One Step at a Time

Today had an unexpected turn towards the right direction! When I went on PSC's website to register for graduation in May, I was informed that I had two classes to finish up aside from the one I'm currently enrolled in. My heart sank as I had prepared for this to be my final semester at PSC, and now to have this hurdle in front of me made my mind spin. Yesterday I walked into an adviser (a new one because my old one retired) and she said the same thing, but called the advisor coordinator. He said he would review my information and would meet me the following morning at another campus to go over it all. I woke up early so I would be early for my appointment, and as soon as he saw me he said I have some very good news for you, you won't have to take those classes *sigh of relief* , so I'm just going to go over to administration and make sure we input it into our system. So I sat there for what seemed like forever (25-30 minutes) and he finally comes back and has a huge smile on his face and said "It's your lucky day, not only do you NOT have to take those classes, but you've fulfilled all the requirements, and have GRADUATED, congratulations!!!! I looked at him dumbfounded and said, you mean after this semester, right? He said no, right now, today, You're graduated! I couldn't believe my ears.. What!?!, I don't understand, I don't know what to say was all I could say. He said with a smile on his face, yes, you are finished with your AA!! I was completely shocked and didn't know how to react! How thankful I am to be FINISHED! -At least with my AA, now on to my BS!! I'm more than excited, and what an incredible way to start off my day! I don't think I've ever been so happy and felt so accomplished any day of my life so far! :) Heavenly Father has blessed my life so richly, and so over-abundantly! My debt to him just gets bigger and bigger!

=D Life is so very GOOD!!!

The Prime of Our Youth!

As of last Sunday my brother, Rusty got called to serve as the Young Mens president of our ward. I would have been excited for him anyways, but I'm even more excited because I'm the Young Womens president, and that means that I will get to work right along side my brother! :) I was called as the YW president in August of last year. My mouth hit the floor and I couldn't believe that I was being called because I had never heard of a single sister being called as the president. Once I understood what he was saying, I felt mounds of inadequacies surround me. I then knew that I had to rely on the Lord that obviously he was aware of something I wasn't.

It's now been 6 months since I've received this calling and I can't believe how much it has changed my life. I've never felt so humbled, so called out about my own weaknesses (due to assessing myself), so helped and brought to the level I need to be in my entire life. I never thought I could love someone the way heavenly father loves someone. To see, act and feel personally his love for each of these girls. I'm in love with my calling, I'm in love with these girls and all the things they bring into my life. I couldn't imagine myself without the growth that these girls and my fellow counselors have afforded me. I have so much fun it hardly feels like a calling. This past Wednesday we did Just Dance 2 on the nintendo Wii, which the youth had an absolute blast, and the attendance was up more than it has been in a long time. I'm just over-whelmed by the fact and knowledge of how much Heavenly Father cares for these youth and allows me to see and feel of his love for them. I feel so unworthy to be in this calling, and yet I'm so very thankful that for some reason I'm being allowed to witness all of these fantastic events. I'm so grateful my heavenly father loves me enough to show me so many of life's lessons! :)

How blessed we all are!

Time for 2011!

I think of the movie Ghost when I hear that song about time. "Time goes by so slowly, and time can do so much." With another year passing it seems like there is no stopping the clock. I kind of feel some panic that I might not accomplish all I need to. The minutes slip into hours and the hours fast forward into days which leads to weeks and then to months which speed into years. How precious our time on earth is. I look at all the people around me and I can't help but think of the things they have done with their time. Some have done adequate amount of things, some have not been so ambitious. I sincerely hope I'll be able to sufficiently use my time to allow opportunities to open for me. To press forward and allow myself to grow and learn all that I need to. To be in situations that allow me to learn new material.
The past several months I've observed people of all stages of life and have checked their mentality. Things that are important to them, the things that they don't care about any longer, the things that make them happy, sad, lonely, accomplished, defeated, etc. In observing them and how they might feel in situations, I've come to see how fast the cycle of life is. It seems like yesterday I was a shy timid little girl, and yet years have gone on and I'm an adult of my very own. My siblings have families of their own, my young parents are now grandparents, my grandparents are now older, and some have passed on. Time is so valuable! I see the loneliness they battle when I visit, and my heart hurts every time I leave them because I don't like them feeling that way. My parents house that was once the cause of much chaos and noise is now very quiet without the rest of us.
I think we all take for granted the time we've been given and don't use it sufficiently. We all think we will always have the time to do as we want, and that not today, but tomorrow I'll do it. Well what if tomorrow is too late? I just feel like for me, I need to manage my time more efficiently. Expand my mind on a greater scale, love on new levels, and have great adventures exploring the fun facts of life! I think that is the greatest resolution I have for myself this year.
Hope you all had a great 2010 and an even GREATER 2011!!! Cheers to a new year of learning and growing into who we need to be!

