One Sentence Blog Post: Baby

I HAVE A NEW NEPHEW!!

One Sentence Blog Post: Death

Death is just a mission where the letters you get from your missionary are a little bit harder to read.

~Kylie

The Obituary

In case anyone wanted to see it, here's my grandma's obituary.

Thank you everyone for your kindness and concern. My family and I really appreciate everything you do :)

~Kylie

It'll Be Okay

I was up doing homework last night around midnight when suddenly I just knew something was wrong. I wanted to jump up and run everywhere and yell and tell everyone who would listen that something was wrong and we all needed to watch our backs because something big and bad was coming. But instead, I texted my mom and asked her if everything was okay. And for that moment, it was.

But around three o'clock this morning, my grandma passed away.

I love my grandma. She watched me from the time I was just a little baby until I was about 12 or 13 and I could finally stand to be in the house all by myself. She loved to buy me things, which sounds silly, but it was her way of making me happy. She's always been there for me, and I love her like crazy.

My grandma went through a lot of pain in her life. She suffered from depression, diabetes, arthritis, dementia, and, most recently, heart problems. For the past little while, she had been struggling to breathe, even just for little things like getting up to use the restroom.

The last time I saw my grandma, I was at the fair and got to push her around a little bit in her wheelchair. I even took a few pictures of her smiling, which is pretty impressive (the pictures, I mean). But she was feeling really sick the day of my birthday party, so I wasn't able to see her that day.

The last time I talked to my grandma, I had to try and convince her that my grandpa really would give her a blessing and that the only reason he hadn't was because she hadn't asked. Whoever invented the term "stubborn as a mule" never met Marilyn Jones, I can tell you that right now. I told her that yes, Grandpa would give her a blessing, trust me, it'll be okay, and we ended our phone call.

The last thing I heard about my grandma was that she had gotten a blessing from my grandpa on Sunday.

This year has been hard. I won't deny that. Things happen in life that we can't control, or that we don't want to step up to and take control of. But things happen. Good things, bad things, it doesn't matter. Because things happen.

Am I going to miss my grandma? Like crazy. I'm going to cry every day for the next little while because I'll miss her so much. I'll be walking around campus with a stuffy nose and red eyes, and people won't be able to figure out why. And that's okay. I can cry because I'll miss her. I can do that. It's my way of showing how much I'll miss her. It's my way of coping with it.

But I'm not crying because she's gone. She's not gone. Her spirit may not be in her body anymore, but it hasn't ceased to exist. I'm sad for me, not for her. Now, she's not bogged down by everything that went wrong with her body. She's able to love life again. She's able to be with all of us now. She'll be there the day I take out my endowments. She'll be there the day I get married. She'll be there to hand off every single one of my future children to me, and I hope she'll be able to tell them not to worry and not to be scared because they have a good person waiting to be their mom. She's going to be able to think clearly, without the pain, and she's going to be able to take every step with her family.

The gospel is true, guys. It's so true. One day, I'll be able to tell my grandma how much I've missed her, and I'll be able to tell her how many times I knew she was there. I have no doubt in the plan of salvation. It's real, and it works. This isn't some bedtime story made up by a whack-job American. No. This is the gospel. This is from God. He is there watching over all of us, and Christ is there right next to Him, holding all of us up whenever we need it. They can't lie; everything that's ever been promised to us will happen in time. And I don't know that I've ever been more grateful for that than I am right now.

I've been able to feel my grandma here while I'm writing this. I think she wants to let me know that she loves me and that it's okay to cry because she'll miss me too. I've also felt divine love and peace, and had a sense that everything will be okay.

And because God tells me, I believe it.

~Kylie

Oops

Sorry I haven't posted for a while. Things have been exhausting around here lately. I took like a three hour nap today and I only got up from that because I was hungry and also I slept on my arm funny and it hurt but let's not talk about that.

