Spiritual Journey: Dusting Off my Testimony

{Long Post Warning!} 

***This is a very personal, spiritual post. I will talk about my beliefs and bare testimony of Christ.  I want to share it, as I feel prompted to, and feel strongly about. This is not for everyone, and I get that. But if you feel moved by the Spirit you should follow it's instruction.*** 

Today has been a cool day. I did my visiting teaching in the morning, I worked out, I worked. I went to Target to get some stuff for the house, and decided that I was making pizza for dinner since Steve is going to be home late as he would be operating a ton. When I say, I'm making pizza, I actually just mean, 'popped' it in the oven ;)

Moving on.

I feel like my house needs A LOT of cleaning, but the kids wanted to chill. Matthew had the STARR Test today, and that has given him a lot of stress, and Olivia pretty much got her homework done early, so while looking for something to do, we went to Netflix to find a movie we would like to watch. I settled on 'The Prince of Egypt' Olivia had seen it before, but she was little, so she never finished it. Matthew was busy playing Roblox, so we went for it. 

First of all, this movie is AMAZING! The music is perfection. I had forgotten that Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey sing in the closing credits and it's beautiful. It made me think of Whitney Houston passing. I wonder if she ever repented? I wonder if she had a testimony? Those are weird thoughts after a spiritual movie and feeling. But I wondered. 

While the oven beeped, I kept thinking. What about MY testimony? What if I was a Hebrew in the times of Moses? Would I be angry at God? Would I believe? 

Then I stopped myself. 

What about the end of times?! WHAT ABOUT NOW?!

 Do I believe? and the reality is, that while we don't know the time or the day, all indications point that we are in the last of days. 

What about MY repentance? What about MY salvation? 

I have been working out to lose weight. A good thing, but not the most important. The question raised today is: How hard am I working towards my salvation?

How much service am I doing?

How many commandments have I broken?

How can I start now, to clean myself up?!

It is true that if you confess that Jesus is the Christ you will be saved. But God sent his only Begotten Son to show us the example of how we should live.I must be worthy of his presence. 

Jesus worked hard. 

He was humble. 

He did service. 

He studied the scriptures. 

He was a missionary. 

He prayed. 

HE DIED FOR ME. 

Is confessing and acknowledging that he is the Christ enough? No. God knew this, and Jesus paid MY debt. 

But, I still have my body. I have good hands, and  in the words of Lady Grantham: "I'm a woman with a brain and reasonable ability" so I should know what to do.

I should do more. 

I should pray more. 

I should testify of Christ.

 In these last days, we are all to be missionaries. We are to become 'fisherman of men' We must depend on Christ and our own abilities to bring people into the gospel. To teach them about Jesus. 

People are lost. I am lost. I have been found, and somehow manage to get lost again. 

I don't live the way I should. I'm a sinner. BUT I WILL TRY, and truly repent of my sins. 

I must walk away from the things that make me rationalize my wrong doings. 

I should walk away & not be ashamed to walk out on something that I know to be wrong. 

But I must have LOVE in my heart also. 

Jesus didn't hate. He didn't judge. 

I must pray for understanding in the things that I simply cannot understand. 

I believe in Christ. And he believes in me. 

I know I can be more like him. 

I know I can trust in him.

I want to share that with others. 

I truly know that my Redeemer lives. I feel it, and know it to be true. I know that he has re-established his church on earth. The church of Jesus Christ IS the literal church of Christ. 

I know that he speaks to his prophets like in the time of old. He has been the same then, now and will forever. 

I believe in Christ. 

Share the gospel. Testify of Jesus. Fill your home with his spirit.

The time is NOW. 

Jazmin

An Old Fashioned Easter

Easter 2014

What a fun day! Today we went over to Grandma Pate's house to celebrate Easter by doing an Easter egg hunt. The kids were super excited! They looooooove going to Grandma Pate's house! She is very good at getting everyone together and involving all the kids and adults in having fun. I'm grateful they get the opportunity to have their great grandma and build these memories. 

Also, Grandma Pate lives in the country, and the kids LOOOOOVEEEE the country! They think it's sooo much fun! Another thing thats cool about Grandma Pate is that she is like the family historian. She does genealogy for everyone and saves alllllllll the pictures of kids, grandkids, and great grandkids. She really likes to preserve things. So, today, i decided to add to her collection, by taking photos of the egg hunt. 

It's sort of fun to see Steve and his cousins reminisce about the fun they had there while growing up. It fun to see that its spilling onto this generation. 

Here are some pictures of the kids:   

It's official. Matthew is no longer a little kid :( He didn't hunt for eggs, instead, he hid them. And this is him getting ready for all the kids to come out. He had a cascaron (confetti egg) ready to be smashed in someones head! You can see his little mischievous smile ^

Poor Hailey! She got the egg cracked on her head!

Olivia, Grandpa Pate & Matthew

YES, that is Matthew ^ and I worry he will be taller than me by the end of the year!

Olivia just pulls off the vintage look! Is that you Winnie Cooper?!

I literally had 3 pieces of candy. Considering I'm addicted to chocolate, I think I did pretty good!

Dollar Spot Easter Basket!

Cheap Easter Basket

I love Easter. And I love any Holiday that requires me to gift my kids something because I love any excuse to surprise them and see their smiling faces. 

BUT I don't love spending a TON of money on things that I know will most likely end up in the trash, or make them bratty.

Yes, while I enjoy to buy things for them, and gift things, I also feel that sometimes as parents, we tend to overdo it. Every Easter I am temped to buy a HUGE Easter Basket from Costco or any other store selling them. 

I often see all the posts of people spoiling their kids with outrageous gifts. And while, I have fallen into that trap before, I have decided that Easter is a special time to reflect upon our Saviour's resurrection and not about "things."

And I'm not judging, I just decided that this is one Holiday to take it easy on the gifts. Still, I want to to make it special, so this year I decided to make my Easter Baskets. 

This is Olivia's basket (obvs.) its easy to start with her since she is still into the bunny ears and bubbles. Matthew's I'm currently working on, since he's a pre teen now, he usually likes more grown up stuff  :( (sad face) but I won't break the bank with his stuff either! I will post his when done!

Back to this basket. 

I went to Target and looked at the Dollar Spot for some goodies, and this is what I got: 

-Cardbord basket

-bunny ears, 

-carrot bubbles (2 for $1)

-Bird House project

-Pencils

Thats it. 

I figure I could dress up the basket and make it pretty! 

I painted the basket, added some tissue and glued in the shape of a flower, some paper doilies, and more stickers I had on hand.

That's that! I spent $6.50 on the entire thing, and the decor of the basket was again, stuff I had on hand. 

I think Olivia will like it, and it didn't break my bank. Also, I think she will feel special. 

What do you think? Have you gone to the Dollar Spot yet?

Jazmin

Feliz Cumpleanos Ma!

Last week was my mom birthday, and she was wanting some goodies! One of those goodies ended up being the Doterra Essential Oils trio. A few weeks back I hosted a demo night and she really wanted to purchase them, but she just didn't have it her budget, so I decided to surprise her with some of the sample size oils. 

Of course, I had to wrap them pretty for her, even if she never really cares about the wrapping. I just like doing it for special gifts. 

I gave her the oils and she seemed to like them!

My sister kept the wrapping.

It was a success.

Jazmin