The Why's of Blogging and Journaling

It has been no secret around these here parts about how much I love journaling and/or blogging.  I love being able to have my thoughts and ideas flow from my finger tips to the paper or...computer screen.  It gives me a connection to my inner self.

But, blogging and journaling our thoughts, ideas and stories gives us a connection to others, as well.  It gives us a sense of community which so many of us crave.  God did not create us to be alone, no he wants us to connect, listen to, love and serve one another.

Have you ever noticed that the older we get, the more we tend to repeat our stories.  I know I've probably heard my grandma's stories about a hundred million times.  We chalk it up to "old timers", but maybe that is the way it is supposed to be.  I don't think it is by accident.  Those stories repeated and shared over and over is so we don't forget...so we don't forget them...so they are forever in our hearts and memories after they are gone.  Remember to Listen...I know things about my grandma because she wrote them down, too.

I want to leave that kind of history for my family.  I don't want to worry over if they'll think I sound stupid or did stupid things.  I want them to enjoy learning about me, from me.

I have been drawn to the lovely journals at Gadanke by Katie Clemmons.  She has inspired me.  She did a speaking engagement where her segment was posted on YouTube.  I love this little video because it answers the why's.  Why do we need to write and share...It is worth your while to watch.

***This is not a sponsored post.  I just like sharing things I find inspiring***

I'm Just Different Now...{Miguel's Missionary Moment}

Source

August 19, 2013

"Hola como esta me familia!

Well another day in the life of Elder Hamer...This week has been a good week but also a pain in the butt! Elder bronson had 3 flat tires and has no money. Sorry mommy I paid for them and now I am almost out of money because he has been eating my food, too.  Its been a process...one moment he likes me and the next he hates me.  It is crazy haha, but he is a good guy.

But the work!! It is going good!  We have two people ready for baptism.  Zion is on date for Sep 6th.  He is a funny kid, he gets really in to it.  We just teach him a little at a time.  We also have Harry ready for the 14th.  He is more tentative.  He isn't sure yet, but he said he would prepare for that date. Lawrenceville is great!  There are lots of people to talk to.  I'm a beast on the bike still.  Oh, we ran two miles one morning and Elder Bronson was dying, and he was sore all week from one run.

I'm loving the mission!  So much work to do!  I think my favorite thing about it, though, is who I am now.  The change is ridiculous!  I was just thinking in bed the other night, and I tried to see what came to mind.  I couldnt stop thinking about the work and God.  It was weird...I realize my mind is so much more clear, I dont know everything, but it is just a lot clearer.  I don't know, I guess I'm just different now.

Elder Hamer out!"

Exclusion and Seasons

Source

Feelings of  exclusion as opposed to inclusion, whether purposeful or not, can be quite detrimental to my psyche, no doubt.  I've found lately that I don't  quite know where I fit in.  I mean with both of my boys out of the house and out of state and my one VERY special and QUIET daughter living at home, the dynamics that were my life and my roles are changing.

I belong to a Church that preaches and respects the divinity of motherhood for which I am most grateful and thoroughly believe.  But...I'm still a mother, yet the demands and needs of mine are vastly different from what they were say, ten years ago, and sometimes I just don't fit...

Source

Often times when I go to Women's Conferences or Church activities so much is focused on raising little ones, as it should be, but there is a group of us that are sort of lost and neglected.  I suppose I can relate to those women who don't yet have children; we can relate on a certain level, and that is the feeling of not belonging or the lack of inclusion.  I am happy in my new phase, don't get me wrong, but a little guidance in how to make that transition smoother would be much appreciated.

Source

For instance, I love the quieter, unhurried pace that I now experience.  But at the same time, I miss the energy that it and my boys brought as well.  A dichotomy?  Yes!  I am a Pandora's box of emotions where these dichotomies are concerned.   My house is almost always tidy and clean.  I dreamed of these days, but now in my afternoons when I come home from work, I need to find other hobbies.  As if cleaning were a hobby!

