One time I was a Raccoon Momma

One beautiful Saturday afternoon, I happened to go outside to soak in some rays right when another girl in my apartment complex was stressing over what to do with some abandoned baby raccoons she had found in our parking garage. I knew exactly who to call: my roommate who is a wild life conservation major. What resulted was an epic adventure for the both of us. We were able to raise the baby raccoons in our apt. with the guidance of the rehab center that my roomie volunteers for.

I have never considered myself an animal person, but you can't not fall in love with these adorable guys, especially when you dedicate all your time and energy to feeding and taking care of them. Our babies were all less than a week old when we got them, eyes still closed, some of them had their umbilical cords still attached! Babies that small need their mommas, and so it took a lot of work and dedication trying to save them. We did our best, and it was really hard, but also an amazing experience.

After 5 weeks as raccoon mothers, today we gave away our last baby, Chewbacca, to a vet who has experience raising and releasing raccoons back into the wild. He is in good hands, but I am so sad. I miss having a raccoon crawling around my lap while I am watching a show. I don't know what to do with myself now that I don't have to do feedings every three hours anymore, and I swear I keep hearing him cry. So yeah, I'm feeling a little sentimental right now... 

Without anything else to do, I figured I would post for your viewing pleasure a bunch of pictures of our babies. (And if you think that this is a lot of pictures, just know that this isn't even a forth of the pictures we've taken of them...not to mention snapchats)  

  

Day 1 with Baby Luke

Leia back when she would sit still long enough to stay on my shoulder.

Auntie Amy feeding Luke

They loved sucking on binkies

Leia's favorite spot to cuddle and fall asleep 

First day with the twins, Han and Chewbacca!

Leia and Han, it was meant to be

Leia finally opened her eyes!

Back when they could fit in our hands, they loved to suck on our fingers like this

I might have made a sweater for Leia

Raccoon burrito!

Last day with Chewbacca

Just chillin with a raccoon. No big deal.

He liked that spot.

BFF's FOREVER

Spring Preview

I am telling ya, I am meant for the sun. I mean, my body doesn't tan and I burn like no other, but my soul, my soul needs sunshine. I don't think it's a coincidence that the scriptures always talk about light vs.darkness, and how celestial glory is compared to the sun. It is a symbol that has been carried over very profoundly into my life. Hence the reason why, as corny as it sounds, I titled this blog Drops of Sunshine. Sunshine = happy times. It means peace. It means carefree days. 

Yes, people, I am super happy that these past two days have been sunny and unusually warm. Yesterday I went for a walk without a coat on for the first time since October, and today during my lunch break I sat outside and just soaked in the rays. Ahh, vitamin D. It's such a beautiful thing. 

But of course, I have jinxed myself, because I just checked my weather app, and it says that its supposed to rain on and off for the rest of the week. Darn. Why am I in Utah, again? I really should move farther south. But, I am grateful for today and I will enjoy it while I can!

From Out of the Darkness Cometh the Light

On Sunday, our speakers went overtime, plus we had a special musical number (which was awesome). With only 4 minutes left in the meeting, Bishop decided to post-pone the last speaker and say a few words himself instead. He said he felt impressed that day to invite us to tap into the power of the Priesthood that we have available to all of us, men and women a like. He said he felt that there were people in the audience that needed Priesthood blessings, and that we shouldn't hesitate to ask for them. I thought it was kind of cool, in fact, I could easily think of a few people who could use a priesthood blessing right then. I might have nudged my roommate while Bishop was speaking, and she had the nerve of acting like she was above it all. "What?!" she asked. What?! She knew what, but I didn't want to be pushy or make her angry, so I decided to pretend like it was a joke. (She's going to read this and probably be mad, anyways. Haha)
The next day I found said roommate balling in the bathroom because she was having the worse migraine yet. Are you ready for a blessing now? I thought. I felt so bad for her and just wanted to help, but there's only so much I or anyone (including herself) can do for her. Sometimes you have to just turn it all over to God. Which she did. 
The cool thing is that maybe there was more purpose in her horrible headache that day, then just receiving her own priesthood blessing. I think that us inviting our wonderful home teachers over that night was an answer to our other, very shy roommate Bridgett's prayers as well. She has been struggling with depression and was able to take advantage of the situation and ask for a blessing too. After they left, she said thank you and said that the blessing had things in it that she had needed to hear.
Even I got a blessing that evening, since it seemed like the thing to do. I feel like I have had a lot of those lately, but I am learning that that's not necessarily a bad thing. We don't have to be on our death bed before we finally suck it up and ask for a blessing, which is the way we tend to think most of the time. Each time I get a blessing, I feel God's love and awareness for me as well as receive comfort and instruction as to what I should be doing at that point in my life. Why deny yourself that?
I am so grateful for the priesthood and I am so grateful for the men who keep themselves clean so that they are ready to give blessings in a moments notice. I am grateful for God's plan and how He uses us as His hands here on Earth to bless the lives of others. It's a complicated system, and I don't know how God makes everything come together like He does. I just know that I can trust in Him and know that there is purpose in every event in our lives.

