INSPIRATION!!

It has been a long, loooooonnnng time since I have blogged. I suppose I have just felt that there's just not much for me to blog about....weeeellll...I have something to blog about today!

For the past couple of weeks I have been going over to my dear friend Lura's house. Poor sweet Lura was in a terrible accident in Utah and broke many of her ribs. I have been able to go see her periodically and spend some quality time with her. We have watched movies nearly everyday for the past few days. I took over one of my "Little House on the Prairie" discs that has my favorite episode on it. The episode is called, "Silent Promises." The reason it is my favorite episode is because in this one, Laura meets a young man who is deaf, and teaches him Sign Language. This young man in the episode works at the California School for the Deaf where I worked for some time, and I've seen him many many times, so this episode is special to me. Also it is special because I love American Sign Language so much. I have gone to school and have worked at the deaf school on and off a few times. Sign Language is my passion, but I had let it go because I felt that I was not truly accepted into the deaf community. I tried to talk myself into believing that it wasn't really my calling to work in the deaf community, even though inside I always knew I was wrong. Well, yesterday as Lura and I were watching the episode, we paused it for what we thought would be just a minute while we got something to drink. Before we started it again, Lura started telling me about her daughter who had gone to school for Sign Language and went on a Sign Language mission, and even started a wonderful program for teaching deaf children in AFRICA!! The story was absolutely amazing and very inspiring for me!! As we were talking about all this and I started to reveal my desire to maybe get back into the Sign Language field, her daughter called and I got to talk to her personally and recieve inspiration from her too!! I have decided to get back in school and go back to the deaf school to at least volunteer and follow my dreams!

What a wonderful day!!!!! Like Lura said yesterday, I don't believe my going over there and watching that episode and getting into that conversation and her daughter calling at just the right time was a coincidence. I believe it happened for a reason. I believe it happened because I needed to follow my dreams, and honor what I believe is my calling in life!

Thanks Lura for letting me come and spend time with you. You are a very sweet spirit and are of GREAT WORTH!!!!!!

My Sheba girl

This is my most cherished cat Sheba! I love her with all of my heart!!!!

Sheba is the sweetest cat I can possibly imagine! She will lay in my arms for hours like a baby and paw at my hand and give me sweet kitty kisses.

When I look at Sheba, my heart just swells up with unconditional love!! I can't imagine my life without her!!

Sheba is getting pretty old now. She is at least sixteen years old. I got her in April of 1995, so I've had her for fourteen years, and she was at the very least already two years old. She has been the best cat in the world!! I hope she will be with me for a long time still. She is a dear, dear animal.

Cruise #2

Well, there were only two of you who responded to my previous blogs, and you both asked for more pictures...so here are some more. And by the way, thanks to both of you who responded! Big hugs to you!!! Above is when were were up on deck as we approached Victoria, BC. We were up on deck early, and it was very very cold, and I then remembered I brought a snow cap with me that I had bought when Aunt Jann and Uncle Ken moved to Big Bear. I'm glad I took it on this trip...cute huh? LOL!! I joke that this was the cutest I looked on this trip, hahahaha.

I sure enjoyed the Butchart Gardens in Victoria!! Sure wish we had more time there!!

My good cruising buddy Bonnie learned that I only want my picture taken from the waist up. I was always glad when she took one mostly of my upper body area and NOT of the hips! hehehe

Here is another "professional" one they took. I liked that I could hide those hips behind this sign. lol!

I posted a pic of myself and our head waitress, but here is one of our wonderful assistant waiter "Art". He was such a sweetheart!! I'll post more in a day or so. There's LOTS of pics!! Thanks to those who come by my blog and leave comments. There aren't many who stop by my blogs and take the time to read and comment. I guess I should advertise more that I'm a blogger! tee hee! LOVE YOU GUYS!!!

Carnival Splendor and Canada

This past week I went on a 7 day cruise on the Carnival Splendor. I had a wonderful time!!


Here above is our wonderful head waitress Ni from Indonesia. She was the best waitress we could have asked for! She was always all smiles, as was her assistant waiter "Art."

