>sigh< Oh well!

Today was Sunday.

Yes it was, and I went to 3 different church buildings for church.

And I had a very good and enlightening Sunday experience.

BUT I missed the most important part of Sunday...twice.

I went to McCoy's mission farewell, and arrived in the middle of the Sacrament—which means I didn't get the chance to take it then.

But I thought, "Never fear!  I'll just take it at Hyrum's homecoming!"

When Elder Busche talked about avoiding haste in this video, he really was right.  It's much easier to feel the spirit of Sunday when you don't allow your hurriedness to interfere.

So, as fate would have it, and even with all my haste and frazzled feelings, I also arrived at Hyrum's homecoming right in the middle of Sacrament.  So I missed it.  Twice.

And I feel like I've missed out this week.  A lot.  But I shall take it next week.

And so, as an attempt at appeasing my uneasy feeling at not having the opportunity to complete the most important Sunday activity for me, I shall show you this wonderful video.  Because it's beautiful, and I love it.  AND (of course) Christ loves you! :)

It's true.  I know it.  Because He is the best older brother you could ever ask for! :)

This video depicts Christ's visit to the Americas as told in 3rd Nephi chapters 11-26 in the Book of Mormon.  What a happy event!  I hope you enjoy it :)

The Silly Saga of an Epic Enterprise (Part--The Last...finally)

Okay, I've been having a hard time trying to figure out how to end this.  Partly because I really enjoyed it so much and don't want to stop thinking about it.  BUT here it goes.  The end.  Sunday, and the departure home.....  (deep breath).

First I woke up to the smell of Mama Crookshank making her world-famous strawberry french-toast.  SO GOOD!  It's like music to my stomach! :D

Second, sometimes when I am with Eric and Mike...we tease each other.  Relentlessly.  Like so much that sometimes people think we hate each other.  But we don't.  And it's great!  :D  This day, so many Abi-themed jokes were flying, I couldn't keep track of them.  Let me just say, it's a good thing I can laugh at myself because these boys find everything there is to laugh about, and it's hilarious! :)

Third, Sundays like these that confirm my knowledge that the Church is true.  It's just so happy and amazing!  I loved this Sunday!  I got to sit next to Mike and Eric again in Sacrament meeting (just like the old days at BYU!) and we sang and had a grand time.  Audrey gave a wonderful talk, Devin played the organ like a champion, and the talks were very insightful--focused on patience and fathers. (It was Father's Day.)

Fourth, I'm so happy I get to go to Relief Society.  Mama Crookshank couldn't go with me because she is working with the Primary children, but Eric introduced me to a wonderful Sister Donaldson, and we had a grand time!  I just love the sisterhood of the church.  It's wonderful, and I felt so loved and welcome!

Fifth, I rode a motorcycle.  Eric took me on a motorcycle.  I've never been on a motorcycle.  Was I scared?  You bet.  Did I love it?  Absolutely.  He gave me all the pointers and told me what to do...and I was anxious... and it took a while to get used to...but it was so fun!  He drove me through T-mec wine country, and it was such a sunny, warm, beautiful, happy day....I just loved it so much.  So great!

Sixth, naps on the trampoline.

Glorious.  I was on there too...but I just don't sleep like these guys!  Oh well!

Seventh, Sunday walks.  They're just as therapeutic in Cali-five-nia as they are in Idaho.  Perhaps more-so...because there are palm trees.  Which happen to be one of my favorite things. ;)  While these boys continued their beauty-sleep, I walked to this beautiful place to call my own, wonderful Daddy and wish him a happy Father's Day.

I sat there and had a nice visit with him.  It was wonderful.  And I love that man.  Some other sights I saw were these:

>sigh< Beautiful....

Eighth, as I said, Mike and Eric are ridiculous.  And they make fun of me.  Which doesn't exactly bode well for serious dinner-time conversation.  Needless to say, we visited for a while, but those to boys just would not hold still! (I, of course, was a little saint. ;)  )  Anyways, after a while of trying to keep order, Papa Crookshank excused us, the college kids, from the dinner table because we couldn't pay attention.  We disrupted everything.  How embarrassing! ;)  Haha  

Ninth, the whole family went on a walk later to a grassy field where we all played catch (with a football, frisbee, and racquetball...at the same time).  We were so silly, and it was loads of fun!  We also played crack-the-whip, and then I started a grueling game of "No Bones."  Can I just say...greatest game ever invented.  The end.

