Yesterday we were able to listen to conference via my husbands laptop which we hooked up to the stereo so we could hear it, unfortunately none of us were willing to crunch into the office space to watch it, but we did listen, especially to the afternoon session, and it was amazing, I am hoping that my family will be willing to listen to the Saturday sessions at a later time because we missed both of those, not because we didn't want to watch them, to be truthfully honest I was too tired and so I slept through the morning session (I had been up early to go get an MRI and then we stopped by at the fair on the way home, so I was exhausted)

Anyhow, this, I do believe, is the first time I went to the relief society session and John attended the priesthood session, he came home so excited and even put on the priesthood session for us to listen to during the break between the 2 sessions on sunday--I thought that rather impressive since usually he wants as little to do with conference as possible, but i must admit, John is definitely a work in progress, but in the 10 yrs that I have known him (6 that I have been married to him) the progress has definitely been made and he has come a long way.)

John has been trying so hard to carry out his priesthood duties and is doing a rather good job at it, I have noticed that the more I try to invite the spirit into my house, whether it be by me keeping the house tidier than usual down to what "media" we allow to be enjoyed in the house, and the harder John strives to carry out his priesthood duties the easier it is to be a happy family--we don't fight as much (I didn't say we don't fight at all, we still fight, but we don't fight as much) and even though oone would think the more we are doing the less time we will have together, turns out it is the exact opposite--turns out that we have more time to enjoy each other, since we aren't fighting as much we get to enjoy that time, we aren't fighting over whose turn it is to do the dishes, I am no longer worried about how I am going to do everything I need to do, instead I do what I can and since I keep up rather than catch up it seems so much easier and less time consuming, I am probably working a lot more, but it doesn't seem like it and it also seems as if the work is easier

either way, I always thought a tidy house and a righteous family meant we never had time together because my husband would be too busy with his calling and I too busy cleaning and cooking, and although we aren't perfect, my house still gets dirty and my family is stuck fending for their own food, I am noticing a big difference, and it might just be that the harder we are trying the easier it seems because the Lord is on our side helping us out, we are no longer fighting the stream, we are still struggling to withold satan's power, but it seems as if he is stuck outside, I noticed that the last few fights we have had were in the car, not in the house, that our house is actually a place where we can escape satans power because I feel that the Lord is protecting us--I know that may sound weird, but that is what I have noticed since I have decided to finally put my foot down and make a few changes--like I said though, we aren't perfect, far from it actually, but the small changes I have already seen just prove to me that we are changing for the right reasons and that we are being rewarded, and for that I am thankful.

I keep thinking of all the judgments i use to make about "churchy people" but now I realize that those judgments were just one of the little things Satan did to keep me from enjoying the peace that comes when you live the way the Lord wants you to--I know our struggles aren't over, but I know with God by our side we can do anything--we might not like it, but God can give us the strength as long as we keep up the faith.