Old News

Jacquie Here!
To many of you, this is old news. But nevertheless, old news is exciting! I am going to be an aunt! For the first time in my life. I simply can't wait!

And it's all thanks to these cute people...

Shon & Caitlin Hancock
My brother and his super cute wife

Photos taken by Bonnie Fritz

Don't these pictures just make your day? There's something about babies and pregnant bellies that make girls like me get all choked up. I LOVE THEM! And I can't even tell you how excited I am to be "Aunt Jacquie". Or something like that. Whatever Jude Kendall Hancock decides to call me. And that name - So cute, right? I am proud to say that when the happy couple was listing off the names they were considering, "Jude" was my favorite. And they chose it! WOO! ("Hey Jude... Don't be afraid..." timeless song too!) I know that little Jude is going to be SPOILED ROTTEN by his 7 (Yes, SEVEN) aunts. I mean, of course! He's the first nephew on our side of the family! (First grandchild period, actually) And I can't wait to spoil him and love him and cuddle him and buy him cute jammies and brag about him! He's due on December 3rd, 2010. But obviously, there's no guarantee he'll come when he's supposed to. Haha. Oh, and let's talk about the Beautiful Caitlin for a minute... Is she not the most radiant, naturally beautiful pregnant lady you've ever seen? Really, she is so cute. I was lucky enough to live with them for a couple months over the summer and watched her belly grow and watched her take SUCH amazingly good care of herself and her baby. He is going to be the cutest, healthiest baby around, that's for sure. And he has his Momma to thank for taking such good care of the both of them. She's even doing a home birth, which is both the bravest and BEST decision ever! You can really tell how much she already loves this boy so much by the way she takes into consideration every little thing she does or eats and how it can affect little Jude. It really is amazing. She's already the best mother! And Shon! He is already such a good daddy! He's so excited. When I lived there, he would come home from work, and the first thing he would do when he walked through the door would be to kiss his wife and son. And then he'd press him face against her belly (like in the above photo) and talk to Jude. He couldn't stop saying how much he loved him! Oh my gosh, I'm getting a little choked up just thinking about it. And the whole time, I just watched. And fell in love with Jude too. :) I have dreams about him, seriously. Haha. He's definitely gonna be cute! I mean, just LOOK at those genes he's got going for him? Right?

Anyway, this is just the beginning of my "Auntie Brag Book", I'm sure. These two are going to have many cute little ones. And I have lots of other sisters who will do the same someday! :) But I'll have you know, Jude is always going to have a special place in all of our hearts, I'm sure, for being the first one of his generation on our side of the family. Doesn't mean I'll love the others any less, but... "Jude started it!".

Out,
Jacquie.

Sweet Sabbath

Hey, Jacquie Here.

On a scale of 1 - AWESOME right now, I think my Sabbath Day was AWESOME and a half! :)

Don't you just love when you go to church and ALL THREE blocks are just so powerful and amazing? And you feel like every talk and every lesson was prepared JUST for you? I know I do. (If you are unfamiliar with the LDS church, check this out)

Well that was today. Some of my favorite things to ask for in my Sunday morning (HA! "Sunday Morning"- One of my favorite songs EVER) prayers are: That I will be able to feel the spirit while I am at church that day, that I will be able to recognize someone in particular's needs and be able to help them in some way, and that I will be able to recognize when a lesson or talk is something that I especially need to hear.

HELLO! All three of those requests were made clear to me today. Love it.

So, even though all three blocks were just wonderful (Great talks in sacrament meeting; learned about covenants in Sunday School), I want to talk about Relief Society today. My lovely, sweet roommate Jordan Walls gave the lesson and I watched her prepare for it all week. She's so great. How cool is it that I have this Spiritual Giant living under the same roof as me? (Gee, I hope it rubs off on me!) Anyway, the lesson was centered around a talk given by Sister Elaine S. Dalton called "Remember Who You Are!" (General Young Women Meeting, April 2010). It was all about our individual worth as women in the church.

-We talked about a lot of the Young Women values (brought back memories) with an emphasis on Divine Nature, Individual Worth, and Virtue.

-Remember this scripture about virtue? It's short and sweet:
Proverbs 31:10 - Who can find a virtuous woman? For her price is far above rubies.
Going along with Virtue, we need to make sure that we are always living virtuous lives so that the Holy Ghost is always welcome in it. Jordan said (I paraphrase), "We may not have complete control over what we look like etc.. But we have complete control over whether or not we have the spirit with us". So true, right? Never really thought of it that way. There are a lot of things we can't control in our lives, but we DO have control over that and THAT is probably the #1 most important thing. And when we have the Spirit with us, others really CAN see it in our countenances. I can't even tell you how many amazing girls I know who are just so beautiful because the Spirit and the Gospel shine through in their countenances. About this, Jordan said (and I love this...), "The Holy Ghost literally makes you more attractive!". Haha. Love it.

