Time out for women

 I wanted to write some things down out of my cell phone that I took notes on at TOFW before I accidentally deleted it. We traveled from calgary 2 hours south to Lethbridge. Melanies family was sweet enough to host me at their house...and by dang they know how to treat a guest. I got gourmet fruit cups and was introduced to a jonesie ( breakfast sandwich from heaven) I enjoyed the car ride down with my dear friend and her sweet mom..who really is one of the most generous people Ive ever met... she'd give you the shirt off her back if you'd let her. Every time I turned around she was bringing me treats or a water ect.... We drove down in her brothers truck and all of us are too short to get in easily and it was hilarious trying to get the doors shut!...

Anyways If you have never gone to time out for women I am telling you right now you need to go. It was inspiring and I felt the spirit very strong... Something I have been longing for in my life for a while now. I needed that upliftment. I felt it during conference..But I really felt it here. So many of the talks centred around the atonement and christ.... and that alone brought the spirit to that place...
I slowly feel like I'm starting to know my saviour as a  close good friend. Through the hard stuff Ive experienced through the last 3 years I feel like I've really become closer to him and I understand what the atonement is and how it works now. I always knew what it was and how important it was to my family especially after losing two siblings....but to have it very very personal to me..Its been a work in progress...   I feel like now I have a better perspective on life that isn't right now....I look at life eternally..and the little things don't bug me anymore...I realize the grand picture is what is important...and to become as empathetic and as kind as christ... we have to have those hard and tough experiences to let our pride go... be at the bottom... so we can build up stronger and with greater faith.


I had a bunch of favorite talks but these things kind've stood out to me

First Off Ive been praying really hard about What I want to do with my shop...and all of easy. Ive had a strong feeling I just need to get the extra stress off my plate Etsy served its purpose and got me through some rough stuff...but its time fo something new and I just want to be a really really good mom...which is crazy timing because the shop is doing so well and Ive dreamed of having my own business my whole life...But this kindve summarized what I felt...

jenny oaks baker- asked us what type of a legacy to you want to leave to your loved ones ...and if your doing something that dosnt help you and what you want for that legacy stop it now...
she also said remind your kids that you want to be with them...  She Reminded me of the importance of family....Sometimes we make cookies and give the burnt ones to our families and the good ones to our friends...and we really should try and give the great cookies to our family. We should try and enlarge our souls toward each other. I felt very inspired to read my scriptures more..and use them with my kids... they do have answers if we just take the time out of our day to read them. Make it a priority and it will help your day be better and bring the spirit to your home. she also talked about how her mom had cancer and they fasted for her....she ended up dying a couple months later but at that time her mom just wanted to see her youngest daughter ( jenny get married)..so maybe instead of the fast working to help heal their mom or take away the pain...it was to help her moms last wished unfold....kindve a different way to think about fasting...

Another talk I loved was by emily watts-- she mentioned that her parents to her too a fancy lunch..and outside was a duck pond they finished eating and her parents gave her a roll to go feed these ducks...so she went out the pretty kitchen hall out the glass doors and down to the pond she fed the ducks and when she ran out of food the ducks followed...and then the geese....she started to run back to the dingin area....and there she saw her parents shut the glass doors and usher her around....she says she was so mad that they locked her out..but at her young age she couldn't see the big picture she was scared and wanted her parents to save her.....But they knew they couldn't let the crazy ducks and geese in. sometimes heavenly father dosn't open those doors in the timing we want...Even WITH OUR STRONGEST FAITH....that line hit home...he'll do it when whats best for you will yield the greatest rewards. Truly touching there wasn't a dry eye. Character grows when you struggle for a while. So ask yourself what can you do to make yourself grow until your prayers are answered. She gave an analogy of a segway if its perfectly balanced it dosn't move anywhere.. if were not a little off balanced we cant move and grow. We weren't meant to stand still. So now is the time to lift up my eyes and ask what is your plan for me heavenly father. How can I be an instrument in your hands.

We also got to hear a great talk by richie norton on accomplishing your dreams and how stupid is the new smart. I bought his book I thought it was so eye opening. He talked about being our authentic selves. What would we do if we weren't afraid of looking stupid.  He asked do you think noah looked stupid building a boat?.... or An army captain taking teens to the battlefield.... Or a man standing on a wall preaching to people who threw things at him...Do you think sometimes that molly mormon mother looks stupid? Or that person that bears their testimony every month. It kind've started to make me look differently. So if we want to be our authentic self we need to embrace the stupid and sometimes our best ideas and dreams will come out of it... Ill let you know how the book was when I finish. It talked alot about living in the moment.. Richie and his wife natalie lost his brother in law and son within a couple years and the story is very touching...google him or go read their blog its amazing.   http://www.natalienortonphoto.com/2010/01/update.html

The last talk I loved was by Kris
She had cancer in her eyes and is now blind....she talked about her struggle to find her light again....It was touching and tender and hilarious all at the same time. Melanie was laughing so hard that I started to laugh even harder.. she talked about laughing at herself and told a story about her friend running to get her prosthetic eyeball as they were trying to catch a plane. LIke I said before I'm ordering the dvd so If you want to come listen to the talks I'll have them. She talked about if we endure to our end.... not the end but our end thats always when we'll find the saviour and if throught our life we continually get to our end..and learn more about the saviour and draw closer to him... that thats what life is all about... shes inspiring heres a glimpse of her tenderness


and heres a glimpse of her humour....