We visited Victoria and Vancouver, BC. They were absolutely beautiful!! We got to go to the Butchart and Butterfly Gardens. This picture was actually taken in Vancouver at one of the stops on the tour.

This may look like one of the gardens we visited, but it's actually in Vancouver right near the Lion's Gate Bridge. Tulips seemed to be thriving there right now!

One cool thing they had on the ship was proffesional photography on the "Elegant Evening" nights. This is one of the pictures from that night that I bought.

My sweet roommate Bonnie and I had a great time going around the ship and taking pictures.

As you can see we had a lot of fun taking pictures at various areas on the massive ship! We took so many pictures, there's not nearly enough time to post them all.

Thanks to my sweet friend Lura I had this opportunity to take this fun vacation....thanks Lura!!!!!!!

Here was our first day on board. We actually hadn't even left Long Beach yet, but we were ready for some photo ops!! It was a great time! Maybe I'll have to do an additional post and put some more stories and pictures up. :)

CRUISE!!

Just thought I'd put it out there that a week from today I'm going on a 7 day cruise with some friends from church! We're leaving out of Long Beach and the port stops are going to be San Fransisco, Seattle WA, Vancouver and Victoria in CANADA!! How fun is that!!? Thanks Lura for asking if any of us could come! And thanks to my mom for offering to pay for it!! I am sooo excited!! Aside from Long Beach, I've never been to any of those places and I am so thrilled to be going to see them! It's so cool because my friend Lura asked me about going today and we leave in a week! I'm so glad I don't have to wait a long time before going. It's so cool! And Lura was able to get a great deal for me and all who is going. Yay!!!

AAAHHHHH

Alright, I know it's been like, MONTHS since I've posted. I have just been crazy for some time now. I'm dealing with a lot in my life at this point...good things and bad things...but aren't we all?

But instead of focusing on the bad things, I want to focus on the good things. So from the inspiration of my dear friend Lura's weekly blogs, I'm going to post six things I can smile about, because that's what we should always focus on! So here they are.

1. My supportive family. Especially my mom! She has put up with so much with all of my problems and issues and has held strong. My family never puts me down when I think I have failed, and that is certainly something to smile about!

2. The BEST cat in the world! My cat Sheba ALWAYS makes me smile, even if I'm down in the dumps! She is the sweetest, most beautiful and precious cat I could ever hope to have. I wish she could live with me till the day I die! She is the best!!!

3. An absolutely AWESOME dog!! Our dog Sundance is such a sweetheart! He is such a loving dog and he is just gorgeous to boot! Animals are such a blessing in our lives, especially when we are going through hard times.

4. This should really be at the top of the list. The gospel of Jesus Christ makes me smile, actually, it makes me BEAM! When I truly think of the wonderfulness that is our Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ and the Holy Ghost, I get all warm inside and my heart swells. If I didn't have this in my life, who knows what I would be doing with myself!

5. Being called to be the Young Women's Secretary makes me smile!! I've always wanted to have a calling in the Young Women's program, and now I have. And I couldn't be luckier because we have the best young women I could imagine and the best leaders for me to work with I could imagine!!! I am so blessed to be called to this wonderful position!

6. I had the pleasure of going up to Utah this weekend and visiting with family I hardly ever get to see exept maybe once or twice a year if I'm lucky. We only got to spend one day up there. It was a very last minute trip, but I was so happy to have the opportunity to go spend the day with them! It was a thrill!

It's really nice to be able to take the time to count the blessings in my life. There are more blessings and reasons for me to smile than I listed, and I want to always be mindful of them and to thank my Heavenly Father for each blessing that I have.

Holly's baby slings

I just wanted to help give a little P.R. to my sweet cousin Holly who has started her own little side business of making Baby Slings. I don't know too much about them excpet the Holly swears by these slings. They're apparently much better than regular baby pouch holders. You can hold your baby comfortably while doing housework or other things. If anybody wants to spread the word that would be cool. She's got all the info at her new blogspot at this address:

www.slingalongbabyslings.blogspot.com

Holly's an absolute sweetheart and I don't think you could find anyone greater to do some business with. She's smart as a whip and has a heart of gold.

Love to all,

Chelsea