I've often heard that a good guideline as to what you should wear is whether or not you'd be comfortable standing in front of the Savior in such a manner.
But imagine yourself next to the Savior right now. Imagine yourself standing in front of the Lord of all men, your Redeemer, who loves you with a love unfathomably deep. And imagine being preoccupied by what you're wearing.

Loss

On March 27th, Easter Sunday, a dear family member passed away. He left behind so many people who love him, including a wife and young children. I have lost family members before, but I was either so young or so distant from the situation that although it hurt, it did not seem devastating. As a young girl, I remember thinking I would never stop crying over my grandfather's passing, that I would live my life dedicated to his memory as everybody else slowly forgot and returned to normal life.
I do not think this now, obviously.
My cousin is a distant family member that I never had the opportunity to know well, but I was still able to realize the impact of this. I was able to realize what death means to those left behind. To my father, who lost his best friend. To his wife and his children, left alone. To his sisters, his cousins, his aunts, his father, his friends.
Nobody can say that it's fair for this man to pass.
But ultimately, it's not up to us to decide who stays and who goes.
I'm not going to write a bunch of comforting statements. When I see things like "Heaven needed another angel" my first instinct is to call it out as crap.These may be legitimate statements and I do think provide some comfort to some people, but I don't want to trivialize what death means to those of us left desolate behind.
Instead, I am suggesting that we learn to make loss a powerful spiritual experience. Whatever spiritual means to you. To me this experience has meant learning to surrender my own will to the almighty. It means learning that sometimes things happen that are unjust and unfair in our lenses but perfect in an eternal lens.

If any of you wish to help his family, please comment or email me at megiris@aol.com, or donate here: https://www.gofundme.com/3hf8jud8  They would appreciate support during this time. <3

CDC Guidelines on Alcohol

http://greatist.com/live/cdc-drinking-guidelines-women?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=daily_newsletter_2016-02-15_mails_daily_new_header

I just read the above article. If you read it before proceeding, you know that the main premise is that it's ridiculous to guide sexually active women not on birth control towards avoiding alcohol because I'm a woman and I do more than carry babies so I should be able to take intoxicating substances without guilt if I want to gosh darn it.
As you may be able to tell, I disagree.
Choices have consequences.
You have the ability to choose your consequences.
And if you're choosing to participate in something that is meant for the purpose of creating children, it is your responsibility not to endanger the potential children you could create.
You are more than just one possible role, yes. But just because you are more doesn't mean that this one potentiality doesn't exist. You are a person. You have interests. You may have work. You have feelings and emotions and individuality and personality. Maybe you feel like alcohol is important to you, I don't know. But the complexity of your humanity does not invalidate that when you become pregnant you are charged with the almost sacred responsibility of growing another human being who matters just as much as you do. Your choices could lead to a healthy human or one born with disabilities that make life completely unfair.
Don't be selfish. Don't prioritize something like alcohol over something like a human being. If you are mature enough to have sex you are mature enough to abstain from life choices that endanger your future child. You are mature enough to take birth control in order to prevent the growth of a child.
Never forget your humanity. But never forget the humanity of others either.

2015 Review

The year has come to a close and now 2016 is finally upon us.

On the 31st of January my family finished adopting Madeleine. Obviously, this was the biggest part of the year. I love her so much and am so glad to finally have a little sister to love forever. Isn't she perfect?




My big brother served a mission from April to July. So proud of him for giving his time to serve the Lord and help bring the people of Ireland to Christ. That helped strengthen my testimony in so, so many ways. The pain of having him gone made me question whether or not that sacrifice was really worth it, and this questioning led to a firm answer: yes. The gospel is true, guys. Believe it.

 



2015 saw me start a romantic relationship with somebody. That has taught me a lot and brought me so much joy, as well as stretching me as a person. Not going to write any more about that because it's pretty private, sorry.


I got a job! I teach classes for 8-12 year-olds now as well as private piano lessons. Teaching truly is what I want to do with my life. Helping people develop a love of learning is the most rewarding thing I have done so far. Is it challenging? You bet. But so worth it.


I've developed as a leader, as well. As the YW president in my ward I have had to step and actually participate and actively try to help all of my girls. This involves showing up to random church activities that I would much rather skip, but still worth it. I've developed friendships and made some changes in how I approach relationships.

I've failed classes in school, but I have also started to truly love learning like never before. I look at the world in a more mature way. I see my weaknesses, and know how to start fixing them. I can hold myself accountable. This last year of schooling has definitely been the best yet. And this next semester will be better. Because I will be better.

Last year I messed up in a lot of ways, but I lived. Ultimately, that's all I can ask for. I experienced a vast range of emotions and developed a greater capacity for loving and thinking. I became more mature, while learning to have fun and laugh at myself. 2016 will only be better.

