The 10 Lepers, License, And Legends

I've heard another story over and over again this week, so I've perked my ears up.

There were 10 lepers and they fell on Jesus' feet asking him to heal them. He told them to go shew themselves unto the priests. As they did so, they looked at themselves and exclaimed with joy.
They were cured. One turned back to go thank his Lord. When he did Jesus asked him where were the ten he healed? But only one had to come back to show his gratitude.

I was giving the short version of this story, but it still tells us that we should always be grateful for the things we have and receive.

I got my license!!! That's right, I'm now a legal driver! I'm so grateful because my mom has been chauffeuring kids around for 20 years and I think she's ready for a break.

Yesterday, my high school marching band competed at State yesterday and we got third place in our division!! That's pretty awesome, considering how many high school marching bands there are in the state!

Flip-Flops and Endings

Yesterday I couldn't find my flip-flops, which ruined my whole outfit for the day so I had to switch it.
I still couldn't find them after I got home from school and I started to get frustrated.

Why couldn't I find them? They had to be somewhere!
So this morning I was determined to find them. I looked all around, up, down and sideways and couldn't spot them anywhere. Then I remembered being taught that when you lose something, if you pray to Heavenly Father, he will help you find it. (I was taught that as a little kiddy) So, I prayed and asked Heavenly Father to help me find my shoes.

I had the feeling to look into a plastic bag that was sitting on the stairs, and what do you know? My flip-flops were sitting right in there. At first I was a little mad because they were right under my nose!! But then I became very grateful and immediately said thank you to Heavenly Father.

Tonight was our last Tuesday rehearsal for Marching Band. In a way its a blessing because now I have more time to do homework and its sad because Tuesday night rehearsals can be really fun. But I've learned so much this semester.

I'm so grateful. :)

Struggle

This semester has been extremely difficult. And really stressful. I'm ready for it to be over.

Everything seems to be falling apart and I'm just barely hanging on by a thread. I keep telling myself that as long as I can survive this semester, I'll be ok. Everything will be ok.

I think I'm going to head on over to this website. It always brings me comfort.

Happy Halloween!

Stress and Trek

This past week I had the privilege of going on a pioneer trek with my stake. It was very hard. But I enjoyed it. And Heavenly Father was with me every step (even though every step was painful).

I'm stressed out.
Marching band, AP World History, Honors English, License coming up, Savior to the World (a production that my ward is putting on) Online class, homework and a new job.

AHHHHHHHHHH!

I don't know what to do!!
But, really. It makes me so distressed. I can't wait for next semester. Things will definetley calm down, but for now I feel things slipping through my fingers. And they're slipping fast. I hate this.

But I can rise to the challenge. I can do this.

It's just gonna take a little faith, trust and...

Pixie Dust :)

I Can Do Hard Things

When your heart hurts you think nobody understands.

Why do people have to make decisions that hurt other people?

You think you know someone, but then find out you really don't. And you love this person and know their doing something wrong.

It's not suppose to be this way.

I've prayed for comfort and I feel better, but then I remember why I prayed in the first place, then my heart twists and turns and I want to break into tears.

Pain is a part of life. But so is faith. You have to have faith to endure the pain.

I'm meant to learn a lesson and gain knowledge through this trial. And I can. I just need to have the right perspective.

I find it interesting when people go through hardships and blame Heavenly Father or turn their backs away from Him. They think its His fault. But He loves us enough to let us learn for ourselves. I bet thats hard: Stepping back and watching someone you love make mistakes and learn from them...

Maybe thats what I'm meant to do: Step back and let this person learn, but love them just the same.

This is hard. This is very hard.

But I can do hard things. I know that.

Saving Lives

One thing I'm grateful for is saving lives by donating blood. I donated blood today and it was very interesting. It's such a blessing to have medical knowledge.

When I went to give blood (if you get queasy from needles or blood you might want to stop reading) they tried my left arm first but my blood started to clot, or heal itself. So they stuck my other arm. And slowly but surely I started pumping blood. As I was giving blood I thought of people my blood might be going to...and I was also excited for the snacks afterwords :)

Heavenly Father was definitely with me today.

