Radiant Tales: Chapter Five

Have you ever felt like you are losing?

whether it be a test,

homework,

hope,

joy,

a friend,

a grade,

or even your strength?




What means more to me than anything in this whole world is that the Savior is there:

"Because the Saviour walked such a long, lonely path utterly alone, we do not have to do so...Trumpeted from the summit of Calvary is the truth that we will never be left alone or unaided. Even if sometimes we may feel that we are, truly, the Redeemer of us all said, 'I will not leave you comfortless. I will come unto you and abide with you.' "

~Elder Holland


And we go on; with faith in the Lord and confidence and hope that through the Atonement of Christ, we will be succored in times of need, and

we

will

make

it.




We will make it! It will be difficult and lonely sometimes, but we knew we would be tested and tried when we chose to come to this earth. God did not send you here to fail. In fact, we are taught by Alma that in the premortal life we exhibited "exeeding faith and good works."

"You fought with your faith and testimony to defend the plan that was presented by God. You knew the plan was good, and you knew that the Saviour would do what He said He would do--because you knew Him! You stood with Him, and you were eager for your opportunity to come to earth. You knew what was going to be required of you. You knew it would be difficult, and yet you were confident you could not only accomplish your divine mission, but that you could make a difference."
~Sister Dalton

So I guess my message today is this.

"As in the Olympic Games, it is not the most beautiful and strongest who recieve the crown,

but those who actually enter the combat.

For from those come the victors,

so it is those who act that win rightly what is noble and good in life."
~aristotle

 

For me, that is Eternal Life. The greatest gift of all the gifts of God.

Let us all press on. And the end will be better than the beginning.

with love and brightest hope,

Sunshine

Radiant Tales: Chapter Four

Ahhhh.....

have you ever, just, pleasantly sighed?

Here, do it with me....


Ahhh.....


my dear friends, that is the sound of a whole weak of bliss-to-be. And it's right around the corner :)

In light of this wonderful week that is only two and a half hours away, I leave you with something President Hinckley said: 

"In all of living, have much fun and laughter. Life is to be enjoyed, not just endured."

And you have all endured wonderfully. So let out a pleasant sigh, go to bed early, and have much fun and laughter this next week!

even if it is snowing....

with love and frozen daffodils,

Sunshine

...my date's better than your date :)

Before:

After!!!

I am so grateful for good neighbors! My old Young Women's leader made this dress for her daughter a couple years ago, and she let me wear it!

I loved Prom!

