Faith

Sadie got to meet her great-grandmother a few weeks ago and it was such a sweet and special experience for me.  When I walked in to my Grandma's house, my Grandma was was reading her Sunday School lesson for the next day at church and all around her home were pictures of loved ones, gorgeous handmade quilts, and a garden outside full of bright and beautiful flowers.

My mom had driven with me and she had just come from a women's meeting where she has stewardship over most of Eastern North Carolina. That day really struck a chord in me about how I come from a long line of truly magnificent women.

^4 Generations!!

Not only do I come from a long line of magnificent women, they are incredibly faithful women.

I won't tell you their stories of faith, because they're not mine to tell, but my mother and her mother have both experienced moments/situations/major problems that would have been easy to justify losing faith and losing hope.  But that's the thing...neither one of them is afraid of working hard for what's important and for what's right.  They have both held strongly to their faith and testimony in their Savior, Jesus Christ...and both have taught me that above all, to trust in Him and things will turn out for good.  One way or another...they will turn out for good. 

Gordon B Hinckley said, 

"Have faith in yourself, faith in the Lord, and faith in the future." 

1.  A few things to have faith in yourself: 

             

             *Make obtainable daily goals.  (Replace "lose 30 pounds" with "workout for 30 minutes today".  Replace "Read scriptures for x amount of time" with "Read scriptures before turning on Netflix."

             *Surround yourself with great people who encourage, lift, and support.

             *Make sure to always have the Holy Ghost as your companion and guide.  I find myself needing to make quick decisions daily as to what I need to do, what I need to say to a child, or how to react to a situation.  I am way more confident in making these decisions if I'm living my life as best as I can.

             

2.  A few things to have faith in the Lord:

                Often our faith in the Lord is tested during times where we feel our righteous desires haven't been granted or when we are pushed to our limit.  These are the times we need faith the most.  During these times....

                *Make a mental list (or write it down!) of all your blessings.  It would SHOCK you how many things are great even though your world might be spinning.

                *Every day, spend time in your scriptures. Every morning, Charlie and Walker read a column from the scriptures to me while I'm getting ready for the day.  Getting into a routine is key, and I need to find one that works for me for my personal study,

3.  A few things to have faith in the future:

                  This just might be the hardest for me as it's the one I have the least control of, and I think the only way to have faith in the future is by working on the things you *can* control.  

                  

                 *As I've been thinking about "what can we control?", (because, sometimes, doesn't it feel like the answer is-nothing?) the answer is really...your attitude.  You can control your attitude and your outlook on situations.  Having a positive attitude, working as hard as we possibly can, being kind when it seems impossible, forgiving when it seems too hard.....these things will allow us to feel and believe that even though we don't know where life will take us....we can do the absolute best we CAN do and the future won't seem quite so shady.

So here's something else I've been thinking about lately.

While I'm doing middle-of-the-night feedings with Sadie, I don't turn on the lights or make any noise because I need her to know that it's night time.  To keep myself awake, though, I scroll through my phone and honestly most of the things I see are insane.

People are mad at each other and mad at the world.  Terrible things are happening to good people.  Facebook groups showcase a ton of complaints that are first world problems to the extreme.  (I need to stop late-night scrolling...that's the answer and I know it.) All of this makes me realize that the need for PEACE in this world and in our homes and in ourselves is so, incredibly important...especially during the time we're living in now.

As Easter is coming up soon, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, on mormon.org, is hosting a campaign entitled #PrinceofPeace, and how timely and perfect is that?  This campaign focuses on 8 core principles that can lead to peace in our lives and will help us draw closer to our Savior, Jesus Christ.  Those 8 principles are 

-Faith

-Compassion

-Forgiveness

-Repentance

-Gratitude

-Scripture/God's Word

-Prayer

I encourage you, over the next few days, and especially as Easter approaches, to check out mormon.org for a truly beautiful video on finding peace in your life.  There are also incredible stories and wonderful challenges to participate in that go along with each of the 8 principles mentioned above.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!!

SaveSave

Sadie's Nursery

Our first mother/daughter shoot!  A few weeks ago, when Sadie was 1 week old, Sara came to our house to take these precious pictures of sweet baby in her vintage dress (mine and then my sister, Jessica's blessing gown) and her nursery.  

Sara just rebranded from Sara Logan Photography to her married name, Sara Coffin Photography, and her new logo and look are gorgeous.