Brothers and Bands

Can I just say that I love conference weekend? I know it might be weird for a teenager to actually look forward to conference but I really do. I love taking notes and feeling the spirit with my family.

There were some really good talks this morning.

But I missed the second session yesterday because of a marching competition.
We were unusually calm and sluggish warming up and we weren't in the zone.

We get out on field and I'm trying to make sound come out of my clarinet, but it's impossible. When the reed (wooden slab that vibrates to make sound) isn't wet, it wont create a sound. And my reed wasn't wet enough because it was so dry outside. So, all that was coming out of my instrument was squeaking. And our timing was off. It was just chaos.

After we performed, we knew we had done bad and we were gonna get a low score.
As soon as we sat in the bleachers, watching the other bands and waiting for the award ceremony, a huge storm came and the competition was canceled. So, we don't know what placement we got. I'm grateful because we knew we did horrible and we know what he need to fix. And most of it was just bad luck.

As I was watching conference, my older brother, Brad, put his hand on my knee. And for some odd reason, silent tears ran down my face. If there's anyone in this family that I look up to, besides my mom, its Brad. Growing up I wasn't near to him as my older sisters were, but I love him so much.

I'm grateful for his example to me and how great of a brother he is. He's so caring and compassionate. I'm lucky he's my brother :)

Beat Ups and Mess Ups

So yesterday morning one of our drum majors (student that conducts the marching band) got suspended because he got in a fight with this other kid in the band (who was also suspended)

So, now we have no one conducting us on the back field...

Which is not good because at some points in the song we face backwards...

This is a perfect example of the choices that you make affect other people.
So, now we have a replacement drum major. Things should work out. This is a challenge Heavenly Father gave the whole band (even if they don't realize it) and he knew we can handle it.
Oh. And we have a competition this Saturday, so I'll be missing some of conference :(

Yesterday I challenged a boy in band for his chair. I lost. It was pretty disappointing since he's a freshman and I'm a sophomore. But it's just another trial I can get over :)

Questions and comments are appreciated!

The Best Is Yet To Come

How true.
I think we go through life thinking that things will never get better.
We'll never get that bill paid
We'll never get that A
He'll never notice me

We're always focused on whats happening, which is OK, but you still have to have an eternal perspective.
I think everybody feels at one point in time that something is missing whether its your faith,
Car keys,
Lunch money,
Your child's project,
or your relationship with Heavenly Father

I love this website. There's always something on there that lifts my spirit and brings me closer to Heavenly Father. Like this video.

I am truly lucky. :)

Computer Broken and Sprinklers

Ah! My computer has been broken for the past two weeks and I've almost exploded because of all the blessings I've wanted to blog about!
So, here's one:

Sometimes for MB we have to practice right after school at the hottest part of the day. Not fun. But the other day when we had an after school rehearsal we got an awesome surprise! The sprinklers on the field were on! I ran into them joyfully and got all soaking wet. I stayed cool for the rest of the rehearsal!

Doctors

So, since the beginning of August, I've had this weird infection on my hand (gross, I know) And it hasn't gone away since then. In fact, its gotten worse! So we scheduled an appointment to see the doctor today.

Earlier this year I had a really ugly sty on my eye, and when we went into the doctor they referred us to someone else. We didn't go to them because we didn't have the money, so we were really disappointed. I had to live with the sty and it eventually (thank goodness) went away.

I was praying that the doctor wouldn't refer us this time because I just wanted this thing on my hand to go away. Thankfully, my prayer was answered. He diagnosed it as a type of Eczema, which is basically a rash. My body is attacking itself and I'll probably have this condition for the rest of my life. It sounds scary, but it really isn't. It could be so much worse.

I could be dying

Bleeding on the inside

Or diagnosed with cancer

It could be anything. Luckily it was this. And I'm so grateful.

Money Troubles & Marching

Yeah, everybody has those problems nowadays! Almost everything is about money. And it stinks. Really bad. Like old stinky gym socks. (Gross) But I guess we need money somehow.

(I hope in the millennia there wont be any money and we'll all trust each other and pay each other in love!)

