Happy New Year!

I need to blog more! I enjoy blogging yet allow days and days to pass before I create another post!
As I have contemplated the past year and all the goo that we waded through my mind rested on the blessings I have received; My awesome family! My dear friends! The gospel! I am grateful that my mother is doing well and her cancer is gone! I am blessed to have a job that I enjoy going to every day! I am excited for new possibilities! I am happy to be here and know that the Lord is at my side and walks beside me always! I am excited to welcome a new year and I pray for joy within it! I am leaving a list of 10 thoughts to begin the new year:

1. Well-behaved women rarely make history. So, don't feel the need to behave yourself!

2. Life is not one big to-do list. (amen!)

3. You do not have to clean like your mother. (so, don't try)

4. Even a small pebble makes ripples.

5. Keep your promises to yourself and others.

6. Always put people before things.

7. Answer the phone everyday like it's your birthday.

8. Never let negative people bring you down.

9. Attitude can make all the difference in the world.

10. There's a giggle in every minute, if you find the joy within it!

Just 4 days away!

This Christmas has been weird ... the loss of my brother has made a profound impact on me this year. I miss him ... I miss his love for the holidays! I miss the way he flirted with every child he met and I miss the sheer joy he found in giving. I miss that he can't physically be here to share the festivities with us ...(I do believe he is near us in spirit).

I wish he could be here to laugh with us ... to hug and hold his grand babies! I miss the way we would change the lyrics to any given Christmas Carol just for the sheer thrill of the laugh!

I don't want it to be misunderstood that I haven't felt the Christmas spirit ... I have, in a profound spiritual way. The Savior has stood beside me and I know He will continue to do so. Though twinkling lights and Santa Claus are wonderful magic things, it's time spent with family and friends where I truly find the joy of the holiday!
I have reached into the dusty corners of my mind and looked at the memory pictures stored in my head. I have been truly blessed in my life.

President Thomas S Monson in the 1987 Ensign wrote:

The true Christmas spirit is never found in a surfeit of things. It is less obvious in arrival and more lasting in impact.

An unknown author wrote:

I am the Christmas Spirit.
I enter the home of poverty, causing pale-faced children to open their eyes wide in pleased wonder.
I cause the miser’s clutched hand to relax and thus paint a bright spot on his soul.
I cause the aged to renew their youth and to laugh in the glad old way.
I keep romance alive in the heart of childhood and brighten sleep with dreams woven of magic.
I cause eager feet to climb dark stairways with filled baskets, leaving behind them hearts amazed at the goodness of the world.
I cause the prodigal to pause a moment on his wild, wasteful way, and send to anxious love some little token that releases glad tears—tears which wash away the hard lines of sorrow.
I enter dark prison cells, reminding scarred manhood of what might have been, and pointing forward to good days yet to come.
I come softly into the still, white home of pain; and lips that are too weak to speak just tremble in silent, eloquent gratitude.
In a thousand ways I cause the weary world to look up into the face of God, and for a little moment forget the things that are small and wretched.
I am the Christmas Spirit.
This is the spirit each true Christian seeks. This is the spirit I pray each may find. This is the Christ spirit. No quest is so universal, no undertaking so richly rewarding, no effort so ennobling, no purpose so divine. The Christmas season seems to prompt anew that yearning, that seeking to emulate the Savior of the world.

May the light of Christ warm your soul not just at Christmas time, but always!

Christmas poem 2009

I write a poem every year for Christmas. My wish for all of you this season is to feel the light of the Savior in your heart always!


My Savior

by Janalea J Jeppson /2009



In a lonely manger faraway,

a tiny babe was born

And with the gifts He brought with Him,

Came a love never known.


How I wish I could’ve been there

To hold his tiny hand,

So I could feel the love He brought

… and maybe understand.



In a land across the sea the babe grew to a man.

He taught the truth to everyone

So they might understand



How I wish I could have been there

To walk and learn with Him

So I could feel His purest love,

And really understand.



Then in the place, Gethsemane,

He suffered every pain for me.

Because of love was crucified,

He suffered great, and then He died.



My testimony feels my soul

of His great Love for me.

His greatest gift for everyone

is to live eternally.



I didn’t need to be there,

It’s He who is with me.

With faith and love,

I know through Him

I’ll finally understand.

Some People ... Rock!

Some People Come Into Our Lives And Quickly Go...
Some People Move Our Souls To Dance....
They awaken us to new understanding
with the passing whisper of their wisdom
Some people make the sky more beautiful
to gaze upon....
They stay in our lives for awhile,
leave footprints on our hearts,
and we are never the same!!
--FLAVIA

I love this poem ... it makes me think of all the wonderful people in my life! I have great friends and a wonderful family and I am so blessed. I would name names if I wasn't afraid of accidentally missing someone and hurting their feelings! Just know ... if you're reading this, chances are, you are the footprints on my heart and I Love you! Thanks for picking up the peices when my heart is broken ... laughing at my stupid jokes and making me feel like I am actually funny! Thank you for letting me talk too much, laugh too loud and cry on your shoulders! Thanks for listening when I need listening to ... and thanks for laughing with me and not at me :o)