Ashleigh’s First thoughts

First impressions of Todd: He is cute, awkward acting but cute! He has such blue eyes!!! Did this guy seriously just hit me?

First thoughts every time I walked into our class: I hope I look ok… quick, fluff the hair

First thought of our first date (what Todd counts as our first date): This is awkward…. This isn’t a date right?....

First time I texted him and he texted back: Did he just say I was the girl of his dreams? :)

First walk: Did this guy seriously just tell me to go on a mission… I guess he doesn’t like me

First time he told me he didn’t like me: See friends… I told you he didn’t like me… :(

First time he held my hand: Oh crap!

First kiss: A tad out of practice… I can fix that…

First time he brought me a card and a flower to cheer me up: Oh… he is too cute!

First time he made me chocolate cake: He’s a keeper!

First time he met my family: He fits in so well… He can almost out talk them

First time I met his family: Gosh… I should just marry him because of his family

First “I love you”: I knew it… and I love you too

First long goodbye: I don’t know what I’ll do without him

First time I knew with certainty that I had to marry him: Paris boat ride, wishing he was with me holding my hand

First time seeing him after the long goodbye time: Oh how I miss him and love him… he is a good kisser, I almost forgot

First time we made plans for our wedding: Wow… Am I this old already… wow… he is perfect though

First thought when I saw him the day he proposed: What is he doing here? Oh my gosh, oh my gosh

First time we went through the temple together: This man is perfect for me, I am glad he will be mine forever… he is so cute in white

First time I saw him the day we got married: I can’t believe this is happening; I am so lucky and so happy

First kiss as husband and wife: We’re married… why is everyone laughing?

With only two years of marriage under our belt, there continues to be a lot of “firsts”; first apartment, first car, first marriage fight, first holiday’s, first real hard struggle as a family, first dog and so on and so on. Through all those firsts there is no one else I would want by my side than Todd. If anyone knows our story, you’ll recall that it wasn’t an easy beginning. I remember writing in my journal that there was this guy that wouldn’t ever go away (partly because I played games… my bad) and then he turned into the guy that I never wanted to go away. I put him through a lot when we first met but I knew there was something special about him. Todd is the perfect man for me and he has stuck by me through thick and thin. He is my best friend, the best kisser and the best person I could ever have the opportunity to be with. After two years of marriage we have cried (yes, I have seen Todd cry on occasion… I know, a miracle), we have fought, we have laughed a lot, and I love him more now, then I ever thought was possible two years ago today. Thanks for being the guy that wouldn’t go away. These past two years have been the best two years of my life (hey we made it a mission’s length, nice work) and I look forward to our other firsts in our journey through eternity. Love you Todd Sagers Altom, glad you picked me!

White Trash Tour

So I know I've blogged A LOT but really I have nothing else to do... I need a new book and I got a headache from catching up on all my tv shows... so I'm blogging!

I decided I would give everyone a tour of our white trash apartment. The apartment itself is nice but since Todd and I will only be here about three months, we don't care to invest anything into the place. I told Todd this morning we were white trash and he took offense, but really, I find it very entertaining... so, here is the white trash tour.... (at least we are clean white trash)... 

Exhibit A-Todd brought me home a pretty yellow flower... our vase? Well a plastic water bottle of course... see Z&J, we reuse and recycle:)

Exhibit B- Yes, our bed is basically in the kitchen AND it doesn't have a bedskirt (a pet peeve of mine)

Exhibit C- Now I should be worried about showing off our dirty laundry, but hey, I'm white trash (so really this should be Exhibit C and D). Our hampers are Target and Wal-Mart grocery bags... reusing and recycling yet again

Exhibit E- You may be wondering what our beautiful window covers are... well to duplicate our beautiful work, accidentally purchase two $3 fitted twin sheets in any color you wish (we chose orange to go with the orange theme of the house)

Exhibit F- Now these I actually love!! They don't match, they are old and not very comfortable but they are "His & Her's Chairs." I love them! They remind me of "UP" (don't worry, a picture will soon follow). I actually love the shapes and if the flowered one was cleaned up, I think it would be really cute! What really Exhibit F is trying to show is the wonderful cardboard on the floor. We were worried about scratching the floor, so I woke up one morning to find this little trick done by Todd. All I could say when I saw it was "Smart idea Todd, that'll work," and I went on my merry way. I know think cardboard is a great idea...

