A Chance to Grow...

Last night amidst some very strange dreams I met a man, and asked "Why did I have to move?"  He said to me "It's a chance to grow."  I woke up after that feeling calm and happy.  It was my answer.  I'm here to learn and grow.  With everything so unfamiliar each day I have to stretch and grow and push myself forward.  There's a part of me that would love to just hide under the covers and pretend I was back in New Jersey.  But then my husband would wonder why no meal was cooked.  The little apartment would become a disaster fast.  And I'd eventually get very lonely.  I find each day brings so many new experiences.  Every grocery store is different.  Trying to figure out what brands of food are similar to what we used to eat is a challenge.  The roads and streets are different.   The weather is different.  It's cold in the morning and then pretty hot in the afternoon.  I continue to wonder "Does it ever rain here?"  I'm guessing not much with the amount of sprinkler systems that are all over. 
I'm excited though to be on this learning adventure.  As I learn about Utah, the place, the people, the environment, I grow and change. 
I'm definitely looking forward to growing closer to Heavenly Father in all of this.  I'm looking forward to going next week to the Women's conference.  And what luck, the ward I'm in has tickets to go to the conference center.  I was a bit nervous that I was not going to be able to attend as next week I start working.  But was so happy to find that my schedule is for only two days!  I have next Saturday off.  I get to go to the conference center and see the women's conference live.  What an exciting thing for me.  I know it will just be wonderful!
I'm reading a really good spiritual book " I need thee every hour"  By David P. Vandagriff.  It has been such a nice book to find and ponder about.  One thing I love about the book is all the quotes taken from hymns.  I love to listen and sing and ponder about the hymns.  There are so many great quotes I could share from this book.  Here is one I just opened to" ...trials are often spiritual training exercises designed to change us, strengthen us, and encourage us to grow.."  Any way if you have not read this book you should.  It just brings the spirit right to you! 
The other book I'm reading is called "Rebecca."  it is a Gothic romance novel.  It was written in the 1930's.  It's very interesting to me because the main character is much younger than her husband.  With Gothic novels there is some evil about.  You always have a hint that it is there, but you are not sure what it is.  I connect with the main character who you never learn what their name is.  I can understand all that she goes through as being much younger than her husband.  She is very much younger than her husband than I am.  But I understand how she feels as her husbands friends look at her and think "What was he thinking?"  I am my husbands opposite, and I think that was very hard for his friends to deal with. He is the life of the party, and when we met I was quiet and shy.  He is loud and funny, I'm quiet and serious.  He is always late, I am always early.  It's funny for the most part we do very well together, we balance each other.  But I know that his friends had a hard time with our marriage.  I just hope out here we can find friends who accept us both.  I think we already have found a few, and I hope it continues.  It's very nice though to just be together.
One thing I've been doing which is fun, is seeing how many people I can get to smile at me.  Today as I left the library, I looked at this woman, and gave her a huge smile and she smiled back.  What a small way to make a persons day a little brighter.  How about you do you ever just smile at people to see if they will smile back.  To have some small connection with someone you don't know.  Try it you might find it brings you a little joy.  Have a wonderful day:)