Monday, May 18, 2015

Work, Hobbies and Callings!

As you can tell by my lack of blog posts lately, Tannin and I have been super duper busy. Tannin finished off the semester at BYU with stellar grades and we got to enjoy our last few days in Provo with friends before moving back to New Mexico for the summer.

The night before we left, we got to eat dinner with some of our dearest friends and we got to visit with our "family" in Utah. We are overly grateful for the people that we met in our ward and for how blessed our lives became because of them.

When we got all of our stuff in the U-haul, I got choked up and started to cry. When goodbyes are hard, that's how you know your life is blessed beyond what you deserve.


Our good friends, the Kwarms and the cutest kids ever. 

I love my friend Venna Dee. She has touched my life in such a short amount of time. 

Us in front of our first home as a married couple. 

The Stewards. We cannot say enough good about these two people. They have served their Heavenly Father with all of their hearts and are still blessing lives. We love you!
Gigi. Ang aking Filipina na kaibigan. Mamimiss kita. 
Keri and baby girl Roxy. Our husbands thought we were pretty pathetic saying goodbye to each other, since it's only a few months. We have separation anxiety. 

The Romine's, the Steward's, the Kwarm's, Gigi,  and sweet Venna Dee are just the beginning of the blessings we had in Provo last semester. We are excited to get back.

But for now...

We're back in Grants and are blessed to have both families near. Business is doing well and we're both working hard every single day. Today we both got called to be ward missionaries and I got called to be our ward Girl's Camp director! We're going to be busy. When we got set apart, the blessings were so powerful and both Tannin and I were promised that we would both be able to feel the spirit we felt as missionaries return to us as we did well in our service as ward missionaries. I got so choked up! That's something that is a struggle as an RM, because life takes over and you can't possibly give 100 percent of your time to missionary work. As a result, the spirit you used to feel on the mission isn't as powerful. But being promised that that spirit would return was so exciting to us! We came home and studied Preach My Gospel as a couple!

Part of our lives has been developing new talents together and as individuals.

First of all, I have started to sew. I LOVE SEWING. Let me tell ya. If I could sew all day, I would. I took beginner's lessons in Provo, but it just so happens that my mother-in-law is one heck of a seamstress so she's been helping me out, but I'm getting a lot more confident on my own. This is a skirt I just made last week. It has pockets!


Tannin and I tried for the first few months to find a hobby together. We went to a trampoline park. He loved it. We exercised. I loved it. We also tried golf, bike riding, and who knows what else. But one day we decided we both loved taking pictures. So we have a lot of fun learning about our new camera and just driving around to find new spots to take pictures. We've put a lot of money and time into learning about it. We're definitely newbies, but we'd love to take pictures of everyone and anyone as we start out!

Here are some shots I've taken and edited.








As I say in every post, our lives are extremely blessed. I remember before going on my mission, I was offered a scholarship to a university that I greatly wanted to attend for graduate school. That was my dream. But I had felt that the Lord wanted me to serve a mission. My plan and His plan were on two different tracks. When deciding what to do, I was fasting and praying. I found my mission call and began to read. In the call letter it states, "The Lord will reward you for the goodness of your life. Greater blessings and more happiness that you have yet experienced await you as you humbly and prayerfully serve the Lord in this labor of love among His children."

Because I read that, I knew what I had to do. I gave my own desires up to serve the Lord to whom I had owed everything. My husband also served, which means the same promised was given to him. I testify that that very promise has come true and is still coming true every single day.

You don't have to wear the name tag to be blessed. Just serve with love. No, our life isn't without trial and hardship, but the blessings definitely outweigh!

Thanks for catching up with us!

Ciara

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