Principle Driven

Institute: a HUGE joy in my life!!! Everything about institute; the classes, the teachers, the friends, the activitites, the organizations, the choir, the list goes on and on ..... just ask Miss Elise!

Well today in my institute class we did a review of what we had learned over the past fourteen weeks; see how we've grown, and what aspects of our life we still may need to work on.  Well the main topic was learning to be a principle driven person, not a recipe driven or outcome driven person.  

Now you may be asking yourself what a principle driven person is.  It's someone who bases their life on principles of the gospel. It means we don't let the circumstance we are in determine if we are happy.  

This is hard.  I mean, I try to be principle driven, and then I find, usually when I am not the happiest, that I have let my circumstance decide my happiness.

K so what's really funny. It when I started writing this post (three days ago) I was exactly where the last sentence ended. Letting circumstance decided my fate.  What's funny, is three days later, finishing this post, I probably am not finishing it the way I had intended. I am not sure how I intended it. But life seems to be happier at the end of this week.

Even with complete frustrations over school, overwhelming stress, and everything else that is going on in my crazy life, life is good, life is happy, life is truly delightful.

Two things stick out right now why life is so joyous.

#1 My Dad
#2 JJ

Of course, the two men in my life.

Yesterday I got to talk to my dad, now don't get me wrong, I can talk to him whenever I want, I just don't seem to talk to him as often as my mom, but I really enjoy it when I do.  I love that he wants to hear about my day, and he lets me give him an exact play by play of what I did (I think I forgot to mention what I ate for lunch)  He always gives amazing advice and talking to him makes me feel better.  I can be so stressed out and he helps me work through it.  He even helped explain my homework to me the other day.  He said that even though he's not an engineer he still knows some stuff.  It's kinda fun to think that even as a junior in college my dad can still help explain my homework to me.  I am so grateful for everything that he does, I know that he does it because he wants the best for me and is just looking out for me.

JJ... with whom most my time is spent. Whether it's studying our little brains out, cooking dinner, or just relaxing, we seem to be together a lot, and I am quite fond of this.  He has been such a blessing in my life, and I am not sure that he realizes it.  Whether it's helping me with school work, helping me cook dinner, or just talking with me and being there for me, he is really a blessing.  He always wants to make sure I really understand what's going on with school work, not just the "hey let's get this done and over with" but the "do you REALLY grasp what's going on? If so, explain it to me" kind of help.  I really don't think I could have made the grades I did without him this semester. I really rely on him a lot.  And I can't tell you how appreciative I am of him just being there, and especially being there when I get frustrated with school.  Being an engineer is no easy task, and you put the stress of two engineers together, ya not always pretty.  I don't want to be the one who is stressed because it makes it hard to try and help JJ so he's not stressed. But yesterday was not a good day.  School just got to me. We have this project due and I didn't understand ANY of it! Like, failure as engineer time, okay that's an exaggeration.  But seriously, JJ made me feel so much better.  Just talking to him makes me less stressed about life, or just spending time with him.  I could probably go on forever about all the little ways that he has blessed my life, but I'll leave it here.  Let's just say, he made this semester a lot better.

I hope that as I continue on through this path of life, I can learn better to rely on being a principle driven person, rather than circumstance. I know that this will truly help life become a more delightful journey.

Silver and Gold - Friends New and Old

So yesterday I went to church with JJ because I would have to miss Sunday School and Relief Society in my own ward.  It was fun, though definitely takes me a little out of my comfort zone just a little, being the one who doesn't know a most people.  But it was definitely a good experience.  Here are some highlights, and other highlights from the day.

Sunday School: So good, and this is a big deal for me. I usually don't enjoy Gospel Doctrine a whole lot, hence why I attend Preach My Gospel in my ward. But this lesson was so good.  I really like when they take principles and teach them instead of just reading the story behind the principle. Well this lesson was on humility, nothing like eating a slice of humble pie.  I really enjoyed it. We learned that we need to be more childlike, but not childish. There is a difference.  So I realized, the JJ and I let our inner child out, we watched Beauty and the Beast last night.  Oh my, I don't think I've ever been so excited to watch a Disney movie in a long time. There is just something about them that makes me happy.

