Tag Archives: Faith

Child #3: Emily, Family, Family Life, Photography, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

Fixing up the Blog

February 7, 2016 Hubbard's Cupboard 1 Comment

Hey!! So I have a lot of ideas of things to write about but I feel like I’m going to take some time to fix up my blog. I have a ton of broken links and pictures.

Our family is doing well. We have been just living life and busy as ever.

Dallin finished his PhD last summer and started medical school last August. So far it’s going well and time is flying by.

Our little baby girl is grown big. She is over 3 months old now. She is sooo cute.

I’m busy being MOM and wife of a medical student! My oldest son is in pre-school for 2 days of the week then we do home school the rest of the days with my middle son who is 2 years old.

My oldest son is picking up reading really fast! I can’t keep up with teaching him how to read.

I’m still taking pictures for our church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I’ve been on a church service mission for almost a year now. I can’t believe how much my photography has improved this year. I really feel like my talents in photography has been a gift from God.

I love sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ through words and photography!

I know The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the true church of God on the earth today. If you have any questions, please let me know!

Family, Family Life, Photography

My Blog Depression

September 17, 2014 Hubbard's Cupboard 22 Comments

It’s been awhile since I’ve consistently posted anything online. It’s been a rough busy couple of months. I haven’t been feeling good physically since March. I’ve been sick a lot since then and just plain not feeling good. My friends who know me know that it’s not the first I haven’t felt well in my life but I thought I was making it up in my mind or going crazy. Thankfully, through fasting and prayer I’ve been able to slowly discover what is wrong with me. I am so grateful for revelation from Heavenly Father that guides my daily life. I’m starting to feel better now and I hope the doctors can diagnose a problem soon!

Like I just said, I’ve had a real lack of desire to post online. I feel like no one reads it or no one really cares. It’s funny because I’ve had an real increase lack of desire ever since Elder Bednar told us to post more online and flood the internet with good things. I guess there has just been great opposition for me following an apostle’s request.

I’ve had the prompting to do the “WordPress LDS Ward” blog for six months now! I started templates but never got over the hump of publishing the site.

I’ve been reading my scriptures, attending the temple, going to the church and praying. What is wrong with me? Finally on Sunday I asked my husband for a priesthood blessing. I haven’t asked for one in a while. I feel like that blessing really helped me get back on my feet. The blessing counseled me to continue to share my testimony and photography online then my stress will go away. I have really felt power of the priesthood be pouring down into my life.

Another thing is that I’ve realized that I have a real problem with emotional eating and social media especially since I’ve been so stressed. I haven’t been posting very much but I’ve been wasting countless hours reading what other people are doing on social media… mainly Facebook. Don’t get me wrong, I love reading about your life but I’ve tried many times to put limits on my Facebook time and failed greatly. If I’m not on Facebook, I’m indulging myself on foods that make me sick. When I feel sick, I want to eat more food because I think it makes me feel better. I tried cutting things out cold turkey but I just realized my efforts wasn’t working!

Then I was chatting with my SIL online and she suggested that I start reading the LDS Addictions Recovery manual. It was the best advice I’ve gotten in a long time. After sincerely studying only the first two lessons, I feel so much more faith, hope and control in my life. I may even start attending the emotional eating meetings. The books also says writing is a good therapy. 🙂 I haven’t felt this good in a long time.

I testify that the Atonement of Jesus Christ works and if anyone out there is feeling a lack of hope just call upon God and He will bless you. Ask for help. Prepare yourself to ask and receive priesthood blessings.

I know that I can’t change all by myself but the atonement can change me even if it’s something as silly as getting rid of food addictions or heal me from pain. I have felt an increase of control in my life ever since I’ve been humble enough to seek for more help. I know that God will always give me more help when I need it whether it be through the priesthood or professionals. Because of Jesus Christ, there is always someone out there to help us feel better.

Sorry I really have tried to keep this blog about my blessings not my trials but it’s enviable… We all have trials even when I don’t talk about them much!

Question: How have you witness the blessings of the atonement in the mist of your trials?

