Kiel

As I was going back through old blog posts, I caught one from Kiel that I hadn't before read. It contained a quote from Dallin H. Oaks about time management. As Kiel noted, it wasn't the best designed entry (nor is this one), but the message immediately grabbed me.

"Our priorities are most visible in how we use our time…Someone has said, 'Three things never come back--the spent arrow, the spoken word, and the lost opportunity.' We cannot recycle or save the time allotted to us each day. With time, we have only one opportunity for choice, and then it is gone forever."

Wow. Quite the intimidating/motivating quote. I needed this right now. Not back when he wrote it and I didn't read it, but I needed this now.

Thanks, Kiel.

Help from Christ

Job Well Done!

I don't know that there's much to add to this post... other than to include a movie quote. Hmm.... Which one? Which one? Also... from the same movie: "In my defense, your potions all look alike. You might think about relabeling some of them."
I'll include a couple more, because there'll be no more WAC's after this week. (Alas!)
1. "'What else is there?' You should write a book! 'How to offend a woman in five syllables or less!'"
2."Sink me, the lady's a poet."
3. "Let me esplain. No. There is too much. Let me sum up."
4. "I suggest a new strategy, R2: let the wookie win."
5. "To lose one parent, Mr. Worthing, may be regarded as a misfortune. To lose both looks like carelessness."
6. "If you were waiting for the opportune moment, that was it."
7. "Can you be a leetle more especific?"
8. "This is ridiculous, what am I doing here, I'm in the wrong story!"
9. "Have fun storming the castle!"
Well, I think that's it. It's been a great semester. Life is good. In fact, life is beautiful. Abbiamo vinto! (name that movie... it should be easy.)

Faith to Fly

Socrates!

I would like to quote my favorite line from the Apology.

“Men of Athens, I respect and love you, but I shall obey the god rather than you, and while I live and am able to continue, I shall never give up philosophy or stop exhorting you and pointing out the truth to any one of you whom I may meet"

This is where I am at right now.

Where am I? Who knows.

Change...

there's so much past inside my present

Where I am at

I, like Liz, though momentarily blinded by my extreme desire to not be here in Provo (Oooooh Ryan) and dying for the semester to be over, realized that I am quite happy right where I am. I love my classes and the things I am learning. I love being on the council and the things I learn from you guys. I love being on SAC- today we got to meet with President Samuelson and he is PRETTY COOL. I also love that I go to BYU where I get to hear cool famous people speak at forums and devos, like Captain Lovell today. I am grateful for my free agency that I can skip class and go home and watch Apollo 13 after devotional... I love being married. It is so fun and so different than what I expected. I love my ward- Peter and his new wife Kortney just moved into it! I love the prospect of spring coming, and all my plans for summer. My husband just bought me a jeep, which has always been my dream to own and it is rad. I am so excited for all the Moab trips I am going to go on. I am also grateful for my health and my youth, which I am determined to make the most of. I am so grateful to be what I am, where I am and feel so blessed in my life right now.

I am Here...

Where am I?

Where's Courtney?

Where am I? What a great question. I was discussing this with a roommate the other night. Lately, I feel like I am in the middle of a labrynth of critical decisions... and one wrong turn will lead right into a deadly trap or fog of forsakenness... or something else equally dreadful. It's easy, when the future is unclear but decsions need making, to become discouraged and lose hope. It's also easy to let yourself become distracted, to try to put off the things you should be thinking of and doing and waste time on trivial matters.

It is moments like this that make me so grateful for the gospel, and specifically prayer. I remember, when I was little, opening up my "Where's Waldo" book and scanning the pages to find him. Sometimes I found him right away, there are some pages where I still swear he isn't in there. One evening, I asked my dad "If Heavenly Father read this book, how fast could he find Waldo?" (I was a pretty wise kid). My dad's answer was immediately. "He wouldn't even need to open the page, he'd already know." In this massive, celtic knot cross-road I've found myself in, I'm grateful to know that someone knows where I am. Even when I don't.

My Pulse ... Right ... Now!

It has been a really hectic week! Up until this week things have gone great. Really great:
Last Friday I had to go to Idaho for a traffic ticket (I was seeking justice by fighting the charges). I won.
This semester I got my first 100% on a test at BYU (it was on my new favorite book-Tolstoy's War and Peace).
My wife got an interview for the MBA program at the Marriott School of Business.
BYU made it out of the first round of the NCAA tournament.
I found out that I am going to Chicago for a week this summer!
In other words, life has been really going great!
This last week however:
I have a take home test (why do professors do this?!?).
I have a class presentation (this class...).
I have to another class presentation for 30 min. (War and Peace again...).
I have a deadline for a paper... that I am not ready to write... yet...
I am getting a new district of young missionaries this week.

I know I am going to make it. I am not worried about surviving, but rather how well will I survive. I remember when Elder Eyring said that our goal is not to simply endure the storms of life, but to endure them well.
It is always a rush this time of year (last midterms until finals start). I love the feeling that comes with stretching to new limits. It helps me know I am on the right path.
Some things I do to keep going:
Read the Word (the Holy Word of God).
Play Basketball once (Wednesday night for 30 min.).
Eat regularly.
Sleep regularly.
Pray very regularly.

Orlando, Florida

This is not a picture of me, but it is where I've been for the last two days. That's where I'm at right now.

I've also been on couches reading books, and apparently online doing this post. I have not been in a place where I've been thinking a lot about school...or work...or anything but relaxing. See you next week!

The Present

Yea... March 23, 2010 Post

Where in the world is Kiersty Lemon? Currently, I am in the HLRC, in the JFSB, on BYU campus, in Provo, Utah, in the USA, on the Planet Earth, in the Orion arm of the Milky Way Galaxy, in a much larger Universe. Of course, this is a strictly literal statement. When I ask myself where I am in school, my answer is more like this: I am a student, a year away from graduating with a bachelor's degree in Spanish and a minor in Humanities. I plan to apply to the Spanish Master's program and continue to study Spanish literature. If I ask where I am in life, the answer is much the same includes my relationships with my friends and family, my ward, my roommates, my apartment complex, my home teachers, the friends I eat lunch with, the time I spend reading, walking, country dancing, talking, reading comics, quoting, TAing, studying, writing, etc... These things help define who I am and where I am, and when I know that I have a clearer picture of where I want to go and whether that's where I'm headed.

Just a Little Crazy...

"I think he'll make it"

Look before, or you'll find yourself behind