Feeling Happy

I have a new man in my life. He's much younger than me. And he's probably the cutest guy I know. He sleeps with me every night, and wakes me every morning feeling very playful and loving. He follows me everywhere I go, even into the bathroom. He loves to bring me socks. More than that, he loves to leap off the bed, retrieve the socks, and bring them back to me. He talks to me in the sweetest little voice. When I kneel down to pray, he lays across my folded arms and purrs his little heart out. I like to think he's offering his own little prayer. He knows when the alarm is going to go off in the morning and he wakes me a few minutes before it does, insisting on his own little snuggle time before I race into my day. When the alarm goes off, he leaps onto my phone and attacks it, trying to make it stop being obnoxious. He's funny and plain irresistible. He's my kitty.

I'm also happy because my migraine is gone. It was so bad yesterday that I couldn't really see, and every light, every movement, every sound, every smell made me want to vomit. And in the midst of that, I had to drive Johnny to his school and attend his open house. I thought I would die. When we finally got home, I immediately went to bed. Laine made dinner and cleaned the kitchen and gathered everyone for prayer and scripture study around my bed. I feel very blessed and happy.

I started my day by studying the talk "Sacrifice" by Elder Dallin H. Oakes from the recent conference. It's the relief society lesson for Sunday, and even though I'm not in relief society because of my calling in the primary presidency, I wanted to read it and see what things the Lord wanted me to know. I learned quite a bit, and I've committed to make some changes...starting with having a better attitude about family home evening. I need to find a way to make it a pleasure instead of the painful experience it usually is. While some days it is wonderful, there are days when FHE is done strictly out of obedience, nothing more, and I hate it on those days. Changing this is important so that my children will someday want to do FHE with their own children.

I'm happy that when I checked my grades this morning, I discovered that I have a 4.0 for the semester. Frankly, there were days when I just didn't believe I could survive it. There were so many demands on my time from my family and my calling that it just seemed impossible that I could get all my homework done and studying accomplished. Yet with the Lord's help, and my determination to put first things first, I did survive, and I did well! I worked throughout the semester at the Bishop's storehouse. People there kept asking me why I didn't use the time I spent at the storehouse to study, especially when I had tests immediately following the time I spent there, and the only way I can explain it is that it's consecrated time and works for me kind of like paying my tithing. When I serve the Lord, I can never give more time to him than he returns to me. The one and only time I stayed home to study instead of going to the storehouse on a test day, I got the lowest test score of the semester for that class. I've learned to have faith that putting service to the Lord first will bless all of my other efforts immeasurably.

I'm happy that I have friends in my life who are tremendous examples of faith. Particularly Rita and Mike as they deal with Mike's cancer, they continue to have an upbeat, happy demeanor. Their love for each other and devotion to one another gives me hope that there are people out there who can and do make marriages work. I'm so grateful! Even though the love of my life right now is my cat, I'm learning to have faith that the Lord will bring someone into my life at the right time. In the meantime, I need to make myself ready.