I belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints

I am grateful for the weekend we just had.

I loved having Braeden and Emma home.  It felt like a holiday.  I enjoyed laughing with them and hearing all three children talking downstairs after I had gone to bed.  When every bed is full around here it feels like all is right with the world.

I loved listening to the Women's Broadcast with Emma.  The older she gets, the more I just love being around that girl.  She is funny and clever and kind and strong.  The boys left to go take care of the emissions tests for the cars (which felt like a huge gift--I love not doing stuff like that) and Emma and I made face masks out of coffee grounds and coconut oil.  (It's a long story.)  We laughed a lot and the face masks weren't really successful.  After we cleaned up that mess, it was time for our conference session.  We huddled over a puzzle and then under a shared quilt and watched the meeting.  I felt grateful to be a woman and grateful to have a daughter and grateful for the good women who I am descended from.

I know there are women treated poorly in the world and women who feel like they are given a raw deal in life because they are women.  I think the combination of righteous men and strong confident women in my life have largely left me impervious to those feelings.  Any time I have felt mistreated, I feel the matriarchal power I inherited rising up inside of me and I speak out for truth and fairness.

That's a tangent and nothing to do with the meeting, but when I feel gratitude for being a woman, a big part of that is the chain I'm part of from grandmothers to mom to me to Emma.

After the meeting we went out for pizza.  It wasn't that great but we did have a good conversation and we had a good coupon.  Emma said, "It was good for $7 pizza."  It's hard to argue with that.

Of course the highlight of the weekend was hearing the speakers of General Conference.  I felt inspired and buoyed and like I want to do better.

Awhile ago, I heard someone say that an activity that gives your soul rest makes you feel more like yourself.  That is how I feel about General Conference.  It reminds me of who I am and what matters most to me.

I welcome the invitations extended and have already started on my Book of Mormon reading schedule to finish by the end of the year.  (I asked Emma if she thought my blog counted as social media because I'm taking a break from that.  She said, "No, it's just like a journal that a few people read." I'm going with that.)

As I prepared for conference, I thought I would love to find ways to increase my personal study of the Gospel.  Wow.  Ask and receive.  I am excited for the new curriculum of Gospel study we've been given.

The Church is true, my friends.  Whatever did I do to deserve being born into such goodness?