Visiting Teaching

Since I am new in the ward, and since I just got my visiting teaching assignment, and since Thanksgiving was this last weekend, and since I had tons of cake mix and colorful frosting left-over from the bridal show and since it was the second to last day of the month......Yesterday was FILLED with Visiting Teaching. It was so much fun! I got to meet my companion for the first time - she is from New Zealand and is just a doll. I am going to enjoy teaching with her. One of the sisters we teach is my neighbor, and she is from China. I loved being in her home yesterday and hearing her tell these FUNNY, funny stories about her Chinese/American Thanksgiving adventures this weekend. The other sister we teach is just "chill" - epitome of Hawaii. She is so relaxed and kind. I am so excited to get to know all of these girls better.

So, I let my dearest husband help me decorate the cake I gave to my visiting teachees. Here's how it turned out:

I never really gained a testimony of Visiting teaching until I was out of the house and on my own. I know that Visiting Teaching is a divine calling, and that it is a blessing to all who are involved with it. To me, it truly is living by a celestial law- if performed faithfully. If I know I can count on another sister to help me when I am in need, to be a true friend to me, to check up on me monthly, to serve me and love me....And If I know I can be that to someone else, if they will allow me to help them, allow me to be blessed by blessing them...then we are at a higher level of living, one that is above the "natural man" tendencies, and in line with the way I know we will live in Heaven. Visiting Teaching can be a power and a strength in your life - or in someone else's life. I pray the sisters in our church will never deprive another of that power because their own lives were "too busy."

Anyway, the first time I went out to do my visiting teaching, I came back and found out Adam had folded and put away ALL the laundry. The second time, I came back and found out Adam had washed ALL the dirty dishes in the sink. He kissed me and said, "Thanks for fulfilling your calling." I'm grateful for his service to me so I could serve others! After all that hard work, he was tired!

Recent-est Art Projects

Experimenting with sunrays:

The joys of my screen door and the sun shining in:

Our new "Christmas Corner"

Keola's Bridal Shower

I threw Keola's bridal shower in our apartment today (with lots of help from Mom Harrison and Kaelene of course!). It was a success. The theme was "Somewhere over the Rainbow," so everyone was assigned a color for their gift, and the food and decorations were all rainbow colored. We even had the song playing in the background. We had lots of fun playing games and learning more about Keola and Phil. Here are some fun pictures!

Just a few more things...

We forgot to mention a few things in our video, due to lack of time. Here they are:

Meghan:
I'm grateful for my family - my mom and Michael and their love that they send to us across the ocean. For my Dad and Sheri and their devoted friendship and support, for my brother and Olivia who are soon to be wed!! I'm grateful for the new family I have inherited through Adam - all my wonderful in-laws and new nieces and nephews. Also, I'm so thankful for good friends who have not left my life all through the years, and I know they never will.

Adam:
"I concur."

One last thing....we morphed our baby tonight. HAHA! Tricked you....we went onto morphthing.com and put a pic of me and a pic of Adam together to get our baby...here's what she'll look like!

 

Happy Thanksgiving!

Sorry, your browser doesn't support the embedding of multimedia. <br /> Click <a href="http://adamharrison.fatcow.com/resources/videos/ThankYou.mp4">here</a> instead.

It's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas...

Here is our list of movies to watch before Christmas:

Grinch

Polar Express

Muppet Christmas Carol

Elf

Serendipity

Santa Clause

Miracle on 34th St

Mrs. Doubtfire
White Christmas
Family Man
Christmas Vacation
It's a Wonderful Life

If you think of anymore good ones, let us know! We are using our free Netflix trial during the week of Christmas so we are COVERED.

I have decided to change my major (again) (at least I'm staying in the general subject area) from English Education to English. This was such an easy switch that now I can graduate in one year!!!!!! When I put it down on paper, I couldn't believe how fast it was going to happen, and how possible it was. This means Adam and I will be graduating at the same time: December 17th, 2010. So mark your calendars if you want to come watch us! I am so excited about my switch...I was not looking forward to all of those education classes and don't even get me started on the application process or the politics of education! I feel so good about this decision.