I can tell you, however, that since turning 20, I've had a lot of fantastic experiences. Like my parents surprising me on my birthday and taking me to dinner. Or getting a great score on my English paper and getting in trouble for NOT talking in that class. Basically, good thing after good thing have kept happening. Maybe turning 20 automatically makes life better for you? I don't know, but if so, I'm totally digging it.

Also, I totally beat my friend Alec at all his GameCube games last night even though I didn't know how to play any of them. So I'm pretty much the best at video games *hair toss*.

~Kylie

P.S. HAPPY TUESDAY THE 17TH Y'ALL

I'm Not Dead, I Promise

Stardate 9/13/13
 I'm still here. I promise. But when you have two full time (ish) jobs it's hard to keep up on everything.
Now some of you are going "two jobs? I thought she was going to school?" and you are right. I have always considered school a job. I don't get paid for it in money, but I get paid for going in knowledge. Plus I'm there for 5-7 hours a day, therefore, it's a job.

I'm going to try and catch up on my second and third weeks of school, so this post might be kinda long. Please bear with me, I have some really awesome stories.

First, college.  College is a weird place.  Some classes are so hard that you have a headache afterward, and others are so easy you sit in class and scroll through Pinterest. I obviously don't do that. Why would I do that? That's a horrible thing to do. STOP JUDGING ME! Oddly enough, my favorite class is the one I have to go to at 7:30 am. My teacher is awesome, but I already told you that.  Statistics is a stupid class. Today we reviewed what a line was. I feel like I'm in Junior High again at points in that class.
Walking up to campus is hard to. I live just off of my campus and there is this giant hill in between me and all of my studying. I have the option to walk up a nearly vertical hill, or to go up 300 stairs.  Guess which one I do more often. The first week of school I gave myself shin splints from walking up to campus and then back and forth around campus all day.  So, I have been taking the bus up to campus a lot more recently.  Busses are good things for people without cars, expect that describes every college student that has a class at 8:30am, so it gets pretty packed sometimes.

Second, work. I have the bestest job in the entire universe.  I am basically a part time teacher, and I absolutley love it. I'm majoring in Elementary Education, so this is a really good thing.  I am working with the older kids at my school and they are suprisingly well behaved. It really scares me actually.  They shouldn't be so well behaved. The kids just a grade younger than them are bonifide monsters some days, so why are they so good.  THEY ARE PLANNING SOMETHING DIABOLICAL! DONT MESS WITH ME!!
My coworkers are fantastic. When I told them that I had to ride the bus to work they all looked at me like "You poor thing! How could you do something so arduous and dangerous? We are going to make sure that very soon you no longer have to do that and we will always give you rides home." They are all super nice. And the guy that I work with in our grade and me are finally getting used to each other. Like we actually talk and joke now.
My boss is the best. The other day I had an appointment that would make me late to work (since I have to ride the bus) and I told her about it and she came and picked me up at the clinic and drove me to work so that I wasn't late to work. How many bosses will do that?

Thirdly, life.  Life really sucks sometimes. I look forward to working, WORKING! Honestly, sometimes its the best part of my day.  Stress creeps up on me from everywhere. It doesn't help that I keep hurting myself.  I have mentioned them before. Shin Splints, Toe, Hands, you know.  My hand got really bad one day, and I was in a lot of pain.  Hammy and I came back from FHE and I was nearly crying because of the pain.  Hammy asked me if I wanted a blessing, (she lived here last year so she knows people) but I told her no, because I didn't know anyone that I trusted enough to give me one.  I didn't know who was worthy and I didn't want to burden anyone. I took a shower instead, and got chastised.  I got told pretty definitely that I was being stupid. I got this distinct impression "You don't have to trust them. You have to trust me. You have to trust me enough that I will send someone to you that is worthy to help you and that even if they weren't completely that I wouldn't deny you blessings for their mistakes." I started crying.  I humbled myself and asked who it was that i needed to call so that i could get help.  I got told the Elders Quorum President. Remember, this all happened while i was showering.  I got out and we called and he came with his roommate (who had only had the Melchezidek Preisthood for two months) and gave me a blessing.  They were so great and nice. The next day the Pres. also took me to the clinic to have a doctor look at my hands and see what was wrong.  We made them cookies.  This experience was very special for me, becuase I have never really had a trial that tested my trust in the Lord. Now I have.  My hands were better within two days and I know without a doubt that it was because of that Priesthood Blessing and my faith that they got better that fast.
We still don't know what was exactly wrong with my hands, probably an allergic reaction of some kind. I'm doing experiments to find out.

