Extraordinary

Yesterday my boss handed me a questionnaire for me to fill out and the first question perplexed me. I skipped it and filled out the easy ones - favorite candy, favorite movie, etc. All throughout the day I kept coming back to the question in my mind, trying to answer it and coming up short.
It was this: "What is your greatest recognition moment?" Basically, "what is your most extraordinary moment?"
I kept thinking to myself, "well, I've never done anything that great. What do I have to be proud of? I've lived in little ol' St. George most my life, got married and settled down, work full time. I never even backpacked across Europe like I always dreamed of."
So I was driving around, zoning, like you do (missed my turn, like I do), and my brain all of a sudden was flooded with extraordinariness! Now, before you start thinking this is quite the vainglorious blog entry, let me express the reason for it. As I started to list my cool accomplishements I realized that I'm posititve everyone has this type of list, you just don't see it! My cool-things list has just become a part of my past, and I don't realize how flippin awesome each thing is! How extraordinary they each are!
So, since you may be thinking "chya right, Jaylyn. You're not even that cool.", here is my evidence:

I jumped out of plane.
I have performed in front of hundreds of people, singing and acting, including a performance in Carnegie Hall!
I hiked Havasupai, and came out alive.
I learned how to drive a motorcycle, and one time I tipped over while I was out cruising and I PICKED.UP.A.MOTORCYCLE. True story.
I have hiked Angel's Landing (this is one of those that did not seem cool to me at all, but how many people worldwide can say this!?)
I witnessed the miracle of birth.
I helped organize and participated in an event to feed hundreds of needy people in our community.
I have loved deeply and had my heart broken.
I repelled from mountains and jumped from 50-foot cliffs in to cold water.
I bought a house.
I left the only home and family I had ever known and moved across the world to a place where I didn't know one person or the language.

I regularly sing at the top of my lungs, dance like a total crazy person, and I love my friends and family fiercely.

I feel like this is just the beginning of a freakin rad list that I will continue to compile throughout my life. I would highly recommend that you 5 people (love ya, by the way) who read my blog do this. It makes you feel like a rock star. I'll end with my favorite quote, which I know I've shared before but I'm pretty sure it can't be over-shared.

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”

You were BORN to be magnificent! And every one of you IS A ROCKSTAR!! The question is: do you see it?!

Lately...

Quick update on what is new with us:
-We are both going back to school, finally having pinned down which degrees we want to pursue. Alex is going for his bachelor's in psychology, and mine will be a computer technology degree with an emphasis in visual technology (basically graphic design).
-The holidays were wonderful - lots of time with family and friends. Alex participated in a Biggest Loser competition at my work so he did not enjoy any holiday food. I was awestruck at his restraint as he sat back and watched while we all gorged, and he happily sipped on his lemon/pepper water. Yuck. But he won the competition by losing 32 pounds. I am so proud! (P.S. who knew he had 30 lbs to lose?! When he told me that was his goal I was pretty sure he would have shrunk to mere bones by losing that much).
-We did get a new puppy. We are both sad and relieved to still think of Norman every day. In no way is Otis the "replacement", just a little brother. Having a brand new puppy is crazy and we find ourselves wanting to punch stuff sometimes, but then he looks up at us with his little teddy bear face and we melt. Until he pees on the floor...again.
-We still are teaching the 12-13 year olds at church, and they are so wonderful. We love being the cool teachers, and really all it takes is Alex making Yoda jokes and bringing treats every week. I wish it was that easy to make everyone in life like you.
-Work is great for both of us. Alex was awarded "Employee of the Month" for January at Rise, and it is no surprise. Everyone loves him at both of his jobs and he continues to excel in his line of work. I love the signage/marketing business and I think I will be in it for quite a while. I am excited to be pursuing a degree that can only help me advance at my current job, but also leave the opportunity to work from home, if possible, in the future.
-The house is slowly coming along, one room at a time. The kitchen is almost completed - the goal was this weekend, but that's not going to happen. It will be 80%, but I'm still excited about it. We'll get it to look how we want... by the time we are ready to buy a new house.
-Life is good, great, grand, and wonderful. We couldn't ask for better people in our lives, better jobs, or happier times together.

Until next time! Which will hopefully not be another 3 months...

Norman D. Theobald

On December 27th, 2011 we said goodbye to our furry bestie, Norman. We only had Norman for a short while, but he had become more a part of our family than I even thought possible. We adopted him from a family where he had obviously been abused and it took him a while to trust us, but that made us love him more. And I do believe it made him love us more when he did learn to trust us. He was the best dog ever. He was fun, snuggly, loyal, well-trained, unbelievably smart, and endearingly neurotic. We were constantly amazed at how intuitive he was and always grateful for his incredible behavior. We couldn't understand how anyone could ever even be angry with him.
Although my heart still aches for him, I am so glad that he got to be with a family who loved him unconditionally. We expressed our love and gratitude for him every day and I'm so glad for that.

We love you, Norman.

