.General

Conference

Word on the street is that we get to hear from the Prophet and Apostles this weekend. I'm gonna be loving every minute of it here at home with my cute hubby!


I sure hope my seminary kids take some time to watch a session... or four... or maybe even five?
I don't want to get my hopes up too high though!





One of the best experiences of my lifetime was when I went to a youth fireside at the Conference Center back in 2000. The Prophet Gordon B. Hinckley gave the most glorious talk I ever remember hearing at that age.

Although the talk was really amazing, the experience I'm talking about happened after the talk was over. As I was wandering out of the building with a group of young women from my ward, I remember stopping and looking at a water fountain. I read the words carved into the stone:

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints

I stared at these words for as long as I could. An incredible feeling poured over me and made me tingle from head to toe. And that feeling came along with a resounding message in my mind. That this church that I belong to is true. A huge smile came over my face and I remember feeling complete peace and happiness in that moment. So much that my heart hurt. I couldn't believe that I was given that assurance without even asking for it.

Some blessings come when we don't expect them to.



I hope that someone else will see that stone in Salt Lake City this weekend and feel what I felt when I was standing right there nine years ago.


I hope for a lot of things.

.Sharing Parties

Seth, Jordan, Elisa and I are the youngest four kids in my family. When we were the last ones living at home we created sharing parties. We had so much fun.
One of us would put together invitations and hand them out to the rest of us. {Usually these invitations were made of things like paper towels in toilet paper rolls with smeared toothpaste and mousse all over them} We would climb through my Mom's laundry shoot whenever possible to deliver them to each other.
The invitation would simply designate a meeting place and time and a reminder that we needed to bring something to share with everyone else.


This is what makes it a sharing party.


Someone would bring enough pieces of licorice {from Dad's secret stash} for everyone.
Someone would make smoothies for everyone.
Someone would come up with a game for everyone to play.
And someone would think of a movie for us to watch.

I'd say we bonded :)


The last couple of times that Air and I have visited Utah we've all been restoring and breathing new life into our old sharing parties again. Of course most of us are married, and Seth and Jordan have kids and homes of their own now... but involving our spouses and the kids is the funnest thing about it now! Last month, all of Seth's kids brought something to share (show) to the rest of us, and Jordan's kids shared cookies that their Mommy brought for them. We played a story-telling game. Seth made everyone smoothies. Elisa played the piano while Jordan played his guitar. And we watched The Last Unicorn and some hilarious old Marx Brother's movies.


So awesome.


Next time we come, I call that we have a back-scratching-train! That way, everyone shares! Except me, in the front...

(Jordan, me, Dad, Elisa)

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.On a clear day...

My family's forever.

I've been living in Canada for a year now. I notice that one of the biggest differences in my life has been the fact I have been very much out-of-contact with my brothers and sisters. It's not the same when you don't all live under one roof any more.


I hate that.


How can I stay in contact with all of them, all of the time!?? I really wish I were better at it!

~I miss riding to 7-eleven for candy with Heather. I even miss screaming and laughing and hanging on for dear life when she played "drunk-driver", swerving around in the lanes.
~I miss going on daily walks and talks with Megan around her green little Illinois neighborhood. We would go out right before sunset and we would get back a little after the fireflies came out.
~I miss going fishing at Mirror Lake with Tyler and the brothers in the middle of the night. Of course we never went to the lake without stopping for doughnuts, jerky and drinks first. My favorite part.
~I miss sitting on Gwen's lap and having her tell me that I'll always be her baby; before she had any real babies of her own.
~I miss going to see every movie that came out with Seth, getting rides on the back of his motorcycle, and hanging out at his many different apartments over time.
~I miss begging Jordan to do all of my school art projects for me. Always. My art teachers thought I was so creative! Thanks Jord!
~I miss sharing everything with Elisa. The basement bathroom, our groups of friends, bedrooms and clothes.


I have a lot of siblings. And they are so cool.

(me, Megan, Heather, Missy, Elisa, Alexis, Gwen)

So, if any of my siblings read this, just know that I miss ya. And that I love you too.

And I promise that this post is unintentionally cheesy.

And now that I'm finished writing this post, I feel the need to put a disclaimer here that I am not as homesick as I may seem. Life is lovely here.

Were you worried about that?

