Last week I had the opportunity to renew my temple recommend (we hit the 2 year mark). Being able to tell our bishop and stake president I am worthy to attend is such a marvelous feeling. I remember several years ago I wasn't able to get a recommend because of my behavior and I remember every detail of feeling depressed and broken. To be able to prove my worthiness over these years with an active recommend is such a feeling of joy it's impossible to explain. I remember my interview with the bishop before marrying Gary. This was the same bishop I had confessed my sins to the year before, placing me in a painful repentance process. That evening while he was interviewing me, I had such a feeling of peace and happiness. After the interview, he asked, "Doesn't that feel better? To be able to say "yes, I'm worthy"?" Oh boy did it! It was like a weight lifted off my shoulders; and all these years since being married I still am able to say yes, I'm still worthy. Going through the painful repentance process years ago was worth it. Too many people fear seeking guidance from their bishop, but it really is worth it. I can't imagine carrying such a burden for so many years.
Anyway, I hadn't originally planned on posting that, but it just came out. That's Emilee for you :)
I've also been reading my scriptures daily, as opposed to every now and then. Last month I had been fasting for personal reasons, and my answer was to read through and study the Book of Mormon. I'm about halfway through now and I can already see the changes. The Lord really does listen to us!
I really enjoyed the weekend too. My work for no reason gave me Saturday off, which I was absolutely thrilled about (since they don't schedule me for Sunday). Gary was also pretty excited. We didn't do much, but we did spend good quality time together. We found a new comic book shop in Burbank and were very pleased with it. It had lots of DnD stuff as well as individual dice, miniatures, etc. We ended up purchasing a board game called Pandemic. Highly recommended. The cool part about the game is you don't need a group; it's fun with just two people as well. During the game, each player is randomly given a role: medic, scientist, dispatcher, researcher, or operations specialist. Your goal is to stop a spreading deadly virus. It's like a card/board game. But it SO FUN! We grabbed it because the ratings and reviews were so high. We ended up playing two games in a row (the game usually doesn't exceed 45 minutes). We wanted a third game, but it was getting pretty late at this point, so we went to bed. Quality time with the husband= best time ever.
Sunday was fantastic as well. We had the sister missionaries over for dinner and ended up having a great time. Gary grilled really delicious chicken and was happy to. The weather was in the mid 70's so it was just a perfect day for grilling. Dexter got to enjoy being outside pretty much all day (after church of course). Although one Sunday we actually forgot about him and left him out on the porch while we attended church. We came home and I heard an odd noise coming from outside, only to discover it was meowing. Poor thing. Anyway, I whipped up a salad, beans, and peanut butter cookies, and we feasted on dinner. The missionaries were so fun! It was like having a couple of friends our age over to hang out. We talked about video games, old cartoons, and many other things. Then they shared a powerful message about the atonement. They ended up staying almost 2 1/2 hours. We're definitely looking forward to having them over again soon! Gary and I then ended our evening building a fortress/castle on Minecraft, lol. :) What I loved best about our weekend was teamwork. We wanted to get our apartment spotless for the missionaries so we divided up the chores and worked together. This place looks pretty darn amazing. I love great teamwork!
I have today and tomorrow off so I have definitely been enjoying 4-day weekend. Of course I only work 13 hours this week, but I'm cool with that.
On a new note, we received our tax return. We were happy about it, too. I have PetSmart take out a lot of taxes each month, but we enjoyed the refund. The thing is, every previous year, Gary would put in his work information and we'd have a big refund; then I'd add my work information and it would just dramatically drop. So this time around I had my work take out lots of taxes so when I put my work information in, it jumped up to a higher refund. Not to mention the huge jump when I put in my school information. So yes, we enjoyed. We didn't spend it on stuff, we placed the refund directly into remaining debt. Now all we have is one more credit card to pay off and we're free! My debts were paid off several months ago, but since Gary had to use credit cards to pay for books and stuff while in college, he still had some. They've all been paid off except for one now, which should be paid off in less than a year. Debt free in less than a year- how awesome is that? After that last credit card is paid off, we mentioned buying a new car and saving up for a house. Looking forward to it! We've been very good at putting a few hundred in savings each month so we're building our savings account up. It came in handy too when we had to take the little orange cat to the vet.
To brag a little about my husband: While we were out shopping Saturday, the guy who runs the business department of Gary's work ran into us at an antique shop. After introducing his wife, he said to her, "This is Gary, the one I've always been talking about. He's the one who's been saving the project we've been working on. He's a genius". It put Gary on the spot a little, but he didn't mind too much. Everyone, even outside the department, just loves Gary. They all know who he is and now when they need something done by a programmer, he's the highest requested one. We are very blessed with his job.
Gary has been with his company not even three years and has received over $12,000 in annual increases just in raises. Not even three years! This is how valuable he is to the company. I am so proud of him!
Okay, I'm done with that topic. Sorry this post is long...time for the day ahead! I have places to go, things to do, the usual wife stuff. Have a great day!
2 comments:
That is a GORGEOUS picture of the temple!! Wow. We also go out temple recommends renewed last month, and it is such a good feeling to know that you are worthy to enter that hallowed, sacred place. :)
Sounds like you've been able to enjoy a wonderful weekend with Gary! I hope you continue to enjoy your day off!
I am so proud of you both, your choices have brought a lot of joy to your earthly parents too! Love you
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