Relief Society: Okay, so I'm not going to focus on the lesson here, but something that happened to me while in RS.  JJ left to go to Priesthood, and here I am, a visitor in a ward that I've never been to before, sitting on the back side row alone. This thought came to my head, "I can just sit here, by myself. It's okay. It's not my ward; I don't need to go out of my way to be friendly." You know those thoughts, it's "their" job to be friendly and welcoming to me first, I'm new, I'm visiting.  Well, luckily this ward has great RS sisters.  Before the lesson even started, the nice girls in front of me invited me to come join and sit by them. And they didn't stop there, they were friendly and asked me about myself.  It truly shows the gospel is the same where ever you go, and I am thankful that these girls welcomed me into their ward, because I know if not for them, I would have remained in the back and alone. So here's to the girls in JJ's ward who  made me feel welcome.

Later that afternoon, JJ and I went and had dinner with some friends from school.  What's funny is that it has taken all of us approximately three years to become friends outside of school. And this weekend we succeeded. (A few of us also got together Saturday morning).  It was fun to all get together. And a lot of them brought their kids. They are pretty much the cutest, minus my niece of course.  Little kids are the cutest, and I must say, it's fun when they aren't yours because then you can give them back to their parents when they aren't happy campers anymore.

So pretty much, this weekend was a blast! I could write so much more on here, but let's just say, spending any time with JJ makes my day great. :) So here's to delighting in meeting new friends and spending time with old ones.

What else Floats?

Sir Bedevere: There are ways of telling whether she is a witch. 

Peasant 1: Are there? Oh well, tell us. 

Sir Bedevere: Tell me. What do you do with witches? 

Peasant 1: Burn them. 

Sir Bedevere: And what do you burn, apart from witches? 

Peasant 1: More witches. 

Peasant 2: Wood. 

Sir Bedevere: Good. Now, why do witches burn? 

Peasant 3: ...because they're made of... wood? 

Sir Bedevere: Good. So how do you tell whether she is made of wood? 

Peasant 1: Build a bridge out of her. 

Sir Bedevere: But can you not also build bridges out of stone? 

Peasant 1: Oh yeah. 

Sir Bedevere: Does wood sink in water? 

Peasant 1: No, no, it floats!... It floats! Throw her into the pond! 

Sir Bedevere: No, no. What else floats in water? 

Peasant 1: Bread. 

Peasant 2: Apples. 

Peasant 3: Very small rocks. 

Peasant 1: Cider. 

Peasant 2: Gravy. 

Peasant 3: Cherries. 

Peasant 1: Mud. 

Peasant 2: Churches. 

Peasant 3: Lead! Lead! 

King Arthur: A Duck. 

Sir Bedevere: ...Exactly. So, logically... 

Peasant 1: If she weighed the same as a duck... she's made of wood. 

Sir Bedevere: And therefore... 

Peasant 2: ...A witch! 

Okay, so I haven't actually seen Monty Python and the Holy Grail all the way through, but it's the one movie that my family quotes, and this is the one that I usually quote.  And it is so fitting for today's post. 

So what else floats, well according to this stone does not float, but guess what does float, CONCRETE! Yup, you read that right, concrete floats, and I can prove it.  I am part of a team that made a concrete canoe.  Yup, and we raced it.

That's me and my teammates winning First Place in Women's Slalom/Endurance!

It was pretty amazing and so much fun! For the the last two semester we have been working on mix designs, constructing, finishing this beautiful canoe. And it totally paid off. Regionals was so much fun, and we worked hard and so now we are going to Nationals! Oh my, so excited.  And what's way exciting about this is that I actually won an endurance race. I'm not the most athletic person so this was quite exciting. First place too!

Well, I feel like sometimes this blog get off my original idea of something to delight in every day, so I'm going to try and get back to that. 