Radiant Tales: Chapter Three

It's almost six forty-five. He's always on time- always. So he should be here.
My fingers shake as I button up my dress. It's light pink with little white beads up the side. The kind of dress I'd only dreamt of wearing as a little girl. I don't know why I'm nervous- maybe it means that tonight will be the best night I've ever had.
With one more glance in the mirror to make sure my hair is just right, I put on a smile and walk out into the living room where he is waiting. In his hand, he is holding a beautiful corsage- three pink baby roses and little white flowers to add to the elegance.
Boys have everything easy. Even though it's prom, he probably took ten minutes to get ready. What's more, he doesn't have to try very hard to put the corsage on my wrist. When it's my turn to give him the "male flower," I analyze the situation, stare at the flower, and I realize I don't have a clue how to pin it on... Maybe I should have practiced pinning the boutenir on my dad first, because it takes at least three minutes to pin it on his tux. He is laughing, but I guess that's okay. I probably looked ridiculous, struggling with his rose.
...thank goodness for mothers.
After at least ten rounds of pictures with my dad's camera and three with my brother's, he opens the door. I look at my mom, wondering if she's thinking about how much I have grown up. I give her a hug and a quick kiss. Then I look at dad. What do dads think when they watch their girls go on dates? I see it in his smile. He looked excited for me, and I decided that he was probably sending me a message like, "I love you!" and "Remember who you are!"
And so we walk out the door. Since I'm wearing high heels, they get stuck easily in the wet grass. I'm glad it's not raining.
Just kidding. Now it starts to sprinkle. We drive around the corner to one of the boys' houses. After thirty rounds of pictures and ten minutes of smiling, we head off to dinner.
And it's still raining. But I don't mind. I'm just happy that I am in a dress going to a dance with someone I admire. It's pretty cool to think that he asked me...why? I guess I'll never know.
Dinner was delicious- Olive Garden. The thing about prom night is that every boy and his date goes there to eat... so we see lots and lots of teens. Not to mention the hundreds of other people that just stare at us :) But it's all good fun. A couple of them ask, "What are you dressed up for?" .....well, girls don't usually wear flowers on their wrists and walk in dresses like this for kicks and giggles...and boys don't normally wear a tux, just to go to dinner, now do they? 
some people just make me laugh :)
We talk and make jokes about shot-guns, the waiters, our dresses, hair, the forks, etc. I haven't had this much fun for a long time.
Then, with my dress hiked up to my knees, the two other girls and I pretty much hop, skip, and try not to trip as we make our way through the rain back to the car. I can feel the anticipation build- I get to go dance now!
We don't get lost, which is a good thing, but we also don't find a parking spot... I guess that's because we didn't really look for one. We just sorta parked out in the boondocks so that we could make a quick getaway after the dance. Fifteen hundred teenagers driving cars can get a little jammed.
So, once again:
(sing to "Over the River and Through the Woods")
out of the car door and over the mud
with my dress hiked up to my knees,
the boys lead the way as we run through the rain
And try not to trip on our dress..ees!!!
I see a bunch of my friends there, along with dozens of girls in beautiful dresses. It's like going to a ball!
And then we turn the corner....
Stairs.
I just stare at them.
I knew I should have practiced at home...
Back to "the guys have everything easy" idea.
They do.
On a scale from one to ten, how hard do you imagine it is to:
1. Lift up your dress
2. Keep your high heels on
3. Watch the girl in front of you (who has a train at least a foot long)
4. Try not to sweat
5. talk to your date who seems to be laughing at you
and walk up the stairs without tripping, all at the same time?
on a scale from one to ten...
a billion.
Okay, lets be honest here. Girls are pretty talented. And to tell you the truth, after walking up and down three flights of stairs doing this three times in a two hour time period, heck I could do anything.
We get to the top floor and I feel like jumping up and down. I can't wait to get out there and have a blast.
Well, I don't need to worry about a blast- the music took care of that. It wasn't freakishly loud; just enough to make it so I couldn't hear my date talk to me.
He seems quiet as we walk in. I'm not quite sure what he's thinking. We walk around for a while to find a spot. Well, we needn't have bothered. Remember how there's fifteen hundred teens here? Well, the room probably was built to accommodate... oh, good grief, I don't know- a lot of people, but not that many.
After getting bumped, squished, stepped on, and jumped on, we start to dance. It's a great feeling! I hold up my dress because it's a little poofy, but thankfully not too much. 
We dance to a plethora of songs, some good and some bad (we leave on the bad ones), and then we hear the slow dance music come on. 
Now the room gets quiet as people start to form couples. He asks me to dance, and I say yes. We have a lot of great things to talk about. Mostly we stay in the same spot because there's no room to do anything. I'm still holding my dress. I've never had this dilemma before...Which hand are you supposed to hold it in? Am I supposed to hold the back or the side? Eventually it all worked out.
After a while the room gets hot. We go downstairs to take a break. As our group stands in a circle, I take off my high heels...they really do make a difference! He's really surprised to see how short I really am. It's kind of fun to be deceiving... :) I'll be doing it for the rest of my life! Who knew high heels could be so wonderful and awful at the same time? It's a love hate relationship that I guess the guys will never figure out. We sacrifice height for a few blisters. No biggie. We're tough :)
Then it's the stairs again. I feel like I'm getting a double work out. Arms and legs. And a little bit of toes. They really do keep your balance. The next time we go up, we take the elevator :)
 It's still hot and stuffy up there, but I don't care. As we dance, we talk about school and growing up. It's sort of a confidence booster to talk to someone who knows a little more than I do about getting older. Even though we're both seventeen. He's a senior and he can't wait to graduate. I'm a junior and I can wait to graduate. All the same, it's fun to get to know someone a little better. Those couple minutes of dancing were such a fun moment. I decide I can't wait for the next slow dance.
And then it's over and we're back outside, running through the rain to get to the car. My high heel gets stuck in the mud, but I quickly pull it out and no one notices :)
When he walks me up to the door, I tell him how glad I am that he asked me. He will never really know what it's like for a girl to be asked. Especially me, who is still stuck trying to figure out why it was me in the first place.


A night of elegant dresses, pictures, smiles, laughs, and a hug, it was the most enjoyable night I've had in a long time. I'm glad, Trevor, it was with you!
With Love and Pink Roses,
Sunshine

Quote of the Day









Love,

Sunshine