in my lap, squeezes my hand, and drops me a tissue for my sniffling nose. Then she slips out of my bedroom and closes the door. After a minute, I wipe tears and mascara and Glitter n’Glo off my eyelids. In my heart I feel a beauty that I know must be His.

To read the entire talk follow the link below

 Beauty Tips by Sheralee Bills

Mormon Messages

Make me cry.

Here is the one I watched today.

It's

Awesome.

Hopefully, it'll make your day like it made mine.

Hard Work

Last night 

I made dinner

and spent 3 hours cleaning the

bathroom(tub and all)

mopping my floors, 

vacuuming(even the furniture)

I love feeling accomplished

It is so easy to be lazy

but once you get up and get something done

you feel better about yourself 

and who doesn't like that?

Years ago, President of BYU-Idaho, Joe J. Christensen

gave a talk titled

"What It Takes to Be Happy and Successful"

The very first thing he says can make us happy is hard work. 

Here is a section from that talk.

"If you want to be happy and successful you must decide that hard work is a part of the answer. 

I have not met many happy and successful people who were lazy. 

The scriptures tell us to 'Cease to be idle; … cease to sleep longer than is needful; retire to thy bed early, that ye may not be weary; arise early, that your bodies and your minds may be invigorated' (D&C 88:124). 

In other words, you don’t succeed by being lazy and staying in bed all day."

New Nursery Color Scheme

When we found out that we were expecting a girl, I started looking for a bedding set.
Couldn't find anything that I liked.
It was either too pink, too purple, or too busy.

So I decided to find a fabric collection that I liked to make my own bedding set.
I found a pink and gray collection. It was lovely.
Soft and girly without being too girly.

Last week I posted about the baby's nursery.
I added a picture of the fabric collection I had chosen. 

But now,
The nursery color scheme has changed.

I found a bedding set at target that I love.
It's gray and yellow.
And so beautiful.

And best of all I don't have to make it. 

50 Rules for Dads of Daughters

I happened to notice last night that I was starting to bulge/bust out of my DD bra.

Fantastic. 

NOT. 

We are trying to buy a new car. 

I do not have money to spend on new bras! 

I was still upset and depressed about it this morning. 

Then I read this. 50 Rules for Dads of Daughters {by Michael Mitchell} 

Made my whole week. 

 Here are a few of my favorites. 

 

1. Love her mom. Treat her mother with respect, honor, and a big heaping spoonful of public displays of affection. When she grows up, the odds are good she’ll fall in love with and marry someone who treats her much like you treated her mother. Good or bad, that’s just the way it is. I’d prefer good.

16. Take her fishing. She will probably squirm more than the worm on your hook. That’s OK.

(Growing up, I always wished my dad would take me fishing.)

18. Tell her she’s beautiful. Say it over and over again. Someday an animated movie or “beauty” magazine will try to convince her otherwise.

28. She will eagerly await your return home from work in the evenings. Don’t be late.

34. Somewhere between the time she turns three and her sixth birthday, the odds are good that she will ask you to marry her. Let her down gently.

36. Few things in life are more comforting to a crying little girl than her father’s hand. Never forget this.

44. Write her a handwritten letter every year on her birthday. Give them to her when she goes off to college, becomes a mother herself, or when you think she needs them most.

I don't feel so bad about my changing body anymore. 

She's worth every bit of it.