Ps. Another aunt moment... After the flu has violently been spread around my sister's home, my 5 year old niece says "Lydia, I think my belly is mad at me" hahaha She is too dang cute!

I LOVE to see the temple!

On October 30, 2010 in the Orlando Temple, I received my endowment. The day couldn't have been any prettier! The skies were dreamy, and the sun was smiling down. It was a beautiful experience that my parents flew in from out of town for. Many people that I love and care for made great strides to be there with me on my special day.

Over the past several transfers we have gotten really close with the missionaries serving in our ward. They thought it was a far fetch to ask the mission president for the opportunity to come with me, but they asked anyhow, and were granted permission. :) It was weird afterwards hugging everyone else, and following up with a handshake from them haha.

Many others made great efforts and sacrifices to be there. Emily took half the day off work so she could be WAITING on me when I got out. She cut my hair before I went in for my session, and it was a great experience being with her before I went in. I love her dearly, and am so thankful she is apart of my life. Once I got to the temple, mom and I met up with my dad and the missionaries. Dad had just finished his canoe race, so he wasn't there a minute too soon. Once inside the foyer there, I handed mom and dad stacks of family history names to take with them through my session. I wanted as many of my family members to experience what I was at the same time. I went on to the next foyer and was waiting for some paper work to finish, and low and behold coming out of a session was Mike Latu and Boots there to surprise me!! My jaw dropped because Mike had told me he had to work. Little jerk! James, one of my best friends was in town making wedding arrangements, missed my session by 5 minutes, but he was inside the Celestial room when I finished. That was almost better in my opinion. It had been months since I had seen him so it was a pretty joyous reunion accompanied by his parents. It was nice for my parents to finally be able to meet all these people that have been such an important part of my life here in Florida. My high councilman, that I worked next to when I had my Stake YSA calling came, along with his lovely wife. Some of the sisters that I most admire in my ward came, childhood friends drove 3 hours and purchased a hotel room just to be there. I felt so blessed, and so loved. They all truly made my day so bright and special. There were a couple of others that had every intention on being there, but opportunity wouldn't allow. I still felt their presence in spite. My family made it so special most of all. My sister and all her children, and my brother Rusty and his family came. When I came outside and saw them I almost got emotional. It meant so much to me to have them be there with me even if they couldn't come inside.

As mentioned earlier in the post, I had family names to take through. When I was in Young Women, one of my projects was to do family history. I at a young age was inspired and led to do family history by family members from beyond the veil. One in particular, was my great-great-grandmother, whom I've never met in this life. I have a real connection with her even though I've never met her. Since I did her baptism in 2003, I've always dreamed of the day for me to take her name through to get her endowments. When I learned I was getting my endowment taken out, I was excited that I could finally take her name through. I had already planned on going to back to the temple the first day possible to take her name through. I kept having experiences that made me understand her anxiousness. I kept thinking okay, let's not get crazy, I'm doing it as soon as I can.. This same experience happened to me 3 times in a 4 day period, and finally the last time it happened, I knew what she wanted. She wanted to experience it WITH ME. As soon as I thought that exact thought chills flooded my body, and I knew that's what she wanted. I waited for mom to get back from the store, and I called her into my room. I explained to her that someone else wanted her to be their escort on Saturday. That Emily wanted to go through, and I wanted her to do it because I couldn't. Mom sobbed because she knew how much that meant to me. The funny thing is, I wasn't hurt, I knew that's what she wanted, and how magnificent it would be to go through it together for the first time. I felt her in the temple with me, and I knew that she was as excited as I was to be going through the temple for the first time. How grateful I am for my great-great grandmother that has changed my life even though I've never met her.

What an awesome experience it was on October 30th! I was surrounded by many people that I love and cherish. Tasting a little bit of heaven on earth. People were still coming to lunch with us so they could be in on the celebration of the day. I'm so grateful for all those trials that I thought were ripping me to pieces at the time, but in looking back I realize that the Lord wasn't ripping me to pieces, he was building me, piece by piece on my way to become who he needs me to be.

