Sunday, December 27, 2020

Treasure the moments.

My favorite thing about the Christmas season–besides the opportunity to celebrate the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ–is celebrating with my family. This year, I was so excited and blessed to celebrate with my husband! It was our first Christmas together and it was pretty spectacular! I am so blessed to have the sweetest and most thoughtful husband!

This year has been crazy. Not only has the whole world been dealing with a pandemic because of COVID-19, but there have been hurricanes, fires, earthquakes, and so many other things. Events were canceled, rescheduled, or postponed til further notice. Churches and temples were closed. Once things opened up again, Zoom became extremely popular. Schools and church meetings have been held via Zoom, as well as other events like weddings and funerals. Theaters have mainly closed, and a lot of movies have been released to stream online instead of or in addition to theater releases. We have lost many people this year, not just to COVID, and I am truly sorry for the lives that have been lost, but am grateful for the knowledge that they will be with us again someday. ðŸ’œ
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

We've been studying the Book of Mormon this year, and I believe that this scripture found in Moroni 10 is a wonderful scripture that can sum up this year:

3 Behold, I would exhort you that when ye shall read these things, if it be wisdom in God that ye should read them, that ye would remember how merciful the Lord hath been unto the children of men, from the creation of Adam even down until the time that ye shall receive these things, and ponder it in your hearts.

I love reading the Book of Mormon, because it was written for our day, and because of the hope and blessings that come as I read and study the scriptures each and every day. While this year hasn't been quite a normal year as expected, it has been a blessing to go through it with my sweetheart. He fills my life with joy and love and I am so grateful for him. ðŸ’œ

It's been quite a year, but I wouldn't change anything, because this is the year that I married my best friend. It was a really rough year at times, but having my best friend by my side throughout this year made it the best year. We have been so, so blessed, and I am so thankful to my Heavenly Father for that! Ricky and I have had so many adventures already and I can't wait to see what this year has in store for us!



I hope everyone has had a wonderful holiday season with their family and loved ones. I hope that you have been able to feel the Spirit of Christmas, and the love of the Lord. I hope that this next year is full of peace, love, and joy for you and your family. I know that Heavenly Father loves you, and has great blessings in store for you. May you treasure this holiday season, and this year's blessings, and have a wonderful new year. 

Xoxo
Mattie

Sunday, December 13, 2020

Christmastime is here! :)

Christmastime is here! It’s been a busy month for me! I’ve been working on Christmas gifts and decorating our home for Christmas. So my blogging has taken a backseat for a few weeks. 😬  However, I am mostly done with Christmas gifts (just a few left!) so I have a little more time!

I am so excited for Christmas!! I tell Ricky this multiple times every day, and he always says, “I know, you tell me every day.” 🤣 I was almost done with all my Christmas shopping the week of Thanksgiving! I have a love/hate relationship with having my shopping done early, because all I want is to have my husband open all his gifts, but we also have to wait for Christmas. ðŸ¤£

I am so grateful for the opportunity to read about and remember the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ, and what His birth means to me.

We read in Helaman Chapters 13 through 15 about Samuel the Lamanite's prophecies. 

In Chapter 14, we read about his prophecies about the birth of the Lord, Jesus Christ, and of His death:
2 And behold, he said unto them: Behold, I give unto you a sign; for five years more cometh, and behold, then cometh the Son of God to redeem all those who shall believe on his name.

3 And behold, this will I give unto you for a sign at the time of his coming; for behold, there shall be great lights in heaven, insomuch that in the night before he cometh there shall be no darkness, insomuch that it shall appear unto man as if it was day.

4 Therefore, there shall be one day and a night and a day, as if it were one day and there were no night; and this shall be unto you for a sign; for ye shall know of the rising of the sun and also of its setting; therefore they shall know of a surety that there shall be two days and a night; nevertheless the night shall not be darkened; and it shall be the night before he is born.

5 And behold, there shall a new star arise, such an one as ye never have beheld; and this also shall be a sign unto you.

6 And behold this is not all, there shall be many signs and wonders in heaven.

7 And it shall come to pass that ye shall all be amazed, and wonder, insomuch that ye shall fall to the earth. 
20 But behold, as I said unto you concerning another sign, a sign of his death, behold, in that day that he shall suffer death the sun shall be darkened and refuse to give his light unto you; and also the moon and the stars; and there shall be no light upon the face of this land, even from the time that he shall suffer death, for the space of three days, to the time that he shall rise again from the dead. 
21 Yea, at the time that he shall yield up the ghost there shall be thunderings and lightnings for the space of many hours, and the earth shall shake and tremble; and the rocks which are upon the face of this earth, which are both above the earth and beneath, which ye know at this time are solid, or the more part of it is one solid mass, shall be broken up;  
22 Yea, they shall be rent in twain, and shall ever after be found in seams and in cracks, and in broken fragments upon the face of the whole earth, yea, both above the earth and beneath.  
23 And behold, there shall be great tempests, and there shall be many mountains laid low, like unto a valley, and there shall be many places which are now called valleys which shall become mountains, whose height is great.  
24 And many highways shall be broken up, and many cities shall become desolate.  
25 And many graves shall be opened, and shall yield up many of their dead; and many saints shall appear unto many.  
26 And behold, thus hath the angel spoken unto me; for he said unto me that there should be thunderings and lightnings for the space of many hours. 
27 And he said unto me that while the thunder and the lightning lasted, and the tempest, that these things should be, and that darkness should cover the face of the whole earth for the space of three days.
Speaking of signs from heaven, I am so excited for the Geminid meteor shower tonight! I'm also excited for the Jupiter and Saturn "double planet" next Sunday. Ricky and I are going to try to get a look at the meteor shower tonight, and I hope to be able to get a look at the double planet conjunction next weekend too!

I am so excited for Christmas this year! It's our first Christmas as husband and wife, and it's really our first Christmas together, as last year he was in Florida with his family. I can't wait to see him open his gifts, and I can't wait to see my family open their gifts, either. It's going to be an amazing Christmas. I am so grateful to have the chance to experience Christmas with my husband for the first time. I am so grateful for my sweet in-laws, who sent us our Christmas presents this week and I am so overwhelmed at the love and support I have felt from them! I can't wait to open the gifts in 12 days!

I am grateful to be able to read the scriptures and study the words of the prophets, and to see how the words in the Book of Mormon, the New Testament, and the Old Testament all testify of Jesus Christ. I am grateful for the birth of the little baby Jesus. I am grateful for that night, so long ago, where a mother laid her baby in a manger filled with hay. I am so grateful that because of Him, we have the chance to start over. I am so grateful that because of Him, we have the chance to live with our families forever. Because of Him–because of the Holy Child–I have the chance to be part of a family. I have the chance to have my own family. I am so grateful to have been able to be sealed to Ricky forever this year, and I know that no matter what, we will always be husband and wife. 

I am grateful for the Christmas season, and for the love and blessings that I see in my life, and in the lives of those around me. I am grateful for the Christmas Spirit this time of year, and for the peace and joy that seems to envelop the world this time of year. 

If you missed the First Presidency Christmas devotional last week, you can watch it here. I highly recommend that you do watch it. It was really great to hear from some of our leaders and I really enjoyed the messages that they shared. 

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to you and yours! I hope you have a safe holiday season, and a happy New Year! God bless you! 

Xoxo
Mattie