A Roller Coaster Ride

It’s official, I just survived what I would like to call a “death semester.”  I had it coming…like stepping onto a wild roller coaster at an amusement park...I loaded up my schedule with extremely taxing classes, perfectly placed myself in the midst of a disaster of decisions, and chose to stand next to loved ones who are also at a peak of intensity and devastation in their lives…and I was off. 

The gospel was my seat belt…the only thing that could keep me sane and safe.

  

At times, all I could do was hold on.  I definitely had my ups and downs.  I cherished the moments where I could spend time with the people I loved the most.  As the semester progressed, these moments dwindled, becoming few and far between.  As finals approached, I spent every night, sometimes until midnight, in the library studying.  My study groups became my social life (especially my economics study group).  I refused to let Economics 110, the most failed class at BYU, be the end of me.  I competed against the hundreds of competitive men and women applying for the Business program in a CURVED class.
  

With little sleep and food, I quickly caught a hold of a sweet-little sickness.  Timing was perfection, as I had a voice final that same week. Through a power higher than my own, I was able to overcome the nasty, enduring cough to belt out four songs.

I do not regret this semester, for I learned a lot about myself and my capabilities. Similarly, I am so grateful for the angels in my life who enabled me accomplish and fulfill my responsibilities.

Call it crazy but I am back at it again. Four semesters in a row…Spring Term officially starts today.  It’s kind of funny how it works, after all is said and done, we walk off the rollercoaster and realize how exhilarating it was and get back in line to do it all over again! 

However...

I am hoping this semester will be a little more like the swings or the chair lift :) 

Forever in My Heart

A year ago, today, I returned home from one of the most sacred journeys of my entire life, an opportunity to live in Jerusalem for four months.  Easter will forever mean something different to me because of my time spent there.  The Easter Bunny, the baskets, and the wild-eggs hunts are all wonderful and particularly enjoyable for the younger children but it has become of little significance to me now.  I remember walking into Sacrament meeting in my home ward last year, tired from jet-lag and 48 hours of traveling, to a simple rendition of “He is Risen” being sung by my ward choir.  Immediately my eyes welled up with tears and I was overcome with a powerful yet peaceful spirit.  I had just sung that hymn in front of the Garden Tomb three days prior…in the closest location to where Jesus, the Christ, literally did rise.

What a beautiful and sacred series of events we are celebrating.

A year later…it is a typical Saturday night and I am looking forward to spending Easter morning with Chelsea in our quiet duplex.  I cannot believe a year has come and gone.  Chelsea is teaching gospel doctrine tomorrow and so I decided to stay to support her and learn from her.  She was showing me some of her Jerusalem pictures as we discussed what she should share.  I could not help but crack open my own “dusty” files containing thousands of pictures from my time well spent in the Holy Land.  I am trying to remind myself of what the places, that I will here of so much tomorrow, look like.  I am trying to remember the feelings I experienced at each one of those places.

 An immediate flood of love, gratitude, and a burning testimony for the Savior fills my heart and my soul every time I look at my pictures.  From the smiling faces of my friends to the red flowers accenting the Garden Walls, I know Jesus is the Christ. 


He lives. He lives. HE LIVES.

Two Photos By: Kaitlin O'Connor

I think I watched this movie twice a day for a month straight when I got home. 

I did not want to ever forget.  

Little did I know, it would forever be in my heart.

O' Jerusalem.

Video By: Ashley Christ

OUR LITTLE STAR

Eliza has put in countless hours of hard work for the junior high play, AIDA. 

We all came to watch and support her on the closing night.  

She was absolutely spectacular and looked unbelievably stunning.  

Eliza had quite the collection of flamboyant costumes.  

Random Fact: The cast was required to get spray tans regularly to look like Nubians…it was fun to see orange junior high kids! :) Eliza looked like a different ethnicity, however.  

She tans like it’s her day job.

We all had a little too much fun trying on one of her headdresses...

Hahaha Of course, we forced my Grandpa to try it on. He is such a sport. 

My parents are and will forever be the number one fans of anything we do.

80,000 people w/ chalk...

Hare Krishna. 2012. 

Below: My Cousins, Sarah and Natalie, My Fabulous sisters, Austin Snow And Carson. 

Ha. My cousin snapped A cute picture of Carson trying to help me put on my swim cap. 

 Is he not the sweetest?

Refusal to miss an incredibly good time + ChEls and I had a hair appointment right after and did not want Permanent hot pink hair=swim cap time 
(It looks absolutely ridiculous. we look like baldies)

Warning: You will inhale an insane amount of colored chalk….but, in my opinion, it is well worth every dry heave. 

 I am glad I got to spend the afternoon with such crazy-hilarious-loved ones.  

Weekend of Hope

My semester is one of love, laughter, immense growth…and unexpected stress.  I am in the midst of my hardest semester at BYU while simultaneously bombarded by many personal and imperative decisions.  After my second round of midterms, I spontaneously ditched the rest of my classes, jumped into the car with my sister and my cousin, and headed to Midway to attend my mom’s retreat.  [In correspondence with my mother’s recently published book, “Be Well,” Beneficial International hosted a four-day retreat.  Individuals from all over the country came to recommit to a happier and healthier lifestyle...recommitting to a better life.  

