Bitter-sweet moments.

Kent and I have been praying hard for months that Kent will be able to find steady work. He had tried a couple of times to get into the Marine JAG, but had not yet been accepted. We have been very fortunate that Pepperdine hired me back to do some temp work from home, and Kent has had a few good legal clients. This has helped us to squeeze by. We have felt so blessed to just have our needs taken care of.

Kent prepared to take the PFT (the physical test for the Marines) for the third time. He took it a couple weeks ago and increased his score from 242 to 280 out of 300. This means he ran 3 miles in under 18 minutes, did 100 Marine crunches in under 2 minutes and did 16 dead hang pull ups in a row without dropping. This is phenomenal considering the Marines selected last time had scores around 260. We waited with anticipation... then, last night he received a call from Captain Davis. Kent was selected! He starts Officer Candidate School on January 7th. The amazing thing is that Kent was the only JAG candidate selected from Utah west.

We are sad to be leaving Utah, but are relieved to finally have a plan that includes a stable income and medical benefits. Now we just need to cross our fingers for Kent. He still has to make it through 10 weeks of intense training similar, but harder than basic training before he is officially commissioned as an officer. I will be staying here to do one more semester of school. That means four months apart. We will get a two week visit after the first 10 weeks. Then we can fly back and forth a few times to see each other. The first 10 weeks will be the hardest. No phone calls, only letters are allowed for the first four weeks or so. Then limited phone calls about once or twice a week. I am not looking forward to that. Luckily I will be very busy with school and hopefully Oklahoma.

Another fun thing that is happening, I am in "The 10 Virgins". It is a musical based around the bible parable. We will be performing two shows on November 30th in our stake. It has been so fun and has really helped me to re-evaluate my life. I was thinking, this parable is not written to discourage those of us who are struggling, which I think is all of us to some extent, but it is to remind us that we have all the tools we need to make it to the Celestial Kingdom. We just need to take advantage of them. The foolish virgins were not evil murderers, prostitutes, or careless sinners. They were righteous women who had high standards, but had forgotten to do the obvious, small tasks, like buying oil, that would ensure their admittance to the wedding.

I feel this is often my shortcoming as well. It is the small, simple things that I often let slip. Reading my scriptures, saying my prayers, attending all my church meetings, and being kind and loving to those around me. Those are relatively easy things to do, but am I diligent in doing them. That is all He asks of us. To be diligently obedient. He does not ask us to move mountains, just to be diligent. I came home and read my scriptures (for the first time in a while) and came across this scripture, "And see that all these things are done in wisdom and order; for it is not requisite that a man should run faster than he had strength. And again, it is expedient that he should be diligent, that thereby he might win the prize; therefor, all things must be done in order" (Mosiah 4:27). This hit me like a brick to the head. whenever I heard "man should not run faster than he is able" before, I always thought, well that means I just do what I can do; but in this scripture it is a little more specific. You still do what you can do, what you have strength for, BUT we must make sure our tasks are in the correct order first! So we can still be diligent. This way, even if we don't complete all the tasks set before us, the most important ones will not be forgotten.

If the five foolish virgins had bought extra oil first thing, before anything else, they might not had looked as nice, or their dishes might have been left unwashed, BUT they would have been admitted to the wedding to spend their time in the presence of the Lord. I am sure none of those virgins said, well I didn't make it into the wedding, but at least my dishes are done. What an eye opener! Where do our priorities lie? Are we putting good before better and best? I began at this realization to try to put my life in its proper order. Prayer, scriptures and family come first. That is where my priorities need to lie. It has been amazing. My studies had been much easier since I have been doing this and have been able to get better grades with less studying than before. The Lord is truly blessing me for my efforts, even though they are far from perfect, and my testimony is being strengthened. I am so grateful that the Lord inspires us, and chastens us - with a loving hand. How else would we grow? Well, sorry to babble so long, I will post again soon.