I want to know how many people asked for blessings after Bishop's words on Sunday. I bet it was a lot. I hope everyone in the ward had similar experiences because it blesses all the people involved.

Minute to Win It

Last night at FHE, I successfully chugged a soda until I could successfully balance the can on it's side, blew a bubble across a parking garage, and scootched an oreo from my forehead into my mouth without using my hands on the first try. 

At one point during the activity, I received this compliment in all innocence: 
"Wow, Stacy, you can do great things with your mouth." 
I'll take it, as sketch as it sounds. 

Do I feel accomplished? Yes. Thank you FHE for making me feel like I can do hard things. 
Never mind that they were pointless, I had fun.

Update on the Adventures of Stacy's Sick Body!

I got my ultrasound results back and it was anti-climatic, just like I had wanted. The phone conversation went like this:

"Hello, Stacy. I am calling about the ultrasound you had last week. The results came back and they were negative."
"Wait, negative for what?" Honestly, I had no idea what exactly they had been looking for.
"Negative, as in they found no abnormalities. All your organs look normal." 
"Oh, so negative is positive."
"Uh, yes."

I think that nurse thought I was stupid, but I just wanted to be clear. I ain't no doctor and it's my body we're talking about. Haha. 
Once again it's that weird situation where I am happy that they don't have to cut anything out of my body or anything like that, but at the same time I am mad that I still don't know what exactly is making me feel the way I am. 

ulcer
cancer
celiacs
gallbladder



  

"My burden is light" - Jesus

Turns out, I have a hard time letting things go. I like to hold onto things forever - it's a control thing. I worry about things, so I would rather have everything in my hands 100% of the time. It's also probably a little bit of a pride thing too. I guess it just depends on the situation. 

Unfortunately (and fortunately), that's not how the Atonement works.  

Matthew 11:28-30
28 ¶^aCome unto me, all ye that ^blabour and are heavy laden, and I will give you ^crest.

29 Take my ^ayoke upon you, and ^blearn of me; for I am ^cmeek and ^dlowly in ^eheart: and ye shall find ^frest unto your souls.

30 For my yoke is ^aeasy, and my burden is light.

What I am learning is that God won't just swoop in and take away whatever burden I am carrying automatically. It takes action on my part, like the scripture says: "Come unto me", "Take my yoke upon you and learn of me." Those are the requirements, but what I have found out is that the first steps before all of that is humbling yourself and admitting you need help. It's like an Alcoholic's Anonymous meeting: "Hi, I'm Stacy, and I have a problem..." Admitting you have a problem is the first step, but then you have to actually do something about it. You have to honestly, through prayer, place your burdens at His feet and then (here's the hard part for me) leave them there. Walk away. Let them go! That means don't dwell on it, worry about it, doubt God wants to help you, or think that your plan is better than His. Don't send cards or go back for monthly visits! You are done! When you give Him your burdens, you are trading your yoke for the Lord's, so you don't get to mess with it anymore. Your job is to look to the future and focus on what the Lord's yoke requires of you.

What is the Lord's yoke? From what I can gather, it's living the gospel (keeping the commandments) and charity. That's it. Christ's yoke really is easier because it is straight forward and leads you to a life of peace and happiness. When you do all that, then you don't have to worry about anything else because you can trust that God is taking care of it. He's willing to do that for us, if we will do what little He asks of us. It really is the only way that you can feel "rest unto your soul" like it says in Matthew 11:29.

Yeah, that is what I am learning right now. It takes a conscious effort on my part, but I'm finding that it is worth it. 

The Adventures of Stacy's Sick Body!

Update on the adventures of Stacy's sick body:
In this week's installment, Stacy gets an ultrasound!

The doctor wants to make sure that there isn't any funny business going on with my organs, particularly the gallbladder, so she had me go and get them all photographed by ultrasound. The gel wasn't as cold as people said it would be, but the rod digging into my organs was more uncomfortable than I would have imagined. Overall it wasn't that bad, and it didn't take long either so it was fine. 
She turned off the sound because the swashing of my internal juices apparently wasn't as cute as say a tiny heartbeat. I was so close to asking if it was a boy or a girl, but I figured she got that joke all the time, so I held it in. Besides, it was hard to talk when she had me holding my breath all the time. 
Overall, it was an interesting experience. Now I have to wait for a series of doctors to look at the pictures and tell me if they saw anything. Oh, the waiting game. I have come to know you well. 

Carrying on the t.v. series analogy, I really hope the season finale is anti-climatic and boring. I hope my viewers understand.