19 and Counting!!

 

 

 

Typical 24 Month Cycle

 

1-3 Months-- DIFFICULT!!! For both you and your missionary, remember to support him and let him know how proud of him you are...

4-6 Months-- Time gets ticking, you feel amazing once you hit the 6 month mark

6-9 Months-- Goes by pretty fast. Remember to stay close with your missionary, pray for him and write letters that are supportive and friendly!! He will need reassurance-- so will you!

9-12 Months-- It all slow down... But once you hit a year you feel like it's a piece of cake, until you realize you still have one more!

12-15 Months-- SLOW!!! That's all I have to say...

15-20 Months-- Flies by, you're motivated to stick to it..

20-24 Months-- Goes slower than ever, but you know you've made it and nothing can get in your way. :)

 

What you see above is what is known as a missionary girlfriend's Typical 24 Month Cycle, and as a missionary girlfriend myself, I can tell you that this is SO accurate! I am currently in the 19th month and it is unreal how the time is passing. I have started to get either an email or a letter almost once a week now. It surprises me every time because for months I had to wait a while between each letter. It's wonderful to hear from him much more often. I went to a Relief Society activity this Tuesday and it was putting together sunshine boxes for the missionaries (Of course I was there!!). It was so nice to help put together these boxes and I was surprised how many people were supportive of me and Matthew. That definitely made me happy. I felt close to my missionary while taking part in the activity. It was great!!

 

This week I read the talk by President Dieter F. Uchtdorf, titled, "Forget Me Not". I had heard several people talk about it or make reference to it, but had never read it for myself. If you have not read it, you definitely should! Here it is! It's all about taking the time to notice the little things in life, which is something I know I can use often. I think I've been getting caught up in the busyness of my life that I often overlook all the many blessings that Heavenly Father is placing in my life.

 

 



 

 

This is the day which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it. ~Psalm 118:24

Have a wonderful day! P.S. I LOVE my missionary!! <3

 

 

6 months left!! Where has the time gone?

When it comes to blogging, I guess you could say I am definitely not the best at keeping up with it. :) Even if I have short posts, I should just blog more often, right?

Matthew and I have made to the 18 month marker!! What a journey it's been so far. Overall the time has flown. Recently, I have been experiencing some rough patches with the wait, but I do believe Heavenly Father has helped me get past that and I am now recovering nicely. Matthew is still in Blackfoot. It is his longest area so far, and he absolutely loves it there (besides all the snow, that is).  Exciting news!! He is District Leader!! I am so proud of him. He is being blessed for his hard work. :) I feel blessed to being waiting for and supporting such an amazing man. I truly love him with all my heart. <3

I am now a Junior!!!!!! I am halfway through college, and it feels great! I had a goal of being a Junior by Matthew's 18th month and I was able to stay on schedule and finish up my Sophomore year in time. I cannot imagine doing college any other way. Being able to finish up in 2 weeks time what would normally be a 16 week, 1 semester class is so satisfactory! I wouldn't do it any other way. Maybe if I plan everything out just right and work even harder, I will be a Senior by the time my missionary comes home. ;)

Besides studying for tests, and working at Chick-fil-A, I am doing my best to love life. It can be difficult at times when you feel that your life is being spent doing two things- school and work- but I know that they are both important. I just get a little frustrated with myself when I do have free time and I don't do anything productive with it! EEErrrr! I'm still working on that...

Here is my latest finding in music! :)

Agnetha Faltskog (ABBA)-- I Won't Let You Go

George Harrison? I think YES!!

Okay, so I have a new founded love for The Beatles and their music. My favorite is George Harrison, so I looked through some of the songs he's made on his own, and these are my favorites! Hey! Sometimes you've got to just dedicate a blog post completely to music! :)

Got My Mind Set On You

Cheer Down

What Is Life

Beautiful Girl

Happy Listening!!

I love Sundays!

Sunday Favorites:

Going to church--playing piano for primary

Writing a letter to my wonderful missionary, Elder Matthew Parks

Going for a walk in the woods when the weather permits it

Taking a bunch of pictures

Listening to hymns

Planning out my week

Writing in my journal

Watching home videos

Reading blogs

Watching classic movies (The Sound of Music, Anne of Green Gables, Singin' in the Rain, Belles on their Toes, etc. Yes I have quite of collection of the old classics.)

