On Monday I made enchiladas, and I used a recipe I had used before with a few variations.  It had four ingredients, enchilada sauce, cheese, tortillas and chicken (the variation was that I used a combination of chicken, black beans and black lentils that I had in the refrigerator), it was easy and it looked good. When I served it that night, I took the first bite and it was awful.  The sauce tasted like the can and it was way too salty.  My husband is not quite so picky, but he wasn’t wild about it either.  We ate it for dinner.  The problem was we had eight servings, enough for two dinners and two lunches.  Lee asked me NOT to get it ready for his lunch, he didn’t want it.  I ate it for lunch and I didn’t like it, but I didn’t want to throw it away – I don’t like to waste food.  Wednesday afternoon, I opened the fridge and there was a dish 2/3 full of enchiladas looking at me.  I had to decide if I was going to throw it away or something else.  It was a cold and blustery day and I felt like having soup.  I looked at the casserole and decided to turn it into soup.  I fried some onions in butter, added garlic, cumin and oregano, then I took the casserole and cut it into huge pieces and dumped it in the pot, I added some corn, olives and chicken broth.  I tasted the soup and it was delicious.  We had enchilada soup for dinner and lunch the next day.

I’ve been thinking about how our lives are like my pan of enchiladas.  We get to a point where we don’t like what we have, but we think because this is our life we just have to live it the way it is.  We don’t have to “eat the enchiladas” and we don’t have to stay in a life that we don’t like.  There are options, we can start over – some people do, or we can take what we have and add this and that and come up with something new.  That works too. 

As a Life coach, I have been working with women who don’t like the life they are living.  They feel like something is missing, but they are stuck – this is their life.  It doesn’t have to be that way, you DON’T have to eat the enchiladas and you don’t have to throw them away either.  There are simple things that you can change that will change everything about your life.  Perhaps there are some “enchiladas” in your life? Message me, I would love to talk with you about how a Life coach can help you get unstuck and create the life you want to live. 

When our children were growing up we had many General Conference traditions around food and participation.  Today General Conference is about me – our children are grown and gone, several of them do not participate in church and neither does my husband. None of our earlier traditions seem to fit my circumstance and so I’ve developed my own General Conference traditions. My mantra is to keep things small & simple. Nothing overwhelming.

Preparation:

For several weeks before conference I direct my prayers to being open to the spirit and receiving counsel offered to me at General Conference, I also pray for those who are going to speak that they will be receptive to the spirit.  During my morning devotional time, I examine where I am and what I think I need and I prepare questions that I hope will be answered during conference.  This year I am particularly asking for “ears to hear” counsel given.

I can’t quite give up some of the things that made conference fun in the past so I’ve planned a few fun conference activities.  I bought new jammies. My old ones are falling off me because I am losing weight.  I want to make both morning sessions snuggle time, so new jammies, gathering snuggly blankets and pillows. I’ve also collected my notebook and special pens.   I don’t want to spend my conference time preparing  food or treats and I don’t want to eat my way through conference, so this year I am sticking to my intermittent fasting schedule, simple veggies, fats and protein for the afternoon session and my latest & best version of apple crisp and ice cream with my husband after the women’s session on Saturday night.

I’m Ready!

Watching:

I watch & listen at my computer with Twitter up on the other screen for both morning sessions.  I watch from the couch in the living room for the afternoon sessions – I might sneak in a brief nap.

Having Twitter up helps me with quotes that I missed and lets me be part of the excitement from members around the world.  One of the things I miss most is the social aspect of conference and Twitter gives me a sense of a community of believers. 

I don’t take lots of notes – I do write down name each speaker and then if I hear something that I feel is directed to me I take brief, simple notes and put a star by the speaker.  This will prompt me to go back and review that talk. 

Putting Conference into action:

This year I’ve made a commitment to share what I have learned at church, so I am planning to make some of my favorite quotes pretty and share them on Facebook, that’s the first action that I will take as General Conference ends. Then I do a little bit of review, mostly reviewing my notes and making a list of the talks I want to listen to again.  The week after conference I spend my morning devotional time writing what I thought I heard that applied to me and planning what I can add to what I am already doing.  I also evaluate if there is something that I need to modify or change.  I start listening again to those talks that I starred during Conference weekend.  Small & Simple – not over whelming. 

That’s it – this is how I will be celebrating General Conference – what do you do to make General Conference special in your home?