Easter

When I was a sophomore in high school my great grandma died. I've mentioned before that that was the first time I'd ever had to deal with death in my life. I didn't handle it well at all. About 4 months later, my seminary teacher shared the story called The Empty Egg with us and gave a wonderful lesson on the resurrection. That was the day that I truly gained a testimony of the resurrection. And now I am here to tell you that I really do know that Jesus Christ has risen, and lives again. I know that we will all have the chance to see our loved ones again, and that a way has been provided for us to return to our Heavenly Father. We are so blessed to have the knowledge that we have about our Savior, and I'm grateful for that knowledge.

The Empty Egg
By: Author Unknown
Jeremy was born with a twisted body and a slow mind. At the age of 12 he was still in second grade, seemingly unable to learn. His teacher, Doris Miller, often became exasperated with him. He would squirm in his seat, drool, and make grunting noises. At other times, he spoke clearly and distinctly, as if a spot of light had penetrated the darkness of his brain. Most of the time, however, Jeremy just irritated his teacher. One day she called his parents and asked them to come in for a consultation. As the Forresters entered the empty classroom, Doris said to them, "Jeremy really belongs in a special school. It isn't fair to him to be with younger children who don't have learning problems. Why, there is a five year gap between his age and that of the other students."
Mrs. Forrester cried softly into a tissue, while her husband spoke. "Miss Miller," he said, "there is no school of that kind nearby. It would be a terrible shock for Jeremy if we had to take him out of this school. We know he really likes it here." Doris sat for a long time after they had left, staring at the snow outside the window. Its coldness seemed to seep into her soul. She wanted to sympathize with the Forresters. After all, their only child had a terminal illness. But it wasn't fair to keep him in her class. She had 18 other youngsters to teach, and Jeremy was a distraction. Furthermore, he would never learn to read and write. Why waste any more time trying?
As she pondered the situation, guilt washed over her. Here I am complaining when my problems are nothing compared to that poor family, she thought. Lord, please help me to be more patient with Jeremy. From that day on, she tried hard to ignore Jeremy's noises and his blank stares. Then one day, he limped to her desk, dragging his bad leg behind him.
"I love you, Miss Miller," he exclaimed, loud enough for the whole class to hear. The other students snickered, and Doris' face burned red. She stammered, "Wh-why that's very nice, Jeremy. N-now please take your seat."
Spring came, and the children talked excitedly about the coming of Easter. Doris told them the story of Jesus, and then to emphasize the idea of new life springing forth, she gave each of the children a large plastic egg. "Now," she said to them, "I want you to take this home and bring it back tomorrow with something inside that shows new life. Do you understand?"
"Yes, Miss Miller," the children responded enthusiastically-all except for Jeremy. He listened intently; his eyes never left her face. He did not even make his usual noises. Had he understood what she had said about Jesus' death and resurrection? Did he understand the assignment? Perhaps she should call his parents and explain the project to them.
That evening, Doris' kitchen sink stopped up. She called the landlord and waited an hour for him to come by and unclog it. After that, she still had to shop for groceries, iron a blouse, and prepare a vocabulary test for the next day. She completely forgot about phoning Jeremy's parents.
The next morning, 19 children came to school, laughing and talking as they placed their eggs in the large wicker basket on Miss Miller's desk. After they completed their math lesson, it was time to open the eggs. In the first egg, Doris found a flower. "Oh yes, a flower is certainly a sign of new life," she said. "When plants peek through the ground, we know that spring is here." A small girl in the first row waved her arm. "That's my egg, Miss Miller," she called out. The next egg contained a plastic butterfly, which looked very real. Doris held it up. "We all know that a caterpillar changes and grows into a beautiful butterfly. Yes, that's new life, too." Little Judy smiled proudly and said, "Miss Miller, that one is mine." Next, Doris found a rock with moss on it. She explained that moss, too, showed life. Billy spoke up from the back of the classroom, "My daddy helped me," he beamed.
Then Doris opened the fourth egg. She gasped. The egg was empty. Surely it must be Jeremy's she thought, and of course, he did not understand her instructions. If only she had not forgotten to phone his parents. Because she did not want to embarrass him, she quietly set the egg aside and reached for another. Suddenly, Jeremy spoke up. "Miss Miller, aren't you going to talk about my egg?" Flustered, Doris replied, "But Jeremy, your egg is empty." He looked into her eyes and said softly, "Yes, but Jesus' tomb was empty, too."
Time stopped. When she could speak again, Doris asked him, "Do you know why the tomb was empty?" "Oh, yes," Jeremy said, "Jesus was killed and put in there. Then His Father raised Him up."
The recess bell rang. While the children excitedly ran out to the schoolyard, Doris cried. The cold inside her melted completely away.
Three months later, Jeremy died. Those who paid their respects at the mortuary were surprised to see 19 eggs on top of his casket....... all of them empty.

Still More Changes

So it seems that change is everywhere lately. Especially in the weather. I mean, c'mon! What is up with this bipolar weather? One minute it's super nice and sun shiny and the next it's thundering and lightning and pouring down rain. Which I probably would have enjoyed except for the fact that every time it thundered I suddenly had students in tears. Yeah. Not fun. However, being in the same class for a whole week is awesome! I've really gotten to liking these kids, and I'm kinda sad I won't see them again after tomorrow.

