Choose your love, love your choice

My parents are prime examples to me when it comes to true love.  To this day, my dad says he is the luckiest man in the world, and can't believe that my mom chose to marry him and stay with him.  She is the reason he lives, and the reason he wakes up everyday.  I think he would do anything for my mom, and I think she would do the same for him.  I love how my dad tries everything he can to make my mom's life more comfortable and easier.  She has never had to work, and because of that, we were able to have a mom 24/7 which was, I think, one of the greatest blessings in my life, and I know she was only able to do that because of my daddy (and Heavenly Father, of course).  My parent's have had it rough in the work department, and I know it has taken it's toll, but I love that my parents worked through it and put each other first.

My parents met for the first time back when my mom was dating my dad's best friend.  They became closer friends as they helped my mom's boyfriend at the time to go on a mission.  My dad was already home from his mission at the time, and while my mom's boyfriend was the same age as my dad, he was a convert and hadn't served a mission yet.  After my mom's boyfriend left, my dad took my mom out just as friends, but their friendship soon blossomed into romance and they decided they loved each other and wanted to marry each other (and if you ask me, it was the best decision of their lives, I mean, where would my siblings and I be without that?!).

I think my parents are great examples of that quote, "Choose your love, and love your choice." because they made that choice to get married, and they have loved that choice and each other ever since!

I think the best love stories are real life ones :)

Until next time, gentle readers :) love all your choices!

A buncha sickies

Poor little Hudson came down with a fever last Thursday (almost a week ago) and the little trooper has felt miserable every since! His fever is mostly gone, but it seems like it comes and goes, and the poor guy has a cough that just interrupts every sentence! But all he wants to do is play and be well and run around and play :( I feel so bad for him, I hate seeing little bodies so sick and achy.  I took the boys and Jaycee to the duck pond today and took the single stroller (stupid on my part, I should have just driven) but at the time, Hudson wanted to walk with Jaycee.  Well, when we got the duck pond, one of Jaycee's little sandals broke.  Great! So she walked around barefoot for a little while.  I tried to call their grandma to see if she could come pick us up in the car, but she didn't answer.  I didn't know it at the time, but she was outside pulling weeds and didn't have the phone with her.

At about 1:30 I decided I was just going to try and fit all the kids in the single stroller by pulling the back down into the bed position.  They were cramped, but it worked.  Hudson got a little fed up by how uncomfortable and cramped it was, so he asked if he could get out and walk.  He walked for a little bit, but we took lots of rests so that he didn't get too tired.  Then a blessed sight came before my eyes! Jeannie Shuldberg to the rescue driving the silent Hyundai of greatness! She is one incredible woman, I tell you.  She told me that she just had the thought that she needed to check on Makenna, she dismissed it once, but it came back with a vengeance, this time it was, "go pick up Makenna!" and she thought, "OK!" and there she was! Am I ever grateful she listened!

Jeannie Shuldberg is probably one of the most generous, caring, mothering, loving, and spiritual women that I have ever been blessed to have in my life.  The Lord really knew what He was doing when He gave me this job.  She's become like another mother to me! She's so wonderful, I love her!

Would you?

I can't remember how this conversation started, but it went a little something like this.

Boy 1: I had the best waitress tonight!
Boy 2: Was she cute?
Boy 3. Did you get her number?

Boy 1: No.  She had a kid...
Me: What if she was single? Single women sometimes have babies...

(Boys 1, 2 and 3 discuss this for a minute)

Me: So what if you were dating someone and you found out that had been married before.  Would that affect anything?

Basically my answer from the three of them was that they didn't want to date someone that was divorced, they would rather date someone who had a spouse die.  You can imagine how that made me feel for a minute.  None of these boys knew that I had ever been married, and none of them knew why I wasn't married anymore, and I wasn't about to tell them, especially after that conversation.  It didn't really hurt me or offend me, and I still love these guys to death, but it did make me think, and it made me a little bit sad for people who are in a similar situation as I am.  Knowing that there are so many guys out there, great guys, that would honestly think twice about dating me because I'm divorced makes me sad for myself because I didn't do anything wrong, and makes me sad for them because of the great women they could be missing out on.

