Personal Progress

Twinkle, twinkle, little star,

My home in heaven seems so far.
I long to see my Father's face,
from down here in this worldly place.
Each night among the stars I see,
a sign that He has left for me.
Seven stars shining bright and true,
Each brings to mind a sacred value.
I know I am of Royal Birth,
If I seek these values while on earth.
Then my Father's face I'll see,
As He calls my name and welcomes me.

Well I don't know if I have told anyone...but I am the new Young Women's 1st Counselor. I will mainly be in charge of Personal Progress, which I am really excited about! Why? Well because I was blessed with the opportunity of finishing my values before I was even baptized. Only due to the wonderful encouragement and push to do it from beautiful Emily! If it wasn't for her, I probably would have never done it. I am greatful now that I know it will be a bigger use with helping the girls in young womens here in Venice. The little poem, I found it on sugardoodle.net. I love that website soooo much! Anywho I just wanted to share with you my little bit of excitement that I am going through at the moment.

Little Suprises

I love little suprises in life. Today was one of those. After sacrament I was heading to my class room to get set up before primary began and I got stopped by Sis. Dooley (Primary President). She told me that I couldn't go into my class room (so I knew something was up). I said alright and headed to the primary room for open exercises. When I got into the room my 3 wonderful kids acted all excited about something but they said they couldn't tell me. Again I said alright and went & sat down. Sister Dooley comes walking in and says thanks for not going into your room because I had to move some things around. (hmmmmmmmm) Alright. So when it was my classes turn to go to class.....Brandon said Sister Behmer you have to go in first. Of course all three race to the door and wait for me to go in first. I open the door and there was 3 cards & a small plate of brownies wrapped in syran wrap with a cute little red bow on top.
Now I should explain why I received such a great suprise. Last week during class my three wonderful kids, were not very well behaved. I had my friend Amanda who just got called to primary come in the room with me to observe. I felt bad because I was afraid she wouldn't want to teach afterwards. I told Amanda to give the report back to Sister Dooley that they were really bad.....but before she could say anything, the 3 of them spoke up and told her what happened. They felt so bad they asked if I could teach them this week so they could apologize.
I am still a primary teacher until they release me because I was called into Young Womens as the 1st counselor. Anyways I wanted to share with you the cards they wrote me.

Dear Sister Behmer,
I am sorry and I will try not to talk as much and I will be better I am sorry. - Your Student Brandon

I'm sorry for the way I acted last week, I will do better please forgive me. - Love Sage

Dear Sister Behmer,
I am very sorry I was bad. I can't help it. I laugh way too hard but its because of Sage, she's so funny. I hope you don't remember me as a very bad kid. I WILL MISS YOU SO MUCH!
Love- Sister Giler (Alison)

Now I must say this about my kids. They are wonderful kids and I love them to death. I am grateful that I get the chance to teach them only a weekly basis about the gospel. They are such examples to me (even when they act up). It was a nice suprise and I won't remember them as bad kids.

Things I am learning

Well I am finally listening to my own advice. I am always telling people to get down and pray about things happening in their lives...and I seldom do it for my own self. I am learning that the only way that I am going to beat my struggles with weight loss is through the help of my Heavenly Father. "I never said it would be easy...I only said it would be worth it." That statement hits me hard every time I read it, because it hits home hard. "Fear of the unknown is often the greatest fear"...and this is the #1 thing that I am struggling with right now. I am truly scared at how my life is going to change when I lose all the weight. I know I shouldn't be because I will be healthy, etc... I guess I am more afraid that my overall attitude in life is going to change. If anyone has advice about this reaction...please write me.

I am on phase three of my new journey and I've lose a total of 7 pounds as of yesterday. Which to me is alot but I want to see results!! I know that I need to be patient because this will take time. I am trying to be more active and that says alot. Lets say, I am more willing to accept the activity when it is being presented. Before I started this journey I didn't want to do anything. My favorite thing so far is snorkeling by the South Jetty. My ultimate goal is to someday be running on the beach every morning or night....but again I need to be patient and work my way there.

"Taking responsibility for our actions is the first step in making positive changes in our lives." This is #2 that I am working on right now. I am currently doing a food journal and I have screwed up alot on what I am "not" suppose to be eating...but I write it down. This is HUGE for me to do. "It's only one time...." so what, if you have that mentality then you are just headed for a crash. So I write down everything and I mean everything- even how I felt when I ate it. Then when I have my weekly meeting with my nutritionist she knows how I felt and then she goes over of why I ate those things. Changing how you eat & think is hard but very rewarding. "We will not succeed if we quit trying. Just because we have failed countless times before is no reason to ever give up!"