To top it all off, all of our decor is basically Gus's stuff. But hey, it works.

That now concludes the white trash tour... please, don't judge...

Kids in NYC

I received a wonderful text message on Tuesday, informing me that Todd had the day off on Wednesday… doesn’t his job just sound so rough;)? But who am I to talk. Anywho, we were very excited to have another day together. Once again we decided to head to the city. Everytime we go there both Todd and I say “Let’s live here!” We really do love being there and everything about it (well except the cost). We first took the subway to the World Trade Center. Neither Todd nor I had seen that area before. It is very much under construction over there. During the subway ride, I kept thinking what it would have been like to be in that subway that day; could they hear it? Did it shut the subway down immediately? And what would it have been like to come out of the tunnel? At church some of the ladies talked about what it was like that day and they are absolutely right, if you weren’t there, you don’t really know what it was like. It was an interesting feeling to see that area but it gives one hope when you see new buildings being constructed.

I got my first glimpse of the New York Statue of Liberty while we were in that area (I say the NY because I’ve already seen two others in France…well three if you include the one in Las Vegas). The area we were in had all the Wall St and financial people having lunch… at that moment I wondered what it would be like to be rich?

I convinced Todd that we should go to my favorite place again… Central Park. We just wanted to roam around some more and I wanted to get a good look at “The Mall.” Todd and I had lunch at a restaurant that is by the sheep meadow thing (it’s the big grassy area that you see all the time in movies. They call it the sheep something because in the olden days sheep grazed that area. Now there is just a ton of people sun bathing). 

We then had ice cream at the Bethesda Fountain (that’s the fountain where the guy in “The Wedding Planner” is going to get married and where Giselle finishes singing “That’s how you know”). 

We then walked “The Mall” (also in a bunch of movies, “When Harry Met Sally”, “Maid in Manhattan” and “Big Daddy”… I’m just giving movie triviaJ). 

I entitled this blog “Kid’s in NYC” because that is basically what Todd and I are. Our next adventure was FAO Schwarz; that place is magical! I wanted to buy everything but Todd said “No.” I even found a onesie (not that I need it anytime soon) that said “Give my mommy chocolate and everything will be ok” or something to that effect… perfect? I think so. They also had M&M onesies… very cute… oh and also an elephant dress. I also wanted to buy all the stuffed animals… but Todd is a meany. Our main purpose of going there was to play on the “Big” piano (now I don’t know if it is called the “Big” piano because of the movie or because of the fact it’s big) anywho, we went there because of the movie. The guy that works at that area has the best job ever. He just watches people, teaches people and occasionally plays on the piano. Todd and this guy did “Heart and Soul” and “Chopsticks” (that one was funny because they basically had to go into the splits to get some of the notes).

Although Todd had already played the song, I had to, so I made him do it again with me. I kept messing up but finally we got it and we did it “Big” style. We had a little audience as well and at the end we received a standing ovation (granted everyone was already standing). 

After that I was pooped and ready to go home, haha (I should go there everyday so I can lose weight). Oh, Todd now thinks my favorite store, Banana Republic, is now reasonably priced and fairly cheap… yeah, yeah that’s right, woot, woot! We ventured into this one store Todd’s boss shops at (something Goodman) and not only were we very under dressed but very under supplied with money. A shirt was almost one month’s rent for us… bargain? I think not! What’s it made out of? Gold… diamonds? It better be handmade with gold tread. After we discovered we are to poor to live in Manhattan we went back to Jersey City, made hamburgers and fries and watched “What Happens in Vegas.”

At the moment Gus and I are home, bored. Waiting once again for the Comcast guy to come. You ask what I do all day, well… I clean a lot (just reorganized my shelves for no reason), read and write this blog (hence why our blog is now huge). But that’s the latest…

p.s. We finally have a real bed!!!!

Park Day=a wonderful day!!!

For some reason, the things that I want to see the most here in this big city are things that are related to movies… and most of those things have to do with parks. I love parks. I don’t know why but I could spend hours and days at a park. The two places I really, really wanted to visit were of course Central Park and Riverside Park. One of my favorite movies is “You’ve Got Mail.” The whole movie is based in the west side of town by Riverside Dr. and Riverside Park. At the very end of the movie, Meg Ryan’s character (Kathleen Kelly) is waiting at Riverside Park for her online romance man to show up. Much to her surprise and excitement, her online romance guy, the man she loves, is Tom Hank’s character (Joe Fox). I fell in love with that park in the movie and I had to go there.  If Todd and I ever live long-term in NYC, I pick the west side as our place of residence. It is beautiful over there. It’s still the big city but calmer and a lot more trees and flowers. Riverside Park is very beautiful but I can imagine that it is even prettier in the spring/summer (which is when the movie takes place). I stood right were the characters stood.

