Thoughts and Blessings

I was 19 by two days when I got married. Oh I've heard it all: "You'll regret it! I got married at 19 and it was the worst thing I've ever done." "Are you sure? But you're still a baby! You can't know what you're doing!" However I knew that I loved Jordan. I knew that I wanted to spend eternity with him. Would it be hard? Of course! But I wasn't doing it to take the easy way out! I was marrying him because that is what God commanded. 

After two short months of marriage, my husband and I felt very strongly we should start our family. We were terrified! Both of us had two years of school to complete and we had no idea how we would make it. But we couldn't ignore the prompting. Just one month before our first anniversary, our darling Jackson was born. I'm not going to lie and say that it's been easy. But I am going to say that my experiences have strengthened my faith of the importance of marriage and family. This is why I've been sent here! From the first time I laid eyes on our baby, I've had no doubt that I was born to be a mother. That's why we're here! We came to this earth because we wanted to grow to be like our Heavenly Father. There are two parts to that. First, the "Heavenly" part. Yes, we want to be perfect. We hope to someday be Gods and Goddesses! But the second and key part is the "Father" part. We cannot become like God without first becoming a parent.


While I know I have only scratched the surface of wife and motherhood, I have scratched far enough to know that this is what God wants me to be doing. Just as Adam and Eve most likely longed for an easier route to live with God, there are days that I am overwhelmed with everything I have taken on. I see my friends traveling the world, going on adventures, serving missions...they look they're having a blast! At 2 in the morning when I'm changing sheets on a bed and bathing my hungry baby because of a blowout...I start to wish there was another way. However 30 minutes later when Jackson gives me a sleepy grin as I lay him in his clean bed and my husband whispers thank you for letting him sleep because he has an early class...I'm glad that there's no other way. We read in 2 Nephi that in order to feel joy we must experience hardship. I wouldn't realize how happy and grateful I am if I didn't ever struggle.

I echo the words of The Family: A Proclamation to the World: "the family is ordained of God."