With great reason, I will Always be grateful for the work of my TEACHERS!

If any learn or obtain a formal education, I believe we shall always have at least ONE reason to be grateful for:  our teachers!

While at rock bottom, I've discovered that there are many things that dispel darkness and fears, and among them is my gratitude for my professors! 

     Teachers truly know that art of giving and sacrificing! While in school, as students we are often times living on our last dime, experiencing rejection from friends and people we want to be our friends. We don't know our futures and we struggle to figure HUGE LIFE DECISIONS out. Add to that, working part time (near 20 hours a week) and signing up for, taking serious courses, studying for those into the morning hours at times, and taking exams nearly weekly. It can cause one to question the meaning of life, and how their parents or professors at one point even made it out alive of these college years with families and careers. How do they do that? Aside from that remarkable fete, teachers really sacrifice, and some really care about us! I am going to make mention of the sweet sacrifices of my teachers (by name) for which I will always have reason to be grateful... always! :D My future is actually partly molded, and brightened by their words or wisdom and loving, devoted lessons!

The ability to live with gratitude strengthens me in times of weakness and heartache where I may be turned down on more than one job opportunity weekly. - I am so grateful for Mr. Groesbeck as my anatomy and obesity prevention professor, and Mark Bailey as my boss while working at the  Eastern Idaho radio station, KBYR, and  Mr. Johnson as my 105 chemistry professor!

Each has made a serious impact for good in innumerable lives I'm sure as they not only influence the students, but those with whom they choose to marry and their offspring, and those with whom they will work professionally. I am so much a better person because of their work, and my children, and my co-workers reap the benefits- no doubt! 

• Mr. Groesbeck was the kindest teacher I have ever had. When I could not afford the text, he let me use his own until I could save up enough money to buy my own. I love him as my mentor and leader. As my education continued, I felt supported by this man, and valued as a student because no question asked by a student was ever devalued by him, and he challenged us to grow and set personal fitness goals! I owe my best mile time to him actually where I beat my previous time by more than a minute.  Going from nearly 8:00 to 6:50 for my mile. I was able to develop appreciation for heart health, and really come to LOVE LEARNING about he heart and applying it to my life. Without a doubt, I use and value that knowledge daily! 

• I also was so lucky to have Bro. Johnson as my chemistry professor who studied at one of the top universities in the country and chose to teach at this University that I was at. He changed how I saw my potential and gave me new gratitude for truths found in chemistry! He made it fun, and applicable! I remember his studies he would mention measuring CO3 in the atmosphere during a period of time when a power plant had exploded over Europe, and how our impact on the environment leaves a mark for years to come.  I so deeply needed that, since I wanted to enjoy chemistry, and determine to continue a career in the health field. It was my 3rd time taking chemistry. Bro. Johnson showed he cared when he asked each of us how we learn best in a personal meeting at the beginning of the semester, and it was great because I felt cared for and I wanted to be there in class because of that! 

• My first boss, Mark Bailey, who had hired my mom for her first professional job in communications, gave me an opportunity to work, and believed in my potential and it changed my confidence in myself and my life! He is probably one of the most influential men in my life! I remember being trusted to do stories that, to me, at that time, were a big deal! I was entrusted to interview groups of people from different Universities and groups that were involved in a great cause, and formulate a story based off of the questions I asked them, and the sound bites I got. It was HUGE! BUT, because I was given that opportunity, I was able to use my skills and publish great stories. I will be forever grateful for him!

 I have since been a graduated and broke student for a few months now. I wonder sometimes if all of my toils, trials, and success while being a student...are worth it, with no job. But, I know that the work and influence they had on me and in my life, has made it all a reason to be grateful for each life lesson and scholastic lesson that I was taught and I get to keep forever that knowledge.
 "Two teach is to touch lives forever." - Anonymous

On being Spiritual...

        What's your favorite thing about scriptures?

   I think one of my favorite things is looking back at all of my seminary post-it notes that I glued in the binding of my scriptures, and the scripture mastery memorization songs. Here is one glue-in that I'm happy to share with you!

"No man knows how bad he is till he has tried very hard to be good. A silly idea is current that good people do not know what temptation means. This is an obvious lie. Only those who try to resist temptation know how strong it is! After all, you find out the strength of the German army by fighting against it, not by giving in. You find out the strength of the wind by trying to walk against it, not by lying down. A man who gives in to temptation after five minutes simply does not know what it would have been like an hour later. That is why bad people in one sense, know very little about badness. They have lived a sheltered life by always giving in. We never find the strength of the evil impulse inside us until we try to fight it: and Christ because He was the only man who never yielded to temptation, is also the only man who knows to the full what temptation means- the only complete realist..."

C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity, p. 124-125