Oh my goodness- I did it!

Before:

During:

11 inches ... GONE!

After:

Ignore me...  Tammy my beautiful friend!!  I love that girl.

Samuel loved the chairs. :)  He he he.

Styled:

 (These were the only pictures we got before the camera died.  Ha ha ha.  I was making faces at Samuel because he was laughing at me.  Good times.)

Remember when I said I would NEVER do anything crazy like this?  Well, I did.  HERE.

Locks for Sister Mac

                There are people in your life who mold and shape you during the influential teenage years.  There will be both negative and positive influences- I want to focus on the positive side.  These people can be your parents, church leaders, aunts, uncles, teachers, grandparents, youth leaders, and coaches … etc.  You love them because helping hands, encouraging words and listening ears are their carving tools. They offer guidance and direction when needed.  Ever so slowly shaping you into the kind of person you want to be without your realizing.  It isn’t until you look back on your life that you recognize how indebted you are to them.  In that moment you love them even more because you now realize the gravity of the service they offered you.  Thanking them would never be enough.

                My parents easily fall into the positive-influence-on-Emily category- they are AMAZING.  I could write forever about them and multiple others, but I want to focus on someone specifically.  Sister Mac has been one of my youth leaders, my teachers and my friend.  I absolutely love her and her awesome personality- she makes everyone laugh.  Sis. Mac is a wife and a mother of three children and she has Stage 4 Breast Cancer.   Cancer.  Isn’t that a scary word?  That little word can destroy someone’s life so easily.  One moment life is normal and the next it is spiraling out of control between tests, family, appointments, chemo therapy, questions and more tests.

                 I want to do something meaningful for my friend.  I want her to know how much I love her- how much everyone who knows her loves her.  I want to give her my hair because she no longer has her own.  Both my mother and I have donated 11 inches of hair to be made into a wig specifically for Sister Mac.  There is a wonderful woman in California who will make a wig for Sis. Mac out of our hair … but it will cost $1,500.  We need your help in order to make this a reality.  Please.  If just 100 people donate $15 we would be set.  If you can’t afford to give $15, whatever you can offer would be greatly appreciated.  Even the smallest amount brings us that much closer to our goal.  Contact me via Facebook or email or leave a comment.  I will get back to you as soon as I possibly can. 

Thank you and God bless you all. 

 

Becoming like Christ

                At church on Sunday, during the Relief Society lesson, the sister teaching the class encouraged us to share our "light" with someone this week.  Share a smile with those you pass, give your extra change to the homeless man on the corner, wipe a child's tear with patience and love, give up the closer parking spot in the Walmart parking lot, or share your knowledge of the gospel with a friend ... etc.  Basically, do something that you might not have done before.  I went away from that lesson saying to my self, "I can totally do this.  I will smile at someone AND give away my parking spot- easy!  I got this."  Well, yesterday, I read an article in the Ensign called Understanding Our Covenants With God.  It was a wonderful article and if you are interested you can read it HERE.  The last paragraph was a quote by Elder Dallin H. Oaks of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and it really touched me.

“The Final Judgment is not just an evaluation of a sum total of good and evil acts- what we have done.  It is an acknowledgement of the final effect of our acts and thoughts- what we have become.  It is not enough for anyone just to go through the motions.  The commandments, ordinances, and covenants of the gospel are not a list of deposits required to be made in some heavenly account.  The gospel of Jesus Christ is a plan that shows us how to become what our Heavenly Father desires us to become.”

                I thought to myself, “This is what I want to be and how I want to live- like Christ.”  One thing that I haven’t done in a very LONG time, because it is difficult for me, is share my knowledge of the gospel of Jesus Christ with someone.  So I want to do that now, with you- the person reading this post, this very moment.  I could so easily smile at you and give you the closer parking spot, but I want to give you something that can change your life forever.  Something I hold close to my heart- my testimony.

                I love my Savior and Redeemer; I know that He lives, right now.  He loves me and He loves you- right now, the way you and I are, today.  We are children of God, and Jesus Christ is our brother.  Families can last forever; even beyond the grave- isn’t that wonderful news!  I know that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is Christ’s true church, restored in this day through the prophet Joseph Smith Jr.  The Book of Mormon is the word of God, I have studied it and found it to be correct through the Spirit- read it and you can find out for yourself as well.

                Find out about other members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints at Mormon.org.  And information is readily available about our beliefs at lds.org.