conference call

this weekend was general conference for us mormons. i love general conference, partly because what is not to love about church you can watch on tv while you are wearing your sweats? but mostly because what is not to love about the chance to hear prophets and apostles teach you the things heavenly father wants you to know. i sort of wish it came around every month instead of every six months, but i'll take what i can get.

i tried to make a special effort this time around to really prepare myself for conference. i thought about questions i wanted to answer and areas in my life where i wanted to improve and do a little better. and, wouldn't you know it, but i found everything i was looking for. i love it when my heart and mind are open enough to let that happen.

a lot of talks, like this one from president monson, were about setting wiser priorities and making sure that our families come before anything and anyone else. this is something i have been thinking about a lot. i am a project and task oriented person. i get a real rush out of making lists and then crossing things off and seeing progress and feeling productive, and i am inclined to put tasks and projects and errands and lists before a lot of other things, a habit that was pretty firmly solidified in my single years. but i have been re-evaluating the correct balance in my newly married life, and talks about family and priorities drove home the idea that my to-do list should not come before my husband and my home. that is not to say, of course, that i have to give up all productivity and there are obviously things that just have to get done (i'm looking at you, evil axis of laundry, cleaning and grocery shopping) and there is no way i could ever live a project-free life, nor do i think i need to, but i feel newly committed and energized to be a little more flexible and embrace unstructured and uninterrupted time with my new family (aka: AWD). because some things just can, and should, wait. and isn't a happy and healthy marriage and family and home the most productive thing i can do anyway? i am starting to understand that it is.

and this talk by president uchtdorf was the perfect complement to my recent thoughts about leaving criticism and judgement behind. oh, how i long to do this! i love president uchtdorf's simple admonition when it comes to judgement, envy and all those other ugly feelings: stop it. it sounds so simple, but i think it is going to be a pretty long road for me to master it. i feel even more motivated to try, though, which i think can only be good news.

throw in a sunny walk around the neighborhood, a delicious sunday morning brunch with good friends, and lots of snuggle time, and it's easy to see why conference weekend is a winner, this and every time.