I’ve include pictures of me and my husband in this post from our 4th anniversary back in May. We took these pictures in Logan, Utah on Old Main Hill where we first met and dated. We used a tripod on self-timer. My husband has been a great help and companion in my life. I’m so grateful for his willingness to serve me and our little family!

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

Who are you?

February 2, 2014 Hubbard's Cupboard 3 Comments

Every person on this planet is a child of God.[1] Each is a precious, son or daughter of a Heavenly Father. What does this mean? Why do we care? Well the succint answer is that this simple fact makes all the different in our day to day actions.

Who is God, our Heavenly Father? That is one of the most important questions to answer in this life (and can only truly be answered by praying to Him). But I will give a short synopsis of who I know He is, and why that makes a significant difference in my life.

Heavenly Father is a loving, perfect, just, merciful Father. Much as a goodly Father listens to his small children, talks to them, helps them understand their world, and guides them, our Heavenly Father does to us in our world.As a small child is in his Father’s care, so are we. Our Heavenly Father “wants to communicate with us, and we can communicate with Him through sincere prayer.”

Because each of us is the child of a perfect, omniscient, loving Heavenly Father, each of us has divine potential to become like Him. We may, through faith in the Savior Jesus Christ, repent, and be baptised, and be changed into a better person everyday, en route to eventually attaining perfection. This is our Fathers goal, so see each us reach perfection. And I know it is possible!

One of the best ways for us to learn how to be perfect is in our families. Heavenly Father made it so that children are naturally born only into families with a mother and father, so that we could prepare to become a perfect Parent as He is and return to live with Him one day. Even though sometimes our earthly father or mother is missing from our lives, He is still our Heavenly Father and is constantly there providing for us, listening to our cries, and helping us.

But as is all good stories, their is an evil character as well as the good. Satan, the great master of lies, is concurrently trying to bring us down to destruction, and cause us to fail in reaching perfection. He knows that if he can trick us, he can destroy our happiness, and thus is constantly seeking to tear down, destroy, confuse, and hinder all that is good. His primary focus is to destroy families, and cause disbelief in Jesus Christ, because that is the center of our happiness and salvation. [2]

Thus comes to one of the greatest and most important gifts given to every single person… the power to choose. Because God knows we cannot become like Him without choosing to do so, He has made us free to choose good or evil. To choose if we will seek for God, or follow Satan. There are no other alternatives, although it may appear so. Eventually all have to make the choice whether they will believe in God, or not, and thus follow Satan. But the freedom to choose is ours, and remains ours as long as we do good. [3]

There will be temptations and persuasions from both sides, as we can see throughout life. The powers of good and evil are in constant struggle. But we can choose to follow the Good, to believe in our Heavenly Father, to follow His commandments and eventually one day return to our Father in Heaven. He has given us a guiding roadmap, through the Bible, the Book of Mormon and the living Prophets today. He has not abandoned us and loves us more deeply than we can imagine.

Even if we follow the good there will be problems and trials. Our loving Father gave us the freedom to choose, and with that freedom we will make mistakes. Just as a good father lets his child have the freedom to ride a bike, he also must allow us the possibility of falling over and scraping our knee, otherwise we would not be able to learn. Sometimes we have problems just because we live in a mortal world where sickness, disease, disasters and other things happen. But the truth is if we follow Heavenly Father’s plan, and believe in Jesus Christ we can return and live with God one day, in spite of all the problems and trials of this mortal test. And I’m sure it will be a sweet family reunion for all, if we have chosen to believe in and follow our perfect, loving Father in Heaven.

-Dallin

1. We are Children of God https://www.lds.org/general-conference/1998/10/we-are-children-of-god?lang=eng.

2. The Family Proclamation http://www.lds.org/topics/family-proclamation

3. Book of Mormon; 2 Nephi 2:27 “Wherefore, men are ^afree according to the ^bflesh; and ^callthings are ^dgiven them which are expedient unto man. And they are free to ^echoose ^fliberty and eternal ^glife, through the great Mediator of all men, or to choose captivity and death, according to the captivity and power of the devil; for he seeketh that all men might be ^hmiserable like unto himself.”