Last week as I was getting ready for church, I asked Adam, "Is it bad that I don't really feel like going to church? And not because I don't want to learn about God, but..." and he said he had been feeling the same way lately. We both determined it was because we still felt like we weren't fully "accepted" into our ward. It was difficult to make new friends when the "cliques" were already settled. It was hard for us to separate during Relief Society and Priesthood because we were eachother's only friends at church! We decided to pray about together, and ask for our ward members to take us under their wings and fellowship us as new friends!We were our scriptures together last night in Jacob 3:1. It says,

"Look unto God with firmness of mind, and ^apray unto him with exceeding faith, and he will ^bconsole you in your ^cafflictions"

As I thought about the past week, I realized the Lord had done just that. He consoled us, as well as answered our prayers! We had been invited, and gone to, a family's house from our ward to watch a soccer game, socialize, and eat good food. Another member had invited us to "stop by anytime" to visit them, and yet another couple had invited us over for a Thanksgiving dinner if we hadn't already had plans. I was so grateful that the Lord had answered our prayers so promptly, and also grateful for reading that scripture so I could recognize it too. 

Elf Yourself

We have been elfed....so funny!
http://elfyourself.jibjab.com/view/r8Nze5eURu50j5Ow

Awkward Family Photo

Halfway through the week....! I am not feeling very well today - sore throat, headache, sniffly nose. I am worried I have caught the flu...I hope not.However, we all know laughter is the best medicine....

This morning in pyschology class my teacher ran a little experiment. He had just finished talking about furrowing your eyebrows, so I told myself I wasn't going to let my eyebrows crumple together during the experiment. He had us take a pencil or a pen and hold it between our teeth, about halfway back into our mouth. He said to just hold it there for five minutes, and he continued on with the lecture. At first I was like, ok, I won't furrow my eyebrows during this. However, as he kept talking, my saliva was building up (its difficult to swallow like that!) and he started sounding funnier and funnier. I would be looking at him, showing him I was paying attention to the lecture, and then all of a sudden I realized I couldn't keep a straight face while I was looking at him with this ridiculous pencil in my mouth. I started laughing hysterically, and I covered my mouth with my hand so the pencil wouldn't fall out. Tears were rolling down my face and then my spit was uncontrollable. My teacher started laughing at me which made me laugh even harder. Then he said, "That's exactly what I wanted! I have to tell my next class! You can take the pencils out of your mouths." I was so embarrassed, my face was completely drenched in my own random bodily fluids (sweat, tears, spit) and poor Adam had to sit next to me throughout this whole thing while the entire class watched as I became the spectacle of the experiment. Our teacher proceeded to tell us that by putting the pencil in our mouths, it was shaping our face into a smile. Even if you weren't consciously smiling, you were making the shape of a smile, which ultimately made everything funnier and made you happier - and I was the proof! So...the next time you are down, or maybe are teaching a bored class, try this. You're guaranteed a smile. :D

Also, one of my new favorite websites: Awkward Family Photos. It is a site full of just what it says! Here are a few of the best:

(cousin wendy)

Anyway, I've taught myself a valuable lesson today. I woke up feeling icky, yet I have found so many opporunities for laughter. Even though my stomach was cramping, I still had to laugh and let the tears roll. Even when things aren't so fun, or going a little...bleeghiosldkg.....seek out the positive. Find joy in the Journey: Enjoy the small things that make you smile.

Birthday Sunday

What a pleasant Sabbath day it was today! I was so emotional in Sacrament Meeting - the speakers were talking about eternal families, which of course I am always sensitive to. The wife quoted this thought: If we are to be with our spouse for eternity, we must act so they will want to be with us forever. I know I want to be with Adam forever, but it makes me think of some of the things I could be improving on. The husband spoke on children, and fulfilling God's first commandment to Adam and Eve. He spoke with such honesty about the love and devotion he has for his children, and what an inspiration they were to him. It was beautiful and both Adam and I were tearing up.

This evening we got to spend with good friends, good food, and good fun. It was my dear friend Katie's birthday. Her husband Nate treated us to a real fine dinner. I spent all evening yesterday making these silly little ornaments for Katie's present. It was so fun and I want to make some more for our bare Christmas tree! The angel was just made out of a toilet paper roll (haha it's clean, I promise) and here's the pattern for the 3D star.