Oh The Places You'll Go, The People You'll Meet!

September has been filled with travels yet again. Labor day weekend, I had the pleasure of going to Nauvoo with my original ward family. Accompanied by my oldest niece, Cortney. What a wonderful, spiritual, outstanding trip that was! We all stayed in the Nauvoo House, where Emma Smith died and lifted her hands to say, "Joseph, Joseph". There is no doubt in my mind he was there to receive her and take her home. God bless that woman who suffered, and sacrificed so much for the gospels sake. She was 4 months pregnant when Joseph and Hyrum died at Carthage Jail. I can't imagine what kind of courage it took to keep living on, and have hope for the baby that was soon arriving. Cortney and I flew directly into Indy, and my parents picked us up, and we drove straight to Nauvoo from there (another 5-6 hours). We were exhausted by the time we got there. It was so nice to be among my ward family from Indiana again. I love those guys so much!

Then, the following weekend, my sister and I went to Oklahoma City for the Oklahoma vs. Florida State game. We witnessed first hand that massacre! It was still a fun weekend. We have a friend that grew up in Oklahoma just 20 min from where the game took place. We stayed with her parents, and enjoyed catching back up with them. Oklahoma is a beautiful place in my opinion. We didn't get to spend a whole lot of time outside the game, but it was a fun time enjoyed with great friends! I also was introduced to Hideaway Pizza (PHENOMENAL PIZZA!!). If you ever get the chance, go there! Regardless of the score, it's always a fun time when Seminoles are around! I'll support them if they win or lose! GO NOLES!!!

Then the following weekend, I was off to my Cousin, Tara's wedding in Indiana! It was a very beautiful occasion, which the bride and many others slaved away many hours getting every detail together. She looked flawless! She had an amazing dress, and just radiated beauty and grace! After we survived the 1 1/2 ceremony in the Catholic church, I wanted to break dance on the way back down the aisle. I was excited to share in that special day with her, and be a bridesmaid. Minutes before lining up we discovered the bride left her shoes at the reception hall, because she was up there late in the night trying to make everything perfect for her wedding. Someone quickly ran over there, and as we were all lining up, she slipped on her shoes. (Nobody noticed the behind the scenes work). We were off on a hay ride following the ceremony. Thankfully, I was able to pop off my 4 inch heels before making the climb up. (FYI, wearing heels when you are already 5'10" makes you look like Jolly Green Giant!) It was fun seeing all my family, and being able to interact with some that I hadn't seen in a while. As usual, many thought I was drunk. I guess they don't know that I am this crazy on a day-to-day basis. Other than peeing freely in the parking lot, I guess I fit in with the ways of the drunks haha... (I'm not sure that's a good thing). I loaded the plane with an hour of sleep, and grabbed my car and headed to church. I was able to completely change while driving. I was impressed with myself. I got to church and had only missed the opening song... POINTS!!! However, I was pretty useless. I felt to out of touch with reality.

Now this weekend, I am happy to report, we will be celebrating the engagement of my brother, Craig!! We are so HAPPY and EXCITED for him! He has waited a long time, and we couldn't be more thrilled for he and Hannah! I'm excited for the adventures that Hannah and I will accomplish together. She has a great zest and zeal for life that I can appreciate. She is a wonderful girl, and I'm elated to have her as apart of our family in the near future!! CONGRATS CRAIG & HANNAH!!! WE LOVE YOU!!

Out of the Mouth of my nieces!!

Kayla and Grace were playing around with our new set of Cutco food scissors, which are VERY sharp!! Kayla ended up cutting Grace's finger on accident. Kayla just sobbed because she had hurt her sister. The next day I was talking to Grace about the importance of keeping her finger clean and we needed to be sure to keep a fresh bandage on it so it wouldn't get infected. Grace said "Can my finger fall off!?!?!" I said well, its unlikely, but if you don't take care of it, and it gets infected, yes it could fall off.. She responds "Well, then I'm keeping my bandaid on until Jesus comes, so when I meet him he can heal my finger." How freaking cute!! hahaha

Another Cute Story--

To preface this my mom's little Chihuahua died about a month ago and she was a little demond dog to everyone. If you looked at her cross eyed she would attack you. While Lori and I were in Europe, the girls were with my parents in Indiana. They got to be there when Hailey (the dog) died.

