New Years

We had a good new years eve. For the Girls we had a new years birthday party with birthday cake and sparklers. And we sang happy birthday to the new year. Jada is really into birthdays right now. The girls have changed so much this year. Makayla was born in March and is now almost 10 months. She is crawling, walking around furniture, and very much her own person. Jada only knew a handful of words at the start of this year and she is now speaking quite fluently. She is mommy's little helper and Makayla's second mom. She had been making progress learning to share with her sister and cleaning up after herself. She got potty trained this year. She is a very sweet little girl, they both are.
My parents came to our new years party and mike and i played a game and had some snacks with them after the kids went to bed. That was fun. Jada says so many humorous things. At dinner we wanted her to eat and she told us "I'm too busy!", we all laughed and Jada got her "I did something cute" face.
Mike and i got settled in our new place in lethbridge and we have been doing well. Mike is applying for the government again this year. We would like for him to get the job and at the same time don't want to move. I am sure many of you know how that feels.
For New years resolutions we are both continuing our goals of living a healthy lifestyle. The stakes 100 day challenge (daily personal and family scripture study and prayer, family home evening and a family service activity each week.) we have made our own and we have added on to it. We are striving to be at least 5 minutes early for church and to keep the sabbath day holy.

I really feel inspired to share my testimony of these things.
 Sabbath day was always strictly observed in the home I grew up in. I complained alot about it as a child but after I started obeying the commandments with real intent and testimony in my teenage years, not just because they were rules in my parents house, the keeping the sabbath became very dear to me. The sacrifices I personally made to keep this commandment brought about many faith promoting experiences as I saw the Lord bless me. Sacrifices such as not doing my homework or studying that day and I started to see that even though I had one less day to do these things my grades improved. After the trial of my faith the Lord blessed me with better employment (better wage, hours, and benefits) then I would have got if I did not be faithful to my conviction to put strict obedience to God above temporal things. And exercise my faith. At one point I had struggled for weeks to find employment because I would not work Sunday and I started to doubt a little and I prayed to God and in the midst of my prayer the phone rang and it was the bishop asking me to speak in church on keeping the sabbath day holy.
Joseph Smith said "A religion that does not require the sacrifice of all things never has power sufficient to produce the faith necessary unto life and salvation."
I like to change it and say "If chelsey is not willing to sacrifice all things to be obedient to the commandments of God then she cannot gain the faith necessary unto life and salvation."
And this has been so true in my life. The last few years I have become lax in being as mormon is described quick to observe the commandments of God and I saw faith that once carried my through many hard trials and opened the windows of heaven which poured out blessings, become weak and spiritual knowledge obtained forgotten and the spirit that once burned within me become distant. Just the simple things of daily scripture study, prayer, and sabbath day made that huge of a difference. And there are many more commandments and duties we have as members of Christ church that have added blessings. I have made a renewed commitment to be strick to obey the difference I can see in my life is tremendous.

Through out the church there are so many interpretation on what it means to keep the sabbath day holy and every family does it different. If you are raising children or just starting your family and trying to decide how you will observe this commandment in your home I strongly urge you to keep in mind how powerful this commandment can be in the lives of your children unto producing faith. Much needed faith that will be a safeguard for them.
My patriarchal blessing tells me that it is important that I prepare myself by having a strong testimony. Seek the Lord and study the scriptures and he will enlighten me so that my testimony will be a safeguard for me against all evil.
The world our children are raised in is even more morally degraded then the one we grew up in. But we don`t need to fear for them if we have prepared them well.
Though the sabbath day is called a day of rest, more important than emphasis on rest is an emphasis on it being a holy day. A day of worship, one in which men turn their whole souls to the Lord, renew their covenants with him, and feed their souls upon the things of the spirit.
I strongly believe that observance of this commandment will make the difference in our lives between worldly and righteous if we do truly devote that day to spiritually uplifting activities with an attitude of worship.
I asked the question to myself ``How can I be prepared to becoming the kind of person who gives their life to glorify God and labor in his work (in other words, become a true disciple of Christ) if I can not sacrifice one day