Here are some of the pictures!  I will treasure them always.

^My friend, Kristen, drew this INCREDIBLE ballerina for Sadie's room.  She is insanely talented.  

^Giant picture of me from my Nutcracker days :)

My dress: ASOS maternity

Pillow: Pear Lane Comforts

Monogram Sign: Monroe 26

Doll: Brazen Wildflower

Print: Flourish and Dot Prints

Beauty and the Beast review

I took the boys to see Beauty and the Beast on Friday for a matinee showing.  (We've all aged a little since the time I took them all to see Cinderella.) I'm just going to go ahead and say it....I loved every single thing about it.  It was wonderful and magical and just about perfect.  Here are a few of my favorite things from the movie...would love to hear what you thought about it!

*The casting was perfect.  With every character, I thought, yep! that's exactly who should've played them.

       -I still haven't fully forgiven Dan Stevens for leaving Downton Abbey and leaving me a complete mess (HOW DARE YOU Dan Stevens!!), but seeing him in this helped me move on a little.  He was the perfect Beast.

       -Audra McDonald...NO ONE TOLD ME Audra McDonald was in this movie!  She is queen and her voice throughout the movie, but especially in "Days in the Sun"....ahhhh sing to me!!! Beautiful.

       -Luke Evans as Gaston, perfect.  Emma Watson, great (heard some bad talk about her singing...thought it was very sweet and nice for the part).  Josh Gad as Lafou, hilarious.

*I really enjoyed the "background" scenes.

        -The opening dance scene where we're introduced to the Beast in his Prince days was hauntingly beautiful.  The enchanting dancing, the elaborate costumes, and Audra McDonald singing....what a combo. Also, as a side note, it is my dream to choreograph a scene like that in a movie one day.

        

       -The moment in Paris where Belle learns the true background of her mother dying from a great illness.  And where the audience learns the history of the Beast's cruel father and mother's death.  Great additions to the story.

*Fantastic group scenes

        -Group scenes are usually my favorite, and this movie's group scenes were no exception.  The opening "Belle" scene in the town was my favorite.  SIDE NOTE:  The entire time that Belle was singing about wanting to get out of that town, I was thinking how nice it'd be to GO there. Take me to France, please!  Thanks.

        -Gaston and Lafou's entrance during the "Belle" song was my favorite entrance of a character.  It set their characters up perfectly.  Gaston being so narcissistic in the most hilarious way and Lafou giving us great one-liners as comic relief ("Belle-she's soo......well read.")

I could talk for hours about how much I loved this movie.  If I had to say ONE thing that I would've changed, it would be well...2 things.  1-Belle's costume when she goes to the castle for the first time. I realize the costumers were doing a variation on a theme, but one side of the dress was hitched up showing the layer underneath it, and I was confused by that choice.  2- Be Our Guest wasn't as colorful as I imagined it to be, but then again, nothing really beats the cartoon version of that scene.  OK!  I nit picked that because really those 2 things were just fine.

Some more Beauty and the Beast for you....

*Here's a hilarious skit that James Corden did with some members of the Beauty and the Beast cast called "Crosswalk the Musical." I laughed way too hard.

*And here is BYU's a cappella group "Vocal Point" singing a Beauty and the Beast Medly.  So, so good.

Pictures from the hospital

The fantastic Sara, from Sara Logan Photography, captured these beautiful moments of our new family of 6 at the hospital.  Babies are a lot of work (good work!), but they only stay little for a second, so I'm really excited to have these memories of baby Sadie and her big brothers when she was brand new.

I seriously love the hospital stay (after the labor & delivery part)....being taken care of and only having to focus on recovering and snuggling is so wonderful.  I've mentioned this before, but I compare myself leaving the hospital to Ross from Friends leaving a hotel room....I stay until the very last second and take basically anything and and everything I can with me in my bag.  

Figuring out the bed moved up and down :)

^love this one!! So little!

^Baby feet are my favorite

These boys do love their sister (and she's going to soon realize how much she loves them!  I'll forever cherish these moments Sara captured...she is absolutely amazing!  (Here are the pictures she shot of Crew when he was a newborn.) 

Happy Wednesday!  I hope y'all are staying warm...tennis was even cancelled today because of these freezing temps....brrrr to this crazy NC weather!