To delight is to radiate light...

I stopped blogging here back at the beginning of the year and went so far as to make this blog completely only for my eyes. While that doesn't mean I stopped delighting, I stopped sharing them here. I did continue to record my delights. They are smattered in records everywhere...my instagram, my journal and my planner. I savor those delights, I savor every delight. They mean so much to me and to my relationship of gratitude which so strongly binds me to the Lord. And so, I've finally reached a time to share my deliberate delights on this blog again.

Much has changed in my life this year and sometimes, during times of change and transition, we have to step back, redefine, refine and refocus our priorities. I'm still in that process. What a challenging, humbling and revelatory process it is.

While my "word of the year" is radiate...it might be better summarized in the words, take courage. This year has been all about taking courage and doing new things!

And so, here we are...delighting and radiating the light of the Savior by sharing the gratitudes of the soul.

I delight in walking into my home.

tonight, after a very long but delightful day (thanks to my eval with the best theory of mind and insight ever for just a wee-bobby)...i walked into my house, my house!

mind you i couldn't pull in the driveway, it stunk like paint and the projects hit me like a ton of bricks...i was home. my home and i was so happy!

dad came down and let cody and the guys/the painters in. white trim and ceiling. grey walls, a blue bedroom...i'm either crazy or completely sane. i'm complete unsure which it is.

tomorrow...i've got to work a full day, again! then i'll go home and clean, etc. isn't that great "i'll go home!"

saturday morning the washer and dryer get installed and boyd is coming to install a security system. i of course am working in the temple. lovely right?

and i'm miles behind at work. life is so awesome. somehow i'm horribly behind in all of it but alas...i'm just embracing it, rolling with it, choosing denial over stress.

studying the gospel

this post was inspired by this post.
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I have been a somewhat steady attender of Institute. Institute is a program of religious learning run by CES, also known as the Church Education System in the LDS or Mormon or Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints faith. It is a program targeted to individuals ages 18-31, single or married. There is a similar program called Seminary for High School Students.

Recently the church "revamped" the Institute program. Instead of courses on general books of scripture, there are now specific courses related to gospel learning such as: "Jesus Christ and the Everlasting Gospel, Foundations of the Restoration, The Eternal Family and The Teachings and Doctrine of the Book of Mormon." The learning process and essentially, the learning expectation has been set more clearly and requires the doctrinal student to become more seriously engaged and active in the learning process. Preparing for class by reading the material, writing a reflection paper and writing an indepth study paper on a topic of the student's choosing. Another crucial part is that the student invite someone to attend institute with them. I find this last point most interesting. For one to truly be engaged, one must be willing to talk about it with others and find value enough in his own life to invite another.

As I have thought about the "raising the bar" in terms of gospel learning, I recognize that the learning bar must increase because the teaching bar has already been raised! We first expected our missionaries to teach by the Spirit, we now expect every teacher, young womens, primary, gospel doctrine, everyone to teach by the Spirit. However, in order to teach, we must first learn to study.

We don't talk enough about how to do this, what it looks like or what it really means. I want to talk more about it. I want to write about it and I want to share what it looks like for me!

embarking on something new

in two days, i will close on my first home.
a home!
as the insurance woman so kindly reminded me, it is the largest purchase i will make in my life.
{be still my already hyperventilating heart!}

tonight, i started packing to leave my home for the past year. as i reflect on the change that has occurred in the past year, for me, for my profession, for my spirit, for my family and for my friends and relationships i see just that there has been a lot of change. good change, better change, and some not so good change too.

the point is...i delight in it. i delight in the joy in the journey. the ups, the downs and the middle in between. i have neglected sharing my daily delights for a while. in fact, i neglected writing them down, some days because i had a hard time seeing them, other days because i didn't want to share them and other days because i felt too tired, too overwhelmed to even identify what they were. i stopped writing because i didn't know how to process the stress that had built up in my life.

