God Has Other Plans

I have received a lot of criticism from people saying that I should have gone on a mission, and that they expected so much more from me, and that I should wait a couple of years before I have children. I would like to tell my story on how I know I am following God's plan for me:

Growing up, I'd always thought, "You know, if I'm not dating anyone seriously by the time I'm 21, I'm going to serve a mission." With how my dating life in high school was turning out, I was not only positive that I'd be going on a mission, but that I probably wouldn't be getting married until I was somewhere between 24-26. My friends all laughed at me and told me that I'd be married by 20.

Well, it turns out Heavenly Father had different plans for me than I had thought and my friends were all right. In May 2011, I officially met my future husband. I had unofficially met him when I went on a date with his roommate in October 2010, and he doubled with us.  He was originally just dating while he waited for a Sister Missionary, but I didn't know that at first. 

When I first found out he was waiting for a Sister Missionary, I was pretty upset. I was already really interested in him at this point, and we had been on a date a week for 4 or 5 weeks now. My roommates had started spying through the peep hole after our dates to see if I would be getting my first kiss anytime soon, and I would be lying if I said that I wasn't hoping for it as well. Finding out that he was waiting for her was crushing, and I began to resolve to get over him and to move on with my life. I had made resolutions like this before with other guys, and it never took long for me to actually follow through these types of resolutions. It's lucky for him that the very next day he asked me if we could go on a walk because he needed someone to talk to. 

On the walk, he told me that he didn't know where things were going, but that he was having a lot of fun going on dates with me, and he still wanted to continue to go on dates. The peace and reassurance I felt was phenomenal. The Spirit prompted me strongly that I should continue dating him, even though I didn't know where it was going to go. Later, when we began talking about marriage I made it a matter of prayer. I counseled with my bishop, who listened to me and then asked me if I'd prayed about it. When I told him that I had and that I felt good about it, he encouraged me in my decision. And I had felt good about it. I knew that Andrew was the right guy for me to marry. We were married December 16, 2011 in the Draper, UT LDS temple. On our wedding day, in the Celestial room, I felt a VERY strong confirming witness that I was marrying the RIGHT guy in the RIGHT place at the RIGHT time.

We had gotten a lot of advice from people telling us to wait to have children, because we really need the first couple of years to strengthen our relationship before we brought children into the picture. We decided that was a good idea and decided to wait a couple of years to have children.

Once again, Heavenly Father had a different plan for us. During our Building a Celestial Marriage institute course, we were discussing not postponing having children. It was emphasized that it was between us and the Lord, but I felt an overwhelming thought come to me. WE HADN'T PRAYED ABOUT OUR DECISION TO WAIT. I talked to Andrew about it, and we made it a matter of personal prayer and study, and at the end of the week brought our answer to the temple. Through the entire week I couldn't shake the VERY strong feeling I was getting that we were not supposed to wait to start our family. At the temple, we had confirmation after confirmation after confirmation that we weren't supposed to wait.

It hasn't ended there. I have received inspiration at the temple time and time again since then that we're not supposed to wait, that our children are on the other side of the veil praying to come down to us, and on and on. Andrew and I are not going to wait.

I haven't used any form of birth control for 9 months now, and we are both excited and sometimes impatient to be able to have children. I am still not pregnant. I have received very strong witnesses that Heavenly Father is in charge of the timing of when our children will come to us, though, so I do not have to worry.  I trust in my Father in Heaven, and I know that He is in charge of this timing. I know He has what is best in mind for my family and I. Because of this, I am willing to wait however long He needs me to.


Heavenly Father has other plans for us. I believe that I AM serving a mission where I am, as a faithful daughter of God, and wife to my husband, as we do family names and bring them to the temple. I believe that our striving to break family cycles of abuse and dysfunction in the home is a mission and calling from God as well. I have been told by countless numbers of people that I should wait to have my family. THAT IS NOT GOD'S WILL FOR ME. I can't ignore the answers and promptings I have received. God knows the bigger picture, so even if His plans are different, I am following them.

