The Power of Women

Dear Emmia and Kirk,
  The strength of a woman is powerful. The lives they live and the power they have are unique and full of promise. There are many examples of mighty women from the beginning to the present.

like:

Eve

Deborah

Sarah

Ruth

Naomi

Lydia

Rebekah

Rachel

Esther

Anna

Leah

Sariah

Abish

Mary

And all those unnamed women that are EVERYWHERE in the scriptures. Woman at the well, King Lamoni's wife, everybody else's wife (Nephi's, Sam's, Peter's, etc.) 

Ruth was the ancestor of David and Jesus Christ. She was loyal to those around her and her hard work ethic determined her destiny. She is a great example.



The courage of Esther was so powerful that it saved her people. It was her inner beauty that won the battle.

I love all these examples of amazing and powerful women. They overcame floods, trials, opposition, sorrow and many years of difficulty. . . . but they were faithful and diligent and they relied on God.

Now there is one more example I would like to share.

Her name is Kathy Ann Dimick. . . but I call her mom. She has been through so much and traveled through many storms and fought many battles in her life.

She was abused for 13 years.
Her father passed away.
All of her saddles were stolen.
Her trials have been endless.

But those things have happened to her. They are not her. She has risen above all those hardships and raised 4 kids all at the same time.

My mom's faith unified her little family through a divorce and redefined what kids from a "broken" family do and accomplish.

My mom's strength withstood judgement, discouragement and overwhelming sorrow to get through years of raising children and teaching others. She found joy in the journey. She played with us despite her worries for the future and her humor has been her best ally.

My mom's faith is mightier than a pride of lions!!

"Yea, they had been taught by their mothers, that if they did not doubt, God would deliver them.

 And they rehearsed unto me the words of their mothers, saying: We do not doubt our mothers knew it . . . But behold, to my great joy, there had not one soul of them fallen to the earth; yea, and they had fought as if with the strength of God; yea, never were men known to have fought with such miraculous strength;" (Alma56:47-48;56)

The mothers of these warriors taught them well. I know that my mom's teachings has taught me to fight the good fight.

I know I am a daughter of God because my mother taught me so. She taught me how to know that truth; that fact. . . and that fact gives me miraculous strength.

Without my mom's faith I would have been robbed of this fact before I even had it.

When I want to give up. When tough times come like a tsunami crashing on my soul; when Satan comes whispering telling me I can't do it, I remember.

I remember my mom's strength; her courage; her faith.

I remember what she taught me.

I remember her smile and her humor. . . and that she can teach a rock to read.

I smash the chains of Satan that are wrapping themselves around me and get up in his face and tell him. "I am daughter of God. I am a daughter of the mom who protected her kids and fights you every single day valiantly!! I know who I am. Back off Lucifer, I have work to do."

And I go to work. I go and act like a my mom's daughter, act like God's daughter.

Women have power that they don't even see. Women have the privilege of shaping human hearts.

Do we need any more power than that?

I don't think so. When we remember the strength we have; the courage and faith that we possess, we give others strength, we unite armies, leave legacies and stand tall with God.

Love,
  Ryn.

Puzzle pieces

Dear Emmia and Kirk,
 I love to do puzzles. My mom and I could zone out for hours in front of a 5000 piece puzzle. We do one every year for New Years. One time we did 7 (varying from 250 to 5000) I was dreaming in puzzle pieces :) Whenever I see this:

I think: Challenge accepted.

I've learned a lot of life lessons from puzzle doing.

 #1: Frame comes first!

When you start working on a puzzle always ALWAYS work on the frame first. If you don't it will take you SSOOO much longer to complete the puzzle and its pretty much chaos. You'll get more frustrations, anger, and puzzle piece throwing than enjoyment and accomplishment out of the puzzle if you get the frame done first.

In life you should start with the frame also. For me my frame is Jesus Christ, His teachings and His restored gospel and church. When I frame my life with Christ and His simple commandments my frustrations, anger and tantrum throwing are less and the enjoyment and accomplishment of my life increases.

No matter what you frame is work on it improve it make sure its a good frame and structure your life in that frame. It will make you so much happier :)

#2: Take the dark with the light.

If you look at an individual piece of a puzzle you its a mini representation of the force on Star Wars. It has a dark side and a light side. And those little individual pieces make up a whole picture of complementary light and dark.

Life has dark days and light days. and those individual days make up a whole life of complementary light and dark.

In the Missionary Training Center one of our teachers Bailee then Brinkerhoff now Morris, pointed this picture out to us that was on the classroom wall.

She pointed out that if it wasn't for the dark places the focus point (where Joseph Smith is) wouldn't even be the focus. The painting wouldn't have focus. She related that to our missions that if we made this painting into a puzzle and each piece was a day of our mission then one day might be filled with dark: everything going wrong, nothing going right, bad hair day and you just want to kneel down in fetal position and cry. But some days would be filled with light: smiling like the barbie at the end of Toy Story 2 but you don't ever want to stop. and most days will have both but they all come together to make an epic picture; a picture of a mission that you will be proud of. I've realized that's not just an analogy for my mission but for my life.

2 Nephi 2: 11

"For it must needs be, that there is an opposition in all things. If not so, my firstborn in the wilderness, righteousness could not be brought to pass, neither wickedness, neither holiness nor misery, neither good nor bad. Wherefore, all things must needs be a compound in one; wherefore, if it should be one body it must needs remain as dead, having no life neither death, nor corruption nor incorruption, happiness nor misery, neither sense nor insensibility."

#3: Follow the blueprint.

Doing a puzzle without a picture of the end product its harder to complete just like life! If you don't have something for reference you lose the way and even motivation to finish.

One time my mom and I couldn't find the reference picture to a puzzle. (puzzles usually come with them) We had lost it and when we didn't have it the puzzle slowed down. We actually stopped working on it for about a week before we finally found the reference picture in the depths of the couch.

If I don't have a reference picture or blueprint for my life I can lose my way and sometimes lose motivation to continue. In Junior High I had lost the blueprint of my life. I wasn't building my life at all on any blueprint. I was lost and I wasn't happy. But as soon as I found a  blueprint to follow in my life I could move forward to building my life and put together all the small things because I have the big picture.

#4: Life is a puzzle.

    Sometimes when working on a puzzle you lose a piece or you think a piece should go where you think it goes. . . but it doesn't.

Sometimes when going through life I lose things: people, things, places, etc. or I have a plan for my life and I'm positive it will go the way I want it . . . but it doesn't. Which is probably a good thing. With God's plan for my life I can focus on fitting in the pieces. God has already made the puzzle; designed it, created it and worked it all out. All I have to do is put it together.


#5: Cherish the small things.

My mom and I whenever we got a piece of the puzzle in we would do a high five or pound it. Sometimes a mix of both (hahaha:)

That taught me to cherish the small accomplishments. You got out of bed this morning? WOOOHOOO!!! congratulations:) Those small little moments make up a whole day. that small little day makes up a whole life and that life is a puzzle that when completed can be a gift to my Heavenly Father.

1 Nephi 21:16

Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands; thy walls are continually before me.

My life and puzzle is in His hands. He has given me everything I need. There are so many more lessons I have gained from the life time of doing puzzles but I hope you can take this pieces and apply them to your life puzzle.

Love,
   Ryn