Family Life, Ireland, Landscape, Photography, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Travel

Ireland Miracle #3

December 5, 2013 Hubbard's Cupboard Leave a comment

Sorry I realize that I never finished my Ireland miracles. I’ll just schedule these stories in once in a while. Better late than never right?

For the first month in Ireland, we solely relied on public transportation which was mainly double decker busses and the Dart which is a fast train. Dallin studied at the University College Dublin and we lived in Dun Laoghaire. It was about 45 minutes by bus but only a 15 minute drive. The bus system was fantastic and there really wasn’t much to complain about except for the fact that Dallin took 1.5 to 2 hours or more commuting everyday depending on traffic.

We felt like the Spirit was telling us we should buy a car. We researched it out and miraculously found an old Nissan Almera (aka Nissan Centra in the USA) for 1000 euros. We registered it and bought insurance from Liberty Mutual Insurance which was the cheapest insurance we found. Buying a car was easier than we thought it would be and it eventually ended up saving us money even though the gas tax in Ireland is like 50%.

Driving in Dublin, Ireland is super fun… well kinda. So you drive on the left hand side of the road and the roads are very narrow. Parking is pretty much just parallel parking. You have to get really good at parallel parking. You can use your native driver license for one year before you need to get an Irish license.

We took this old cheap car to every shore of Ireland and Northern Ireland. We drove this car from Dublin to Giants Cosway in Northern Ireland. Then to Cork, Cliffs of Moher, Dingle and the Ring of Kerry. Fortunately the only problem we had with the car was the windshield wipers and a mechanic in Cork fixed it for 10 euro.

On one of our last adventures in Ireland, we were driving to the Blarney Castle in Cork. A local guy rear ended our car and made a dent in the back bumper. The insurance company said that the car was totaled. They let us keep the dented car and gave us 1000 Euro. So in essence we got this car for free. This is what the bumper looked like and if you look around on the streets of Ireland…everyone has the same dent in their car because the roads are so narrow!

We thought purchasing this car was a tender mercy of the Lord. We drove this car everywhere. We drove it to church and drove the Dublin area missionaries to their visits. Dallin used this car to go home teaching and we used this car to drive to the hospital when we had the baby. We ended up giving the car away to a friend and then he was able to use the car for a few weeks while his car was broken. After that he ended up selling it for 200 euro. We thought we got our money’s worth out of that car. What a blessing!

Writing about Ireland again brings tears to my eyes because I miss Ireland so much!

Child #1: Micah, Child #2: Quentin, Children, Parenting, Photography, Temples, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Toddlers

General Conference Recap

October 7, 2013 Hubbard's Cupboard 7 Comments

Every six months (in April and October) The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints holds a worldwide church meeting called general conference. The meeting last for 10 hours over the course of two days. During general conference, we receive counsel from our prophet, President Thomas S. Monson, his apostles, and other church leaders. General conference is broadcast on TV, the radio, and online. The talks are then available afterwards on lds.org to read and study. We believe that if we follow the counsel given in the sermons at general conference that our lives will be blessed. As we listen to general conference, we believe that God can speak to our hearts through the Holy Ghost. Everyone can receive their own personalized counsel during general conference.

After pondering and reading over my notes from conference, two things stuck out to me:

1) Be a Mom

2) Be a Missionary

…. Be a Mother Missionary.

Elder D. Todd Christofferson gave a talk about the influence of a good women. He talked about his grandma and how she “never learned how to drive a car, but she knew how to help boys become priesthood men.” He also posed the question from Neal A. Maxwell “Will what happened in cradles and kitchens prove to be more controlling than what happened in congress?”

Also during the conference, our prophet announced that our church has reached 15 million members and have currently have over 80,000 full-time missionaries.

President Monson said that “Now is the time for members and missionaries to come together to work together to labor in the Lord’s vineyard to bring souls unto him.” He also quoted a past prophet, President McKay saying, “Every member a missionary.”

A couple days before general conference, I got a few of my friends in our ward together for a temple trip. We dressed up our 2 year-old sons as little missionaries and took pictures of them. Aren’t they cute?