I'm Back

Recently I was scolded for not updating my blog, so here you go. I will not try to re-cap the last 3 months because... well, I have a really terrible memory and probably can't even remember most of it.
But pictures are always fun, so these are for you. The company I work for took all the employees AND their families on a cruise a few weeks ago. (Yes, you do work at the wrong place. I have the best job ever.) It was a blast and a fun little mini-vacation for Alex and me. I really am in love with vacations that just sneak up on me and require no planning on my part. And the love-odometer multiplies by a gajillion when it's free. In fact, I think we made money on the trip because I got paid for the week on top of it. (Yes, your bosses are nowhere close to as cool as mine.)

Catalina Island - of course we go to the playground.




Ensenada... the famous "blowhole". Really, it's not all that exciting, but kind of a cool phenomenon to witness (once). We were way more excited about the plateful of delectable tacos.



I am so grateful to work for awesome people who take care of their employees. And I know I said I wouldn't re-cap, but now that I'm writing I'm being flooded with things I'd like to tell you about. So I probably will.

Bathroom is DONE!!

After 11 long months of procrastination and busy-ness at least one room in our house is done! All I can say is that having a deadline makes all the difference. Enjoy!!

BEFORE


AFTER






One of the best parts about this project, aside from the fact that I am in love with it, is that the whole thing cost about $125! WOOT! I wish I could do all the rooms in my house for that much.

Randomies

Today my alarm went off and I didn't feel well. So I decided to treat myself with a day off work. Slept in until 10:30, had some food, and then went.... what do I do now??? I am so unimaginative when it comes to days off. Most of the time I just end up going to work in the afternoon because I get bored. Not today! Sticking it out this time. I have watched an episode of Prison Break, played with my dog, crafted, moseyed around the house and looked for interesting things on the internet. I know you're jealous.

I am Mtn Dew sober for almost two whole days. It feels good, peeps. Yesterday was a killer, but today has been better. Possibly simply because I slept for 12+ hours so didn't need the caffeine. Pray for me tomorrow.

I really need to stop reading feminist slash so-called "blind obedient Mormon" literature. It just really gets my blood boiling. But then I just feel grateful that I don't have those challenges of faith in my life. But mostly my blood boils.

On a related note, I am super bummed the temple is closed this week and next. We've been going often lately and when it is closed I sort of feel a void.

On a completely unrelated note - I hate it when people say "unrelentless". Or cannot possibly spell the word "definitely". Or just don't take the time to use spell check when they are posting something for everyone to see.

We had a delightful evening with Alex's grandma last night which included a 5-course "supper" :) and Indiana Jones.

The End.

More Musings on Faith

I feel like I'm getting closer to understanding what this whole faith thing is all about :) Thank you so much for all your comments, I loved them all! But I CAN'T stop thinking about blind obedience vs faith. It's all I could think of in the temple on Friday, and all I thought about all day in church. And I keep bugging everyone I know to talk to me about it, because, well... I'm a girl and that's how we figure things out!

I think the thing that has been agitating me the most is that I, for the life of me, cannot understand what people view as blind obedience. I keep running circles in my head when I think about it. It goes something like this:

"Ok, so blind obedience means that we just obey, not really knowing why. BUT - I know in my experience that even when I start out obeying a law/principle without having a testimony of it, once I start living it, it's quite impossible for me to avoid gaining a testimony of it. So, it may be blind obedience in the beginning, but it turns into something else.."

OR

"Blind obedience means that we just accept things without questioning them or studying it out. BUT - how does that coincide with having a "child-like" faith? Should people be condemned (or called a B.O.ite) simply because they don't NEED to study things out? 1 Cor 12:8-10 lists "gifts of the spirit" - one of which is faith. I think all of us know at least one person who "just knows" things. Their gift of the spirit is faith. They don't need to study it out, they don't need to figure it out logically to know of a surety that it is true. That's just simple and pure faith, right? Not blind obedience..."

So - does blind obedience even exist?? Because of the simple act of OBEYING, is that not a show of FAITH?

The latest conclusion that I have come to is that blind obedience has simply to do with intention. If you really and truly, down to your core, do something JUST because you are told. You have no intention of receiving a blessing from it, you do not ever take the time to see how it is helping you in your life, you never even give the act a second thought past just doing it. This has been hard for me to think about, because I've never known anyone in my life who acts like this.
However, this cannot be the basis of judgement for being blindly obedient, because no other person on the planet has the ability to know your intentions besides you.

*sigh* I'm feeling pretty good about this conclusion, feeling finally a little peace about understanding at least what people mean by blind obedience (even if I don't agree with the unjust label), and then I pick up page 1 of Lectures on Faith:

"If men were to...turn their thoughts and reflections to the operations of their own minds, they would readily discover that it is FAITH, AND FAITH ONLY, which is the moving cause of ALL action in them."

Whoa.
Tell me what this says to you. Please. Because to me it says that ANYTIME we are EVER moved to action, it is because of faith. Therefore, blind obedience does not exist. (?) Do you interpret it differently? I'd LOVE to hear your thoughts! I am learning so much about this topic, and about myself, and I really appreciate you helping me :)