Five Words

One of the main things I took away from the "Queen of the Kingdom" conference last weekend was about WORDS.

Words are so important.

Right from the beginning of the conference, our presenter/mentor wanted us to write down just three words on our name tag that we wanted to be....it was just to get our mind starting to think in that direction.
There's so many words - and we could choose ANY of the hundreds of thousands that exist in our English language EXCEPT we were not allowed to choose "uptight," "rigid," or "controlling."  ;)  Those were words that had she had drawn the "no symbol" (ya know that red circle with a diagonal line through it?) on her giant post-it paper pad up front, because those traits ruin our femininity and are not characteristics of a "queen."

Later, we practiced saying general declarations that were written in our class book, out loud, with the group, to get us used to saying positive words about ourselves.
We even got to "play with" (draw from it's sheath and raise above our heads) a Gandalf-esque sword

while declaring, "I am a goddess of truth and light!"  Having a sword makes a difference, I tell ya!  (you should try it!)  It gives you the feeling that you've got power.  Like what you are saying is official, holds some clout!  ;)

Anyway, those were just some of the activities (there were many others) we did throughout the conference to get us in the frame of mind to choose words for ourself. 

By the end of the weekend, I chose five words.

Calm

Compassionate

Healthy

Energetic

Delightful

When I am going about my day; when I am wiping down the kitchen counters, while I put away clothes, when I'm on the phone with a not-so-happy customer at work.... I repeat this phrase to myself.  "I am a calm, compassionate, healthy, energetic, delightful woman."  I have been saying it daily (sometimes multiple times).  My plan is to keep saying it a lot. 
When I don't feel like getting up early in the morning to go out exercising, I say it in my mind. 
When I look in the mirror, and I think, "bleh," I say it in my mind. 
The other day, when I was leaving the check out at Costco after I'd just purchased a large amount of items (who doesn't have a large amount of items when they go to Costco?) and had had some problems that came up while checking out, I heard the cashier greet his next customer after me, "How are you today?"  And I heard her reply loudly-enough-so-that-I-could hear, "Well, I was fine until I got in line behind that lady!"  I repeated my words (with emphasis on calm, compassionate, and delightful!) in my mind over and over and over the whole way out of the store, through the parking lot, while unloading all my stuff (that caused a long check out), and even after I got into the car!!  ;)
When I got really upset at home (no!) towards a particular person (who shall remain nameless) and situation, I said this phrase in my mind all evening!

I didn't choose the words calm, compassionate, healthy, energetic, and delightful because that's what I believe I am....I chose them because I struggle to believe those things about myself.  And I can tell you, the more I have repeated that in my mind, the more calm, compassionate, healthy, energetic and delightful I have been able to feel in that moment.  Can it be that I am starting to believe them more?  It gives me strength to do things I might otherwise not have done.

These words can. change. me.
(Because that was another mantra of the conference, "For things to change, I must change.")

Just five words - out of thousands.

(Though, as I write this, it’s past meal time and I don't have any plans to make it and I let a stream of complaints and general disgruntlement flow out of my mouth earlier.  And there's the fact that I still haven't gotten around to doing some of our "SBL" outings this summer.  And when my son reminded me for the third (+) time that he STILL needs new soccer cleats due to his first game being in just 2 1/2 weeks, and my youngest [unedited] daughter asks why I have all those "red dots" on my chin…  I should have responded, “Because I’m HEALTHY…and ENERGETIC…and DELIGHTFUL…”)

So......

What are your words?

This Weekend:

* Our elementary school aged children invited us to go with them to the annual V. I. P. breakfast at their school.

We "dined" on muffins, bagels, cold cereal, & fruit.

* Matt met me at the Bountiful Temple Friday late afternoon to attend

a session together.

It was nice to be there with him again - due to our schedules,

I have just been going single a lot lately.

* When we came out of the temple, it was pouring rain!

Uh Oh.  Ryan was umpiring at the ball park, and 

the plan was for us to drop him off a car to have

when he got done with his games later in the evening.

