creation

a view of the moon - I took this picture with my iPhone looking through a telescope in Idaho during my last semester there

Today was my first Sunday teaching Sharing Time in primary. I was pretty nervous because I had never done it before & wasn't sure how my lesson would turn out. It went pretty well & I really enjoyed preparing & studying for it. We are learning about how Heavenly Father has a plan for His children this month. I got to teach a lesson about the Plan of Salvation and it was fun having the children participate with the activity. It is always fun to hear their sweet and humble answers.

my Plan of Salvation cutouts - I got the idea from this lesson on lds.org: http://www.lds.org/friend/print/2008/01/my-life-is-a-gift-my-life-has-a-plan?lang=eng&clang=eng

Anyways, I started preparing my lesson for next Sunday after I got home from church - btw, I've been enjoying 9 am church and having the rest of the day to prepare lessons, do some gospel study... & nap :)  Next week, the lesson is about how Heavenly Father commanded Jesus Christ to create the earth as a home for His children. I searched on lds.org for some ideas on how to describe the creation & incorporate participation & an activity for the lesson with the kids. I ended up making a chart of the 7 days and writing down what happen on each day with the scripture reference. I was going through Genesis & then through Moses to fill out the chart but I was having a hard time figuring out what exactly was being described on some of the days of creation - so I searched lds.org for a talk or lesson that would describe and explain each day.

I found an amazing, powerful talk by Elder Russell M. Nelson - given as a General Conference address in 2000, entitled "The Creation." He describes each day of the creation I found day 4 so interesting because I had never realized what truly happened in that period:

"Period four was a time of further development. Lights in the expanse of the heaven were organized so there could be seasons and other means of measuring time. During this period, the sun, the moon, the stars, and the earth were placed in proper relationship to one another. The sun, with its vast stores of hydrogen, was to serve as a giant furnace to provide light and heat for the earth and life upon it.^"

How neat! How great is the plan of our Heavenly Father. He created all things so perfectly and precisely to make all things possible. I found this attention activity in a primary lesson during my study that helps explain the perfect nature of Heavenly Father:

"Show the children the container of puzzle pieces. Ask one of the children to shake the container and try to dump the pieces on the table so that all the pieces fall into place to form a complete picture. Point out that a puzzle cannot fall into place by chance—it requires an intelligent being to organize the pieces and carefully put them together.

Show the picture Creation—Living Creatures and discuss some things that show that the creation of the earth was carefully planned. For example, the earth has to be the right distance from the sun or everything on it would burn or freeze. Without the right amount of oxygen, humans and animals could not breathe.

If there was too little gravity, we would float off the earth. Help the children understand that the earth did not come about by accident or chance. A loving Heavenly Father directed Jesus Christ to organize this beautiful earth for us."

What a blessing that is to have a knowledge that our Creator is perfect and that He has a divine plan for each and everyone of us. He has prepared a way for us to return to live with Him again and has created a beautiful world for us to live in. Makes me think about how everything I see around me is a testimony that God is real & that He created all things. Elder Nelson also says in his talk:

"I testify that the earth and all life upon it are of divine origin. The Creation did not happen by chance. It did not come ex nihilo (out of nothing). And human minds and hands able to build buildings or create computers are not accidental. It is God who made us and not we ourselves. We are His people! The Creation itself testifies of a Creator. We cannot disregard the divine in the Creation. Without our grateful awareness of God’s hand in the Creation, we would be just as oblivious to our provider as are goldfish swimming in a bowl. With deep gratitude, we echo the words of the Psalmist, who said, 'O Lord, how manifold are thy works! in wisdom hast thou made them all: the earth is full of thy riches.'"

I have a testimony of Heavenly Father & of our Savior, Jesus Christ! I am so grateful for God's creations! It is such a blessing to be able to teach these beautiful concepts to the primary children in my ward and to help them understand that they are loved & that they are individually known by a great Being - their Father in Heaven. I encourage anyone who reads this post to check out the rest of Elder Nelson's talk. It is powerful and it is full of truth. I am so grateful that we can know our purpose here in earth & though we may not be able to comprehend all things, the mysteries of God will be unfolded to us someday.

Wedding Photo Book 8.10.12

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thankful

we just got back from spending a wonderful week in washington with austin's family for thanksgiving. we realized how much we miss the mountains! missouri is flat as can be. we started off our trip the saturday before thanksgiving. it took us 3 flights to finally get there but it was so worth it! and its definitely the price you have to pay for flying stand by. we had a layover in denver and then another one in reno.

austin's parents picked us up and it was so good to see how my mother in law, miran, was doing. last time we saw her was early March when we flew out before her second brain surgery for a brain tumor. she has made so much progress over this past year and it was so nice to be able to spend time with her this past week. it was just us and brooke as for the kids being home until tyson, casslend, aubrey and tucker all came tuesday night. it was so fun to hang out with all the siblings again! we got to see our cute little nephew emmett (tyson & cassie's) for the first time since he was just a little newborn back in march. he has grown so much!

it was also fun to see aubrey's baby bump (little lily due in march) for the first time. austin and I really enjoyed relaxing from work and spending time with the family. I got to make some yummy white chicken chili for the whole family for sunday dinner which turned out really good! (I had just made it for the first time the week before.)

we helped set up for thanksgiving dinner over at austin's grandparents' house (which is just right next door) most of tuesday. my mother in law even got to teach me how to fold fancy napkins!

