Pics and thoughts

Here are some new pics of Sammy and Kyle.

Kyle and I call Sammy our "parrot, bunny, elephant dog". The parrot comes from this:

(For some reason she likes to climb and sit on your shoulder when she is riding in the car...don't ask me why, I didn't teach her that, she's done it from the day I got her and brought her home).

The bunny part comes from the fact that when she runs she hops like a bunny. The elephant part comes from the fact that she has huge ears, and the dog part comes from the fact that she is well, a dog. So yes, she is a funny little dog with elephant ears that thinks she is a bunny and a parrot but that is why we love her.

My thoughts tonight are centered around compassion and action. I got a couple emails from some friends from high school tonight that were very sweet and out of the blue. I love "out of the blue" acts of compassion. It tells me that people care about me, that they are concerned about what I am going through, and that they consider me their friend even if we haven't spoken in years. That makes me feel so good inside. "Out of the blue" acts of compassion also tells me that they are brave people. They are brave enough to act on their feelings of compassion. I think acting is the hardest part. That is something I struggle greatly with. I have a lot of compassion but hardly act on any of it. What is the point of having compassion if you aren't going to do anything with it? That is something I will work on.

On Sunday in Relief Society I was sitting by the newest member of our society- an 18 year old girl who had just graduated from high school and from young womens. She also happens to be my newest visiting teachee person. So I felt like I needed to sit by her because she is new and because I like her and because I feel comfortable around her and because I visit teach her. So I went and sat by her. I'm not going to lie, I've been struggling with going to relief society for the past couple weeks. I've had legitimate excuses for the weeks I've missed but along with my legitimate excuses came the fact that I really didn't want to go anyways. I think I have not been wanting to go because I feel alone. Once Kyle leaves my side at church I become really uncomfortable not because I'm at church but because I'm surrounded by all these ladies I don't know but should know by now and I don't talk to any of them because we are totally different. But I found comfort last Sunday in this 18 year old girl who acted on her feelings of compassion or whatever she felt that day. And all she did was scratch my back. She made me feel like I was wanted and welcome and that she loved me as a sister. I really needed that and whether or not she felt like she needed to scratch my back I feel like she was brave because we don't know each other well. I think that if I were prompted to scratch a nearly completely strangers back I would say "no way! She will totally think I'm weird" but not this girl. She somehow knew or felt like that is what she needed to do and it was exactly what I needed that day to help me feel not alone.

So thank you to those people who teach me things every day that I need to learn and thank you for acting on your compassion and writing an out of the blue note or scratching my back, etc. You help me and I'm grateful for that.