Family Principles

In Andrew's and my "Scripture Principles for Marrieds" class and our "Marrieds Dinner and Seminar" that we've been attending, we've been counseled to create a Family Constitution. So, for Family Home Evening one day, we started it.
"So, what rules should we have in our home?" I asked Andrew.
"I don't think we should start with the rules," Andrew disagreed lightly. "We can come up with a long list of rules and not necessarily get anywhere. It would probably be more beneficial to create a list of principles that we want to found our family on."
Although I was, at first, puzzled on what he meant, I agreed. By the time we were done, I was feeling the Spirit strongly. We're still working on the wording on some of these, and we may add/change some of the things on this list, but I would like to share what we came up with:

“… Establish a house, even a house of prayer, a house of fasting, a house of faith, a house of learning,
a house of glory, a house of order, a house of God;” –Doctrine and Covenants 88:119
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            The goal of our home and family is that all of us may return to our Father in Heaven that we may be an eternal family. As such, through the guidance of the Spirit, we establish these principles that our home will be founded upon whereby we may obtain this goal.

            The first principle of our home, and in our lives, is that our family comes first. The Godhead stands as the center stone of our family. Our family is God first, our marriage second, and our children next.

            All important decisions will be made in council and family decisions are made by the whole family. All family members that can be at the meeting should be; we invite God to meetings through prayer before starting. The decisions we make will not be made on a “majority rules” concept, but on a basis that it will give each of us a chance to learn to seek revelation on what God wants us to do.

            We do things the entire family can participate in; if one person shouldn't do it, no one should.
E.g.: As parents, we will not stay up late watching movies the children shouldn't watch. This does not mean that if a baby is too young to participate that we cannot play a board game as a family.

            Ours is a home of celebration. We will rejoice in each other’s accomplishments and achievements. We have traditions to strengthen, fortify, and build-up our family bonds, and to make life more enjoyable and fun.

            Our home is a place where we feel safe and comfortable, and we feel comfortable inviting others. Because God is a part of our family, He needs to be present in our home. We must keep an atmosphere wherein the Spirit can reside.

            Because the world tears us down, ours will be a home that builds up ourselves, each other, and others. We encourage and help each other be the best we can be.

            We talk, spend time, and listen to/with each other. Because God is family, this means the rule applies to Him, too. We talk with, listen to, and spend time with God through prayer, scripture study, the temple, seminary/institute, etc. We express love to each other, and show our love to each other through our actions.

            We will “seek diligently and teach one another words of wisdom” and “seek learning, even by study and also by faith.” – Doctrine and Covenants 88:119

            Our family works together and finds opportunities to serve each other and others. All of us work hard to contribute to following the principles that have been established, and each of us does our part. Because we serve each other and God is family, we must allow God to serve us by receiving His aid through priesthood blessings, prayer, and so forth. We will ask for priesthood blessings not only for “emergencies.”

            We will obey the will of the Lord and the law of the land. We will see God’s counsels as God’s commandments.

            Rules are not arbitrary – they must be and will be based off of family principles.

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“Choose you this day whom ye will serve: …But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” – Joshua 24:15

New Jobs!

A friend of Andrew's sent him a link to a job that he'd seen that made him think of Andrew. The job was in Programming, which is exactly what Andrew's in school for right now. He applied by email, sending his resume and cover letter. They were, apparently, impressed and asked for more clarity on some of the courses he's taken so far. He landed an interview, and we were so excited!

We got there about 20 minutes early, and sat out in the car for a little while before he was supposed to go in. We said a prayer really quick that Andrew would be guided to know what to say, and that he would be able to do well, essentially. After the interview, we went to Wendy's to grab frosties to celebrate the interview. :) We found out that evening that 30 minutes after the interview was over, they had emailed him to ask him to come in for a second interview. Andrew was really nervous, because this one would involve him programming something for them as part of the interview.

We got there about 15 minutes early, and again we said a prayer before he went in. Andrew asked that Heavenly Father would ensure that whatever happened, whether he got the job or not, that it would be done in our family's best interest. Then he went in for it. When we went to the temple the next day, Andrew prayed about the job. He felt assured that Heavenly Father would make what was best for us happen, and that everything would work out. The following Wednesday, I told Andrew that he should send in a follow-up letter thanking them for the interview. Later that day, Andrew and I both got calls! To my surprise (as I had completely forgotten I'd talked to people at the Part-Time Job Fair at UVU), I was called and asked if I was still looking for a part-time job and was offered a position tutoring at an Elementary School. Andrew was called and they asked him to do a background check for them. Two days later, they called and officially offered Andrew the position. I'm ecstatic for him! This job is absolutely PERFECT for him! It gives him experience in the field he's studying, which will be perfect for his resume after graduation when he looks for whatever job position he wants. Not only that, but it even pays more than the job he currently has.