This retreat consisted of numerous classes/seminars each day on various chapters of my mom's book. 

My mom is a bomb teacher.  I love her SO much.

Food curtailed around the Candida Diet...aka vegetables. No fruit, breads, flour, sugar etc. Everything I eat=prohibited. Good thing for Grandparents who smuggle in sugar for a few of us who were not anticipating it nor quite mentally prepared for it. 

Reflexology. 

My Grandma is brilliant professional and helps countless numbers of people come to understand the body every day. One day she gave a entire demonstration on reflexology and I was lucky enough to "help her out"...yeah baby! 

(Below: Chels workin' on Natalie's feet. Look at that concentration)

Meditation in the Crater

Evil Twin :)

One Obsession: The Yoga sessions. 

One Evening: Candle-Light Yoga:

(Sweet picture of Emily, our instructor)

Yoga gave me an excuse to “step outside” of my life, my insecurities, and my stress to channel my energy and my focus entirely inward.  For the first time in years, I took the time to hear myself breathe… to literally focus solely on an action I subconsciously do every second I am alive.  I could feel the slow rising and falling of my stomach, like a small balloon inside of me…the steady beat of my heart…the serenity of the silence.  Our bodies are sacred and beautiful creations; it does not matter the size or the shape, they are all unique and all beautiful.  I love my body.  I recognize it is a glorious gift from God.  I felt an unbelievable closeness to Him as I detached myself from the world and centered my focus on Him and giving me the gift of life on this earth.  The silence was a blanket that protected me from the bombardment of responsibilities and allowed me to fully channel my thoughts on me, who I am as a person, Rachel Jackson.  A light and energy radiated within my soul as I realized how blessed I am to be alive.  Happiness consumed every part of my body.  Gratitude quickly brought me to reality as I contemplated how lucky I am to be alive.  I can see, I can hear, I can love, I can laugh, I can run, I can talk.  I have only one life to live and every second wasted worrying, hating, and stressing is a second snatched away from really loving it.  I am realizing the importance of living in the here and now.  I must not take another day for granted.

We all had positive affirmations lying beside our mats, defining and bringing hope to our individualistic situations.  My affirmation card stated:

 “Today is a very exciting time in my life. I am on a wonderful adventure and will never go through this particular experience again.”

21

21 Years Old=21 Years to Be Grateful

 From a surprise 12am visit with a homemade cake... to 7am breakfast in bed (YUMMY Mickey Mouse Pancakes w/ my favorite fruit)....

To crazy birthday dinners with my family and close loved ones. 

I am very grateful for the wonderful people that consume my life;

I count it to be among one of my greatest blessings. 

I am SO very blessed and I simply don't deserve it.

Thank you for making this THE BEST 21st Birthday a girl could ask for.

One of the best parts about birthdays...I get to spend them EVERY YEAR with my best friend!!!!!!

The Truth is at Our Fingertips

Today, I just finished the Book of Mormon again. I testify with everything I am that this is a true book.  I remember the first time I completed the Book of Mormon, individually: I was a young teenager on a road trip with my family and we were crossing the Indian Reservation in Arizona.  [Now thinking back on it, I was amongst the descendants of this sacred book…how cool is that?!!!!] The spirit consumed my entire body and tears started streaming down my face as I took upon myself Moroni’s challenge and prayed about the truthfulness of this book.  My soul began to burst with one of the purest and strongest joys I had ever felt.  Six or seven years later, I still remember how powerful and overriding those feelings were and still are when I read it. I can feel a physical difference in my life when I read it compared to when I do not.  When I was younger, I found the language harder to understand and the material hard to relate to.  Now, I can see EVERY single stage I enter in my life directly weaved into this sacred book; it is applicable in every aspect of life. When I read those words, I am receiving advice, wisdom, and love DIRECTLY FROM GOD.  Along with the Bible, the Book of Mormon is another testament of Jesus Christ.  We have the truth and knowledge at our fingertips. I know it is true without a doubt in my mind. 

I echo Elder Holland’s words: 

"Now, I did not sail with the brother of Jared. I did not hear King Benjamin speak his angelically delivered sermon. I was not among the Nephite crowd who touched the wounds of the resurrected Lord, nor did I weep with Mormon and Moroni over the destruction of a civilization. But my testimony of this record and the peace it brings to the human heart—given to me through the whispering of the Holy Spirit just as it is given to you—is as binding and unequivocal as was theirs. I testify of this book as surely as if I had, with the Three Witnesses, seen the angel Moroni or, with the Eight Witnesses, handled the plates of gold.

I further testify that not one of us can come to full faith in this latter-day work and thereby find the fullest measure of peace and comfort in our times until he or she embraces the divinity of the Book of Mormon and the Lord Jesus Christ, of whom it testifies. As my great-great-great grandfather said in the early days of the Restoration, “No wicked man could write such a book as this; and no good man would write it, unless it were true and he were commanded of God to do so.”

Read it.