Faith in Christ Fireside

This weekend Christian and I are joining 

President Matt and Paige Holland (who oversee the 200+

 missionaries in portions of North Carolina)

to share our story and our faith in Christ.

We will be in Jacksonville, NC on Sunday.

If you live close by, please bring a friend and come!

Throughout the year we will be participating in these
firesides with the local missionaries and I feel

honored and really excited to be apart of this experience!
I invite you to come and see, come and feel and come to know

the Savior Jesus Christ through music and spoken word.

(And come say hello...all the Nies will be there too...
except for Angus, obviously.)

"Each one of us, regardless of age or circumstance, 

can strive to seek, receive, and act...

You will draw nearer to Jesus Christ—His love, 

His light, His direction, His peace, and His healing and enabling power. 

And you will increase your spiritual capacity to 

become an everyday instrument of

 His hands in accomplishing His great work."

Spiritual Enlightenment: Spiritual Capacity

Until we see we can...

Years ago Christian wrote me a poem for my birthday.

 I read it often when I need extra strength and power to 

overcome and endure.

Here's a few of my favorite lines:

"Look at what we've built

Look how far we've come

A thousand miles or more

Ours tread by only some.

Wrapped up in arms we take it-

However life demands

Sometimes we just fake it

Until we see we can..."

We can!

RIP Bev

Our backyard has been busy with 

conclaves of beautiful

red cardinals fluttering around and pecking for food on the lawn.

Months ago Lottie and I sprinkled bird seeds in the grass

 so we could admire and examine these majestic birds from our window.

Then last Saturday as were all sitting around in the kitchen

 and out of nowhere something loud hit the back sliding door.

Sadly we discovered that one of the beautiful female Cardinals

 had hit the window and was lying dead near the door.

Gigs who is my tender animal lover was heartbroken and

 picked up the bird and brought her inside and spent

 the rest of the afternoon making her a little coffin.

(He also named her Beverley).  Then he placed her in

comfortable cardboard box and buried her out front

 under the Magnolia trees.

"Here lies Beverley

Death:

2/20/20

We will miss you flying outside our window.

R.I.P"

Learn Wisdom

"For behold, thus saith the Lord God: 

I will give unto the children of men line upon line, 

precept upon precept, here a little and there a little...."

After dinner, our family gathered in the living room for

 our scripture study and discussion.

We talked about how God sometimes answers our prayers

 one truth at a time, and it takes patience as we study and

 find answers to our heartfelt questions-- and even our worries.

I asked Lottie to put together a simple puzzle 

and only gave her four pieces to start.  

She put together a few pieces but 

needed help so I gave her another few pieces and

this went several more times until she had all the pieces to the puzzle.

Then we discussed what "line upon line" meant 

and I promised the Nies that even if we don't see the whole picture,

God does, and when we trust Him, pray to Him, and obey Him

 we will eventually see the whole picture.

(2014)

Then with tears in my eyes I confessed to the Nies 

that I was struggling with this very

topic and have some heavy worries on my mind.

And I don't see the whole picture, in fact, I barely feel like

I have one piece to my puzzle.

I told them that this lesson was just as much for me as

it was for them, but oh how much I love and trust God's promise:

"....blessed are those who hearken unto my precepts, 

and lend an ear unto my counsel, for they shall learn wisdom;

 for unto him that receiveth I will give more."

I will eagerly and patiently wait for more, 

it's hard, but I can do it, and so can my Nies.

* * * * *

For dinner, I made a family favorite black bean & quinoa burgers.

Here's the recipe because it's delicious:

Made Strong

The best part of my weekend was yesterday on the Sabbath.

Spending time with my family, worshipping God, ministering

 and being with wonderful friends made the day truly a delight.

Elder Holland was in town visiting 

 a granddaughter who had just returned from her mission.

 My family and I were able to spend some time with him.

He is truly a special witness of Jesus Christ,

and I love him so much.

As I push through another week, I'm going to be spending

time studying and understanding these inspired words:

"When it seems all hope is lost, faith in the Lord can save us.

He can turn weakness to strength."

I have been pondering a lot about my limitations,

my shortcomings, and my insecurities, and

it starts to feel overwhelming when I really think about it.

But God promises us "Because thou hast seen thy weakness

 thou shalt be made strong” (Ether 12:37).

IT'S SNOWING

All you need to know is that IT SNOWED.

But if you want to know how I feel about it, read on.

On Wednesday night, before The White House went to sleep, 

I got a phone call from the school district informing us that 

 a storm was coming and school would be canceled on Thursday.

You'd have thought the Nielson family won the lottery.

We were thrilled!

After that news, we Hygge-ed it up, lit candles, 

turned on the fireplace, pulled out the blankets

and watched a movie in the living room, excited

to be able to sleep in.

It was a little cloudy when we woke up, but nothing threatening.  

Around lunchtime, we noticed light flurries, 

then gradually, it started snowing, and it didn't stop.

I just received another phone call from the school district letting

us know that school is canceled AGAIN for Friday!  

I made a batch of liquid gold (hot chocolate), lit more candles around the 

living room, and as I type this, we are on our second movie

(Return to Me & The Count of Monte Cristo),

and the snow is still coming down!

* * * * * * *

Spiritual Enlightenment: Nurturing Marriage

"Marriage brings greater possibilities for happiness than does 

any other human relationship. Yet some married couples fall 

short of their full potential. They let their romance become rusty,

 take each other for granted, allow other interests or clouds of

 neglect to obscure the vision of what their marriage really could be.