So besides the stress of school and work, I'm doing pretty good.  Things happen, and I am about to start something really scary but will benefit me in the future, but i know that I have the ultimate authority on my side and that I can get through anything with Him besides me.

-Korrin

P.S. I sent out letters to my three missionaries and forgot to put the return address on. I feel really stupid.

Dialogue: Waiting For Your Missionary

Guy: So, how many missionaries are you waiting for?

Me: *thinks of Amanda*

Me: *thinks of Emily*

Me:

Me: Um... two?


~Kylie (the missionary magnet)

God Has A Sense Of Humor That Most Mortals (me) Don't Necessarily Appreciate

Note: This post is several days a week overdue. But I felt it was important to post. So if there are any time-related incongruities, please forgive me, I have been working on this since the first of September.


Long accurate title is long and accurate.

Basically, last Sunday started as "FAST SUNDAY! YAY BLESSINGS! BOO HUNGER!" And that was more or less all I expected out of the day.

And then I got asked to say the closing prayer in Sacrament meeting.

Now, most people would rather pray than give a talk or do anything else, and that's fine. But I would rather speak every week than pray in front of people. The only explanation I have is that I'm an introverted Drama geek and would rather talk in front of 500 people than talk to them on a one-on-one basis. Not to mention that I feel like prayers are so individualized and personal that it's hard for me to open up and pray.

But there I was, sitting in Relief Society, being asked by the second counselor in the bishopric to pray. So I said yes.

I have no shame in admitting that I started to panic. In fact, I started to pray that I wouldn't say a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad prayer. It was like prayer-ception. And then I texted my mom and was like "MOM. PRAY FOR ME." And she did because she's awesome (*waves* Hi Mom!). But I was still super worried because I didn't feel prepared.

So then I'm sitting there in Sacrament meeting, and suddenly something Hermana Lloyd said starts ringing in my ears. Suddenly, I had to be brave. I had to do something for me. And I had to jump up and bear my testimony.

I don't think I've ever popped up out of my seat so fast in my entire life. I knew if I didn't get up right then, I wouldn't get up at all, and I somehow knew I had to stand at the pulpit and speak for me. I had to wait for 2-3 people to bear their testimonies before I could get up, but I wasn't scared. I just felt peace. Usually, I'm terrified when I have to stand and bear my testimony. But I wanted to stand and scream it out then and there. I think maybe it was meant to give me a glimpse of what our missionaries feel. Because that was what I bore my testimony on--having my mission be here. That I felt like my place was here, as all of you readers already know, and not out in the mission field. I said a couple of other important things, too, and then scurried back to my seat.

But the weirdest thing happened (and by "weird" I mean "God is smarter than me and knows how to answer my prayers using what we like to call 'the right way'") was the fact that I just felt better about everything, even the upcoming prayer. And you know what? I didn't feel like an idiot when I prayed, either. It was probably the best prayer I've ever said in public not including the primary prayers where mom walks up and tells you what to say also HI AGAIN MOM! and definitely the only prayer that it seemed like I never had to thought about. My gratitude simply poured out into my words and helped me feel like I was giving a competent prayer.

I'm so grateful that I was able to have that experience, even though I was so worried at the beginning. Our Heavenly Father and our Savior know exactly what we need, even if we don't want that to be our answer. But even then, they aren't going to just drop you and let you run with it--they'll be with you every step of the way.

~Kylie

September 1st

Every gosh darn year.

~Kylie