So glad that Heavenly Father is an active participant of our lives, and that He is aware of our needs, and helps us out when we need it :)

Our "Love Potion": Ingredients 1 & 2

Often while we were engaged I would teasingly accuse Andrew of putting a love spell on me, and he would respond that no, he hadn't, although he was pretty sure that I had put one on him. This was all done in jest, referring to how magical and perfect our relationship felt. If it WAS a spell, it was a doozey of a spell, and it had been mixed to perfection! I couldn't dream up a better relationship than this one; Andrew had become my everything.

In a way, we both worked on this "potion" together by investing into our relationship and both of us striving to be the best we could be. But there are definitely a few unusual ingredients that have become a huge part of our marriage that make our relationship fun and well-founded. Every relationship has these - our "ingredients" are different than other relationships, and each relationship has a way of throwing their own little "spices" in to the batch that make it unique and delicious!

Ours are definitely a strange combination of "flavors", and I'm sure I'll continue to mess with the ingredients and spices along the way (after all, I love cooking and I can never leave things alone without adding my own touch to it to make it even better).

1. Ballroom Dancing!

Andrew and I met at a YSA Stake Dance that we were both crashing (it wasn't our Stake, so we were both surprised to find out later that we were in the same Stake).

Andrew claims that he had noticed me prior to seeing me dance ballroom with his younger brother Tom, but after seeing me dance ballroom it sealed the deal - he HAD to ask me to dance!

Our first dance was a foxtrot (both when we met and at our reception, because "our song" happened to be a foxtrot. Otherwise Andrew prefers waltz).


He had been on the UVU Ballroom team and Ballroom was a huge part of his life. On his mission he had decided that his future wife should know how to dance. Lucky for me, I had taken a semester of ballroom in high school.

Now, we make a point of going dancing at least once a month, and I'm making a point of taking some more ballroom in college since I want to be able to dance as well as he can (he can even move his hips better than I can!).






2. Hiking!

On our first date, we went up Battle Creek Falls. Andrew decided it would be fun to climb along a tiny little ridge that was basically on the side of a cliff and then make it to a little overview area. For some reason, despite my fear of heights, I decided it would be a good idea to go with him. I'm glad I did. The view was gorgeous!!

While we were up there some guy in a blue shirt and a red hat took a picture of us and was waving for us to come down. Not sure why he wanted us to come down, we decided to just stay up there.

(In retrospect, he was probably just trying to give us a copy of the picture or get permission to post it or something... I don't know. Regardless, now we jokingly refer to stalkers as being in blue shirts and a red hat. Or was it a red shirt with a blue hat?)

We went on several hiking dates after that, but when Andrew proposed it was at the top of the Battle Creek Falls :)
He had his brother Tom go ahead of us and leave a bouquet of roses and lilies (lilies are my favorite flower) for me and a picnic lunch for the two of us, and then when we got up there Andrew got down on one knee and asked me to marry him!! Of course, I said yes :)

My Wedding Day - The Temple

           December 16th, 2011, I made a decision that would effect my life eternally. I married my best friend in the Draper temple. I still remember the cheesy line he gave me the night before we were married. "Goodnight, Love," Andrew had said to me, smiling. "I'll marry you in the morning." I laughed and we hugged, kissed, and went our separate ways.

           Trying to sleep that night was an impossibility for me. I lay awake for hours, tossing and turning. When I texted Andrew about my predicament, he recommended I pray for sleep and added that he would do the same. I fell asleep sometime after midnight, but I kept waking up all through the night, only sleeping in small segments. I finally just gave up on sleep around 5:30 AM, and my cousin Alex (she stayed the night with me because she was going to fix my hair for the wedding) got up with me.

           We drove to the other house and got milk so we could have cereal for breakfast (I had moved all of the food and stuff to the apartment on the 15th except for the foods that needed to be kept in the fridge or freezer). This was pretty much a moot point for me, since apparently I couldn't eat, either. After breakfast, Alex started fixing my hair. She was still working on it an hour or so later when Andrew came to get me at 8:45 AM. Finally I grabbed my dress & stuff and we left.

           The roads had a mixture of snow dust and mist swirling around the cars, creating a magical, surreal feeling as we drove up to the temple. "This feels so magical! I can't believe we're getting married today," I confided, smiling. "I couldn't sleep at all last night, could you?"
           "Actually, I slept just fine. When I woke up, I was like, 'I had something important going on today, what was it?' It took me a while to remember. Then it was like, 'I'm getting married today! What the heck am I doing??' But then I remembered that I was marrying you, and I was okay again." Andrew told me. This was somewhat surprising, as Andrew is normally the one that doesn't sleep well.