I learned during conference being a mother is being a missionary. Mothers in the church are teaching their kids to be future missionaries. Our homes should be like the MTC. Even at this young age, we teach our kids about God and His Son Jesus Christ. We also teach them that they are children of God and that God loves them very much. We teach our kids how to pray to God and how to receive answers to their prayers. We teach them good morals such as sharing their cookies and serving others.

We teach them the reason why they are on earth is to be happy and in order to be truly happy we have to follow of the commandments of God the best we can. We, as mothers, prepare our kids to choose to be baptized when they are eight year old. We teach them that we make mistakes but because of Jesus Christ’s atonement we can change and be a better person.

We prepare our sons to receive the priesthood when they turn twelve and go on missions when they turn eighteen.

We teach our children that the temple is the house of God and we go there to make promises to God to be the best person we can be. We teach them that the temple is where families can be sealed together forever. We are teaching our children to be future missionaries but most importantly we are teaching them to become good husbands/fathers and wives/mothers.

I felt like Heavenly Father was telling me “Don’t worry if your kids take up all your time… it’s what you’re suppose to be doing. Taking care of your kids is the most important form of missionary work!”

So then I asked myself the question “Why do I do missionary work?” For me it is because I know that God lives and Jesus Christ lives. I know that by obeying God’s commandments and following His prophets we are truly happy. Throughout the years my faith has been tested but I still know this day that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is God’s true church. I know that the fullness of the gospel has been restored through the prophet Joseph Smith. I love my kids and I want to share with them everything I know to be true.

Why do you do missionary work? What did you learn during conference? Please share with me what you learned! Feel free to share, pin, Facebook these images.

Missionaries loves cookies! It was the only way we got them to sit still and special thanks for all the moms for letting me use their kids. 🙂

Can’t forget my newest little future missionary:

Here are some fun graphics I made:

Here’s a behind the scenes picture of the moms. It’s so hard to get five 2 year-old to sit still! 🙂

Child #2: Quentin, Family, Family Life, Ireland, Photography, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Travel

Ireland Miracle #2

September 11, 2013 Hubbard's Cupboard 4 Comments

Now that we’ve had some time to ponder about our time in Ireland. I’m going to do a series of stories about miracles that happened on our adventure in Ireland. We feel like our trip to Ireland was one big miracle made up of a bunch of small miracles. The first miracle I blogged about happened within hours of our arrival in Ireland. You can read it here.

This post is about one of the final miracles that happened in Ireland and I’ll fill in the rest later. I felt like it was a miracle to have little Quentin in Ireland. He has been our favorite and best souvenir. You can see his newborn pictures here.

We initially didn’t plan on having the baby in Ireland. We thought we would just fly home during my last month of pregnancy…. but Irish airlines wouldn’t let pregnant women fly internationally after 28 weeks. That was a problem. Dallin wasn’t finish with his research assignment in Ireland when I was 28 weeks pregnant so we decided to stay. We changed our airplane tickets to July 25 which is one month after the guess “birthday” of the new baby. We thought since my first baby was 2 weeks early that it wouldn’t be a problem to fly home on July 25. Well, things didn’t go as plan and the baby didn’t arrive until July 4th which is 9 days after my “due date”.

At first we didn’t realize how much paper work and processing time it was going to take to get the baby home to the USA:

First we needed to get an Irish birth certificate (processing time 4 to 6 weeks)
Then we needed to schedule an interview with the US embassy (booking 4 weeks in advance)
We needed to take the Irish birth certificate to the US embassy interview to get a US birth certificate abroad and a US passport (processing time 6 weeks)
Lastly, we had to wait for the passport to come in the mail

The total estimated time to get the baby’s passport was 10 weeks after birthday which would’ve put us to Sept 12th! We didn’t want to pay more money to change our flights and we really wanted to get back to Utah. So we prayed and I got a priesthood blessing. My husband and I both felt at peace that the Lord’s timing is always right.

We acted on faith after the baby finally arrived. We miraculous got an US embassy interview for July 11 (14 days before our flight date) but we still needed an Irish birth certificate. So we called and requested an emergency Irish birth certificate. The hospital faxed our information over to the government offices instead of waiting for the information to process in the system. We managed to get a copy of the baby’s Irish birth certificate on July 8th. We went to the interview and told the people at the US embassy that we want to fly on July 25 so they marked our application as “urgent” but they didn’t guarantee that it would happen by then. Our faith was indeed tested while we waited for the passport to arrive in the mail. I checked the mail everyday hoping that the passport have come.