Todd wasn’t all that into it but I was glad we got to go. 

I convinced Todd to walk all the way from Riverside Park to Central Park… it really isn’t that bad. We saw the Museum of Natural History, ate some more hot dogs and walked around the outside of the park. 

As we were walking a man stopped us and asked if we wanted to do a bike tour of the park (I can’t remember what it’s called but we just sit while a guy pulls us on his bike). Todd wasn’t all that into it at first (due to the cost) but my excitement and the lowering of price changed his mind. I told the guy we wanted a really exciting and funny driver; he just took us to the very first driver, haha. My first thought was “wow, this guy is smaller than me, poor thing has to pull us?” and Todd’s was “hmmm he is Asian…where is he from?” Todd asked the guy where he was from and guess what? He was from Mongolia… and the rest is history.

 The tour was a lot of fun! In case you didn’t know… that park is rather large and this was a much easier way of seeing the whole thing. I told Todd many times that I wanted to go back to certain places, but I don’t know how we would’ve walked the entire thing so I am glad we did the bike thing (I think we might rent our own bikes next week which should be fun). 

Central Park is amazing; it is so beautiful, I wanted to stay there. Every place I saw I thought of a movie (mostly “Enchanted”) and I wanted to burst into song (I occasionally twirled around but refrained from the singing). We also saw the FRIENDS fountain, which is really called Cherry Hill Fountain, but the fountain in the opening scene in FRIENDS is based on this fountain (I also refrained from jumping into it but Todd said maybe next time). 

We had a great time and Todd enjoyed speaking Mongolian. After the park we stopped at a cupcake shop…YUM!! We then ventured over to see the temple. On the way there we stopped at a post office and Burberry…haha so expensive!! Cute clothes and even cuter kids clothes. Todd found a scarf there for a mere $250…bargain? I think so! The temple is crazy…all the sudden you see the Angel Moroni. We just really looked at it but we are hoping to go do a session (once we can get new temple recommends).  On the way home, Todd got us lost, I got us found (thanks to the previous day when I got lost) and we made it home safe and sound. The night ended with “You’ve Got Mail.” It was a wonderful day. Todd and I love NYC!

ALMOST Statue of Liberty Adventure

Thursday, Todd informed me that he would be getting off early from work the next day. We decided it would be fun to go to the Statue of Liberty. We kind of just assumed it would be an easy thing to do, but it turned out to be a tad more difficult. We should’ve known things weren’t going our way when Todd didn’t get off all that early and our internet still wasn’t working (something with the wiring of an old building…blah blah blah). I should also mention that we wanted to go to the Crown but apparently you have to plan months in advance for that and we just decided that day to go…so…we didn’t plan well.  Anywho, Todd got home, we left, just intending to go and look at Lady Liberty. The train dropped us off at a station and from there we had no idea where to go. I had read online that there was a shuttle services from this station to the ferry but when we got there, we discovered that after the summer the shuttle is only available on weekends. We looked at a map and it was really only a mile to the ferry so we started walking. I knew we needed to buy tickets before we got to the ferry but we didn’t know where to get them. A third of the way down to the ferry, we decided to go to this science center and I looked online, and sure enough we could buy tickets there. We got to the science center and it was closed (the only day this month). It was determined that the Statue of Liberty was a no go that day. We then had to walk back to the station we got dropped off at but ended up taking a strange route and going in a huge circle. We took the bus back to our house but ended up getting dropped off a good two miles away from our place. We didn’t really mind it because we needed to find a store to get a few things for a dessert. Little did we know that our area of town really isn’t part of the United States. In our two-mile journey we visited Mexico, China, India and Vietnam. None of the many countries we visited had chocolate chips or oatmeal. We got back to our place, picked up Gus and continued walking to other countries. Finally we came to a little market that sold American Food!!! It was a very happy moment.  A day that was suppose to be filled with site seeing, easy shopping and minimal walking, ended up being a day filled with traveling the world, hard shopping and a lot of walking. But in the end we had fun and that’s all that really matters.