           We arrived to the Draper temple at 9:30 AM. We went in and they pulled us in to a room to sign our marriage license, then they led me to the bride's room. It was SO beautiful!!! I told them that my mom would be coming, and had them let the front desk know her name so that she could come directly in to help me, since we were 30 minutes early, even for the group that was supposed to be early. I got into my wedding dress (I had picked one that I could wear inside the temple) and as they were helping me with my veil and such, my mom entered the room. We were both smiling and happy, and she was super excited and supportive. The temple workers kept complimenting my dress, and then they led me out to go meet Andrew.

           "Did you see the way his eyes popped out of his head when he saw you?" the sweet temple worker whispered to me enthusiastically as we came up to him. I hadn't; my hands were shaking and I was so nervous, I couldn't tell what he was thinking. I wasn't really able to read his face, other than the fact he looked nervous and he was smiling. Because we had gotten there so early, they led us to the Celestial room to wait. That was wonderful! I had been so nervous, my hands were shaking, but once we entered the room I was so calm. The Spirit overwhelmed me with confirmation that I was in the right place with the right person at the right time, and I had no doubt in my mind that what I was doing right then was right.

           When we met the sealer, there was a further confirmation that we were being married by a wonderful person that had the correct authority. He was sweet, funny, old man and the Spirit radiated from him. He then asked us if we would like to do something that is not a part of the normal sealing process, but that he offered the choice to do to everyone he sealed. The option was, just before he sealed us, if we wanted to, he would give us a chance to tell everyone why we loved the other person. We agreed to do it.

           When everyone that was attending the sealing was seated, we went to join them. The light that poured into the room through the stained glass windows was Heavenly, and an even stronger spirit hit me as we entered the room. The room was larger than the one we had reserved, but I loved it, even though there were so many empty chairs (maybe they were all filled with those on the other side of the veil). He then gave Andrew and I the chance to tell everyone why we loved each other.
           Andrew and I looked at each other and I asked him if he wanted me to go first. He nodded. I don't remember exactly what I said. I just remember feeling the warmth and love. Something about how he was my best friend, he respected me as a daughter of God, his sense of humor... At some point my voice trailed off and, after a pause, Andrew started. His voice was husky with emotion, and he was crying. I don't remember everything he said, other than him saying that I made him want to be the best he could be. I just remember how powerful the emotion was that we were overcome with. The sealer said, "So, what you're saying is, she completes you?" Andrew must have nodded or said yes.
           The sealer said he wouldn't be giving a Sunday talk, but it felt like it lasted forever. Finally we got to kneel across the alter from each other. We weren't allowed to look at each other while we were being sealed, which was hard. After we were sealed, the sealer said we could kiss each other across the alter. "Oh, you can tell they're good at this part. They must have practiced!" he teased. "You two looked like you enjoyed that. How about you kiss again?" We happily complied. "Man, I thought you were going to go for a third!" The sealer teased us. We then went to the side of the alter and exchanged rings, and then we looked through the eternity mirrors together. I tried to envision our daughters and sons doing the same thing, and it was too wonderful to grasp.

           Everyone in attendance lined up to either hug us or shake our hands. Andrew's mom was crying, hugging him the longest she could. "Welcome to the family," everyone was telling us. The concept that Andrew was now my husband was beyond me. It seemed so surreal. I was so happy, and I couldn't stop smiling!!!

Crazy? I Was Crazy Once.

Driving home after dropping a friend home last night:

Me: You could just pretend I'm not here!

Andrew: But if you're not here, then there's no one to talk to, which means I'm talking to myself. If I'm talking to myself, then I must be crazy!! Crazy? I was crazy once!

Me: Haha! I can maybe agree that you're a bit crazy.

Andrew: *GASP!* I'm hearing voices and there's no one in the car with me!! Just wait until I get home to tell Liz that the car is haunted.

Me: You don't actually have to pretend that I'm not here anymore...

Andrew: The voices want me to believe that they actually exist... This is getting freaky.

Me: *rolls eyes, then rubs hand on his back, laughing* You're ridiculous.

Andrew: THE GHOST IS TOUCHING ME!!!

I, at this point, decided to have fun with the whole scenario. Putting my hand on his arm, near the elbow, I slowly moved it up to his shoulder, into his sleeve to actually touch his shoulder.

Andrew: This ghost is forward! GHOST RAPE, GHOST RAPE!!!!

That's about where I lost it.

When we got home, I raced Andrew to the door & made it in just barely ahead of him. As soon as we entered the apartment, Andrew turned to me with a completely straight, if not dramatically "traumatized", face.