Growing up in the church, we're always taught that divorce is wrong.  Obviously, marriage is a huge commitment that isn't to be taken lightly.  As a young girl, I knew that there were circumstances in which divorce was the best choice.  I knew it was wrong to stay in a marriage that was abusive, or if a spouse cheated, but, of course, I never thought that I would be married and divorced before I turned 20.  But I also never thought that I would be in a situation where I needed to get divorced.

You see, the Lord knows our situations.  He knows us, and He understands us.  I've heard many different explanations as to why I went through what I went through.  Some of them were "maybe you just needed that experience to grow" or "maybe this somehow brought you to who you really were supposed to be with" or "maybe you needed to experience this to help someone else."  While all those reasons are good reasons, and  I appreciate everyone's insight, I want to say that I think it's possible that the Lord has many reasons, but what I think is a bigger possibility is that sometimes the Lord just allows things to happen to us.  People have agency, and their agency affects us.  If you are standing idly by a road, minding your own business, obeying all pedestrian laws, and you get mowed over by a truck, lose your legs, and are permanently blind, do you think it was by any fault of yours? Most likely not.

We live in a mortal world where people have agency, and unfortunately, if someone uses their agency to chop off your arm with a chain saw, you are going to be affected by it.  You most likely will not have an arm.  This doesn't mean the Lord "made" you go through it, but He did "allow" you to go through it, and we should still learn form these experiences.  I don't believe the Lord "made" me go through horrible experiences, I believe He "allowed" me to, and I believe it brought me closer to Him.  I believe that the Lord can pull us through any situation, no matter how dark, and that if we allow ourselves, we can become closer to Him than we have ever been.

A friend of mine told me, after I had told him that I had been married, that if he were dating me, that wouldn't bother him at all, because he knew that the Lord made everything right in the end.  It was awesome for me to hear that kind of a testimony from a man! Because the Lord does! He is so much more merciful and just than we can even begin to imagine! We are so blessed to have such a loving Heavenly Father who has our best interest at heart.  The important thing is that we follow the spirit in all that we are told, even when it doesn't make sense to us.  Remember that we are mortals, and there is so much that doesn't make sense to us, but how can we exercise our faith without stepping into that darkness a little?

I told a friend of mine the condensed story of my short marriage and all the hardships that came with it, and he told me that as he was walking home from class the spirit just confirmed to him that everything I had told him was right.  It's nice to know that I know what I did was the right thing, but it's nicer to know that other people know it, too.

I love the Lord, and I know things will work out happily for everyone who follows Him and has faith in Him and does all that they are supposed to.  :)

Music in my life

First of all I would like to say that I just love my guitar.  I love playing it, I love the way it looks, the way it sounds, the way it feels, I love that it's my Grandy's, I love that my uncle Bob got it from Spain, I love that my Grandy used to play it to her kids when they were little, I love that I am capable of producing some sort of music that is somewhat enjoyable to the ears, and I love and am so grateful that God loved me enough to give me a gift that I enjoy so thoroughly!

I was a very musical kid.  I was also a very musical teenager, and have been a very musical adult for the few years I've been an official adult.  I sang, I played the viola, I taught myself piano, I taught myself the flute, and I loved it all! Then I decided that I wanted to learn the guitar.  So I set my mind to it, and taught myself! It may have been one of the best decisions I have ever made.  I don't know what it is about singing to the guitar when I play, but it literally makes me so happy! It makes me want to go all Taylor Swift and do nothing but play my guitar and sing for people and make a lot of good money doing it.  Wouldn't that be great? Ah well, I can dream, can't I?

Cheers to dreams.  Hip hip, hooray.

