heaven's eyes

       I have a little story to tell! It's something that girls' camp got me thinking about.
       I had a lot to learn from my ward this week, and I saw things I'd been missing before. I learned more about unconditional love. About kindness. I hadn't even realized how much I need to work on developing these traits. So here's a story.

       Years ago, my sister went to a Christmas devotional and had the opportunity to speak with Sister Elaine Dalton briefly afterward. "In two minutes, she made me feel like the most beautiful girl in the world," Nena said. A couple of years later, Sister Dalton spoke at a stake event and I got the same opportunity. I had exactly the same experience as Nena—in like zero seconds flat, I felt like I was amazing, and that I could do anything, and that I could lift people up. This is before I even spoke to her—this is merely the feeling that surrounded her. She literally had this little cloud of encouragement and love. After talking with her, that feeling only increased. It was a unique experience, unlike anything I've felt quite so strongly at any other time. The point is, it made me want to be better.

       It took me a while to connect the feeling surrounding Sister Dalton with something she had said at the fireside: "When I was set apart, the prophet blessed me that I'd be able to see the youth as the Lord sees them." This made me realize something: Sister Dalton is so uplifting because she sees us the way the Lord does.

       She made me feel so happy. If we can only remember how much the Lord loves us, we can begin to realize, occasionally, how amazing we are, despite how far we still have to go. We can be inspired with a desire to uplift and share the gospel.

       My problem has been in my lens. (We don't see things the way they are, but the way we are.) So, today and tomorrow and next week and this year, I'm going to try to see through God's eyes. I started trying it this week, and it changes everything. I felt so much better about everything. Whatever resentment I was feeling vanished (temporarily haha.) Annoyance turned into the sort of love that wants to teach and nurture (temporarily.) And I still have so much work to do, because I can only look through this lens for a little bit at a time. But little by little I will get better. There was a time when this lens was my default; all I wanted was to connect with everyone in my classes, to bring everyone up, to smile. All the time. Through work and practice, I hope to reach this default again. I want to connect with the spirit on a little bit deeper level all the time. I would encourage you all to evaluate your own feelings of cynicism and indifference and try to look instead through heaven's eyes.

glamping

          Girls' camp is the best, let me just say that. For you boys out there, just know that it's secret and super fun and way cooler than high adventure.

Qualities of girls' camps in general:

• loud. oh, so, loud
• hair. braiding hair, washing hair in ice-cold pumps, jedi-braiding hair, complaining about hair
• near-death experiences (rattlesnakes?)
• high-stakes dice games (I say high-stakes because to play a game with us is to risk your eardrums.)
• cards
• awful campfire songs
• the eating habits and food pyramid of Buddy the Elf
• reek (but a reek that is mild compared to that of scout camps)
• crafts
• overenthusiastic beehives
• disgruntled laurels (see previous bullet)(haha. I am hilarious.)
• intense leader paranoia about dehydration and heatstroke
• bragging parties about sunburns and bruises
• intermittent sessions of squealing/gushing/hugging
• that one thing someone said that everyone else makes fun of for the rest of the camp
• bears/screaming about bears
• bugs/screaming about bugs
• staying up late
• the leaders telling the girls to GO TO SLEEP FOR PETE'S SAKE but then staying up later than the girls
• scary stories (all of them about serial killers and girls babysitting, funnily enough)
• skits
• tightening friendships
• accomplishing hard things
• cheerful, wonderful girls and leaders
• unique spiritual edification

This week's camp:

• so-called "glamour camping," or "glamping" (thus the post title). We discovered, however, that a cabin does not glamping make; near-death experiences on both land and sea sort of cancel out ceiling fans and flush toilets;)
• awesome cabin in Huntsville, which the Hintzes were kind enough to turn over to a crowd of messy, noisy teenage girls for the week.
• hiking Adam's Canyon in 97 degree weather (whose idea was this anyway??). Three rattlesnake encounters, one within two feet of a foot. hah.
• tubing down the Henefer River. Several of us got caught on rocks or freeway bridge pillars, flipping our tubes and getting sucked under. 
• boating. Banana tubes are a menace (swollen, bruised lip and various flesh wounds for reference). Pineview was beautiful and the water warm as a pool. The beach was also a blast, especially paddleboarding. 
• Wicked sunburns, face masks, and pedicures on Friday. Bishop Sharp and Cameron certainly enjoyed the face masks and blowing their bubbles, and Doug practiced his curtsies. 
• incredible examples of unconditional love, alacrity in the face of adversity, friendship, eagerness to serve. I am so grateful for the young women and the leaders in my ward. I know that so much planning goes into these camps; our leaders care so much about the girls' spiritual welfare, safety, health, fun. The love we girls feel from the leaders is overwhelming, and the girls are all so kind to each other. 

       Have a wonderful week!

       Love, Grace

Hot pink crocs make all cleaning more enjoyable.

"right to right, left to left"

          This has been a week of many firsts. First parallel park (seems dull, but you gotta take the little excitements in life.) First time wakeboarding (I got up on my very first try!! I feel quite ninjatastic about that.) First DATE. First time teaching Sunday school. It was a very fun, very exhausting week, packed to the gills with work and play.