The rain forced them to call the games early, and

he was stuck in the rain without a car.

* Matt & I finished our date night by going out to dinner at our "standby", Costa Vida, afterwards.
{It's so convenient now that we have one RIGHT IN Farmington!}

* Saturday morning, my friend/photographer came out to take

Ryan's Sr. pictures.....BUT, it was raining still!

And it was MORNING! = he was NOT a happy camper!

After an hour or so, we called it good and rescheduled

for when it's suppose to be a lot better weather.

(But, then he got to go to work - refereeing soccer IN THE RAIN for 3 hrs!)

* I went to a bridal shower brunch for our Bishop's daughter.

It was really fun visiting with the ladies in attendance and the bride & groom-to-be.

This girl really "has it together" and it was sweet to hear her fiance talk about how amazing she is.

In fact, he told the story about how he's had this certain conversation with her a few times now, asking her: 

Tell me what I even have to bring to the table?  I know I'm good looking, ;) but YOU....

you've already got all these accomplishments, talent, brains, skills, & a whole list of attributes. 

(That's GOOD he's starting out with the proper adulation for the most important woman in his life!) 

Anyway, after his comment, one of the more "mature" ladies there gave a sermon reminded

them that it is Heavenly Father's PLAN for men & women to marry and have their own family!

{THAT'S WHY he's needed}

* In the afternoon, I actually started hanging up pictures and decorations
on the walls of my "new" [20 month old] home!
I finally committed and put holes in my walls - some in the wrong place and had to do over!  {sigh}

* Went to the store and then picked up Little Caesars pizzas on the
way back for dinner.
It's Saturday night, and we are trying to follow Matt's tradition
of his youth: always having pizza on Saturday night.
(Gluten-Free Haylee eats an alternative meal}

* It was our Stake Conference weekend, so we went to the Saturday
evening session, and took Ryan & Kyle since the youth were
invited this time to what is the usual "adult" session.
We had some great speakers including one who told the story of how he
 invited a gang member, in a colorful Sacramento area, to church,
then invited him to hear the missionary discussions, then invited him to be baptized!!
He accepted it all, and actually had to get the FBI involved; be relocated and get a new identity.  WOW!
Afterwards, the parents of Ryan's future prom date approached us and we met & visited with them.

* We went to Roxberry afterwards for smoothies with Kyle (Ryan left the conference early to go "crash" another High School's prom.  It's dumb, I think).
{and then I was CHILLED and couldn't wait to get home in my warm jammies & bed!}

* We got up pretty early on Sunday morning so we could leave
our home at 8:30 a.m. (all church-dress-ready) to drive out to the Conference Center
 in Salt Lake City for our Stake/Regional Conference.

It ended up we got there PLENTY early (in our seats 47 min. before it started),
but it was good, because I like to have a good seat, close & center, so I can SEE!
We didn't know beforehand who would be speaking, but we got to hear gospel messages from
several general authorities & officers of the church, including Elder Neil L. Andersen and his wife - which was really special.
Especially because usually children under the age of 8 are not allowed into events at the Conference Center,
(frequently these live events are being filmed/recorded, so they can't have too much noise)
so it was a real treat for Brookelle & Katelyn to be able to go this time - they'd never been, yet!

* We had my cousin and her family of 6 over for Sunday dinner.
She has three daughters who match up in age with my three girls,
so they got to officially meet and hang out for the first time.
They actually live quite close, but we'd never gotten together.
They are a delightful family.  And we got to pull out our high chair again for their baby!  :)
When it was time for them to go, the girls were hugging and begging
to have them stay, asking when they could be with them again!
And, of course, they tried to pull the "stowaway" trick in their minivan.
We hope to see them some more.

* We wanted to go on a walk in the evening to assist the digestion
of our turkey dinner & brownie sundaes, BUT it started to rain again!
Aaugh!
So, we just stayed inside and put our computers, TVs, & electronics to use.
(That wasn't a wise trade off! hahaha.)