we had 28 people for thanksgiving dinner and it was completely gluten free. (various people had food sensitivities and also miran has a stricter diet) It was absolutely delicious! I had never had sweet potatoes until I met austin and they are now a staple in our every day meals pretty much! towards the end of the night we all sat around to share some things we are thankful for. I love being a part of the Terry family!

mustache brothers

having fun with the nephew and niece

no shave november

my sister in law, casslend, chopped my hair! I needed a change and I love having it shorter! so much easier to manage. so thankful to have a hairdresser for a sister!

my and my man after thanksgiving dinner

my beautiful sister in law brooke

austin and wendy

all the sisters

little nephew nathan

niece, wendy

our trip back to missouri was a breeze. we had a layover in kansas city, mo and our two flights were wide open so we got boarding passes right away (sigh of relief for stand by flyers). our home teacher was able to pick us up from the airport to drive us home. first time being away from our house and it didn't burn down or anything! ;) now only three more weeks of work until we are soaking up the sun in san diego for christmas!

my new calling

it is almost the end of the year and I have so much to be thankful for! austin and I have been incredibly blessed. we have been living in missouri for nearly a year now and we have settled in quite nicely. we have a beautiful home, supportive jobs, good friends and church callings that have helped us grow in so many ways.

as I speak of church callings, I was called and sustained to a new one today after having been a primary teacher for the past three months since moving to the Weldon Spring ward. I am the new Primary President!

It was very surprising to me at first, as a new member of the ward who doesn't know everyone yet. and as a 21 year old. but I could just feel the spirit confirming to me that this is exactly what Heavenly Father wants me to do at this time. we have a small primary in the Weldon Spring ward but the children and big testimonies of the gospel. I can see it in their sweet comments during class and sharing time. I was blessed to be a primary teacher right as they were practicing for the primary program. it was such a joy to hear them sing those beautiful and simple truths in the children's songs.

Heavenly Father is preparing me in so many ways with this calling and I am so grateful for the opportunity to be an instrument in His hands in teaching His children the basic gospel truths and helping them build that foundation of faith.

it will be a huge responsibility but I know this challenge will be a blessing. I have so much to learn. I am so grateful for the organization of the church that helps all of us, in whatever position we may be in, to have support and people to help us. I am so excited to work with my counselors and I am so grateful to have them so we can support each other and prepare the necessary things to help these children learn about Jesus Christ and grow their testimonies.

this is our house!

we will have owned our house for 1 month as of tomorrow. we have been so busy this past month that I haven't had time to post some pictures of it!

we are homeowners! (moving day)

we closed on our house august 1, 2013. we signed the papers & it was a done deal! it was awesome because we had to get out of work early that day & just decided to spend the rest of the afternoon shopping for house stuff (like new door locks).

the days leading up to our move in day, which was saturday (so people from church could come help) we cleaned the house up & got it ready to put all of junk in it. the house was an absolute mess before the bank came in & did $21,000 of renovations to the house. it was pretty beautiful by the time we looked at it for the first time! there is still much to do & to take care of but we have really been enjoying it all.

one huge surprise that happened that friday night was when we were shopping at menards. I was just walking down one of the aisles when my sisters, danica & danielle, ran up to me! what the what?! my mom & sisters came & surprised with a quick visit for the weekend! it was so awesome & such a blessing to have my mom here to help me unpack & get some of the basic things set up & put away in the house. my grandpa & cousin Joshua came too!

move in day went by quickly! so many people came to help from the st. peters ward & we are so grateful! we did it all so quickly that people from the weldon spring ward didn't even need to come. austin & I were up late the night before & had to wake up pretty early the next day. we picked up the u-haul & picked up some donuts at donut king for all those kind people who came to help us move! let me just tell ya, donut king is SO GOOD! it is especially delicious when you get them early in the morning when they are still warm....mmmmm.....

our front yard trees

I LOVE our bay window!

dining area, all new laminate floors & fresh paint job

all new kitchen cabinets & appliances!

 

our AWESOME backyard!! huge selling point

the deck

creepy fireplace in the basement

midget door aka harry potter's room

its a split level! front door

master bath counter

 hallway

 garage

 checking out our boundary survey done by the company I work for - Cardinal Surveying!

 closing day!

 picking up the u-haul!

 getting ready to load it up at our apartment complex

 setting up our new microwave!

 had to replace the fridge that was already there with this nice scratch & dent frigidaire!

 danica being awesome in our new house on moving day

 my baby sister danielle!

 our table with some beautiful flowers from my mom!

 austin replacing the shower door (because it was nasty) with some nice new ones!

living room

 our couch

 new flowers! thanks glynn!

 we've got a dumb tree in our front yard that is shedding like crazy!

this is what has fallen in less than a week

our deck covered in leaves

painting the top trim in our living room & kitchen (it was an ugly brown before)

 our new vanity in the hallway bathroom! austin tiled the floor beneath it, resealed the toilet & installed the vanity. he is basically amazing :)

 painting the banister

we are sure proud of everything that we (mostly austin) have done to this house this past month. we cannot wait to feel settled in when the major projects are out of the way & cannot wait to start our family right here. our new ward is great & we've met lots of nice families! we love the location of our house & are having so much fun buying stuff & doing projects to make our house truly a home.

btw, totally sliced my hand open with a utility knife last week & got stitches so I have been pretty worthless in doing much that require 2 hands. can't wait to get the stitches out so I can take care of the household chores more easily which austin takes care of the manly projects!