Marriages would be happier if nurtured more carefully."

My Love

For Valentine's Day, Mr. Nielson and I decided to honor

 each other and our love by spending quality time together.

We decided to do something special every day during

the week leading up to Valentine's Day.

Things like: working out together in the mornings, lunch out, car drives, 

temple trips, getting treats, writing love notes, 

and going for walks together around the neighborhood.

(Barre3 Class together)

This year's Valentine's Day has been my favorite

 because of how deliberate we've been with our time together.

It's been so fun planning simple (naps), exciting (hotel in Raliegh), 

and quality (temple) activities to do together.

Also fun: we've been listening to all the love songs we claim as ours

since we met in 2000.

And for a special Valentine's Day treat,

Jane compiled them all on a playlist.

It's been so fun to listen to them and remember our life

and our love and everything good in our marriage.

Some songs made me weepy and nostalgic

thinking about Mr. Nielson and every bit of our life together:

the good, the bad, the hard, and the absolutely sublime.

(Honeymoon in the Bahamas 2000)

And I couldn't help but get these amazing Love coupons

for Mr. Nielson (they'll work nicely for me too!).

With this little pad of coupons, we can surprise

each other with goodness all year round!

Sweet Jane!

Yesterday Jane turned 17!

Before bed, we sat down together and she told me the 17 top

favorite things she did to celebrate her special day:

1. Christian, Claire, Jane and I take an early morning 

Barre3 class together.  I had asked our favorite instructor Hope

 (who is one of the most beautiful genuine Southern souls I know,

and is someone Jane just loves and admires)

to make a playlist of Jane's favorite music for our workout

It was too perfect.  There were several times during class I 

wanted to cry, I felt super emotional.  

Mostly I felt so thankful for Jane and for Hope who loves

 Jane and appreciates her music.

(Tom Petty, The Killers, INXS...etc)

2.  Haus lipstick, 

 Grecian bust, and Scandinavian cookbook

to name a few of her favorite presents.

3. Acai bowls after Barre3 class.

4. A nice long hot (unrushed) shower.

5. Playing her new My Chemical Romance vinyl record

from Claire.

6. Receiving so many nice messages from friends and family.

7. Spending a good portion of the day with just Claire

driving in the car listening to David Bowie sing "Major Tom".

(Jane LOVES Claire so much)

8. Seeing Little Women with Claire in an empty theater.

9. Recreating this photo 15 years ago in 2005 on Jane's 2nd birthday

in the Harvey Circle house in New Jersey:

10. Me waking her up in the morning and singing happy birthday.

(She really REALLY said that!)

11. A chilly, cloudy, rainy day.  Her favorite (and mine!)

12. Hanging out in the kitchen and eating the

 birthday cake frosting out of the mixer

13. Having dinner out with the family.

14. Blowing out her candles and making a wish.

15. Going around the table as a family to share why we love Jane.

16. Finding a special gift on the front porch WITHOUT a note.

The works of a secret admirer?  (I think so).

17. Missing school.

 I love you Jane!

Happy Birthday Jane B!

My beautiful Jane turns 17 today.

  Jane's pregnancy was the easiest regarding energy, weight gain, and mood.

 (I got pregnant with Jane when Claire was just 6 months old)

After Claire was born, I changed my diet and started practicing yoga daily.

 Christian and I were taking birth classes in preparation for a natural delivery,

I researched holistic lifestyles 

and read every book Andrew Weil ever wrote.

On February 18th, 2003, the day Jane was born, 

I woke up, and per my usual daily exercise, I hiked the Y mountain in Provo

and when I got to the top

 I looked out on a snowy gray Utah day and then 

 I had a spiritual impression.

I felt very strongly that I needed to name this little peanut inside

 "Jane Bronwyn" instead of "Bronwyn Jane" as planned.

I like to think my great-great-grandma Jane Bee was speaking to me.

After all, the scriptures are full of stories of many who

hiked mountains to get closer to God and feel His spirit.  

Since I was at 8,520 feet, I was that much 

closer to heaven, where I could receive a spiritual impression, 

and that's how Jane's name was revealed to me.

Jane is my wild, opinionated, beautiful girl who reminds me

of the Venus de Milo, the Greek goddess of beauty and love.

We have some fun surprises in store for her today,

and yes, she is totally skipping school!

 

(Justin, thank you for the photos!)

PS...This is what Christian looked like when Jane was born:

P.S.S....This is what Claire looked like when Jane was born:

Valentine's Day Dinner

On Thursday of last week, we celebrated Valentine's Day as a family.

We had our usual heart-shaped pizzas for dinner, and I

 made a delicious kale salad (I like a salad on top of my pizza).

We enjoyed cold Mexican coke in the bottle per 

Ollie's request, and for dessert I made our favorite chocolate cake.

 Except one of the layers slipped off the counter and 

conveniently in Angus's mouth.

So then it became a one-layer chocolate cake with 

fresh red berries and whipped cream.

Claire was at work most of the day and then she and Jane

attended a late Barre class and didn't get home until around

8:00. We had a late dinner, but it didn't matter 

since the Nies had Valentine's Day off from school!

During dinner, we listened to our new 2020 love

 theme and all our previous love songs for the last 15 years. 

I couldn't help but get a little teary-eyed during a few songs

because they mean so much to me,

 to Mr. Nielson, and our family.

After we cleaned up we all watched The Phantom of the Opera

(again!) and we all went to bed at 1:00 am...Lottie too!

It was a lovely pre-Valentine's Day event!