Source

To clear things up, I'm not complaining.  My glass is half full, trying to find the rainbows type of thing, but a little help, suggestions and guidance on what the heck to do with the rest of my life would be most welcome.  I find comfort in the words in Ecclesiastes 3:1-12:

"To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:  A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;  A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;  A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;  A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;  A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;  A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;  A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.  What profit hath he that worketh in that wherein he laboureth?  I have seen the travail, which God hath given to the sons of men to be exercised in it.  He hath made every thing beautiful in his time: also he hath set the world in their heart, so that no man can find out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end.  I know that there is no good in them, but for a man to rejoice, and to do good in his life."

How do you handle the changing seasons of life?  

When Someone is Suffering...

Source

We've all been there, and offered to give help and serve those in need..."If you need anything...Just give me a call."  But the thing is, when you are the one suffering, you really don't want to put someone out...and sometimes you are in so much pain...just the very act of thinking about what you need becomes painful.

After having experienced what I have over the last few months, I wanted to share some thoughts and ideas I have learned about helping and serving those who don't ask.  No longer will I say, "If you need anything...." Because now I know specifics I can focus on...

• an offer of a ride to an appointment - there were a few times my husband went to work late to drive me to therapy appointments.  But there were also a few times, I had to do it myself.  This meant not being able to take the medication that helped to control my pain.  
• Meals are nice, but really my husband and daughter had it covered.  He's picky and I have food allergies...but dropping by a treat says "Hey I was thinking of you"
• Offer to run to the store and pick up some things
• Texts 
• Phone calls 
• prayers and fasting
• Play Words with Friends or another game just to keep them involved.
• I was incredibly lonely...I would have loved it if someone came over to watch a movie or just talk

I know I'm not the only one who has gone through a trial like this.  

What things have you learned about service?

Mosiah 2:17  "And behold, I tell you these things that you may learn wisdom;

that ye may learn that when ye are in the service of your fellow beings

ye are only in the service of your God."

Lawrenceville Rocks! {Miguel's Missionary Moment}

Letter Dated 8/12/2013

"Whats up fam,

Well these past two weeks have been pretty sweet.  Lawrenceville is a pretty awesome area. We have had about 12 new investigators in 2 weeks, and we have a kid named Zion ready for baptism on Sep 6th.  He is legit!  His grandma is a member, and she referred us to him. His mom isn't interested, but she is allowing him to be taught.  He is a really cool kid.  Zion is from New York so he has a heavy accent. We also have a couple named Zay and Sharee and their 2 year old son Jeremiah that we are teaching.  We taught them their first full lesson yesterday and Sharee, the mom teared up, it was sweet!!  A guy named Harry showed up to church, and we weren't even expecting him.  He loved it, so we are excited to teach him more. Tomorrow we are teaching another family, the Bradley's, who I haven't met yet.  They were found when I was working with another Elder. They sound legit! And, we are teaching another lady named, Renee, on Wednesday.  She has 4 kids.  

So everything is going great!

These are some funny pictures! I promise will write some letters. I have just been super busy!!!! but ........

Elder Hamer out!"

 

Confessions from the Floor

When I was broken, the most comfortable position I could find was lying on the floor on my stomach...Yeah I spent a lot of time there...And I have some confessions to make

1.  I watched all three season of Downton Abbey on Amazon Prime using only my free trial and then canceling.
2. I read so many books that I can't even list them
3. I showered but didn't shave...I just couldn't bend that way 
4. Makeup?  hahahahaha...yeah I was scary looking
5. I thought I was tough.  Now I know I'm a blubber baby.
6. I crawled, a lot.  I think I may have worn holes in my pants
7. While lying on the floor, I saw everything I couldn't do that needed doing.  Like pet hair in the carpet, floors needing to be washed.  When you are that close, it's just gross.
8. I think I wore the same comfy/stretchy pants over and over...
9. Talking to your animals like they are people might make you certifiably insane.
10. I lost my independence and I didn't like it.
11. I will admit to being a kind patient.  Despite my pain, I didn't let it affect my attitude when my family was around.  

What confession do you find most shocking?

The 8 Miracles

Source

After writing this post recently about being so blessed, I thought I would be remiss if I did not list those blessing and miracles one by one.  I know that He has His hand in all and that He sometimes uses His earthly angels to fulfill His miracles.  I am eternally grateful for the blessings that He sent my way.  