"We need to be patient and expect some discouragement and failures along the way." I had to accept that there will be ups and downs to losing weight. Like last week...I gained back 3.1 pounds because I wasn't watching close enough to what I was eating. So during my meeting there were many tears and alot of guilt because I felt like a failure. I am now learning that "Change on the outside has to begin with the change on the inside." I am so tough on my self and I degrade myself way too much. I try to remind myself of this..."We need to keep focusing forward. It may take as much energy to go backwards as it does to keep moving ahead." I need to remember that each day is a new day and it's a chance for me to learn from my past and work on my future.

I will end my little insight for tonight with my favorite scripture from the bible.

"I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me." Philippians 4:13

Thanks for all the love and support that I have already received...it really is appreciated.

My Friends From the Past and Now

I am so grateful for the many friends that I have been given through my past years of life. I know I can't write our life stories down but I will atleast tell you I love you and I truly miss you all.
Ashley C.- Even though we are not friends anymore I still love and miss her everyday. She was my best friend for 7 years. Ashley was goofy, strong willed, out going, & she never gave up on what she wanted in life. I have so many fun memories of hanging out with her and staying up late at night laughing & trying not to be loud so we wouldn't wake up her mom & dad. She always brought a smile to my face when I was down and hurting. Ashley stood by my side through a really bad rough spot in my life (parents divorce) and she always stood up for me. I wish I could go back and change the things that split us apart but I was never given the chance. I pray for her everyday and I will until the day I die.
Sara B.- My fun, goofy, inspiring, outgoing, talented friend Sara has been a crutch in my life. I met her my junior year in high school. She is the reason where I am today in my life. Sara took me to church with her and helped me find my place in this world. She has such a gift at playing the piano and singing...I'm still jealous of her ability lol. Sara taught me patience...because there was alot of rough patches in her life that I helped her through. I never gave up on her because I knew she would never give up on me. I miss the time we lived together in Provo UT because we had so many fun times together. Sara is one of my closest best friends and I wish she was closer to me. I love You Sara..BFFE! You are my sunflower in my life.
Stephanie (F.) J.- When I moved to Provo UT, I was so nervous with living with a total stranger. The first day she came out to meet me, I knew the second I saw her everything would be okay. I am sure she laughed at my little ghetto datsun 210 that I drove 1,000 miles but it got me there safely with no problems. Steph is and has been my inspiration with staying strong in the gospel and losing weight. Even though my stay in Provo was only 4 months, Steph will be a life time friend. She kept me strong, even if she didn't know it. She also had a beautiful singing voice, I loved getting ready for church and different activities because she would sit in our small hallway in front of the mirror and sing to whatever she put on. I pull out my little scrap book every now and again to remember those times. I would relive those 4 months any day. Steph I love you and I miss you!
Emily E.- My mentor, bestfriend, & Mom in a way. You and your family where my family & home away from home. I miss being able to walk down the street and hanging out or you calling me randomly to go grocery shopping so you could breath for just a few moments with out boys crawling down your back for something. You kept me strong through all the transitions in my life from waiting to be baptized, to being baptized, to living a normal life, being my mentor with everything, and being my escort to the temple. You have been there for me no matter what and that means the whole world to me. I love You Em and I wish I was closer to you.
Judi F.- My Bestfriend & Big Sister. I have known you over 16 years now. You and I have been through alot together. I am grateful that you grew up 3 houses down from me. I miss our slumber parties and our camping trips in each others front yards. You and I will be best friends for eternity. Even though we are not biological sisters you are close enough in my heart to be one. I miss you and your family everyday. You are such a wonderful mother to your boys and such an example to me. I miss hearing you sing and playing the many instruments that you played. You are so talented with the things you have a passion for. Especially your jewelry. One day I promise to buy something again from you ;). No matter where we are in our lives, I know we will never grow apart from each other. I miss you everyday and I Love You!

Finally Updating

I just realized how long it has been since I started this blog. Sorry to anyone who was reading our blog. So I guess I should update you on what we are up too.

I have been going to school full-time at Meridian Career Institute in Sarasota, FL. I am enrolled into the Medical Billing & Coding course and so far I love it. I am upholding my 4.0 gpa very well and that makes me very very happy! I should be graduating the end of the year, they don't have a set date yet. I'm doing a 9 month course and the last month I am doing an externship with a doctors office. I am in the process of finding one closer to home so I dont have to drive over 50 miles a day for it. I want to get Nationally Certified as soon as I graduate so I can move out of Florida when ever I want.

Alen has been working for Air Movers. What is Air Movers...well they take care of water damage & mold remediation. They are keeping him really busy lately. I guess this is their busy season until the end of October. Most of the time I get to see him maybe 3 hours before bed time. So thats been a big bummer but we will survive. Alen loves florida because of the fishing here. He said fishing in WA really sucked.

We Moved to Florida because Alen has always wanted to live here and I wanted out of the rain. I am truly happy for the sunshine but I miss everyone back home! We made many new friends and we feel at home here. If anyone wants to come visit we got an extra bedroom and bathroom for ya. I'd love to see family and friends anyday. =)