So today I took the girls for lunch after school. Grace is in my backseat with a very contemplative stare, and finally erupts with "Lydia, do you remember Hailey, Nana's dog that died?" Yeah Grace I know. She then laughs and says "Its funny to think of her as an angel." hahaha Then Kayla chips in "Yeah, she probably bit Jesus when she met him." hahahaha These kids are such comic relief!! I love them to BITS!!

What a Summer!!

Parthenon with my sister!!

This Water was ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL in Greece!!!!
The State Farm Crew!
Budapest, Hungary
My sister and I in Prague!
Florida Gator fan all the way in Prague!!
This was taken in Salzburg

We did the Sound of Music Tour, which was filmed in Salzburg!
This is us in Vienna, wearing our uniform! haha
This guy at this restaurant came out singing "like a good neighbor, state farm is there" :)

As sad as it seems, summer is quickly approaching a close. :/

I've traveled to many beautiful places this summer, and enjoyed all the beauty of the earth that surrounds me. I've established an even greater appreciation for my freedoms I enjoy as an American.

My Aunt Joann passed just a few days after my last post. (mid June) In the middle of dress rehearsals for dance recital, we took an emergency trip home (Indiana) to attend the funeral. I'm so glad that she is in peace, and finally resting (something she didn't get to experience much in this life).

4th of July weekend my friend, Crystal and I flew to Baltimore/DC area to visit our friend Kellie. I was also very excited that my friend, Alana drove down from New Jersey to spend the weekend with us. Both Kellie and Alana used to live in Orlando. It was such a BLAST to be with them! We got to see many sites, plunge into rivers and watch the explosion of fireworks while we were seated at the Lincoln Memorial in DC followed by a quick escape to the DC metro.

I was home for 5 days, and then we headed out to my cousin Abby's wedding in Georgia. It was fun to be at the hotel with all my family. We got to have lots of fun memories together. The beach was disgusting! There were "sea roaches" EVERYWHERE!! The water was brown and so was the sand. I prefer the nastiest Florida beach over that beach any day. After a fun-filled weekend with all the family we headed to Indiana. I drove mom and dad's rental car with grandma accompanying us home. I've never had so much fun traveling with family. We would stop for about 45 min at each gas station just to chat and laugh about things. I usually wouldn't enjoy that kind of thing, but it was a BLAST. We finally arrived back at my parents at 4:30am. After having rested until 11am I got showered up and headed to North western Ohio to meet up with my best friend, James and his then girlfriend (now fiancee). I got there late that evening, and then we headed to Cedar Point the very next morning. AMAZING!!! We rode like 13 different roller coasters, and I still didn't get to them all. I rode the dragster it goes -0-165 in 4 seconds and takes you straight up and straight down. My brand new camera fell out of my pocket and amazingly was waiting for me at my feet when I unhooked my seatbelt. I'm convinced in some divine intervention there! I was beyond tired after that day. We went back to Ashley's house and had some pizza and crashed. I woke up at 5am to head back to Indiana to catch my flight back to Florida.

After being back in Florida for 3 days I boarded a plane to head to Philly to catch my plane over to Munich, Germany and then a final destination in Vienna, Austria. Due to weather in Philly, our plane in Orlando was delayed almost 3 hrs. Once we got to Philly our plane to Munich was loading so I ran from terminal D to Terminal A (Philly airport takes about 15 min to get from each terminal). I had a backpack on and was wheeling my carry-on behind me RUNNING like I was about to loose my legs ONLY TO FIND OUT our plane left us! We had another hour and a half until our next flight, which wasn't bad. We were able to exchange currency with no fee, eat and mentally prepare for our international flight. We were rerouted to Frankfurt, Germany, which was a NIGHTMARE! We had no boarding passes, we didn't speak the language, and on top of all that we had to switch airlines. Finally, I found someone to speak English and we were able to get "in the system"... It was a breath of fresh air when we finally got to our gate and found some of our State Farm buddies. We get over to Vienna and lo and behold my sister and I have NO LUGGAGE haha... It was funny for the first few hours and then after 3 days it wasn't so funny. Thankfully I had packed a few extra under clothes in my carry on. My sister wasn't as lucky. When we would call the airlines, they would reply we needed to be patient, this was a busy time of year. Easy for them to say. As soon as we got our luggage we had to be downstairs and ready to go to the Vienna Alps in 20 min and in that 20 min I was showered and had fresh clothes on, hair dried and make-up on ... I was SOOO THANKFUL to have clean clothes!!! Every night before I went to bed I thanked the Lord for allowing me to have the opportunity to travel to so many lands. In spite of all the crazy things that happened, I had an absolute blast. Even with no luggage, we didn't miss a beat. I made Lori set the Alarm for 6am and we generally wouldn't get back to the room until 2am. It was SO MUCH FUN!! :) I loved hanging out with all the State Farm people. Everyone was laughing at how much energy we had to go and see everything. While in Vienna, we traveled to Salzburg, Prague, Melk, and Budapest and the Vienna Alps. it was AMAZING!!