-We talked about thinking positive thoughts about ourselves because, as women, a lot of us sometimes struggle with self-worth and giving ourselves credit for things. It's not that we should think selfish or conceited thoughts about ourselves. But it is really important that we remember our good qualities and focus on those while trying to strengthen our not-so-good ones. When we think positive thoughts about ourselves, our success rate goes up. We are able to get closer to reaching our full potential of what Heavenly Father wants us to be! Yes!

- We talked about seeing the good in others. Replace negative thoughts you have about others with three positive things. It will make it SO much easier to see the good in them and actually love them for it. Really, try it. Remember this scripture? Matthew 5:44 -

Autn:reference - http://scriptures.lds.org/matt/5/44#44

But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; (emphasis added). It's as simple as this: Pray for the people you have a hard time loving - try to see them through a Heavenly Father's eyes. Here's a quote I found on my "Honest Aid" juice bottle this week that went perfectly with this: "If you look for the bad in people, you will surely find it!" - Abraham Lincoln. How true that is. If bad things are all we are looking for when we look at a person, then bad things are all that we will find. But, try turning this quote around.. "If you look for the good in people, you will surely find it!".. Also true. And so much better! We should all try to look for the good in people more often, instead of making a "snap judgment" as my Visiting Teacher, Carrie, would say. And when you see the good in people, you can't help but LOVE them!

I kid you not, after this lesson, I couldn't help but just look around the room at all of the super cool and cute women in there and just love every single one of them! Try it; you'll like it. Thanks Jordan!

I am so sorry that this turned into like, a never-ending sermon. I tend to ramble. But I just HAD to share it. How appropriate that I just started a blog. :) Now go find your inner awesomeness and love someone!

Out,
Jacquie.


PS - I promise not all of my posts are going to be like this. I am just on a Sweet Sabbath High right now!

PSS - A few months ago, I posted something really sweet about women on The Roomie Blog. You should read that too. You won't be sorry.

Hello There

Hey, Jacquie Here!

Okay, so yes... I'm starting my own blog.

BUT WAIT..

Now I know what you're thinking... 'SO lame.. another one of those blogs that someone started so she could talk about herself and her opinions and make other people think she is cool'. Just so we can be at an understanding, this is not one of those blogs. Oh no. In fact, I've been debating whether or not to start this blog for months on end. Because I was one of those people once. I would find some girl's blog and think, 'Seriously? How pointless. Why do you feel the need to post endless blog postings all about yourself just so random people can read it?'. But then I came across some pretty awesome blogs of people I admire. And I started "following" them faithfully. And fell in love with their ways of thinking. And then I realized something... I think a lot. And I love to write. AND - I feel like I have somethings to say to the world (okay, maybe not the world, but to people who care to hear about said thoughts). So, combining those three things, I brought yet another blog into this world. But before that happened, I had a several-month-long battle with myself that went a little something like this:

Me: I just thought of a cool thing in my head and should write that down where people can read it!

Myself: Start a blog! You are a pretty decent writer....?

Me: Um.. NO! K, seriously, so many people have blogs where they ramble about themselves and that is lame. Not doing it.

Myself: But this doesn't have to be that kind of blog...

Me: Well, people will think it is. Blogs are for people who have an amazing life story.. Or who are married. Not single college kids.

Myself: Come on...

Me: Maybe I will just start one and not tell anyone about it.....?

Myself: Or you could just make one and tell a few people..

Me: Hm... I think I'll wait. Till I am married.

Myself: No, just start one already. You know you want to.

Me: (A few weeks later to present day) Okay. Fine.


So here we sit, Me and Myself... Finally on the same page, and starting a blog.

Now, I know this is getting pretty lengthy, but let me just add that I still am not entirely sure what kind of blog this is going to be. And I know for a fact that there will be times when I am just an awesome blogger on a blogathon, and other times when I won't write for a long period of time. It just means I have nothing to say. Or no time to say it. One or the other. Anyway, that having been said, I hope one of these days you find something you like here. And I hope that I will be able to touch you in some way. Or make you smile. Or make you laugh. Or get you thinking about something you've never really thought of before. THAT is what this is about. Not about what I wore today or about how much I wish I didn't have to study for that mid-term. So, here we go.

That is all. Thank you for being here today!

Out,
Jacquie.