New Leaves

 “I keep turning over new leaves, and spoiling them, as I used to spoil my copybooks; and I make so many beginnings there never will be an end. (Jo March)”
― Louisa May Alcott, Little Women

It’s a new year and that time to reflect on the last year and make new goals. I know a lot of people don’t like making goals for fear that they may not accomplish them. I love the quote by Walt Disney, “Around here we don’t look backwards for very long… We keep moving forward, opening up new doors and doing new things, because we’re curious… And curiosity keeps leading us down new paths.”

We all have the ability to succeed, but it is our responsibility to do it. No one else’s.  I remember when I was about 14 I would come home from school and watch Oprah. I enjoyed her show and I loved her story. Oprah is a true testament of coming out of a bad situation and having success. She said, “I want every day to be a fresh start on expanding what is possible.”

Yesterday my daughter got baptized. She is my oldest and so of course I was emotional. Brooklynn is the child that we adopted. For the past few months I have been thinking about how her life would have been if she didn’t come to our home. I don’t know exactly, but I know that they have struggled and recently she would not have been with her birth mother. She wouldn’t have been taught the gospel in her home and the environment is much different than it is in our home. I am thankful that I have my precious girl. I am proud of her for her decision to be baptized and become a member of this wonderful church of Jesus Christ. She is starting out fresh and clean, she will be able to make her own choices in life. Yes, there are going to be many that can affect her and some that will tempt her, but ultimately it is her choice.

We have the same opportunity every day. I get the chance to wake up and choose to be happy and love others. Some days are hard, sometimes I have people who affect me in a negative way. Over the last year or so I started to choose who I wanted to affect my life. I asked myself, “Do they make me feel good about myself and uplift me?” I am so much happier. I love my family and some days I am perfectly content staying in my little home with my husband and kids doing nothing at all. We all have choices and we are all going to make mistakes, but it is what you do with those choices and mistakes that make you who you are. I wish everyone a happy 2014. May all your dreams come true!

“Isn't it nice to think that tomorrow is a new day with no mistakes in it yet?”
― L.M. Montgomery