Dresses in a Closet

God has a way of putting people into our lives. Each one has certain talents and lessons for us to grow from. Out of all the BILLIONS of people, you only know who you know. I think he has a reason for that, He's a pretty clever dude. 

Going through the biggest heart brake of my life, so far, I am so constantly tempted to focus on the negative, have all my cups be half empty instead of half full. I often find myself on the edge of surrendering to the overwhelming doubts whispering in my mind. Yet, I wake up each day and try my best to do my best. It's because of all the beautiful people who love me, they keep me afloat. In moments of their warm love and concern, I remember that you are not alone in this life. We have each other. 

Each and every one of us have a beautiful opportunity, that opportunity is the serve the ones around us with the knowledge and skill only we have. It's not always about what you can get, sometimes you need to focus on what you can give. Be someone's example not their excuse.


One of my dearest friends, Emily, discovered several dresses neatly hanging  in her grandma's closet. These weren't any ordinary dresses, they were the wedding dresses of her great-grandma, grandma, mother and aunts, mingled in with bridesmaids' dresses. After rediscovering these beauties, Emily asked me if I would be willing to try on some of  them on so she could take photos of them. She knew she asked the right person, I will hardly turn down a reason to dress up. I'm still obsessed with playing make-believe.  So this last Saturday afternoon, after a Wendy's drive through, we journeyed to her Grandparent's house. Sure enough, in an upstairs closet, was the collection of dresses. 

I was taken aback by the amount of emotions brewing in my heart as I gazed upon these handmade dresses. Some I heard stories about, others grew up seeing photographs, and here they all where stored. Each of them being a symbol of commitment, a token from a love story, a beginning of a on going family, an icon of celebration.

Although the moods where delightfully cheery and laughter was common as I pranced around the house in a variety of dresses, belonging to time periods  ranging from the 1920s-Present, I felt a deep level of reverence. I felt honored to be the one bringing smiles to the faces of those who actually remembered the debuts of some of  these dresses. 

As I was surrounded by fabric I was also surrounded by stories and memories. I was astonished

 by the spirit, testifying to me the important of giving your talents and dedication to build up people. To establish a environment that invite people to feel accepted and give them the chance to understand they are loved by, not only you, but by our Heavenly Father too.  Becoming a husband or a wife, a father or a mother, is one of the most selfless things you can do. Its dedicating your self to service and sacrifice, which is, in my eye, the most honorable thing you can do. I respect all of the husbands, wives and parents out there. 

I am so blessed and happy to be apart of my beautiful family. I hope I can learn how to better serve them and find ways to show them how grateful I am to have them. I am also thankful for the family I chose to be apart of, my friends. Constantly my breath gets taken away because how quick and ready they are to help me out.

 I am looking forward to living my life in a way that I am proud of, so when the time comes I can help create a new family. I'm excited to fall in love with a man who is willing to serve me and our family. I'm excited to serve this, for now, mystery man as well.  But, meh, if I dedicate my life to prayer and doing what I believe to be right it will happen when it happens. For now, I'll just try on pretty dresses, take pretty pictures, dream, smile and enjoy life. 

Cherish the moment

Lets be honest here, life can seem pretty dull somethings. We all accept responsibilities and then drag our feet as we feel obligated to accomplish them. We have all whined and complained about mundane tasks. We have all allowed boredom or sadness to control our focus and direct our stream of thoughts. I admit that I have definitely fallen victim in becoming blind to the love and blessings that compose my life. That is why I thankful towards God for giving me so many reminders of how to cherish the moment and wear a smile on my face.

These God given reminders happen daily, yet I so often label them as simply ordinary consequences. But, ever once a while, a powerful brief period of time awakens my memories of beauty. My last grand reminder happened just this last Tuesday, but I am going to rewind the story a little bit before that, only like a few years back or so. 

My first year of college was the first year I meet this man, yes the man creepily standing in the door way. 

As you can tell, Greg and I knew each other but our friendship wasn't that strong, nor went that deep. It lasted that way for a while. There was only picture I could find of us being new acquiescence is, you guessed it. This one. 

But I do recall one of the first interactions I had with Greg was him showing me a picture of a beautiful infant baby girl. He told me that it was he daughter, Olivia, and he placed her in adoption. I smiled as I held at the photo, not knowing how I was going to grow to love the little one. 

As my two years of Snow College progressed, so did my friendship with Greg. I soon found myself classifying him as "my adopted older brother." He became a family member away from home. He was there to give me words of motivations, relationship advice, and hugs when I most needed them and so on. 

 After graduating I transferred to Utah Valley University. It was a pleasure to see the familiar face of Greg in the big hall way.  In between classes, I would enjoy the pictures and short videos of  Olivia that Greg would share. I truly became found of her cute squinty face as she smiled and her squeaky voice as she would speak. We both were falling in love with a beautiful little toddler through emails.  

Now that we are all caught up I will explain this last Tuesday.
"Wow, you look real handsome today... did you get a hair cut?" I asked Greg as we sat in hallway. His brother laughed as he said no. "I like your shirt, what the occasion?"

"I have thing in a few hours" He replied.

"A thing? That's all your gonna tell me? A thing? A thing could be anything. " I grind.  

"Yep."

Randomly within the next couple hours I would ask questions and try to guess what this mysterious "thing" could be. I would get yes and no answers but eventually I gave up trying. 

Latter, I was sitting in my night class, I get a text from him saying "Text me when you get out of class."
My class went a bit longer then usual and I glanced into the doorway and there was Greg with a teasing impatient look on his face. Finally my class got out and I meet him in the hall way.

Beaming he said "I meet her!"

Confusion come over me for a second, until it dawn on me... he was talking about it daughter. It was the first time he ever saw Olivia face to face. Squealing, I hugged him. Both of us smiling, he told me every detail. Anyone that just walked by might have I was listening  to a man telling a simple story about playing with a little girl, but they wouldn't realize the significance and power this moment held. The father's love that I saw Greg possess made me cry.

Crying as I walked home, I thought of all the beautiful small moments that we don't even realize that we own. Anything can seem glorious if we look at it through lenses of acknowledgment and appreciation.

. We all need to stop and make sure that we cherish the moment, because not everyone is blessed to have the moments that we have the honor to experience.