I was in distress because we needed to change our flights at least 24 hours in advance! Well to make the story short, the passport arrived within 48 hours of our flight and we flew home on July 25th when our baby was shy of 3 weeks old.

Yep we made it home with a toddler and a newborn infant alive. How in the world did I just give birth and get on a plane to move our family across the ocean? I have no idea except that I felt the grace of God helping us every step of the way.

Well that’s it for now. We have many more miracles to post about!

Family Life, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

Living a life guided by revelation

April 19, 2013 Hubbard's Cupboard 6 Comments

Today marks five years since I got baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It was one of the most difficult but life changing decisions I have ever made. I was never a religious person. My family wasn’t religious either. I didn’t know if there was a God nor did I care to find out. Whenever I saw missionaries I would run and hide behind the couch. I was an epitome of the “disappointing investigator”.

Growing up in Utah, most of my friends were “Mormons“. They invited me to church, activities, dances and camps. The social part of church was fun and all but I was never interested in learning religion. Most of my friends tried once or twice to teach me the gospel but usually left me alone after I told them I wasn’t interested. Some of them were more persistant than others. 🙂

Yet, like most people I went through a series of hard times in my life. I was plain miserable and depressed. No matter how hard I try to pick myself up, I felt hopeless and my life was falling apart.

I could go on with details of my conversion but the details don’t matter as much as how it happened. Eventually after years and years of people inviting me to read the Book of Mormon, I was finally ready and willing to read the book. Along with reading the Book of Mormon, I started to pray everyday to ask God if He exist and if the Book of Mormon is true.

It was March of 2008 when I started reading the Book of Mormon and I got baptized on April 19, 2008. I didn’t know very much doctrine and I didn’t have a sure knowledge of God when I got baptized. I just knew that I felt the Holy Ghost a few distinct instances during the time I was truly investigating the Church. However, the feelings always left me and I had to act on pure faith. It was not an easy decision! I felt very criticized and doubtful at times but that just lead me back to my knees to pray to ask God again. On my baptism day, I felt dark and lonely but all the darkness went away when I made it to my baptism and received the gift of the Holy Ghost.

Now after five years, I can truly say that I know without a doubt that God lives and that He does answer prayers. I know without a doubt that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the only true church on the earth and is lead by apostles and prophets that are called by God. I also know that Jesus Christ is the foundation of this Church. I know all this because I have lived the last five years of my life being guided by revelation from God through the gift of the Holy Ghost.

My Original Plans

Graduate from high school, go to the University of Utah
Graduate in 4 years in Electrical Engineering
Get a nice job and make lots of money
Get a MBA and be promoted
Become successful!
And hopefully get married sometime around 30 if the right guy comes
And may be have kids sometime

God’s Plans for Me

2008 – Get baptized in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints

2008 – Move to Logan, go to Utah State University on a scholarship and meet lots of new friends. Attend church, institute, read scriptures and pray everyday, be part of lots of clubs, and here have the best roommates in the world!

2008 – Grow spiritually so here are some callings: Family Home Evening Mom, Primary Teacher, Ward Missionary, Bulletin Board Specialist

2009 – Meet Dallin, your future husband

2009 – Be an EFY counselor

2010 – Get engaged, go to the temple and get married in the temple

2010 – Transfer to the University of Utah and study Computer Science

2010 – Live in the University Village and meet lots of happy families.

2010 – Have some more church callings: Relief Society Presidency, Stake Primary Presidency and Ward Missionary

2011- Have a baby and name him Micah!

2012 – Graduate from college and be a full time mom

2013 – Take your family to Ireland and serve in the Bray Branch.

Has my life been easy the last five years? No. I still have lots of trials and problems. Were the decisions I’ve made easy? Not really. But has it been worth it? Most definitely! I know by experience that because the atonement of Jesus Christ my burdens can be made light. Living a life following God’s plan is not always the easiest but it has definitely been full of joy, blessings, fulfillment, and miracles.

