The Reason for the Season

Lately, I have been reflecting quite a bit on the birth of Jesus Christ, His life and ministry, and the Atonement. I love the Christmas Season. So many lights everywhere, wonderful music, beautiful decorations, the spirit of family and giving, and the celebration of the greatest birth in history.

Simply put, I know that Jesus Christ is my Savior. I know that He lived a mortal life and died for all of us. I know that He was resurrected and that He lives today. I know that He knows and loves me personally. I have felt His endless love countless times throughout my life.

As we are spending time with our families and exchanging gifts I hope that we will all take time to remember the man who gave us the greatest gift of all. And maybe think of a gift we can give back as we start the new year.

I love you all. I hope you all have a Merry Christmas. And I hope you enjoy the following posts about different people and parts of the birth of Christ.

“I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life” (John 8:12).

"A Raisin in the Sun"

Disclaimer: I'm not trying to lecture anyone other than myself in this post. I needed to write it to clarify my thoughts. I did feel the need to post it just in case someone else got anything out of it. It is not meant to make others feel bad or make them feel like they need to do better. I am the one that needs to be better and I hope I can.

‎"Child, when do you think is the time to love somebody the most? When they done good and made things easy for everybody? Well then, you ain’t through learning – because that ain’t the time at all. It’s when he’s at his lowest and can’t believe in hisself ‘cause the world done whipped him so! When you starts measuring somebody, measure him right, child, measure him right. Make sure you done taken into account what hills and valleys he come through before he got to wherever he is." ~Lena Younger, "A Raisin in the Sun" (3.1.113)

"A Raisin in the Sun" by Lorraine Hansberry is one of my favorite plays. I read it my senior of high school for my Diversity in Literature class at Normandale Community College. I have a tendency to like depressing stories and this one goes right in that category. It makes me realize just how lucky I am. I have every avenue opened to me and I don't have to worry about not being able to attain my dreams because of where and when I was born.

Chad and I watched the newer filmed version of the play with Sean 'P. Diddy' Combs and Phylicia Rashad just the other night. I wanted to see how it compared to the one with Sidney Poitier (Sidney Poitier is way better). As we were watching, I was really struck by the quote I wrote above. It's constantly been at the back of my mind since we watched it. And I'm not exactly sure why. My guess is that I need to be better at what it says but I can't really figure out why. Or maybe it's just that I finally found my philosophy in life put into words. For whatever reason it has stuck with me, I'm glad that it has.

With Christmas fast approaching, I can't help but think of the Savior's example when I read this quote. I know that I feel the Savior's love most when I feel the most downtrodden. Why? I'm sure there are many reasons. I think it's mostly so I can feel hope again. Hope that all the hard times will pass and I will see the light once again. Hope so that I can hang on a little longer and make it through. Hope so I don't give up. Why does the Savior not want us to lose hope? Because it is one of only 3 principles (faith, hope and charity) that will help us make it back to Him. His greatest joy will come when we enter His presence once again.

So how does that all apply to us? We all need to exhibit more charity and restore others' lost hope. Easier said than done, I know. When someone has lost all hope, they tend to act selfishly and forget about those around them. I know it's hardest for me to love someone when they are acting like that. What a world it would be if we look beyond a person's behavior to the root of the problem. We can't expect them to act better by punishing them and getting on their case. They need charity, the pure love of Christ, and they need it from more than just our Savior. I'm not saying the Savior's love isn't enough. It is. More than enough. But imagine what it would be like to have that love from others around you. Think about the people in your life. Who can you love more? Who has lost all hope? Give them that love. Give them that hope. I'm sure you and I will be amazed at how it changes ourselves.

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Christmas Update

A lot has been going on since I last posted. Jarek is now almost 3 months! Time sure flies.

Anyways, we finally got a dog! She's a little Chihuahua and we named her Coco.

She has quite the personality. She's fairly stubborn and doesn't like to be told what to do. She is a complete momma's girl and follows me everywhere. She's been a lot of fun and we've loved having her around. We just wish we had a fenced yard right out the door so we didn't have to walk her. She takes forever to go potty.

This past weekend was a very busy and fun one. We went to the annual Big Phelps Christmas party down in Grantsville, Utah. It's for my father-in-law's siblings and all of their families. Tons of people and lots of kids running around. We went down Friday night and had fun at a little Christmas party with some of Chad's cousins. We had more fun Saturday with everyone. Lots of chatting, good food, and Christmas Spirit. There was a little program and some of the kids acted out the Nativity Story. It was all way fun.

Here is a picture of just SOME of the babies that were born this year. Jarek is on the end on the right.

It was quite the fiasco to get them together and all sitting up and what not but I think it still turned out cute.

Santa comes to visit the Phelps Christmas party every year so of course we had to get a picture of Jarek meeting Santa for the first time. He wasn't the happiest with us because he was getting hungry but I think the picture turned out great!

After the Big Phelps Party, we did our Little Phelps Christmas Party since most of Chad's siblings we all together, except for Clark and Kristy because they had their baby (congrats!) and Nathan and Tiffani because they are in Minnesota (missed you!). The adults did a White Elephant gift exchange and then Chad's parents handed out the gifts. They got all the adults some food storage. I thought it was a wonderful and thoughtful gift! I've been telling Chad all year that we need to get started on that so I was really happy with the gift. And Jarek came away with this little number:

It says, "All mommy wants for Christmas is a Silent Night." I love it! It's very true. Although, I can't complain much since he only gets up once during the night.

We headed home Saturday night. On our way, we made a stop in Ogden to visit my sister and brother-in-law. It was the first time my brother-in-law had met Jarek. It was a really nice visit with them. Jarek fell asleep in the car on the way there and had the perfect timing to wake up right before we got there so he put on quite the show. I'm pretty sure he stole their hearts. It was great to have a little time with my family. I've missed my family so much this year.

It was a wonderful weekend with Chad's side of the family. It's great that they do their parties a little earlier so we don't have to worry about missing it when we go to MINNESOTA for Christmas this year!!! I am so excited! I'm really grateful that we were able to get the money together to go. And I'm really grateful to be spending some time to celebrate Christmas with both sides of the family. We are so blessed to have such wonderful families!