          Teaching Sunday school is about a thousand times more terrifying than teaching in young women. Teaching Sunday school is probably less terrifying when one is actually and adult and not younger than most of the kids in the room. I dunno, just guessing here. Either way, though, it helps to remember that everyone in the room is busy falling asleep.

          Luckily, I also had my parents there. Part of me cringed because it meant I was standing there laying my soul out not just in front of my peers, who couldn't care less, but also my parents. Part of me was relieved because they'd be there to save me when too many minutes of silence confronted my questions. The lesson was uneventful. I survived. My mother tells me it went well; personally, I don't really mind either way, because I know I was prepared. And it's over. I'm glad to have had the opportunity; I always feel like I gain more from teaching lessons than anyone else does.
          What sticks with me, though, is how grateful I am to have such excellent parents. They are both so smart, and eloquent, and always know just what to say. I was talking about the lesson, but it goes so far beyond that. I know they love me; I'm never in doubt of that. I know they love each other. And by so much of what they do, I know they love God. Because, according to James 14:15 and Elder Uchtdorf (read this talk), we show our love to God by keeping the commandments. And every day, my parents show me that they love God.

          My dad's reserved. Very dry humor, sort of tongue-in-cheek. It's hard to tell whether he's being ironic or actually agrees with you. He lets his quirks and fun and goofiness show, and he's not afraid to be vulnerable; his emotion's just not often visible from the surface. It's subtle. You can tell, though, as he plays with his boys in sacrament meeting that they've got him wrapped around their little fingers. You can tell that he loves them, loves to be with them and make them laugh. "What a delight," he said one night of Gabe playing happily in George. He loves the way Jack mispronounces family and secret, the way he so eagerly shows him the train or sand or movie on his mind. He loves to hear Anna sing and practice her ukelele, and plays that game of Settlers with her when no one else will. In Ashlei he loves his little bike-riding companion on early-morning runs, and her sweet, mild temper. I get texts in the middle of class wishing me luck for the day, and he tells me how he likes it when he hears me sing. I know that he's proud of Jens, his work ethic and his compassion for others. He's always updated on Nena's busy life in Provo. Max tells us that Dad has never missed a week to write; not once has at least a quick email from my Dad been waiting in Max's inbox come p-day. He loves my mom and extols her patience with the city and kisses her in the middle of the kitchen sometimes to make us kids groan. By all these things I know that my dad loves us, and for that I am so grateful. There is so much more I might say, and it is all wonderful too, but the very most important stuff is right here. He loves us, and he loves God, and we will all get to live together someday. I am so grateful for the plan of salvation and my Father in heaven who loves us too.
       Have a wonderful week!
       Love, Grace

Kevin took us boating, and it was a blast.

My favorite of the tubing excerpts. Rachel, you are adorable.

 Talmage and I doubled with his cousin, Gavin Sundall, and Katelyn Connors. We hiked up to Patsy's Mine, which I didn't know existed, and then had marshmallows in his backyard. It was SO FUN. Dates. I want to go on lots of them.

Happy Father's Day.

Numero Uno

       You are looking at my first post on a blog ever. I know, it's just so momentous for the world.

       I'd like to begin my blog by explaining the title of it. I keep files and notes on my phone, one of which is called "life mottos." When something strikes a chord in me and I find myself thinking about it for a long time, I write it down here.

       People change. A lot. As our lives go on and our needs and viewpoints shift, different things become relevant to us at different times. I've heard a billion times the words, "I'd never noticed that scripture in that way before," or, "I've always loved this phrase, but this week I saw a completely new meaning in it." I've seen this in action in my own life, and my life mottos change, too. Obviously, any line in that file is there because it had great personal meaning for me at some point in my life, yet now many mean little to me. But there is one that has always stayed relevant:

We don't see things the way they are, but the way we are.

       No matter what, every day I have work to do in shifting my perspective, in correcting my lens, in removing the beam from my eye; in becoming less like the very fallible person I am and a little bit more like God, who sees infinite potential in every soul.

       Because I want to be like that. I want to be the type of person who motivates and uplifts, who calls a person to become greater than they currently are because I can see how great they can become. I want to become free of the stream of cynicism directed at the world, at society, at America, at the Church, at my friends and neighbors. Criticizing is easy. Gossiping is easy. I don't want that, and I do it too much. Instead, I want to push myself and others to become the very best we can possibly be. I want to transcend the tar pit of my negative outlook permanently and instead grow closer to God, that I may someday be like Him.

      Now we are all introduced to my blog! Posting will be random in timing and in topic until I get it all figured out. To be honest, this blog is mostly for me—to cover what my journal can't, to help me sort my thoughts, and to see my past self and thoughts later. I hope, though, that while doing so I may share a little joy with whoever reads this.
       Have a beautimous week!
       Love, Grace

Dear Sarah took me out for ice cream on my birthday... so that the surprise party Bekah planned for me would remain a surprise. I cannot believe how blessed I am to be surrounded by such incredible people. I am overwhelmed by all the kindness and support I've received. Thank you all so much.

This is Bekah and me together. Because she calls me Grass and I call her Beak. Thus, our friendship mascot, the toucan. I was pretty proud of this since I can't draw.