The rest of the night was filled with Bang!, Father's Day gifts, The Man from Snowy River, silliness, plenty of disruption from Eric, Mike, and I, and visiting with Eric for a long time.  It was such a grand day!

. . .

The next morning, we woke up, visited, packed, wrote love-notes, hugged my Crookshank family goodbye, and left to pick up Carissa to go back to good, ole P-town.  It was a grand 10 hour drive full of visiting and joking and tons of music.  Country, because all of us like it and there would be no complaints, and we also listened to the theme-song of the trip: The Calendar by Panic!.  It's so good.  And I still listen to it at least once a day.  I'm fond of it. :] Here is a picture collage of the road home...

 We stopped in St. George on our way to eat Wendy's by the temple... ;)

So lovely!  The END.

Okay, sorry the Saga (and each post in it) was so long.  I 'pologize!

:]

Sunday Will Come :)

We are taking a brief intermission in the Silly Saga, so I can tell you about my experience today.

The title I used comes from a talk by Elder Joseph B. Worthlin in the October 2006 General Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.  It's a wonderful talk, but oddly nothing I have to say here really references it.  It just seemed fitting.

May I just say that I love Sundays?  There isn't another day like it when I can just relax and forget about everything I have to do.  When I can be with my family and laugh and eat and have fun.  When I can take the time to be quiet and to really stop and look at the world around me.  Sundays are the days when I stop to have a "think," and it is always much-needed.

Aaaand one of my favorite things about Sundays are Relief Society.  I truly enjoy my time in that wonderful organization--whether I'm in a student/singles ward or a visiting a family ward--there is something about being surrounded by the women of the church and listening to their trials, blessings, testimonies, and experiences that captivates me and makes me want to be and do better each week.  It's such a blessing!

Today, I was visiting the family ward I grew up in.  Our lesson in Relief Society was about service--"the heartbeat of the Church."  It was so good for me to hear stories of giving and receiving service.  I felt the love the sisters in the ward had for each other.  As part of the lesson, Sister Harman re-told the story of The Good Samaritan from the Bible.  She asked a few questions, and a discussion ensued.  It was pointed out that not only did the Samaritan stop, he bandaged the man, took him to an in, paid the inn-keeper money to care for a stranger, and stayed with him through the night.

All my life, I had kind of glanced over that part.  Today, it hit me, and I sat there in silence wondering what was so significant about the Samaritan staying to watch over, serve, and care for this stranger through the night.  And then I remembered...

When I am sad and having a hard time, night is the worst time of day.  In the dark I feel most alone.  At night, my problems seem to multiply and my blessings seem to dissipate.  What once seemed just a bump in my road, sometimes transforms into a monstrous boulder.  Nights are just really hard to get through sometimes.  But, if this is the case, why was it that the Samaritan stayed for only one night?

The Samaritan, as good as he was, was also on his own journey with tasks to complete.  He also knew that, in order to become stronger, the stranger had to do some healing and growing for himself.  With the rising of the sun, it was evident that the stranger would come to recover.  This, I found is very applicable to me.  Just as my troubles seem to multiply by the thousands at night, so they seem to shrink into insignificance with the rising of the sun.  In the morning, the sun sheds light on the world--not only brightening my day, but lightening my load of cares.  In the sunshine, I can see more clearly the ways to tackle a problem or at least find the silver-lining.  Troubles don't seem so intimidating in the light of the day, and it is by struggling through my own problems that I grow most.  I don't learn as much when others fix them for me.

Better yet, by the light of day, I can see my trials put into perspective and how much I can help those around me and how beautiful everything is and how happy I am to live in this world.  Sometimes, I just need that arm to lean on when things are very hard to bear.  It is in those times that I have been rescued many times by family, friends, and most of all, my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

:)

On Sunday :)

It always amazes me how Sundays are so wonderful.  I woke up early this morning to get ready and shortly realized that I didn't need to be ready for church for a while longer, so I picked up a book, and was outside by eight letting the wind blow-dry my hair.  It was a beautiful, sunny morning.  I went to church with darling M'Kenzie and thoroughly enjoyed it.  It was one of those days when it seems like everything everyone is teaching is instantly applicable.  I like those Sundays.

