Itty-Bitty Blessings

Hey friends! I hope Relief Society today was as inspiring for you as it was for me. Unless you're a man, that is, and then I hope you are working to help your Priesthood class discussion reach our level.  (Just teasing!) We were reminded today that GRATITUDE is the name of the game, and I absolutely and 100% agree. Elder Uchtdorf put it this way, " I’m suggesting that instead of being thankful  for  things, we focus on being thankful  in  our circumstances—whatever they may be."  That is the idea!! And I'm so happy to be in these circumstances right now. Here are the golden moments of the week. I went to the opera!! It was recently brought to my attention that I had never been, and so I decided to be a rebel, put aside my mountain of homework, and go to The Marriage of Figaro at BYU. It was kind of up in the air who I would go with, and just a couple hours before the show, I remembered my dear mission companion (Revelation? I think so.) and texted her, a...

What if I began this post by telling you all that I was in love? For that is, indeed, what I wish to write about today. Doubtless you would think that I was talking about some cute guy in one of my classes, or one of my nice coworkers, and you'd smile a little to think that I'd be smitten in so little time after returning home from my mission. Well, my dear people, I will not deny that this is a probable assumption after reading my first sentence, that "I am in love." But let's think about this a different way. This week I spent more time with Sydney, my sister, than I have in a long time. I stayed with her one evening after classes to help her with a paper, we studied together for a Humanities test that we have, we went to True Blue Foam (see picture below) together, donated blood one evening, went on a family outing to Salt Lake City, etc. One night I was texting her and realized- "You know what? Sydney is one of my best friends!! I love being around h...

Man, I couldn't even wait until Sunday to start this post! If what follows seems incoherent, that probably results from the weekend of picking and editing and adding that I did. Who knew I would so easily fall into the comfort of casual web-style writing? Love it!! I found myself sincerely surprised by the feel of the week. There were not so many big events, like the one that came before, but here are some quiet highlights:  Miracle 1: Having a Mom willing to wake up in the night to watch a lunar eclipse with you. My mother is a gem.  2: Having SO MUCH reading to do, and resigning myself to a very long and tedious night. I found myself dozing, despite the straight-back kitchen chair and bright lights.... Miracle? Just three songs on Just Dance woke me up well enough to finish the whole reading assignment. I even got to bed by 12:30 that night. Score for mixing work and play!!  Miracle Number 3. (This may seem trivial, but I'll explain myself. Just wait.) I work in ...

Another Erica Oldroyd blog, you might ask? Why in the world? Well, allow me to explain. 1. I love to write. 2. I've had the idea on the backburner ever since I got back from my mission, but never felt like I had a good enough excuse or a good enough subject matter to really merit starting one. 3. As I sat in the women's session of conference, I seemed to forget those objections and just felt it. They sisters spoke so beautifully about sharing what we know, about shining our individual light, and I knew this was one way to do it. 4. As I turned over the idea, it occurred to me that I might make this blog a bi-lingual one, thereby stretching my Spanish writing skills and giving me an opportunity to stay connected with my dear Chilean people. I mean, when someone asks you how you are, there are only so many times you can say, "Good! Working and going to school." 5. The premise of this blog, then, will also be something to keep me on the ball with my journaling. I...