Andrew: Liz, you would never believe it. I'm pretty much positive that our car is haunted.

Missed Me!

You know those ridiculous fights that come out of nowhere?
This was one of those.
I don't know who made the first attack, but suddenly jellybeans were flying back and forth.

Actually, it was probably me that threw them first.
But that's besides the point.
The point was that Andrew had missed me entirely in his attempt at throwing them back at me again.

Deciding to take an extremely childish approach to celebrating my victory, I began to tease him with a very childish rhyme in a sing-song voice.

"Missed me, missed me, now you've got to kiss me!!"

Andrew didn't seem to find this very dissuading. In fact, it didn't take me very long at all before I noticed the rapid deterioration of his aiming abilities. He seemed exultant of his sudden inability to hit me with the jellybeans. I was taking great care to strike him with perfect aim with my jellybeans, though. It was far too satisfying to see the jellybean ricochet off of him.

I couldn't help but be amused when he hit me without meaning to now. "Ha! Missed you!" he'd cry, grinning, only to realize that he had actually hit me squarely in the forehead.

The novelty wore off fairly quickly, though, and now he tries pulling it off in other ways...

"I missed you at work today. Does that mean I have to kiss you?" he'll tease me as he gets in the car from picking him up.

That I have no problem with :)

Baby Cramps

Andrew and I went camping over the weekend just before school started with my sister-in-law Monica. The campground we went to was GORGEOUS, and we made a point of going hiking while we were up there. I was enjoying the hike immensely, and had brought a box of Cheez-It Party mix to take on the hike with us. This worked well until I started getting side cramps from eating while hiking...

Me: "Ugh, I think I'm getting a side cramp. That's okay, though, because it's only a baby side cramp right now."

Andrew: "Are you sure it isn't just a baby? ;) "

I had no response, other than to punch Andrew semi-lightly in the stomach. Except I may have not done it all that lightly. Just not so hard that it would actually hurt him.

Andrew to Monica: "Did you see that?!? She PUNCHED me!!"

Monica: "Yeah, well, you deserved it."

Glad I wasn't the only one that thought so! ;)
Seriously. Andrew and his baby jokes sometimes... haha!

Frosting

We pulled out some frosting from the fridge to make sure it was still okay the other day...

Andrew lifted the container up to his face and then sniffed it intently. "It still smells like frosting."

He then reached in and scooped out some and licked it off of his finger. "It still tastes like frosting."

Peering in to the container with a mock expression of dubiousness, he added, "It still LOOKS like frosting..."

Andrew turned to me. "Wait. I'm missing a couple of senses."

"Touch and sound," I prompted.

"Oh. Right. Well, it still felt like frosting..." A strange look crossed his face, and he lifted the container to his ear. His eyes suddenly got very wide. "Oh no!! It doesn't sound like frosting! It must have gone bad!!"

Morgue Tickle Fights

Sometimes (okay. I'll admit it. A lot of the time) Andrew and I say and do some pretty ridiculous things. Like this time back in February, for instance...

After a small poking fight, I jokingly said, "I'm dead..." and flopped backwards onto the bed in a melodramatic imitation of dying.

Andrew, seeing a loophole in my ruse, jested, "Oh, really? But dead people aren't ticklish!" and he promptly began tickling me.

I squirmed around and, rather than conceding that he had a point, decided to challenge him. My comeback was flawless. "How do you know that? Have you ever gotten into a tickle fight at the Morgue?!?"

Cheese

While making dinner, I realized that I needed some cheese grated, so to make it so I wouldn't have to stop what I was doing, I asked Andrew for some help.

"Andrew, would you please grate some cheese for me?"

"Sure!" Andrew replied enthusiastically. He walked up to the fridge and pulled out a block of cheese and then looked at it very seriously. Without missing a beat, he told the cheese, "Cheese, you are awesome! You're so great! Nothing else can do what you do!"

He then turned to me with an impish smile. "There! Cheese great-ed!"

Another Blog? Really??

I've decided to start another blog.

Really? Because your other several aren't enough?

Apparently not. Because then my brain was like, "Oooh, that could be a great blog idea!!"
And I was like, "But that falls into a new category in and of itself..."
And my brain was like, "Well then. You could make a new blog..."
So I was like, "Fine."

And here I am.

What is this blog?

I always have the funniest conversations with my husband, and sometimes we say and do the most ridiculous things :) It makes life so fantastic!! Whenever I share them on Facebook, they tend to be my most popular status updates, because they're just so funny.

So I thought I would share them with you here :)

I hope you get as much of a kick out of them as I do.