Day 5

So I am done giving moment-by-moment details, I just thought I’d show everyone how crazy the first two days were (and to keep for my own personal record). I probably will lose track of days too, so I will need to get creative on post titles.

Todd started his job on Tuesday and absolutely loves it! His boss apparently is way cool and he loves doing Sony projects. I think his favorite thing is finding out about things before the rest of the world does; he likes secrets. He normally works from 10-5ish but this week they haven’t been having him go in till 2. I think he has his commute down so it usually takes him 40 minutes to get from here to there. Todd is a city boy and loves being here. As for me, I’ve done really nothing. I unpacked us and that’s about it…well until today.

Thursday was my first outing to the big city and I love the big city!! Todd and I first went to the FRIENDS building in Greenwich Village. That area is beautiful!! I kept telling Todd I wanted to live there, especially the actual FRIENDS building. 

Afterwards we took a Taxi (Gus and mine’s first) to canal street/china town. 

It’s like Mexico only with Chinese people and in the USA, haha. I wanted to get a purse and the second purse shop we came to had Burberry purses. Since Todd loves Burberry I decided a purse would be fun for me. I got a very cute one and a wallet. We brought the guy down $30 dollars…not bad. We spent all the cash we had so we then made our way to Central Park. We got lost kind of but it allowed me to see more of the city. Central Park is awesome! We ate our hot dogs, listened to jazz music, met some other dog lovers and I watched a kickball game (I really want to join that league). Todd left me at 1:30 and I thought I would be able to entertain myself for 4 hours so I decided to hang around. I soon (after an hour) got tired of walking and got cold. I decided to head home but unfortunately between my phone, and a misguided direction from Todd, I got lost. I kept making circles and then I’d get some success and end up lost again. I somehow made it to Madison Square Garden, saw some more sights and eventually got on the right train. So I’ve done the whole metro thing in London and Paris and NYC is WAY more confusing!!!! First off, in those other cities there are maps everywhere and you figure out the main lines and you’re golden. Here, however, they expect you to know where you’re going. So in the end, I only got home an hour before Todd and spent the four hours lost, walking and instead of cold, hot. Luckily, I made it home minutes before it started raining cats and dogs. Even with getting lost, I love it here and so does Todd. Gus enjoys city life too; he loves all the smells, the other dogs and chasing pigeons (it takes awhile to get anywhere if he is walking). But the Altom family is safe and having fun and we will keep everyone updated on our little adventures.

New York Adventure: Day 2

8:00 am- Woke up to a wonderful smelling breakfast!!!
8:30 am- Got ready

9:30 am- I guess I should mention the Lord is amazing. Although this New York adventure has been crazy thus far, He has put wonderful people in our way to help us (Claire, Joe and Elder and Sister Hibbert). The Hibbert’s main responsibility as missionaries is to do the moving for the Elders and Sisters. They help with transfers and getting them all set up. Because of this, they said we could use some of the mission’s furniture that was in storage.  So at this time we drove to the storage unit and got a bunch of kitchen supplies. We will also be getting to dressers and two chairs here shortly. This definitely took a lot of pressure off Todd and I. This adventure has not been cheap so a little savings has been wonderful. Thank you!!!

10:00 am- Said good-bye to the Hibbert’s and made our way back to Jersey City

10:45 am- Walked to Chase to get the deposit. Gus is very popular here

11:00 am- Someone asked me for directions…hahahaha. I told her I’d heard of the street before but that was it

11:15 am- Got the keys to our apartment. It felt like we had never rented an apartment before

11:30 am- Moved all our stuff into the apartment.

12:30 pm- Went to Rent-A-Center, didn’t rent anything…

1:00 pm- Went to Target, realized we would spend more money here than at Wal-Mart, and they didn’t have everything we need so we drove to Kearny to go to Wal-Mart

1:15 pm- Had troubles with my insurance…sigh

1:30 pm- Shopped till two carts were too full…still need to go back to Target because this Wal-Mart doesn’t have produce…sigh

3:00 pm- Made it back to our apartment and cleaned

5:30 pm- Headed back to Wal-Mart to return some shower curtains (the master bath has a tub but it was too dirty and has a huge window that people can see in so we decided to save $25 on two shower curtains and a curtain rod).