.A tender mercy

This morning my lesson in seminary went pretty well,
as they have been going well since I started. I never really know if the
kids are getting as much from the lessons as I am though... How do
you ever know that? I suppose some of the kids are responding to my
ever-persistent prodding and questioning during class. So they must
be hearing something. Right?

At least I hope so.

We've been talking a bit about how worthy followers of Christ are
blessed and helped through life.


This morning that reality hit me pretty hard.


After class I dropped Air off at the train station so that he could get
to his stats class on time. Right after I pulled out of the station I
realized that Air had forgotten his bus pass! He had forgotten his
entire wallet! I didn't think that he could get on the train without it.
I turned right around, hoping that he had come back out to find me...
but he was nowhere to be seen.


I sat there, waiting for him to come back and remember his wallet.


I was thinking, 'boy it would sure be nice to have a cell phone or a
pay phone handy. He must be just standing there in the train station
trying to reach me at home'... but I wasn't home. I was parked right
where I had dropped him off.
I didn't want to drive all the way home and then have to come back
just to give him his wallet. He would have missed his class by then!


I started thinking about asking someone who pulled up if I could use
their cell phone... I thought that was a pretty crazy/creepy thing to do,
but just as I turned to the minivan that pulled up behind me I noticed
that the lady was someone I recognized! It was Sister Dowling! I knew
that she was an incredibly sweet lady and I just couldn't believe my
luck that she should pull up there right then!

I waved and started walking towards her, she rolled down her window
and said, "Hey Sister Gusa! How are you?" I began to ask if she had a
cell phone that I could use, but before I could even finish my words,
tears came to my eyes... and before I knew it, I was crying! AHH!!
She hopped out of her car and gave me a big hug.. {thinking that
something horrible had happened, or that my car broke down}

I am still so embarrassed that I cried at all, I really wasn't that scared
or nervous about Air not having his bus pass... I figured he might have
been able to get on the train without it, and hopefully nobody would
check him for it today.
{Luckily Sister Dowling is a crier too, so she understood my silly
emotional response to something so insignificant... haha}



I cried because I was so grateful that she showed up. I couldn't
believe that I was being given this blessing.



There aren't a lot of people I know around Edmonton normally. In fact,
this is probably the third time that I've bumped into someone from
church outside of church.
I really think that the Lord was blessing me this morning when he
prompted me to ask someone if I could use their cell phone. That's not
something that I would normally do. Ever.
I am really grateful that Heavenly Father knows my concerns and my
problems. I felt his love so strongly this morning. I'm grateful that he
extends his hand to me, because he loves me.




It's so wonderful to know that.



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.roadsinger

Maybe it's something about the home I was raised in. My seven older brothers and sisters especially. But I have always had a very deep love and appreciation for music. Good music. Especially music that is typically reserved for people a few years older than myself. I grew up listening to Bread, Simon and Garfunkel, The Beatles, Cat Stevens, about a million 80's pop bands, classical music, and oldies of course. I love it all.


A few months ago I was pleasantly surprised that Cat Stevens is making a comeback into the public eye. Whatever name he goes by now, I still love his music...

{And for those wondering- he changed his name to Yusuf Islam}

When Air and I were driving home from Utah last month we came across the song "You Make My Dreams Come True" by Hall and Oates. It's such a fun, upbeat song that we decided we'd never get sick of listening to it. We made a pact then and there that we would listen to that song and that song alone in the car until we couldn't stand it any longer. That was over three weeks ago and we're still going strong!

What an accomplishment, right? :)


Music is so great! Music can make me feel happy or peaceful or comforted... any kind of emotion really. I love how hearing a certain song can bring me back to a place and time in my life. Some songs strongly represent people who I know/have known. When I hear the song it's almost like I'm with that person again. How does that happen??
For example: whenever I hear "Rhapsody In Blue" by George Gershwin, I think of my Dad. That's probably his favorite song. He used to put it on surround sound as loud as it gets, turn out all the lights in the house, sit back in his reclining chair, and just lay there with his eyes closed as if he were absorbing the beautiful classical melody.

My Dad is awesome.

I also love new music, though. My favorite type of music is indie (short for independent). If you want to hear some of my fav music you can scroll to the playlist on my blog and push play. I'm always adding to it.
{I've also got the Hall and Oats song on there, close to the bottom, for those interested}

Hope you enjoy!


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