God has a plan for me

My Daughter who lives in Park City is doing a sharing time tomorrow in Primary and wanted a cuter bookmark than she had found elsewhere on the web, to hand out to the children.  The theme is God has a plan for me.  I realize that this is for Primary and my blog is for Relief Society and Visiting Teaching, but since I made it up and like to share all of my creations... then here is the bookmark for you to download and print off for your own use.  You never know when you could fit this bookmark into a Visiting Teaching lesson.  Enjoy!  Katie G. 

After 40 our Brain Cells must have all dried up!

I am laughing my head off as I returned home from what I thought was my Visiting Teaching visits.  My partner and I had appointments this morning and arrived at our first appointment and proceeded to the front door.  We rang the doorbell, and waited.  We rang it again and waited.  Then we decided that if they were in the basement, that she might not be hearing the doorbell, so we should knock.  After a very loud knock, and still no answer, we decided to go to our car and give her a call on my cell phone. 

She answered after only a couple rings, and she was oh so apologetic.  Says she totally forgot, and that she and her husband were on their way out of town.  I began to laugh, and I could only think of one things to say..."Thank you", you make me feel so much better.  That may sound like a bit of a strange reply, but in actuality, it was one that made me feel like I am not the only one who forgets things.  I have determined after about age 40+ our brain cells must be all dried up.  I have become so forgetful, even when there are post it notes, pasted all over my house... I still forget.  So here is my confession... When I was assigned to Visit teach this very woman who just forgot about our visit today, I forgot the very first appointment to visit her some months ago.  I was so humiliated that I forgot, as she had not lived in the ward for very long, and I was really looking forward to getting to know her better. But I forgot. Guess what... I almost forgot the second appointment.  Gee willikers... I can be pretty dense at times!!! Now can you see why I told her Thank-you?  I was so glad to be in the company of others who forget things too, and it makes me feel alittle more normal, even minus the brain cells.

So my story isn't over.....  We wait for the 45 minutes until the time to go to our next appointment, and my partner and I just waited at my home and chated for the interim.  Finally it was time to go, and as we pull up to the 2nd sisters house, her garage doors were open, and she was sitting in her car, ready to back out of the garage.  Her rear brake lights went on once she spotted us and she stopped.    She turned off her car, and came out the door toward us, and I simply couldn't  hold back the laughter. To totally busted up and said, "Looks like you forgot we were coming."  She said that she had programed in her telephone a reminder of our Visit for today, and had even set the alarm to remind her as well.  The alarm didn't go off, and she was on her way."  We all laughed together, and I said, "Well I don't remind myself with an alarm, but I have post it notes pasted on my bathroom mirror, my computer screen, my refrigerator, my purse, and still I forget things.  I told her how grateful I was that I wasn't the lone ranger and the only one whose brain cells were drying up!  We laughed again. 

Obviously we didn't get any of our intended visits in, but we did get to have a light moment of laughter and forgetfulness!  Sometimes we just need to let things roll off of us, and enjoy the moment and this happened to be one of them.  Now.... when will I be able to find the time to go back and visit these sisters again this month?  Who knows, and I must add that I had already visited them briefly delivering a Valentine Surprise on Valentine Day.  That's ok, and I am just grateful that we can all humor and appreciate each other, in spite of the lack of brain cells.

Now I thought I would tell you my brain cells theory.  Obviously it isn't in any medical journals, or spoken by anyone who is an authority on the subject, but because I must be the queen of lost brain cells, I have theorized what happens after about 40+.  (by the way... this is suppose to make you laugh)  I have done my homework, and evidently the general consensus is that a woman's brain weights about 2.8 lbs, and to make you feel even smarter, Albert Einsteins brain only weighed  2.71 lbs.  Anyway the average guess from the different websites that I did my research on .....is that the human brain contains about 100 billion cells on average. We lose about 10,000 brain cells a day after adolescence,  through a variety of different ways.  Some of the ways are listed here: http://4mind4life.com/blog/2008/02/22/50-things-that-kill-brain-cells/  Now women also lost a few more brain cells giving birth, so as I figure, I have had 5 children, and so I have that many less brain cells.  Right?   Stress can really cost us brain cells too, and women are the worlds best at being stressed, aren't we?  Gratefully for all of us, we have so many brain cells that when we lose a few, it doesn't matter... we just become a bit more scatter brained. 

Anyway, to sum all of this up, we are all the same, and we all have lost some brain cells or two thousand, but one thing is for certain, that no one is exempt.  We all need to just laugh about it, adjust ourselves, and let a whole lot more roll off of our shoulders.  We need to smile and laugh a lot more.  Everyone makes mistakes, and as I well know, some make more of their share of mistakes than others. (that would be me.) 

I did do some more research on the Internet and found that there are also some things that make brain cells grow including.... meditation, an enriched Environment, the act of learning, exercise, and even eating blueberries.  After reading that, I wondered just how many blueberries I needed to eat to get my brain cells back into a more normal range. Once again, I am laughing.  Wish we were alittle more like robots, and could plug ourselves into the power supply on the wall, and let the brain cell regeneration begin!

You know when you hear..."Laughter is the best medicine?" .....well maybe there is something to that after all!  Laughter reduces stress, and thereby, reduces the amount of brain cell loss!  Laughter boosts your immune system, and even lowers your blood pressure.  So there you have it from Dr. Katie... NOW go out and have a great day!!! 

Enjoy!  Katie G.