1. The mod pack.  I took a steroid pack that eased the swelling and back pain just long enough to get me through the busiest part of the school year and registrations before my back got bad again.
2. When it got to the point that I was crawling, my husband ran into a friend of mine at the gas station.  She gave him the name of a massage therapist that does pressure point massage and helps to relieve sciatic pain.  After one of these massages, my pain was slightly relieved for a few days.  I was able to sit in a chair and eat with my family.  Needless to say, I scheduled another
3. A friend who is a physical therapist offered to come to our home for free and show me some basic moves that might help.  This is who showed me that lying on my stomach might be the most comfortable for my bulging discs and pain.  This is basically where I remained until surgery.
4. When I called for a consultation with the surgeon, I was told they were booked out till January (this was the beginning of September) but had just had a cancellation in mid October.  They put me at the bottom of the cancellation list.
5. Four hours later, I received a call from the Neurosurgeon's office.  The receptionist said, "You wouldn't believe it, but I have been through my whole cancellation list and you were the only one who answered the phone.  We can see you tomorrow morning."  
6. I was told that insurance approval could take 10-14 business days.  I got approval in one and my surgery 4 days after approval.
7. I got paid my full paycheck despite being out of work for three weeks and not having sick days since I'm only part time.  What can I say...they love me.  
8. Quick recovery...I was back to work one week after my surgery.  Though I have to be careful and modify what I do, I see this as another miracle.  

During the course of some of my reading over the past few months, I learned that 8 is a significant number in Christianity.  What I read regarding it's significance is that God created the world in 6 days and rested on the 7th.  The 8th day was for rebirth.  Thus, many ancient baptismal fonts are 8 sided, an octagon.  After these 8 miracles, I feel reborn physically and spiritually and thus the rebirth of my blogging, as well.   

Have you seen the influence of God working in your life, too?

 

Fall Changes

You may have noticed some changes here on my blog.  We all do them every once in a while.  I was notified that the free layout I was using would be disappearing.  So, while I was reconfiguring my background, I inadvertently deleted all my widgets...Oops!  Yeah, I'm not a pro...I'm working on it...That's the thing about season changes and disappearing backgrounds, it makes me want to do some cleaning up around these here parts.  Freshen things up...do a little dusting off.  And try to recover my lost widgets, or at least rebuild them.

I even changed my blog name, then changed it back.  I can't decide...

Miguel's Missionary Moment

Source

July 15, 2013

"This week we tore it up...finally an up turn! We had a slow start to the week but in two days we had three people commit to baptism, and met five new investigators. One lady read to Moroni 9 in the Book of Mormon and requested to meet with the missionaries herself.  We read with her the promise in Moroni 10 and she and her mom decided to be baptized. The only problem is satan! His influence is so real.  She talked to her husband, and she isn't allowed to meet with us anymore.  So, sadly, she probably won't be getting baptized. The husband totally took away her agency away.  It was so frustrating.  Another lady named Jessica is still planning on baptism. She also has a 10 year old daughter and her husband we are hoping to start teaching soon.  We only taught her once but she is super prepared. If she goes through to baptism I probaly won't get to be there because transfers are next week. I hope she gets baptized. Other than that there isn't much else going down.  A member is taking us to Outback for steak haha we are hyped! That's all,  I love you all!!

 

Elder Hamer out!"

July 22, 2013

"well! here we go!!

 

So this week was decent although it seems like everyone who commits to baptism gets antied!! But we found two more families I hope we will be teaching!  Well I won't because I am leaving for Lawrenceville on Wednesday.  Lawrenceville is really close to my first area.  I'm on bike again..... in the hot summer!!!! stupid bike!!! My only problem is that my bike is getting fixed this week.  An Elder borrowed it and broke it on so i might not have it right away.  I have heard good things about Lawrenceville so we will see how it goes,  My new companion came out at the same time as Elder Loertscher,  He is still pretty new so it will be interesting.

I'm kinda of ready to leave Winder it has been a hard area.  There are just so many people who listen but never progress.  It can get so discouraging.  I hope this new area will be better. This has been my longest area, though, so I got to know some people really well. I hate getting transferred because I hate packing!  I need to go buy some vacuum bags today so it is easier. Bike again :p it is gonna be so freaking hot! But that's okay! Well, I'm super tired and ready to just go lay down for a bit before basketball, but I am looking forward to my new area. Love you!

