Blessed

I'm feeling extremely blessed and very aware of my heavenly father's hand in my life right now. This week has been so great minus the fact that I miss Hoko so much. He's gonna be gone for the rest of the month and won't be home til like the first week of March. Booooo!! But we're doing what we gotta do in order to keep our family moving in the direction it needs to go. 

2014 got off to a rough start. We've been battling sick kids and sick parents, which equals a house of sick people ALL THE TIME!! It totally sucked!! Then Hoko's grandpa passed away a lot sooner than we expected or hoped for. And Hoko took it extremely hard. He thought he was ready for Pa's passing, but he quickly found out that losing loved ones, even ones that have lived a full life, is never something you can be prepared for. I haven't seen Hoko cry so much in all the years that I've known him. He loved Pa so much!! It made it harder for him to cope because he was in North Dakota for work when Pa's health took a turn for the worse and he hoped and prayed that he'd make it home in time to see him before he passed, but he didn't. He came home a week early to help with his funeral and be with his family during this rough time. But I have to say that a very positive thing came out of the passing of his grandpa. Hoko was reminded of just how important eternal families are and where his priorities need to be. 

The following week Hoko went to the distribution center and bought himself some brand new garments. A week's worth. When he got home, he said that on his week's off we needed to have temple dates. Aaaaaahhhhh!! I am so happy!! I went the very next day and bought myself new garments as well. That simple step has made such a huge difference in where our priorities are now. I didn't wanna pressure Hoko too much about where I knew we needed to be because I wanted him to come to it on his own. I felt like it would mean more cause it would be real. And I'm grateful for the patience I was granted to wait it out. It's been too long and I'm excited and eager to get back on track!! 

I'm eternally grateful for the plan of salvation for enabling us to be able to return home. I was reading over my lesson for RS for next week and I was overcome with so much emotions. It's on the family and how the gospel is patterned to support the family unit. How the celestial kingdom is the only kingdom out of the three kingdoms where the family unit exists. I don't think I've ever thought of it that way. It talks about the other kingdoms and how it'll be strangers living amongst each other because the family unit is of God and if our families here on earth make it to the celestial kingdom, we are part of a greater family. That heavenly family in which God is the head of. 

I was so saddened cause my thoughts turned immediately to my kids and if one of them was ever to reject the teachings of the gospel and live their lives in a way that isn't pleasing to God, I'd be devastated. That's what made the tears start to overflow. I knew I had to get to the temple this week and I'm so glad Anatava's back in Salt Lake from Vernal and that we got a temple date in this morning!! I love this girl so much!! We've grown so close over such a short time (a little over a year) and I'm always grateful for her friendship and that we're able to attend the temple together when our husbands are out of town. 

We met up at the Bountiful Temple because its the halfway point for the both of us. We caught the 6 am session and barely made it because it was so full. This temple will always hold a special place in my heart because its where our family was sealed for all time and eternity. But now that we're in Ogden, I cannot wait for the temple to be done with renovations!! It's supposed to open back up between July and Sept of this year. Woohoo!! It's like a 30 sec drive from my house. Aaaaaaahhhhh!! I can't wait!! 

Ame came up last night from Salt Lake for gym date with me. I loved it. We died!! Like seriously!! I wanted to end the week with an intense legs session so I pulled up the MFT28 legit workout and we went heavy on our weights. It was so therapeutic!! My legs and butt are super sore right now!! I really appreciated the fact that she came out here to spend time with me. Actions always speak louder than words and I'm grateful for her in my life. 

Anyways, I'm just rambling. I can't wait for Hoko to come home in how many weeks. I miss my main, but I'm grateful for all the amazing people in my life and I want them to know how much I appreciate them. Definitely gonna work on that more this year. 

P.S.: I went grocery shopping for my freezer meals for next week. Spent only $82!! Aaaahhhhhh!! Can you say, MONEY IN THE BANK!! As in money that stays in the bank!! I'm so excited for these freezer meals to help me stay sane and track my caloric intake. April's gonna be here in no time and my goal weight will be here, too!! Yay!!