We then extended our stay outside of the State Farm family, and headed to Greece!! ASTONISHINGLY BEAUTIFUL!!! It's everything everyone talks about! Athens was kinda dirty, well really dirty actually. My sister was FREAKED!! :) She has some of my Momma's blood in her. The morning we left Vienna we got up early again, and booked it across town on foot to the Belvedere to take some final pictures. We rushed back, picked up our suitcases and left for the airport. As soon as we were seated on the plane, my sister and I were passed out. We were delayed in taking off, and had to sit there for 45 min. I felt none of that. The only thing I felt was the drool slipping out onto my chest hahahaha... I was OUT!!! We grabbed a taxi to take us to our hotel, which was an amazing experience. My sister and I packed a suitcase a piece, and a carry on a piece. The trunks in Greece our VERY SMALL, so they strapped bunjee cords in place to hold the trunk down. After our baggage getting lost, my sister was a little leery about our suitcases taking a dive on the freeway in Athens. Our macho man cab driver assured my sister, all would be well. As soon as we got on interstate I quickly noticed that was how they rolled in Greece... Lots of bungee corded trunks. :) Once we arrived at the hotel, I thought I was going to have to wheel my sister in. She was about to have a meltdown because the atmosphere that surrounded the hotel. In America, if we had been in the same situation you would have found drug dealers and guns shooting off in such surroundings. However, it was a pretty safe neighborhood for Greece. Since we had run our legs off so much that week, we decided to take the rest of that day to rest, and also let my sister get brave enough to tackle Athens in the morning. Once we got to the top of our hotel, she could see it wasn't all bad, and was comforted a little. The next morning I remarked that we needed a game plan if we got separated, we would know where to meet back up. She quickly interjected, that she would be on me like white on rice and that wouldn't happen HAHAHAHAHAHA!!! It's funny because when I look at the pictures from the first day in Athens, my sister is in the corner of all of them, because she truly was on me like white on rice. :) We had a GRAND TIME checking out the Acropolis!! FYI, if you go, take water with you! They sell it NO WHERE on the Acropolis.. I had to sit down and regroup because I was so dehydrated. Once down from the acropolis, I found someone that sold a 1.5 litter of water, and I had it finished in 10 min. I knew how dehydrated I was when I didn't go to the bathroom for 4 hours after I drank 1.5 litters. The following day we took a day cruise to 3 of the Greek Isles... BEST THING EVER!!! We got some great sun, and some FANTASTIC VIEWS!! I would love to take 3 weeks just to explore the Greek Isles! Should definitely be on EVERYONES bucket list. I got to take a dip in the Mediterranean Sea (If not the Med, one that empties into it) That was on my personal bucket list.

After 4 days in Greece, my sister and I returned home. I had been awake 26 hours when I finally went to bed. The first night home I got up to use the bathroom in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom, and totally forgot I was home. I thought someone was trying to be nice and give me a bed to sleep in after falling asleep on a bus (which I frequently did). I began yelling for my sister, and the only thing that kept going through my mind was that my cell phone couldn't work in Europe, and how was I going to find my sister!?!?! HAHAHAHA!!! As soon as my feet touched my cork floor in my bedroom I was like "I'm home, you're in your room you idiot" hahaha That's when you know you've been gone awhile. That was THE BEST sister vacation probably EVER!! We shared very special bonding times, and funny memories that will last a lifetime. For selfish reasons, I'm so glad she isn't married, so I can go on these trips! :)

Here are a few pictures! I have many more on Facebook :)