Launching a new Phase in my life

I have wanted to do this for a long time and finally a few weeks ago there was an article in the Church News, a weekly magazine published by the Deseret News in Salt Lake City, UT, that encourage Blogs.  I decided it was time a shared my thoughts, ideas, feelings about daily life and living.  My life has been filled with so many experiences that need to be recorded and shared.  My intent is to share those things that matter to me most in life.  I have a wonderful family and extended family.  I am a wife, mother of 5 children, four living; grandmother of 11, daughter, sister, aunt to 29 nieces and nephews and 60+ of their children.
I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  I teach the adult religion class each week for adults over 30.  I work for the Church in the Seminaries and Institute of Religion as a Support Specialist.  I have had that position for 19 years this year.  My husband and I also are Marketing Executives with Melaleuca, Inc.; a manufacturer of wellness products for our home and health.

I taught a class today from the Book of Mormon, Helaman 10-16.  The main part of the lesson was taken from a General Conference talk given by Pres. Ezra Taft Benson April 1989, on "Beware of Pride".
Some excerpts that caused me to ponder:
"The Doctrine and Covenants tells us that the Book of Mormon is the "record of a fallen people."  Why did they fall?  This is one of the major messages of the Book of Mormon.  Mormon gives the answer in the closing chapter of the book in these words:  Behold, the pride of this nation, or the people of the Nephites, hath proven their destruction."
"As Paul said, they 'seek their own, not the things which are Jesus Christ's'  Our will in competition to God's will allows desires, appetites, and passions to go unbridled.  The proud cannot accept the authority of God giving direction to their lives.  They pit their perceptions of truth against God's great knowledge, their abilities versus God's priesthood power, their accomplishments against His mighty works.  Our enmity toward God takes on many labels, such as rebellion, hard-heartedness, stiffneckedness, unrepentant, puffed up, easily offended, and sign seekers.  The proud wish God would agree with them.  They aren't interested in changing their opinions to agree with God's."
Elder Dallin H. Oaks of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles said, "We ...need quiet time and prayerful pondering as we seek to develop information into knowledge and mature knowledge into wisdom."
Pondering is deeper than thinking or day dreaming thoughts away.  It is deeper, piercing to the heart.  I love the thought of developing information into knowledge and then after prayer, study, pondering, implementing that knowledge into action it becomes wisdom.
I am grateful for the students in my class to are not afraid to ask questions.  I has allowed me to pray, ponder, study and find answers for myself.  I am so grateful for that opportunity and for the questions asked.  I have a testimony of the living Prophet, even Thomas S. Monson.  I know there is safety in heeding his words and council.  I know he is a special witness of Jesus Christ and that he holds all the keys of Priesthood power needed on the earth at this time.
It has been a wonderful day!