Sunday is definitely my favorite day of the week.  It's slower, peaceful, and I can spend my day in calm reflection.  During Sacrament Meeting I was reading the words to a hymn, and they just happened echo my thoughts exactly at what I have been thinking about/doing a lot lately.

When through the woods and forest glades I wander,

And hear the birds sing sweetly in the trees,

When I look down from lofty mountain grandeur,

And hear the brook, and feel the gentle breeze

Then sings my soul, my Savior, God, to Thee

How great thou art! How great thou art!

Then sings my soul, my Savior, God, to Thee

How great thou art! How great thou art!

When Christ shall come with shout of acclamation,

And take me home, what joy shall fill my heart!

Then I shall bow with humble adoration,

And there proclaim, my God, how great thou art!

Then sings my soul, my Savior, God, to Thee

How great thou art! How great thou art!

Then sings my soul, my Savior, God, to Thee

How great thou art! How great thou art!

True, in Idaho, the "gentle breeze" is more of a hurricane--especially today, but I still find it applicable.  It's a beautiful hymn--definitely one of my favorites.  Walking outside just really reminds me about how great God is, and how blessed I am.  I feel closer and more grateful there.  I hope you felt closer to Christ today, and I hope your Sunday turned out to be as great as mine!  

If not, watch this.  We watched it in Relief Society today, and it made me so happy.

"Embrace this day with an enthusiastic welcome...no matter how it looks."

Great words of wisdom, and definitely something I needed to hear:

Thoughts of the day...

This will be a look into the random mind of Abigail, but please don't get too scared. :)  These are just some of the things that happened to cross my mind today:

• First, I love my mother.  Happy Mother's Day to a wonderful, beautiful, fantastic woman!
• I love it when my sister, Eliza Anne, can come home to visit.  I find I miss her a lot now.
• Grandma Kate is a classy woman, and she's one of the sweetest people I know.
• Have you noticed that most of us pronounce it "every-buddy" instead of "every-body."  I thought that was pretty cool (as I was loading the dishwasher).
• I am veeeeeeeeeeerrrryyyyy thankful for a dishwasher.  After 8 months without one, I can't think of an invention I love more.
• I thought of all my missionary family and friends who called their families today for mothers day.  They're pretty great, and I'm a big fan!
• I love Primary children.  Endless hugs, singing mother's day songs in Sacrament Meeting, and just being so darn cute!  Peter was yelling the chorus to "I Am A Child of God" today, and there were about 16 of us busting a gut in church.  Haha!
• I'm glad I can cook.  Liza and I made a restaurant-worthy Italian dinner for Mamacita, and it was quite possibly the most scrumptious thing I have eaten in a while. :]

 Thank you, Alissa-Fred for teaching me about/how to make Bruschetta! Mmmmm..... :)

• I love my family to the sky and back.  They're pretty great....jus' sayin'.....
• I had herbal tea today,--Sugar Plum Spice--which made me think of my wonderful roommates, Alissa-Fred and Marie Morgan.
• I miss some people.  I love my family, don't get me wrong, and I miss them when I'm not around them, BUT at this moment in time, I miss Tyler Dan and Thomas Olaf and Alissa-Fred and Craig Hunter and Marie Morgan and Miiiiiichael Alan and Eric William and Kirb-Stomp and Jessi and Christel and Jaden and Hillary and Bryce and Teri and Aaron and Eric and Trevor and J-Hart and Liza and all the girls from Building 10 (oh so much!) and Broseph and oh, everybody that has been separated from me since I left Provo.  I love and miss you all (like, you don't even know), and I hope you're doing just swell!
• I spent at least an hour looking at a huge book of maps of the world finding and reading about where each friend/family member is from/is/will be.
• "Maybe I should look up my Chumbly home and my Bardsley home, and then I won't miss them so bad."  Didn't work.  Remember that.
• Sometimes, I'm funny.  Relish it...because it doesn't happen very often.
• Color-changing fingernail polish is (yet again) one of the coolest things ever.  Fo' really. ;)
• I am a giant and a half--especially when I'm wearing heels.
• Sunday is my favorite day of the week.  It's just so great!
• Life is still so good. :)

Congratulations.  You just picked apart my brain.  Don't you feel...confused?  I sure do!