Finding "Joy in the Journey"

I'll ask forgiveness now for the long post..:)

Last night was Relief Society Enrichment night. I have to tell you Sister Marsha and her gang go ALL out. Let me tell you they take it to extremes. Everyone was given passports, upon entering the gym you were given a candy Lei (we are the Candy Mountain Ward) and welcomed. We had to go through the line, put our purse through the scanner and get our itinerary. Was way cute. Marsha and her husband have an art of making cardboard decor. Hopefully I can get pictures. But they made a plane, Train, a bus and a Huge Cruise ship as an entrance to each using the exit doors from the gym.
Dinner was served and we were off to our destinations, of course the sisters that chose the bus had a slight delay in their journey. The bus broke down and were assigned to a different means of transportation. So, off we went to our travel destinations (our 3 rotating classes, in 3 groups; plain, train & cruise ship).
In the first class, Sister King taught us about how to survive a crisis. She has read several books about survivors and the one thing that she learned was they #1, all had something to live for and #2 had faith.
The second class taught by my VT Companion, Sis Rex, who is just plain crazy. She took us on a safari trip into some jungle. Was cute and she played a superb guide. She spoke about Legos and Longerie. Most of us has had kids know that being a mother can be hectic, especially in those younger years when they depend on you for everything. She had some good tips like ~ get out of the house, going for a walk a breath of fresh air does wonders ~ get the kids dressed up and take them over to grandmas ~ or just go for a drive. (I sat their remembering those good ole' days and missed them, as hectic as they were. I loved it when my kids were little.) Then we were given the motivation talk on how to love yourself no matter what size you are. That your husbands deserve to see you with your hair done nice, nails done and also likes it when you in your birthday suite. So don't be hard on yourself, he loves you no matter what size you are. This talk was motivating for me. The next day I went out and got a hair cut, Mani and Pedi done. And, let me tell you it does make a difference in how I feel.
The Final class, Sister Sampson spoke about how her and her husband went to BYU Hawaii and he finished up his pre-med and had been applying to several med schools. It didn't work out the way it had planned and they had a 1 yr delay. During this time was difficult and didn't understand why they had worked so hard and not accepted into school. They applied for a great school in Israel and were accepted right away. During this 1 year delay they had met several people that either were moving to Israel or Had family in Israel. Sis Sampson kept a good diary of the events and shared some of those with us. It really touched me. Sometimes we don't always understand the trials we have until we look back on them and see the blessing that came from them. I so have a testimony of that!
After the mini-classes were done we all arrived at our final destination.
There we spoke about finding the joy in our journeys and Sis Marsha read the following poem, relating to life:

It's like... planning a fabulous vacation trip - to Italy. You buy a bunch of guide books and make your wonderful plans. The Coliseum. The Michelangelo David. The gondolas in Venice. You may learn some handy phrases in Italian. It's all very exciting.

After months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go. Several hours later, the plane lands. The stewardess comes in and says, "Welcome to Holland."

"Holland?!?" you say. "What do you mean Holland?? I signed up for Italy! I'm supposed to be in Italy. All my life I've dreamed of going to Italy."

But there's been a change in the flight plan. They've landed in Holland and there you must stay.

The important thing is that they haven't taken you to a horrible, disgusting, filthy place, full of pestilence, famine and disease. It's just a different place.

So you must go out and buy new guide books. And you must learn a whole new language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you would never have met.

It's just a different place. It's slower-paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy. But after you've been there for a while and you catch your breath, you look around.... and you begin to notice that Holland has windmills....and Holland has tulips. Holland even has Rembrandt's.

But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy... and they're all bragging about what a wonderful time they had there. And for the rest of your life, you will say "Yes, that's where I was supposed to go. That's what I had planned."

And the pain of that will never, ever, ever, ever go away...because the loss of that dream is a very very significant loss. But...if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn't get to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things ... about Holland.

Again, I love the ward that we are in and the friends that I am making. This is my goal this year to find joy in the journey. Let me tell you it takes a lot of work to remember what you are thankful for and sometimes it is the pile of dirty cloths to be thankful that you have a family. Sorry for the long post. Somethings just cant be summarized in little details.