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.