6:00 pm- Went to Claire and Joe’s house to get their air mattress… Thanks again!!

6:15 pm- Filled up the rental car with gas and headed to Newark Airport to return the car by 7:00pm

6:20 pm- Realtor called and said landlord wasn’t happy about the dog…. pretty much thought we were getting kicked out

6:30 pm- Hit traffic and tons of rain

6:54 pm- Made it to the car rental place with six minutes to spare

7:05 pm- Rode the Newark train to the other end of the airport

7:25 pm- Realized we got off at the wrong spot and got back on and went in reverse

7:40 pm- Got out of the Newark Airport and waited for a bus

7:40 pm- Got on the bus and almost died because the bus driver started moving before I was holding onto something

8:15 pm- Got dropped off at Newark Penn Station to catch the Path Train to get to Jersey City. Got a little confused but finally got on the right train

8:40 pm- Walked from the Grove Station to our apartment

8:50 pm- Realtor called and said we won’t be getting kicked out of the apartment, we just need to pay a deposit for the dog…dang dog

9:00 pm- Todd steamed his shirt and we made up our bed

9:15 pm- Ashleigh realized Gus’s shampoo leaked and got all over Gus’s things and some of her stuff…spent 20 minutes washing things out

9:45 pm- Made some tuna fish sandwiches for dinner

10:15 pm- Got all stressed about finances…this adventure is expensive!!!

11:00 pm- Watched two episodes of FRIENDS

12:00 am- Went to sleep!

New York Adventure: Day 1

5:3o am (3:30 am Utah/Idaho time)- Arrived at JFK after a decent red eye flight... very little sleep however, due to the rather large and snoring man by Todd and the whimpering Gus next to Ashleigh.
6:00 am- Paid for a cart to carry our luggage. Took Gus to the "Pet Relief Area"... watched four dogs come and "Go" and left after Gus did nothing.
6:30 am- Boarded the AirTrain (after Ashleigh finally asked for directions)to go and get a rental car.
6:45 am- Gus finally relieved himself and we headed to NYC in the rental car.
7:00 am- Missed an exit and had to back track.
7:15 am- Ashleigh saw the NYC skyline for the fist time.
7:30 am- Found an H&M store (three stories high) and Banana Republic... oh and Broadway all close together... what more do I need?
7:45 am- Paid $5 for a toll we didn't need to pay for because our rental car had a fast pass inside.
8:00 am- Found a possible apartment in Union City. Fairly nice apartment building but the city... well... everything was in Spanish, which would be fine if I had learned anything from my three years of Spanish class.
8:30 am- Ate McDonald's for breakfast and took a nap inside the car.
10:45 am- Woke up feeling not very refreshed. Drove to Jersey City to look at another possible apartment. Looked ok from the outside.
11:30 am- Decided to go for a walk in a park, got cold, went back into the car and took fell asleep.
1:00 pm- Ate lunch at Pizza Hut and drove to the realtor's office. Saw a woman come out of a tattoo place with skin tight gold pants... "Gus, I have a feeling we're not in Idaho anymore. We must be over the rainbow."
2:15 pm- Met the realtor at the Jersey City apartment along with two other men. Waited 15minutes till we got the right key... went up... didn't look to awful... went into the bathroom... EWWWWWWW... I love cleaning but there is no way I would touch that bathroom. Todd and I decided we couldn't do it.
3:00 pm- Got depressed that we still didn't have a place to live... Realtor said if we didn't like that apartment, we wouldn't like the one in Union City (scary thoughts).
3:15 pm- Went back to the realtor's office (side note... the realtor's office was called "American Homes." Now this was ironic because everyone there was from the middles east or egypt), met with a different realtor, Sam, who was the biggest salesman ever (big not as in fat)
3:30 pm- Sam took us to a different apartment that was sooooo nice; although the hall is a little scary and smells like cat pee. We were sold and went back to the office to fill out paperwork.
4:15 pm- Drove around to find a Chase Bank/ATM to get a deposit. Bank and ATM were closed... no deposit... no place to sleep.
4:30 pm- Decided to fill out paperwork; we would move in on Monday. Todd ended up taking the day of so Ashleigh wouldn't have to move and go shopping all by herself (thanks honey).
5:30 pm- Decided to keep the rental car for another day, decided we would sleep in it.
5:45 pm- Drove to Kearny (the place we were originally going to live) to meet up with our helpful friends Claire and Joe.
6:30 pm- Arrived just in time. Met Claire and Joe and Brother and Sister Hibbert. We had a great time, visited, felt like real people, and ate pizza... again... but it was GOOD!
7:15 pm- Got asked where we were staying the night... said maybe our car... Elder and Sister Hibbert said we could stay with them!!
8:00 pm- Thanked Claire and Joe for everything and headed to Lake something something to sleep.
8:30 pm- Arrived and got ready for bed.
10:00 pm- Fell asleep on the best hide-a-way bed ever! Sweet Dreams!!
p.s. it rained the entire day!

