Family Videos...

I’m sitting here watching a family video and I just love my family.  I had some pretty interesting insights while I was watching it…

First I didn’t realize this, but even when I was 4 everyone still called me Elizabeth or Eliz or Liz. To go along with that- a couple of weeks ago during good news minute in Relief Society I decided to share the fact that some of my family members have started calling me Lizzy. Well the ward just jumped right on board with that and now they are all calling (trying to remember to call)me Lizzy. It’s kind of fun.

So the part I’m watching is Christmas and in the background there’s Handel’s Messiah playing and along with that you can hear dad trying to sing along. Dad has a really good voice, but he tends to try to sing both tenor and bass so you can hear him trying to sing both parts (when the tenor part gets too high that’s when he tries out the bass). Anyway I just love that- because that is so typical dad.

Probably my favorite part was when mom was asking me what I thought of Christmas that year and I said, “well, I just love my Baby-all-gone and Bj.” Mom said, Oh don’t you love anyone else? And I replied, “I just love Mom and Dad and Bj and NOT Nate and Rachel and Baby-all gone.” I’m not exactly sure what happened to Joe in that statement, but I was laughing so hard at my snide comment. Haha. I obviously loved Nate and Joe, at the time, but I just have to say that I love them even more now.

So here’s a little shout out to them….I really have some of the best brothers! I know this is a little thing, but it really meant a lot to me. First, Joe is always really good about talking to me on Sundays and the other Sunday when we were ending the chat, we always say we love you and then hang up. He said it and I said that I loved him as well and then he stopped and said, No really though- Betsy…I love you. I could tell that he meant it. Not that I ever questioned whether he did or not, but sometimes it is really nice to be reminded that people do love me and support me.  Nate is the same way. He just takes the time to call and chat with me. The other day he left a message on my phone (that I saved by the way) and it just said ‘hey betsy, just wanted to call and check up on you and say that I love you.’ I can’t even tell you how much that meant to me that he would take time out of his day to think of me- can you tell that my love language is time? I have experiences like that with all of my siblings. I honestly believe I have some of the best siblings EVER! I feel very fortunate to have them in my life. I know they are busy with their own families and keeping their kids and their wives happy, and so I’m especially grateful that they remember me.

Another realization I had was that I was kind of a brat. I was cute as well, but I was just really bossy and LOUD!  I don’t think I’m quite as bossy or loud, perhaps I am, but I hope I’m a little more refined than my 4 year old self.

AND my birthday ‘month’ tradition started when I was 5. It isn’t completely my fault that I love celebrating my birthday all month long. I was raised that way. J

So I just want to share some cool experiences that I’ve had this past week. So Friday we had a Relief Society Recipe Exchange and of course there were just a few of us. Sister Peterson was the first person here and she had brought homemade bread. I was excited about the bread and I made some comment about it and she said- so I just have to tell you the story about this bread. Bishop woke up this morning and decided he wanted to make this bread because he wanted to show the Relief Society how much he loves us. Maybe this is me being conceited, but I think it was mostly so that I would know that he supports me and appreciates what I’m trying to do- even though it isn’t very much. She went on to say that he never cooks, but he spent all morning struggling through making bread for us. What an amazing Bishop!

The second cool experienced happened as I was walking out of church. It was the weirdest thing, but as I left the church I just had this wave of sadness and loneliness hit me.  I was just on the verge of crying as I got to my car and there was a note stuck in my door handle. I opened it and it was from one of the girls who had left before me. She just said how much she loved me and how she loved seeing me at church. In that moment I knew that my Heavenly father was very aware of me and what I’m feeling even before I feel them. He is definitely taking care of me. Even though sometimes I feel all alone- my Heavenly father is sure to remind me that I’m not all alone. He is right here next to me. Even if I can’t see him- he puts others around me to remind me.

My Latest attempt at being Jennifer Garner

I realized that I never posted about my latest attempt at being stealth. Big surprise...Mission sneak attack- FAILED!

The truly RIDICULOUS part was that I was determined to succeed so I didn't even leave the car and they still caught me! I recruited one of my friends to help me because of my covert curse. 

We planned out the whole mission...and my job was to stay in the car, which was parked sneakily in a distant neighbor's driveway. My friend ran through the wooded area to place the basket on their doorstep meanwhile I'm just chilling in the car- which is completely out of the way. My friend was making her way back through the wooded area and as I'm waiting patiently for her to return I poke my head up just as the wrong moment and see Sister Creamer sitting in the passenger seat staring right at me as they drive by. Really??? Seriously??? Who looks in their neighbor's driveway? 