Can you believe what I would’ve missed out on if I never decided to get baptized five years ago?! I would not be the person I am today or have my family or be in Ireland for that matter. I would be completely lost in my own world.

I love the quote by Presiden Hinkley that says “When you save a girl, you save generations.” It’s so true!!

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

Best Birthday Present

January 18, 2013 Hubbard's Cupboard 7 Comments

My husband is really good at making me feel really loved on my birthday. His gifts are always perfect but his words are what means the most to me. I have yet to have a birthday without tears of gratefulness.

Today, on my birthday, my husband shared with my his testimony of the atonement of Jesus Christ because I’ve been wanting to learn more about the atonement recently. Being a convert to the church (4+ years and counting), sometimes I feel embarrassed when I don’t know the simple stories of Jesus. When the Sunday school teachers says “Everyone knows the story of ____ “… I am usually the one who does not know that story but is too embarrassed to raise my hand. I admit that I have not studied the bible as much as the modern revelations of the church. My husband is very well versed in gospel doctrine and I feel blessed whenever he teaches me or answers my questions. However, it always comes down to the fact that I have to read, learn, and gain my own testimony.

I realized in order for me to better understand the atonement of Jesus Christ I need to study the Bible, the Book of Mormon, the words of the prophets, attend the temple, and also receiving personal revelation. If I only choose one of the sources, it is not comprehensive enough to understand the importance of this great event. Understanding the atonement is a lifelong process and it’s ok that I don’t know everything right now.

I’ve been studying and watching the new bible videos made by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. They are absolutely amazing and they make it simple enough for me to understand.

Here are 10 interesting things I’ve learn about the atonement:

Jesus Christ suffered in Gethsemane “the pains of all men, yea, the pains of every living creature, both men, women, and children, who belong to the family of Adam.” (2 Nephi 9:21) He also suffered “temptations, and pain of body, hunger, thirst, and fatigue, even more than man can suffer, except it be unto death; for behold, blood cometh from every pore, so great [was] his anguish.” (Mosiah 3:7)
The suffering in Gethsemane was so much pain that Christ pray to God saying: “Abba, Father, all things are possible unto thee; take away this cup from me: nevertheless not what I will, but what thou wilt.” (Mark 14:36)
Jesus Christ was also denied by his own disciples, who were his friends, during his greatest time of need. Christ took three of his disciples to the garden of Gethsemane. The entire time that Christ was suffering in the garden, the three disciples fell asleep. (Matt 26:36-46, Mark 14:32-42, Luke 22:47-48, John 18:2-3)
After suffering for all the pains of the world in Gethsemane, Jesus Christ was denied, mocked and spit upon by government leaders (Matt 27:2), chief priests (Matt 27:41), and a multitude of people (Matt 27:20). They all wanted him to be crucified. (John 19:6)
Jesus Christ was beaten 39 times with a Roman whip (Mat 27:26). Roman whips had “had pieces of bone, glass, or metal on the ends of it to tear the flesh”. The reason why he was beaten 39 times is because anyone who survives 40 whippings are released from their punishment. (2 Cor 11:24) After whipping they put a crown of thorns on his head. (Matt 29:29)
Jesus Christ carried his own cross to Golgotha to be crucified. (John 19:17)
Jesus Christ allowed wicked people to crucify him after all the horrible events that have already happened to him. The unbelievers drove nails through the palms of his hands, wrists, and feet. (Ps. 22:11–18) Being in the position of crucification is the most horrible slow punishment and death anyone could ever experience. (Crucifixion)
While on the cross Jesus Christ said, “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do”. (Luke 23:34)
After being on the cross Jesus Christ, He said “it is finished” meaning the atonement was completed. He gave up the ghost which means he chose to die a mortal death. (John 19:30)
Jesus Christ was resurrected and we will all be resurrected because of His atonement. Everyone who is willingly to have faith in Christ, repent of their sins, are baptized in His name, receive the gift of the Holy Ghost and confirmation into Christ’s Church” and endure joyfully to the end will be received into celestial kingdom. Those who repent will not have to suffer what Christ went through and be able to have a happy life. (The Atonement of Jesus Christ)