Keeping a Record

You may wonder why and how I have been blogging so much. Well, before I had John, I was trying to write in my journal every day. I know the importance of keeping a record of your life. We are frequently reminded by prophets and apostles about how crucial it is to write down your spiritual promptings, your thoughts, your challenges, your triumphs, your hopes and dreams, your worries, and some of your everyday happenings. I love this talk by the prophet, President Spencer W. Kimball, "The Angels May Quote From It". Read it. You'll love it too, and you'll probably be inspired to keep your own record. Some excerpts that move me are these:
Your own private journal should record the way you face up to challenges that beset you. Do not suppose life changes so much that your experiences will not be interesting to your posterity.

No one is commonplace, and I doubt if you can ever read a biography from which you cannot learn something from the difficulties overcome and the struggles made to succeed. These are the measuring rods for the progress of humanity.

As we read the stories of great men, we discover that they did not become famous overnight nor were they born professionals or skilled craftsmen. The story of how they became what they are may be helpful to us all.

Your own journal, like most others, will tell of problems as old as the world and how you dealt with them. Your journal should contain your true self rather than a picture of you when you are “made up” for a public performance.

Your journal is your autobiography, so it should be kept carefully. You are unique, and there may be incidents in your experience that are more noble and praiseworthy in their way than those recorded in any other life. There may be a flash of illumination here and a story of faithfulness there; you should truthfully record your real self and not what other people may see in you.

Your story should be written now while it is fresh and while the true details are available.

I don't want to forget the important moments and thoughts that I have as our little family grows up. And I enjoy writing. It keeps my mind fresh, and helps to empty my heavy head of some of the thoughts always flooding my brain. For the times when I haven't been able to record my thoughts and feelings because of illness, or times when I just didn't do it, there are gaps in my memory. If I had kept a record, it might have been easier for me to understand my feelings

These are the journals I wrote in college

 For years, I used to write in a journal by hand. Sometimes I would write for hours and hours. I would paste in letters and pictures. Now, I treasure these journals that I have filled. Once in a while, I revisit them. Tears flow freely at my little troubles and evidences of my own faith and growth. I think that the time I spent thinking and writing made me a better writer, thinker, speaker and teacher.

When life got busier, I started typing my journal in Google docs and printing them and putting them in binders, but I didn't include pictures because it was overwhelming to do that and send pictures to my family.

At this stage of my life, it was hard to have the motivation to keep up my journal the way I was doing it because I wanted to include pictures of my little family. So I have, in some respects, switched to blogging my journal. Someday, my method for keeping my record could change. I don't think that there is one perfect way for everyone to keep their record. Each will be different. But for me, blogging is great right now. I can record my thoughts quickly - I'm getting faster and more accurate at typing, and I can easily include pictures. Then I can print my blog for a family record. And if there is ever a fire, my record will not be lost, thank goodness. Someday when I have heaps of time (when will that be? I don't know), I need to typed up and save all my written journals.

I hope that I will be able to keep a record of "my true self rather than a picture of [me] when [I] am made up for public performance." Some experiences are too sacred or private to share with everyone, so I will record those elsewhere. But perhaps some of my musings may be helpful to others, it may brighten their day, or give them faith and courage to face their own foes. And perhaps this record will help those I love to know the real me better.
Blogging gives me more motivation to do it because I know that somebody might read it, even if it is only my mom or my sister, that makes me happy. And I just love getting comments. In a way, it makes me feel kind of like Kathleen Kelly on "You've Got Mail," "I turn on my computer. I wait impatiently as it connects. I go online, and my breath catches in my chest until I hear three little words: You've got mail." Well, I don't have to wait for that awful dial-up internet anymore, but it's a similar principle. It just makes me feel excited to know that people care about my ideas, my thoughts, my family, my life. It is also easier to stay in touch and keep people up-to-date that way. And it is just not as fun to journal without pictures or videos, so blogging is a great situation for me since I have more motivation to take pictures of my beautiful family and our adventures. So, to all you dear readers, a big thank you from me and probably from my posterity too.

Get a notebook, a journal that will last through all time, and maybe the angels may quote from it for eternity. Begin today and write in it your goings and comings, your deepest thoughts, your achievements and your failures, your associations and your triumphs, your impressions and your testimonies.