in the past few weeks, i've realized i have to write. i have to share. and i don't have to, but i get to.

and so, since there are lots of things in my life that are changing. i'm choosing to change this one to. i'm choosing to share. i'm choosing to write.

writing has always been my outlet. i have journals and journals full of written word. i have two blogs full of written word and i need to keep writing. and so, here we are, embarking on something new...writing everyday and sharing it with you.

in process

one day i aspire to love like this girl does.

she is so full of love and it gleams out of every pour of her precious skin.

tonight, as we ate our traditional "girls meal" at chick-fil-a with little lisa joining us while her mom is out of town, christin couldn't not touch me. she sat next to me at founders day fireworks on saturday and she held my hand the whole time. she is so excited about our girls trip this weekend that my heart is just super happy!

she's just the sweetest. the cutest and the happiest.

i am the luckiest!

grateful and delighting

I took a hiatus from writing all together for a while there. Let's be honest, in the written record of my life, the past 5 years have been very hit and miss.

While I love being able to look back and piece all the pieces of my life together, I truly miss being able to look back at all the things that have made my heart happy and that I have delighted in. While I'm going to make a more concerted effort to pick back up the journal writing, I want to continue sharing my delights here and maybe one day, I will make this a public blog again. One day. Until then, its just here for me, myself and I and my Heavenly Father. I want him to know how grateful I truly am for all the little things and big thigns in my life.

Yesterday was a day of many emotions...
gratitude...because i was in serving in the Lord's house
overwhelmed...because i finally had to tackle my room and restore order
heartbroken...at hearing that danielle handrahan, one of my converts from my mission had passed away at the age of 22.
hopeful...because i have a family who loves me and i knew they would be a pick me up
in awe...at the beauty of god's creations as dad and i kayaked at mantua
humble...by a visit to see my dear grandpa bandley. he didn't say my name, but boy do his eyes light up when I walk in the room. he commented on my dimples, asked me again where i lived and if i liked what i was doing with my life. he told me how much  he loved me and appreciated my visits to see him. his face was just as excited as i looked in his window after leaving and he was waving excitedly and gave me a thumbs up.
happy...as i drove in the driveway to see kitty
compassionate...as i watched craig struggle with loosing his chili's employee discount card.
thankful...as i watched the founder's day fireworks with the family last night at lomond view elementary.

i'm so grateful we can feel. i'm so grateful we can love!

erin

I delight in 2014.

the temple mount

jerusalem, israel

spring 2014

highlights of 2014

---reading jesus the christ---going to israel with my dad---

---making a dresden plate table topper---remembering grandma in all her glory---

---volunteering at the ogden temple dedication, seeing sister kelsey hansen, going to the dedication with my mom, dad, christin and grandpa and attending the dedication in the temple and doing my first session with mom---hiking on new years day---moving to sugarhouse and living with mary and cambrie---serving and being released as relief society president---being called as a relief society teacher in my new ward---going to the temple every single week (and making up for the weeks i missed)---becoming a temple worker in the salt lake temple---graduating from urlend---spending a week at assert---going to the sacred gifts exhibit---roadtrip with mary to vegas for my 28th birthday---having spencer and eric as my home teachers---rafting down the snake river---hanging with my ward in hammocks---getting a new job as the speech lead---going to the bozeman temple with my dad and coming home through high mountains with glaciers and feeling so alive---spending time at the cabin with my family---actually going on dates---swimming on my birthday---going to 3 new temples: rededicated ogden, las vegas and bozeman---going to cherilyn reid and sarah christensen's wedding---being grateful i knew my awesome grandma mcquivey, aunt janice, uncle mike, larry christensen and emma lesuere who passed away as well as a couple of awesome patients whom i will forever love---attended an awesome conference on theory of mind at byu and seeing all my slp friends---time with craig and christin---sewing an elsa dress for christin to wear on halloween---dancing and singing parties with christin including taylor swift and frozen---