Loving

Being in love is magic. It's breath-taking, awe-inspiring, higher than anything anybody could ever imagine previously to falling for this one person. Love songs and fairy tales seem over-exaggerated and foolish until you too fall into the giddiness that is romance. And then they seem, if anything, pale in comparison to the vibrancy of the life you live daily. Nothing is impossible with your darling by your side.

The thing is, what happens to your relationship when these feelings subside into the more mellow warmth of sustained relationships? What happens when you look at your heart's desire and see, of all things, a real person? What about when fairy tale happily ever afters are all too simple and life is more complex than that, and you have to, shockingly, actually work through problems?
I haven't got there yet.
So I can't really give you expert advice, sorry.

I do, however, know one thing. If you care enough about something you will make it work. It doesn't matter if loving seems hard. It doesn't matter if you are tired, if you can't find motivation, if you feel like maybe you merely deluded yourself into believing in love when in reality all you experienced was a hormonal reaction. You work on that relationship no matter what.

If something is worth having it is worth working for.


I look forward to the day when I'm older and long-married and can look over at my husband and know that I consciously chose him. It wasn't a passing whim of Eros. It was my conscious decision to love that man with all that I am, not merely with my heart.
I sincerely hope that you who have already committed your lives to somebody have truly thrown yourself all in, not holding back anything. And those of you who, like me, haven't taken that step in your lives yet, prepare. Prepare to give your life to your husband, or to your wife. I will.

We Are All Boxers

Although the lower classes of society are indispensable, leaders don’t really care about each worker as an individual. On the Animal Farm, Napoleon used Boxer and other animals because they supported his power. However, for a dreamer like Napoleon to love a follower such as Boxer is impossible. As a tool he is valuable; as an animal he is nothing. Boxer grew feeble, and Napoleon sold him to the knacker. Boxer devoted his entire life to working harder and supporting Comrade Napoleon. He was a model citizen, rewarded by murder. Boxer’s work earned no respect. The worker cannot work; what use, then, is he, but to profit by his death? Here we see Orwell’s analysis of political condition. The upper and lower classes have a permanent disconnect, which always works against the lower class. Sometimes leaders will, like Napoleon at Boxer’s memorial, give grandiloquent speeches in praise of the proletariat, but nothing they do will be valuable on a personal level. To these gods among men, the world is an overgrown factory composed of replaceable pieces that must be updated to work smoothly. As an individual, I feel that I am important, that I mean something, that I am more. But there is something within myself as I read Animal Farm which whispers that in reality, I am ‘less equal’. Boxer’s death is undeniably painful; but is it painful because the innocent Boxer was killed unjustly or is it painful because of our own expendability?

Syrian Refugees, Terrorism and America

Terrorism.
Terrorists, ISIS, death, violence, panic, fear.
Terrorism is rampant. The world is just waiting for the attacks which inevitably will come. The world is mind-numbingly afraid, and I understand why. Awful things have happened, and will continue to happen. These things may, perhaps, even progress in brutality and horror.
But we must not allow ourselves to be governed by fear in the face of evil.
Being afraid is reasonable; being controlled by fear is not.
You know why terrorists are called terrorists? Because they try to use terror to further their own goals. If we allow ourselves to be so deeply affected by this we simply allow ourselves to fall right into the plans of those who are declared enemies and who wish to cause us harm.
We must overcome this, and consult logic and our own highest values rather than the fear that is in our hearts.

One problem that is very prominent in relation to recent terrorist attacks is the effect they might have on America's policy in regards to Syrian refugees. Many say that we need to take in these "huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore.... the homeless, tempest-tost". After all, isn't that what we as a nation have chosen to live by? This is the ideal represented in the monument that we choose to look towards as symbol of what America stands for. I personally subscribe to this view and will do all I can to help those in need.

Others say that it is too much of a risk to take in refugees, because in all likelihood some of these will be terrorists sneaking in to destroy us. They say that we should not care for those outside of our borders when those inside are suffering. I can see this point, as well.

To quote Chris Jones, a teacher who I admire very much,  

"It is not necessarily incompatible with Christianity to want to keep your family safe.

It is not necessarily brain-dead to extend yourself to help other people, even if there is a real chance some of those people will hurt you for it.The other side is not composed entirely of hypocrites and the criminally insane.

Light is eternal, feed it. All dark will fade, don't give in to it."

Whatever we do, we must not do out of fear. We must consult our courage. We must ask reason. We must live according to the ideals which we proclaim to hold in times of peace.
Make your own decision. But make it for the right reasons. Do not give evil the power which it demands.