Today I wrote a letter to Matthew-- part of it during Sharing Time in primary, and the other part while I was sitting on our unfinished deck, enjoying the beautiful weather. Writing letters outside is one of the greatest feelings. I could feel the spirit while I was writing, and being out in nature seemed to clear my mind from other unimportant things and allowed me to write what I felt was a uplifting, encouraging, and happy letter. The ideas of what to write about just kept flowing and it was amazing! I definitely recommend writing a letter outside next time, or just doing anything outside that you would normally do sitting in your house. It really makes a huge difference-- or at least it does to me.

I also went for a walk around our house, or in other words-- the woods, since that's what surrounds our house. We also have a creek that I took some pictures of as well.

This might not really go with the whole theme of Sunday, but I need to tell you what I got in the mail yesterday!! On my way out to go to work, I stopped at the mailbox and inside there was a pink bubble mailer address to me, from my Elder Parks. (Now comes the super happy feeling I felt inside), I got back in my car and took pictures of it, but I decided not to open it until I got home from work. Well, that wasn't the easiest thing since I worked a 7 hour shift, but I made it through, and when I got home and opened it, this is what was inside: a lovely letter, a huge Pokemon card, and a rear view mirror decoration that he had talked about making me for Christmas but didn't get it finished in time, so I guess he just saved it for V-day. On one side it has a picture of the SLC temple, and the other side has him with a scripture written underneath from Genesis 29:20--"And Jacob served seven years for Rachel; and they seemed unto him but a few days, for the love he had to her". It was absolutely perfect!

Ta-da! It's in my car now. 

Time to go to church-- I had to pose for a picture first. :)

I love Sunday outside time!

All comfy to write a letter to my favorite missionary. <3

"You don't take a photograph, you make it."

"I always make it a point to carry a camera with me at all times...I just shoot at what interests me at that moment"

Elliott Erwitt

New dress= take a picture! :)

Starting a new letter on the countdown! Month 16 has been going smoothly. 

Matthew will be getting this letter next week-- simple, but effective!

Gotta love Fridays... day off from work and running errands with two goofy siblings. :p

My awesome brother, my favorite all-star basketball player.

I'm pretty sure we're the all-star team's biggest fans and supporters. :) Go Habersham!!

Not a major difference, but I updated one of the walls in my bedroom with pictures of some of my favorite temples.

Maybe a letter today.....? We'll see.

V-Day: My Day

Yes, I called Valentine's Day, V-Day. As I've said before, it's just so much easier and more fun to say that way!

I noticed that many other Missionary Girlfriends were blogging about their day, which I find kind of ironic since none of us spent time with our sweethearts. But anyway, here is what I spent my day doing. 

This morning I drove down to Gainesville to take yet another test. I was scheduled to take it at 10am, but I guess the lady there thought she had me down for 11am. Since I had to wait about 30 minutes for someone else to finish up so that I could have my turn, I got to eat some of the sweets that were present for the students to have. (That was some good chocolate molten cake and punch!) I took my test in 20 minutes (the time limit is 2 hours), and passed with flying colors! It was probably the easiest test I've taken to this day. 

I called into work 2 hours early because it was really busy. At first I wasn't thrilled about having 2 whole hours taken out of my afternoon to be at work even longer than I had expected, but it turned out to be a good thing, because I got things done that helped me be ahead all night and not have to stress over anything one bit. Not only that, but I was just really happy and positive the entire time I worked and it was great.

When I got home my brother and sisters each had left a Valentine to me somewhere in my bedroom. It surprised me, but it really made my day.

Yep, that is what my day consisted of. I was disappointed at first that I didn't get even a letter from Matthew today, but then I realized I was being silly to feel that way. I know he loves me very much and I don't need some material thing to prove it to me. I feel it in my heart.

Overall, it was a wonderful day!

My Elder Parks

This might be a very short post, but I just could not skip out on the opportunity to tell you how much my missionary, Elder Matthew Parks, means to me.

Today marks 16 months he has been serving in the Idaho Pocatello Mission. Only 8 months left! 

With each and every day that passes, I am more and more convinced that Matthew is the one I am meant to be with. I compare almost every guy I come in contact with to him (sometimes without realizing it) and they just don't even come close. 

He is hilarious, has a good sense of humor, and knows exactly what to say to make me smile and even laugh.

He is respectful, caring, protective of me, and humble.

He is a sweet country boy. 

He is quite handsome.

He loves the Lord and puts his trust in Him.

He writes me letters! (Not just any guy will do that, mind you)

He makes me feel special.

He makes me the happiest girl in the world.

I love him with all my heart. <3