Well- I figure if I do it enough, one of my mission is bound to be successful...the odds are definitely in my favor.

A day in MY life

One of my good friends took pictures of her day to day life and I thought it was a fun idea. So here's my life....

 So, obviously this is my room...with my fancy curtain!

This is the wall I face every day :) It is actually my quote wall...any quote that I think is really really cool goes up here...you can't see most of them cause they are on white index cards, but yup...they're there. And yes- that is a dead rose held up by masking tape. I thought it might look good. CLEARLY I'm not going into interior decorating!

Here's the living room that I share with my wonderful roommate Laurice and the Paul (the greyhound).

I live on the middle floor...so I'm level with the wooden bridge...

This is the view from my parking lot...I'll have to update it when the flowers are in bloom...it is absolutely GORGEOUS! They do an incredible job with the landscaping. The coolest part is the section of day lilies. During the spring they shoot up to my height...I know I'm not very tall, but still-for a flower...that's tall!

I drive past the Fire house every morning and I've always thought it was funny they have this big steel dog in the yard. This is literally just down the street from me.

Bridge of flags...yup I drive over it every morning on my way to school.

So this is my school. It used to be a hospital, but my school bought half of it while the other half is still outpatient stuff. Below is a close up- the glass square section- that's part of my classroom.

This is just the entrance to the school/hospital. My classroom is just to the right of the main entrance, which is really convenient when I'm running late. I pass by the security guard- Gary every morning where we have the same conversation... 'good morning. how are you doin?' 'good. how are you honey?' 'good.' If have a test or anything he always remembers and wishes me good luck. I just love southern people!

On the Left is the new Virginia Tech Medical school where we have a couple of joint classes with the med students. On the right is the Roanoke Memorial Hospital where I'll be doing a fair number of my rotations...at least the ER, OR and internal medicine.

Since I do live in the 'Star City' here's a picture of star. It goes to show how many trees there are here...I remember my first impression of Roanoke was that I had moved to some tropical country. All of the hills that surround Roanoke Valley pretty much look like this- completely covered with trees. While the family was in Hawaii I remember saying that the scenery looked a lot like Virginia and I wasn't exaggerating. There are plants and trees all over. It is absolutely amazing. 

I heart Football

 

I'm a huge football fan. Not just any football though- I mostly just like BYU football. I can't even begin to tell you how excited I was that football season was starting up and I'm super excited that a good portion of our games are on ESPN so I can stream them on my computer. Anyway, Good news for us- we won our first game against Ole Miss. I wasn't super impressed with our QB, but whateves- we still won!

Today in sunday school we were talking about enduring to the end and I was getting a little confused about what it really means to endure to the end. With the BYU football game in my recent memory, this analogy started forming.
Life is like a football game. We all have differing positions that change according to the coach or our surroundings, we rotate in and out of the game, we fumble, we blitz and the most obvious similarity is that we constantly get tackled. I occasionally feel like the game is a never ending series of 10 yard increments that usually end poorly (ie. with your face smashed into the ground with a pile of football players on top of you). At those moments it is easy to think- what's the point of getting up since I'm just going to get tackled and end up on the ground again. That's where endurance comes in.

True endurance has little to do with perfection. A football player who has a high level of endurance is one that never gives up no matter how many times he has been knocked down. Enduring is NOT escaping and avoiding resistance, nor is it never falling down, but rather it is facing our challenges head on and fighting even when it seems pointless.

The fighting however is not pointless. What we can't see from our point of view(whether it be on the ground or in the huddle or even on the line of playing) is that we are slowly working our way down the field to make the touch down.
As a team, our ultimate goal is to score a touch down, but only one person can really make the catch and actually score a touch down. The rest of the team is busy blocking or running or whatever the other players do, but it doesn't really matter. As long as your on the team- it doesn't matter who pulls off the amazing play, you still win. In life- it doesn't matter if you gain the ultimate goal of perfection or not, because Christ has already obtain that goal for you and as long as you remain on His team- you win.
It's just another reason to love football...it totally jives with the gospel! I'm grateful to be on Christ's team and I hope that I can remain worthy and proud to wear His jersey.
One of my friends shared this quote with me and I thought it fit in really well with this analogy. Ezra Taft Benson said this, "The final outcome is certain. The forces of righteousness will finally win. What remains to be seen is where each of us personally, now and in the future will stand in this fight- AND how tall we will stand."