Because I Have Been Given Much...

Today I woke up not in the best of moods. The thought occurred to me that this last month I haven’t been in the best of moods...sorry. I wasn’t trilled to go to church, but like a good girl I went, and I am so glad I did. Fast and Testimony meetings are the best. It's a wonderful time to hear of others testimonies and to reflect on your own. I tried to remember the last time I bore my testimony and I couldn’t remember…I knew it was in Rexburg and that was about it. I didn’t get/take the opportunity to bare mine but I thought very hard at where my testimony stood. Many thoughts were going through my head, like how I know this gospel is true, I know the scriptures are true; I do know it! But then, as it usually happens with me, I thought about pray and thought, “Does it really work for me?” As with everyone else, my life has not been all sunny and happy, it fact it has been very difficult. Many times I have knelt in prayer asking for help, for blessings, and guidance, and while I know the Lord has helped me and guided me, I seem to think of all the prayers that haven’t been answered. I sometimes seem to dwell on the negative things in my life and forget about all the many blessings I have been given. This past month I have felt like I was being punished for something, or that I'm just not good enough to receive blessings, and I’ve struggled in the knowing that Heavenly Father and Jesus love me.

All these thoughts were going through my head, then towards the end of the meeting a young boy, about 11, got up to bare his testimony. He was scared to death. He kept shaking and under his breath he even said, “I’m so nervous”. He went on to say he was a foster child and has been through a bunch of foster homes and is now living with a family in my parent’s ward. He talked about how when he was 6 years old he was staying with an LDS family. At that young of age he could tell something was special in that family and loved to go to church. His testimony was short and hard to understand through his nervousness but he knew the gospel made his life better. This young boy started me on a different wave of thoughts; I began to count my blessings. The closing song was “Because I Have Been Given Much.”

My senior year in high school I had the opportunity to be a Seminary President. One of the girls in my class lost her father during the school year and it was my responsibility to do something for her. I didn’t really know exactly what to do because at that point I had never lost someone in my life. The only thing I could think of was to get a card, have the whole class sign it and take that card along with some flowers to her. The weeks past and finally she returned to school. My seminary teacher decided one day, instead of having a lesson that we were going to share our favorite hymns and sing them. Towards the end, the girl who lost her father volunteered her favorite song, “Because I Have Been Given Much.” She told us she loved this song because it was her dad’s favorite song. She began to cry and the whole class began to cry. She continued saying that her father could always find the joy in things and always thought he was truly blessed. The girl then said that she too was very blessed; she had the gospel, a family that loved her, and a wonderful father who she will be with again someday.

I remembered that story and thought to myself, I am indeed truly blessed. I have the gospel in my life. I was raised and taught by parents and family members that truly love me. I have wonderful friends who build me up and keep me laughing. I have an old family and a new family who teach me through their words and actions how I should be. I have my health (even though it has gone down since I got married…I’m allergic to marriage), I have an education and I’m not in too much debt because of it:). I have had the opportunity to travel the world and see this beautiful place that God has created. I have a husband who is a way better person than me, and who has faith that is unwavering. He never lets the woes of the world get him down. He has such faith and knowledge of the Lord’s plan that he knows for a fact that everything will be ok. In fact his most used line is “every little thing is going to be alright.” I hope one day I can have that much faith but I am thankful he pulls me along and keeps me going. I have a Heavenly Father and a Savoir who do love me and do watch over me. Someone suffered for me so that I could repent and return to be with Him and my Heavenly Father. They are with me through everything and I need to not forget that. I may not know why things happen or what will happen in my life but the Lord does and I need to follow Him and put full trust in Him. I am indeed blessed and I am thankful for all of my blessings and the opportunity the Lord gives me to grow. Happy Fast Sunday!:)