Now for the good change (I think/hope). I got me a summer job! I get to be a nanny again and I'm so super duper excited about it! This time it's a live-out position for a family down in Providence. So it'll only take me about 15 minutes to get to their house every morning. I'll have three kids this time, ages 4, 2, and a newborn as of today. So I'll get some daily baby cuddle time. :)  The only downside to taking this job is that I will have to stop subbing. And I've really enjoyed that a lot. So I'll finish up this one job tomorrow, one next week, and then two days in May. The rest of the time I'll be playing with those adorable boys and cute baby girl.

Also, yesterday I had to pass on my binders from IWA this year. :( Well, actually, I kept one of them as I have to finish collecting budgets from this semester. But then I have to give that one to Beckah, too. Sigh. Yes, I cried. I'm still so not ready to let this go. But the good news is, there's four weeks of IWA in June. And I'm really excited for it.

I'm also still applying for full time teaching positions, but I also still haven't heard back from any of them. So maybe I'll stick with this nanny job for a whole year. My life is full of changes right now, and I feel like they're never going to stop.

Why blog?

Let me tell you a story. Once upon a time there was a girl named Ashli who was just sitting in her apartment enjoying the peace and quiet after a long day teaching first grade. Then, all of a sudden there came a knock on the door. So, she opened the door and there was Elise. She had a look on her face saying "I need a REALLY big favor." So then this girl named Ashli said "What do you need filmed now?"

And that's how this blog post came to be. She filmed me talking about blogging; why I started blogging, why I keep blogging, etc. It was strange to think about. I only started my blog because I had to for a class just over 2 years ago. And I kept blogging because...well, really, I don't know why. But I kinda like now, I guess.

As a side note, my friend Jake is getting married in like, 7 or 8 weeks. And he made us a deal a while back that if he got engaged this year we could paint his toenails. So that's what we are going to do right now: paint Jake's toenails green :)

Something to Laugh About

This guy cracks me up every time I watch this.

Now go here and read all the posters. Because they made me laugh, too. :)

I Don't Like Changes

First off, watch this, just because I love it and wanted to share. :)

Tonight was definitely a night of change. And I was definitely not ready for it. Tonight was the IWA spring banquet. Which means pretty much the end of the year. Two years ago at this banquet, I was sustained as chapter president for 2009-2010 and was NOT excited about it. At all. I'd never been president of anything and didn't know what I was going to do. Not only that, but I had to miss spring training because it was the same day that Luke and Lacey got married. So then I really didn't know what I was going to do. Then last year during the banquet, I was absolutely ecstatic to be released as president. But I was also getting sustained as an IC member for this year. The difference? I was overjoyed about this new calling, and was super impatient for this school year to start so that I could immerse myself in everything IWA.

And now, spring banquet has once again happened. Only this time, I wasn't put into a new calling. I was only released from my current one. Sure, I still have the next three weeks to finish out the year, and help train Beckah, who will be in my position next year. But it's still really hard for me to just hand it over to someone else. I don't want to do it. I just want to stay here forever. 

However, change must happen. And I know that tonight is only the beginning of something greater. Or at least I hope it is. I have truly loved the opportunity I had to serve on the IC with such wonderful people. :)

 

The IC Officers: Hannah, Valerie, me, Elise, Heidi, Sarah

Megan, Amanda, and Torie

 

All of us with the IC Advisors

 

My other half this year, Jean Edwards. I just love her!

Odds and Ends

So, I'm not sure how I managed to only get one post in during the month of March. Oh wait, my computer starting freaking out and not doing anything but turning on. Go figure. So, here's to playing catch up!

*I think I have been mentally stuck in Disneyland for the past 3 weeks. I really want to go again! Plus, I really, REALLY want to see Wicked again.

*Work has been crazy busy for me the past 2 weeks. The good news: As of 2:30pm today, I am officially on spring break number 2!

*Sunday was dessert night. It was neat. It was also the first time I'd seen Sam since we broke up. (Oh yeah, that happened to, but before I went to Disneyland.) It wasn't awkward at all (unless you count the time that that Josh guy that neither of us knew suddenly started talking about kissing and we were sitting pretty darn close to each other on the couch since there was a lot of people. Yep. AWKWARD!) In all reality, I'm glad he came. :)

*Wednesday was the beginning of the end of IWA. :'( We had our final dinner as an IC, and some tears were shed. However, our spring banquet is this coming Wednesday, and I think there will be more tears shed then. I have truly been blessed to have served with such wonderful people!

*Speaking of IWA, I visited the Ruth chapter last night. They did speed dating and smoothies (2 of my favorite things) and I can now say that I have been on 17 dates in less than 2 hours. Ha! Quite the accomplishment, eh? :)

*I'm still working on filling out job applications. And I still am not enjoying it. Though I do enjoy looking up all the places (mostly in Virginia) online and imagining that I live there.

*It finally reached above 60* in Logan yesterday! And today! It's a record! Haha. Probably not, but at least it was warm. Too bad Sunday is supposed to be back down to the 30s and snowing. Ugh.

*Rian started a blog. I guess it's a new thing they're doing in certain missions. You can read it here. Also, he got to perform his first baptism. This guy's name is Bill.

*I am now looking forward to a week filled with seeing old roommates, the temple, general conference, reading, sleeping in, warm weather (I hope!), IWA, and who knows what else. :)