What can I delight in from floating concrete.  Teamwork. That's really what it's all about. There's no way just one person could win a race, or let alone make a concrete canoe.  We all had to work together.  Some days it was hard work and I wondered what I had gotten myself into. But in the end, it was worth it.  That applies to multiple areas in our lives.  Things get tough and we wonder, "Why am I putting myself through this, and will it all be worth it in the end?" If you are living righteously and on the path then the answer is truly YES! My grandpa has a quote on his wall with a picture of Jesus Christ that reads "I never said it would be easy, but it would be worth it." (sorry paraphrased a little)  

That's applicable to life in general.  Something needs to be hard to be worth it.  How can you know how sweet something is, if you haven't felt the bitter?  How can you enjoy the sunshine more fully if you haven't dealt with the freezing cold?  How can you know what true joy is in life if you haven't experienced pain and sorrow?  You really can't.  

In the Book of Mormon in 2 Nephi 2:11-12 it reads

11For it must needs be, that there is an ^aopposition in all things. If not so, my first-born in the wilderness, righteousness could not be brought to pass, neither wickedness, neither holiness nor misery, neither good nor bad. Wherefore, all things must needs be a compound in one; wherefore, if it should be one body it must needs remain as dead, having no life neither death, nor corruption nor incorruption, happiness nor misery, neither sense nor insensibility. 

12Wherefore, it must needs have been created for a thing of naught; wherefore there would have been no ^apurpose in the end of its creation. Wherefore, this thing must needs destroy the wisdom of God and his eternal purposes, and also the power, and the mercy, and the ^bjustice of God.

Lehi was right on the spot.  

(PS The whole chapter is great, if you have the chance you should read it here)

Life was not meant to be easy, and by no means is it. But if we live righteously and strive to do our best, we will come okay, in one piece, ready to take on the next storm that we must pass through.

"Life is not about waiting for the storm to pass, but learning to dance in the rain."

I know that I am not the best at this, I definitely have some more learning to do, and luckily I know that I have many years of opportunities ahead of me to learn all this.  We should all delight in the knowledge that we are able to be on the Earth and learn and experience while we are here; whether they be good or bad, because in the end, the good outweighs the bad.

It's funny the path that posts take.  I hope that we can all delight in something today, and realize that teamwork and endurance will bring us through. Work with others, and lean on them, especially on Christ our Savior, and endure to the end, and you will experience much joy in your life.  

I am good with Math

So, I am a nerd. A nerd by choice of course, which makes it so much cooler.  I am pretty much a normal nerd. My life is filled with them, if it's studying for my next exam, rock climbing, cooking dinner, or just chilling on the couch. I am every surrounded by them. But guess what, I wouldn't have it any other way. So any who, this is my nerd post.  

So tonight, a normal night for an engineer. Studying in the lab. Ya, not the most fun thing to do, but in all reality, it's sometimes the most socialization you get.  I mean, you get to mingle and chit chat with all those people who aren't in your classes, aka the civil engineers :). Plus, you sometimes see a side to engineers you didn't know they had.  For example, my friend sitting next to me singing "You're My Inspiration" by Chicago. Yes, all those who weren't here tonight, you missed out. Well just a little, his rendition was more of a one-line-hit.  

Another normal... nerd moments.  I seem to have them a lot.  For example, your in a "normal" situation and you start realizing that what you learned in class is actually applicable in real life. And it usually turns out to be that one class that you disliked so much, and NOW you see real world applications, so not fair.  (I actually had this happen for two different classes last weekend, luck be have it though, I wasn't in a totally "normal" situation)  

Nerdy jokes.... Best one liner, Someone says to you "Whatever floats your boat" and you, the nerd reply with "That's usually buoyancy force."  yup, that has truly happened.  Also, You Know You're an Engineer If...   And it's especially funny when you see yourself in some of these.

Date night in the lab.... Doing HW..... yup, you see it, wives, girlfriends, statistically significant others, supporting the center of their lives by being with them in the computer lab while they studying their little hearts out.  It's actually sweet when you think about it.  I mean, sometimes I feel like I see my peers more than their wives and children do, which is probably true 90% of the time. 

Well, my life as a nerd has been quite delightful. I wouldn't change it for the world.  I have accepted the fact that at times I may be a little strange, but we all probably are in some way. So be different, embrace it, and conquer the world!