 

 

Elder Hamer out"

Last Year {31 Days of Faith}

Source

Last year at this time I participated with a multitude of other bloggers in a 31 days of blogging series.  I titled mine 31 Days of Faith.  During my 31 Days of Faith series, I taught about what Mormon's believe straight from "the source"  Me!  You know, being that I am a Christian, Mormon, Mom, Wife, daughter, sister, granddaughter and Administrative Assistant.  I offered my first person perspective and knowledge in a non threatening manner.  Some people, I don't know why, feel threatened by Mormons, and avoid us...Let me sniff my pits...do I offend?

Since, I am revisiting my muse and working on some new blog posts, please feel free to go back in time a little bit and visit my 31 Days of Faith series.

Happy reading and have a great weekend!

 

Single to the Glory of God {Miguel's Missionary Moment}

Source

With my recent blogging hiatus, I have also neglected to post the letters from Miguel.  I know that family and friends read these, as well as, those interested in what a Mormon Missionary does from day to day...This lack of posting can be a good thing, because I now have a trove of letters to choose from.  Honestly, sometimes Miguel doesn't write much more than "I'm alive!  and I miss you!"

So here is a letter dated:

6/17/2013 (Yeah it's been THAT long)

"Well life in the mission!

This past couple weeks have been stink, but thats okay.  We have just had our everyone we were teaching drop off and we cant figure it out.  A guy named Joe wanted to be baptized  and 2 days later he droped us.  We spent the rest of the week a little discouraged about getting rejected over and over again, but we are pumped for a new week we are gonna tear it up!!!  We've got the faith! We decide we are changing the area this week! we are definantly going to be praying for miracles!!! 

On Monday we played football in the pouring rain and an elder sliped and shattered his arm!!  Elder Loertscher and I were diving and sliding like crazy it was intense!!! I threw like 290123480925790348 touch down passes hahaha, but it was a super fun personal day.  The lame part was the elder broke his arm before we started playing he just slipped.  He was un athletic, too, so that didn't help."

7/8/2013 

"Well this week got a lot better actually.  We didn't have a great week finding people to teach, though.  But this week we did knock on this lady named Rachel's door.  She listened to us on the porch and even invited us in.  We taught about the restoration, and she was very interested in the authority and asked a lot of questions.  She was excited to read the Book of Mormon.  Hopefully, she will let us come back.  We also had a family that Elder Loertscher and I have gotten really close to tell us how much of a positive spirit we bring into their home and how we have affected their family.  They told us on a really hard day when Elder Loertscher was thinking about going home, so it meant a lot to him, but i am their second favorite they say sooooo they dont like me that much!!! ;p They make fun of me a lot haha but whatever they're cool :p 

Also this week the Stake came and gave us some awesome support in the Ward, and we are really excited to have their support. hmmm  oh yeah I was studying how to have an eye single to the glory of God this morning because I have just never  felt like I understood it and I feel stupid! But I finally get that it is doing it in the Lord's way and trusting in Him that He will fulfill his promises if we are following His direction. We know that it is Him who makes/made all results possible.  It took forever but Psalms 141:8 made it all click.

Elder Hamer Out!!"

The Rebirth of a Blogger

Source

I have been absent from this here blog for quite some time.  When it comes right down to it, I have to say that pain kills creativity.  I have been to hell and back...I feel that way.  It got to the point in my back pain that I couldn't even walk...sit...stand...sleep.  I just about lost my mind!  My mind and heart were in the darkest abyss of despair.  I was fully supported and taken care of by my husband and daughter.  But, life seemed to go on all around me and without me.  I felt that He had forgotten me.  It was in my darkest moment that I began to notice the Lord's tender mercies in my life.  Miracle after miracle began to manifest itself to me.  Perhaps we have to reach that dark pit in order to feel His light.  He pulled me out both physically, emotionally and mentally.  He is real...He lives...and I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that He loves me.  While I'm not sure I'd say that I am grateful for the experience, I am grateful for the lessons learned and for feeling His influence in my life.

So, after a back surgery on Friday the 13th of all days, I have been reborn physically.  I feel amazing, and I think that it is time for this blogger to be reborn as a writer, as well.  I am searching out and trying to reconnect with my muse now that it is no longer clouded by pain.

Thanks for sticking with me...