So, I'm in the marching band at my high school and its a lot of work. I never realized how hard it is to play an instrument, march, keep time, be on your mark, and be musical ALL at the same time. Phew. It really isn't easy. But I can feel Heavenly Father with me every day.

Sometimes I have trouble breathing when I work-out or run (I'm not really a fan of running). And every time my breath doesn't come I just get tired, scared and I want to quit. Every morning for MB (marching band) we run. And just when I think my breath isn't going to come and I'm going to pass out, I take in a beautiful gulp of air and keep running. I know it's Heavenly Father helping me. And I'm so thankful.

After every Friday night home game our band goes out to eat. So, I brought $5 and put it in my wallet in my purse. I also put my camera (memories!) and my phone into my purse and I didn't lock it up in my locker before the game. (I was not thinking very clearly) After the game I check for my 5 dollars and it was gone! Someone had come in to the band room, gone through my purse, and stolen my money. Very scary and unnerving. But, for some odd reason, I had decided to rip up a blank check that morning and discard it because I figured I wasn't going to use it.

Something tells me it was the Holy Ghost quietly telling me that it was best that I get rid of that check. And also that morning I had put my camera into a sock (I lost my camera case) because Heavenly Father knew some mean person was going to mess with my purse. So the sock must have looked unappealing to the robber, and he/she left it. I still don't know why my phone was left unharmed. But I'm so thankful it was!

(I also got my very own clarinet today! I feel so happy!)

If you have any questions about the terminology in this post, please, feel free to ask! I would love to answer your questions :)

Doubt Not, Fear Not

Wow! Talk about timing!

Today in seminary we talked about power phrases, and there was one in D&C that totally stood out to me! Its D&C 6: 36 "Look unto me in every thought, doubt not, fear not".

Sometimes I struggle with being proud that I'm mormon. I mean, its nothing to be ashamed about, but its hard when you know whats coming after you tell someone you're mormon. Either you get teased, laughed at, mocked, scorned or ignored. Its not cool. I feel afraid sometimes and I doubt myself.

But now I shall tell myself "Doubt Not, Fear Not Kellie!!" Because Heavenly Father will always look out for me, and I know that. Sometimes I just forget.

Friends and Helaman 5:12

Whew! So many blessings I'm discovering just by paying attention! (I think I'm going to enjoy this)

I am so blessed with the new friends I've made. It really is true what they say about your friends make you who you are. I've noticed as I hang out with a different group of friends that I act differently (imagine that!) and I'm finding that I like it.

So, for the past couple of days I've been hearing a scripture mastery being said. Helaman 5:12 which says " And now, my sons, remember, remember that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation: that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his mighty storm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall."

For some strange reason (or maybe a really cool coincidence) I've been hearing that.

It's amazing what happens when you pay attention!! :)

This Is Me

Heya. This is my introductory post. I want to introduce what my goal is and tell a little bit of who I am.
My name is Kellie Ann Wood. I was born in Scottsdale, Arizona on September 15, 1994. I was born into a family of two sisters and one brother. My oldest brother, Brad, is 26 and my two sisters are Aimee and Michelle, 24 and 22. Two years after I was born my family was blessed with a baby girl, Abbey. She's my little sister. When I was about 6 years old my parents divorced and our family was shaken and torn. That has been my biggest trial throughout my life, but Heavenly Father has made me stronger. In 2004, my mother was married to a man named Rex Harding and our family inherited 5 more kids. Yup. Our family count doubled and there are 10 kids. Rex's children are Dustin (25), Brennan (23), Callan (20), Jentri (19) and Quinton (17). They are all a blessing to this family.
Since then my dad has been remarried twice. His current wife, Laurie, has 6 beautiful children. Jessica, Jake, Jocelyn, Colton, Natasha and Sophie. (I'm not positive on their ages.) My dad's marriages have been the hardest for me, I barely see his new children or his wife because now they live in Oklahoma. But I love them, its just hard for me sometimes.
I am currently enrolled in high school and in seminary. I love seminary. It is the best part of my day. And I also do marching band and concert band. I am a band geek, its true. I love music.

This is my life and I'm not perfect by any means, but I'm striving to become the best I can be. If you have any questions, leave me a comment. :)