Can't help it...

I've put this off, but I figured it was time to post the video that's been getting lots of hype and has resulted in many messages, texts, facebook posts, and general comments to me in the past week.

One word to describe this: painful. And painful from so many perspectives. Her singing, the lyrics, content, and just her general demeanor. Makes me cringe and laugh all at the same time!

Anyway, here you have it. I won't tell you to enjoy it, instead I'll say...good luck!

Common Cold

This is what I look like right now.

And I'm afraid I've given it to Michael too.

Sneezing, runny nose, lots of tissues, headache, and general ickyness.

I think some chicken noodle soup is in order.

My Superhero

I need to take a moment to talk about the wonderful man in that picture.

He is my very own, personal superhero.

As some of you may know, I've been having upper back and shoulder pain since this past Saturday. I don't exactly know what has caused it (I've never had this happen before), but it has continued to get progressively worse as the week has progressed also. It was so bad that Tuesday I couldn't even go to mutual to be with my Young Women. I had to lie in bed, on my back for the entire evening. I ended up crying for a good bit of it because of non-stop pain all day.

Michael, the wonderful husband that he is, came and lay by my side, giving me comfort for a good bit of the evening. He hugged me, gently, when I cried, and kept asking if there was anything he could do for me. He told me I was beautiful even when my makeup was smeared all over my face. He made sure I had an ice pack in the perfect spot on my back throughout the evening. He took care of getting medicine for me and the water I needed to swallow it. He rubbed my back, softly, to try and ease some of the pain.

Now, I'm a bit embarrassed to admit this, but I have this issue...it's called pride. Whenever something goes wrong, I feel like I can and have to fix it, on my own. I often forget that I have a husband who holds the priesthood and has the ability to administer a blessing to me. I hesitate to ask for blessings because I feel like I can make things better, without any outside help. Well, this has been a humbling experience for me, because I have been reminded, over and over, of the fact that I have a worthy priesthood holder right in my home. The thoughts have not left my head since I began having more severe pain. I knew that these were promptings from the Spirit to tell me to let go of my pride and ask for a blessing.

So I did.

Michael gave me a beautiful blessing last night and I felt the Spirit so strongly throughout it. I felt Heavenly Father's love for me through Michael's gentle love and caring. I knew that everything was going to be alright. I'm exercising my faith in the Lord, and Michael's ability to administer to me as the Lord's mouthpiece.

My pain isn't completely gone, but I feel it getting better each moment of the day. What a blessing it is to have a worthy priesthood holder as my husband, who doesn't hesitate when he is asked to do something. I love Michael. And I'm so blessed to have him.

Highs and Lows

Highs

So this week has had it's highs and lows. I decided to start out with the high part which was going with Rebecca through the temple to have her take out her endowments. It was really special to be the guy she has chosen to be with. Although I teased her a lot while we've been engaged about her transition to wearing temple garments, it was still fun to tease her after on the car ride home about how she's now a woman.

Lows

The low this week has been that I've been sick. I started getting a sore throat Friday. I woke up Saturday morning with a fever, a cold sweat, and sore throat from the day before. I was a little concerned because I wasn't sure if I'd be able to make it to the temple with Rebecca later that afternoon. So I started to pop the pills and I went back to bed for several more hours. Around lunch time I started to feel better so I got showered and got ready for the temple. I made it almost the entire time feeling pretty good til the end when I think the drugs started to wear off. By time I got home I needed another fix, and straight to the medicine cabinet I went. We had dinner with the family and I laid in grogginess on the couch afterward. One happy thought came to mind last night, that if I still felt this bad in the morning I wouldn't have to give my sermon in church the next day!

Well I did start feeling better by this morning and after 10 hours of sleep I got up and prepared my sermon. Right now I'm still just plagued with the same sore throat that I started with and I'm predicting that I'll be fully recovered by Thursday.