I Believe

I believe in Christ.
I believe in second chances.
I believe in love.
I believe everyone can overcome anything.
I believe the Lord makes everything right in the end.
I believe the Lord forgives us more easily than we forgive ourselves.
I believe that the atonement can ease every pain.
I believe in third and fourth chances.
I believe in change for the better.
I believe that sometimes when we don't know what to do, the Lord trusts us to make the right decision.
I believe that the Lord will guide us if we ask.
I believe we are told things we don't understand.
I believe we can't do things we think we can't.
I believe we affect people we don't know.
I believe we all have gifts and talents.
I believe the Lord is the only one who can and should judge us.
I believe that if we do what we should, we will be given more than we need.
I believe the Lord will take care of us.
I believe the right decision can be scary.
I believe that you can't have faith if you're scared.
I believe the Lord wants us to be happy, and will help us be that way if we let Him.
I believe the Lord brings people into our lives.
I believe in revelation.
I believe in the gospel.
I believe the Book of Mormon is the truest book on earth.
I believe Christ will come again.

Someday I'll be the reason someone lives

You know, my daddy is a wise and kind man.  One of the wisest and kindest that I know.  Yesterday I had a chance to talk to him on the phone for a good hour.  Since he is in California and I'm in Utah, and we are both working all the time, sometimes it's hard to find a moment to talk to him, so I love the moments when I get to steal some of his time :)

We talked about a lot of things, but the biggest thing we talked about was something that was good for me to hear, and something that I believe every girl in the world needs to hear.

My daddy told me, first off, that sometimes the Lord lets things happen to us.  Many of the trials that we face aren't because the Lord gives them to us, but that He allows Satan to tempt us and confuse us.  Like any test, we can prevail or we can fail.  Turning to the Lord in these times are crucial.  With the Lord, Satan has no power over us.  Also, Satan knows our weaknesses.  He knew us the premortal life.  He knows us better than we think, and because of that, he knows how to attack us.  But Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ know us best, and they know how to help us.

Another thing my daddy told me was that I deserved someone who lived for me.  Someone whose reason to wake up in the morning was me.  Someone who would fight for me, no matter what.  Someone who had the faith that God would make everything right in the end, and would be willing to go through whatever he had to because he loved me that much.  Someone who put me first, only behind God.  Someone whose every decision revolved around me.  Someone who would be my knight in shining armor.  Someone who was strong enough to withstand Satan.  Someone who made me feel like I was the best thing in the world.  Someone who would be everything I ever needed and wanted.

Maybe I already know him.  Whoever he is, he's out there, and as long as I'm doing what I'm supposed to, he'll find me :)

Cheers <3

Well hi there, it's been a while!

Wow! My dear readers, I know there are few of you, but I just want you to know that I am ever so sorry that it has been months and months since some of you have even HEARD from me! Per request of one of my dear friends that lives in another state, I have decided that it is high time that I give you all a nice update on this little life of mine.  So much to say, where to being?!

Let's start by saying that I, Makenna K. Donaldson, am very happy.  Life hasn't exactly worked out the way I thought it might, but when does it ever? Good news though, my daddy-o has a full time job in California, which means that the family can start working on moving out and selling the house and finding a house in California.  It's weird, it's finally sinking in! The weirdest part is that I'm not going with them! I have decided that I'm staying in Utah... I know it's what the Lord wants me to do. It's going to be tough, but I know it's going to be right, and everything works out better when you do what's right!

This weekend was a good one :) Caleb and I went to AF for the weekend, spent Friday night at a Smallville season finale party, spent Saturday afternoon at his old roommate's house at a pool party, then went to church on Sunday with the family and just had a rootin' tootin' good time! Laughing and joking and getting to know each other better.  I had an awesome weekend!

I am working full time in Provo as a nanny, and actually living in Provo during the week while I nanny, then I go home on the weekends.  It's kind of a weird set up, but it works, and it's nice to see the boyfriend everyday after work :) But soon enough I'm going to have to find another place to live because there's another person moving into this house that's going to be taking over my room, so I either have to find a place down in Provo or move back home and commute everyday, and I'm honestly not sure which one sounds better.  Commuting everyday is not exactly the best option because I hit rush hour traffic both ways, so it takes twice as long to get to work.  However, living at home is free, and finding a place in Provo would mean I would have to pay.  But then, summer housing is really cheap! But then, part of me wants to be able to see my mom and stuff everyday before she moves for good, but then the other part of me wants to live closer to work and not have to drive everyday... I guess I'll just cross that bridge when I come to it.

Anyway, that's about all I have time for today, until next time, dear readers!