After dinner I was able to be Adam's home teaching companion as he was unable to get ahold of his real HT companion. I enjoyed meeting the families and sharing a thought with them. Adam quoted Richard G. Scott's talk, "To Acquire Spiritual Guidance". 

"Father in Heaven knew that you would face challenges and be required to make some decisions that would be beyond your own ability to decide correctly. In His plan of happiness, He included a provision for you to receive help with such challenges and decisions during your mortal life. That assistance will come to you through the Holy Ghost as spiritual guidance. It is a power, beyond your own capability, that a loving Heavenly Father wants you to use consistently for your peace and happiness."

At this time in our lives, we have soooo so many decisions to be making. Where Adam should work once he graduates, if he should do an internship and where, when to have kids, where I should teach school, if we should stay in hawaii for all of my schooling, what we can and can't afford, loans, etc, etc, etc. There is no way we can possibly no what's best for us on our own - we have to rely on the spirit to direct us. I'm so grateful for the spirit and the peace, comfort, and guidance that it offers us all if we but seek it out.

Also, on a sidenote, President Monson is coming to Laie next weekend for our Regional Conference. Doors open to the auditorium at 8, the conference starts at 10. I'll probably get there at 7. Adam will be filming so I'll most likely sit alone. I'm excited to have our prophet on our campus and to feel of the aloha spirit here! They announced in Relief Society today that he will be visiting the homes of two families from each ward- so make sure your homes are clean! How amazing is that?? We are so blessed!

I Know My Redeemer Lives

This video was shown in my Special Ed class today. I bawled my eyes out, so I wanted to share it with you. :) Very, very touching story. This boy has cerebral palsy, and his father has health problems of his own. However, the boy asked him to do a ironman with him and his father said yes. The tremendous love this father has for his son - How much greater love can our Father in Heaven have for us?

For starters...

Adam and I are pretty new to this blogging thing....I do have one other blog, but it is just for my photography; it's not personal.

We got called to be ward missionaries, and since we are in a BYU student ward, the outlook for missionary work isn't so bright. One of our goals is to have our members become more active online, so that when people search Mormons, they will be met with people who actually know what they are talking about. I want to encourage those of you who are investigating the church to please make sure your sources are reliable when it comes to finding out about the Mormons. For those of you who are members, don't be embarrassed to discuss your religion on your blogs. People do read them - you never know who's life you could influence.

I also want this to be a personal blog as well - I will keep my family and friends updated with all the goings-on in our newlywed lives. Facebook is almost getting old, so I thought I would quick! Get on to the next fad: Blogging!!!

The newest news for us is that we put up our Christmas tree already!!!! I know, I know, some of you are "pre-thanksgiving" haters, but here in Hawaii, we have to enjoy the holidays to the max. There is no snow, no changing of seasons - you really have to exaggerate Christmas to get in the spirit. So that's what we did. We played Christmas music, unfolded our Wal-Mart tree,

hung ornaments, and plugged in our lights. We brought out the stockings and I even wrapped a

few of Adam's presents! It makes our home so cozy comfy and I just love it. We keep the lights on all night.

I am also starting some studio work....here is my first try. (:

So, the whole reason I procrastinated my homework to start this is because in my online class, Fitness for Living, I am on the "Mind Body Spirit" Chapter, and I wanted to share a few thoughts from it:

"And as they thus spake, Jesus himself stood in the midst of them, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you. But they were terrified and affrighted, and supposed that they had seen a spirit. And he said unto them, Why are ye troubled? And why do thoughts arise in your hearts? Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have. And when he had thus spoken, he shewed them his hands and his feet" (Luke 24:36-40).

"The body and the spirit are divine and sacred. Spirit is matter, as is the mind, since the mind is part of the spirit. In mortality, all aspects of our being dwell together as a unified whole, all composed of matter, body mind spirit. We are created in the image of God, who also has a body of flesh and bones. Matter is good; the body is a complement to the spirit. The spirit is matter more refined and thus is not so different from the body. The spirit and body are actually quite alike."

Reading about this has made me more appreciative of my physical body, as it is just as sacred as my spirit. Treat your bodies kindly- they will follow us into the next life. Resurrected and Perfect, yes; love your body now and you will love your body in heaven. I am so grateful for Jesus Christ; I know He is my Savior spiritually and physically - He has overcome all sins, as well as death itself, so we could too.

Much love from the Harrisons