P.S.  How many blueberries did you say you ate today?  Oh and another piece of food for thought, and yes punn was intended.... If anyone wants to do the math, times our daily brain cell loss by the age we would like to live to, and subtract that from 10 billion, and that should give you a ball park number of how many brain cells we will have left by then.  Maybe it is a good thing that we all die oneday so we can go back and live with Heavenly Father to regenerate!

Happy Valentine Day

I hope that you have a fun Valentine day today, filled with lots of love, family, friends and frivolity.  My husband and I spent our day in Park City yesterday with our two children and their families who live there.  One family made us lunch and the other made us dinner.  We enjoyed the grandchildren, and played with them and gave them our Valentines.  They loved them.  O speaking of which, I added to my other blog, a few of the Valentines that I gave out this year to my little Grand kids and children.  I have to design them specially to fit the gift I am giving them, as that is the designer in me.  Things have to match.  Anyway, if you are in need of Valentines to Print go to that blog, and the link us under the blog header to get there.

Here is a printable valentine note card for you, or for you to print and take with you when you drop off a thoughtful little gift or card of love to those sisters you teach, just to let them know you are thinking of them.  I have to add one more thing... I don't think everyone will agree with me on this one but since this is my blog, I am going to share my opinion.  When I take a Valentine gift or card over to the sisters that I visit teach, I don't consider that my visit for the month. I consider it a friendshipping effort, and a way that she really knows I am thinking of her.  I will also plan a Visit for the month, but when there are holidays and I feel so inclined to drop something by, that isn't the visit. 

Happy Valentine Day!!!  Love, Katie

February 2011 Visiting Teaching Message

The Visiting Teaching message for February is entitled "A restoration of all things."  It can be found in the Ensign, Feb. 2011, page 7.  I have provided the direct link to this message by clicking on the post title, and I encourage you to go to the site and once there, beautiful Mo Tab Choir music will begin playing so you can enjoy reading the message even more. Music puts our hearts in a very receptive mood and I believe it also provides inspiration as well.   The Church website has really been changing, and I encourage you to go take a look around and see all the neat new things they have included.   Enjoy your February Visiting Teaching. Be sure to scroll down and see your Valentine from me and go to my other blog http://visitingteachingsurprise.blogspot.com to get some darling Valentine ideas, and printables.  Love, Katie G.

Happy Valentine Day

Have you looked at the numbers of people visiting this blog lately.  The number is over 100,000 visitors and that is totally amazing to me.  I love it, and it really makes me feel like this blog is worth keeping and continuing.  So.... though this is a repeat from last year, I wanted to repost this Happy Valentine Day poem that I wrote for you, to say thanks for all the visits, to this blog.  It is heartwarming to think that possibly some of my ideas and suggestions have helped others to serve the Lord in their callings, and in particular in their Visiting Teaching calling.  How blessed I feel to be a apart of a wonderful sisterhood.

Happy Valentine Day!

Love, Katie G.

P.S.  I have posted some really cute ideas for Valentines Day on my other blog.  Click on the link just under the title of this blog to magically take you there.

Spiritual Thought about rededicating ourselves in the Service of the Lord

I am assigned the spiritual thought for this month's presidency meeting and I put one together and thought others might also benefit from this, for use either at your own presidency meetings, or other meetings where you need a quick spiritual thought. It is perfect for giving out to the sisters as a goal to rededicate their lives in the service of Visiting Teaching. I also made up a bookmark to print off and hand out as a reminder of this goal. Feel free to use is as it applies to whatever you are in need of it for.

"The Lord Needs Missionaries", Liahona, Jan. 2011, page
4 –6 Thomas S. Monson.
Bike to the Future  By Peter Evans and Richard M. Romney

Lots of young men prepare financially to serve a mission. In Africa part of that preparation is earning enough money for a passport. Sedrick Tshiambine earned what he needed in an enterprising way: by selling bananas from the back of a bicycle.
Sedrick lives in Luputa, Democratic Republic of Congo. He’s one of 45 young men in the Luputa district who is working to save money for a passport to go on a mission. In DR Congo a passport costs $250, which is about two-thirds the cost of building a house.
But Sedrick was undaunted. He earned his mission money by cycling 15–30 kilometers (9–19 miles) from Luputa to small villages, where he purchased bananas, then cycling back across the hot African savanna, his bike heavily laden with fruit to sell in the city. Each week he traveled about 180 kilometers (112 miles) along the sandy roads, and only once did an unbalanced load cause a tumble.
For his efforts Sedrick earned about $1.25 a week, or $65.00 a year. It took him four years to save enough to purchase his passport, but now he knows his future will include a full-time mission because he is financially ready to answer the call to serve.
The scripture found in Matthew 16: 28 comes to mind as I think about this story. “He who loseth his life in this world, for my sake, shall find it in the world to come.
We are so blessed to live in an area of the world, where going to church, attending the temple and serving in our wards is so easy, close and relatively effortless… really only requiring the sacrifice of our time. Because we have it so good, we sometimes take for granted our blessed circumstances. . We should be mindful of the sacrifice so many others have to make just to attend church or like the young man in this story, to be able to earn enough just to get a passport so that he can serve a mission. May we all today, rededicate our lives in serving in the capacities that we are called, with all our hearts might mind and strength, and like the scripture in Matthew 16:28 says, “losing our lives in His service, that we might find it (meaning our lives) in the world to come. (Matthew 10: 39)

Enjoy!  Katie G.