January 10, 2016

Hey Kinsey. I love you and think you are so wonderful. You gave a great talk today in Primary. It was about the scriptures are the word of God. You are such a good reader and did a fabulous job. I love watching your testimony continue to grow. This week you learned a hard lesson. You forgot your folder. It broke my heart to see how sad you were that you'd forgotten something important. I appreciate how responsible you are trying to be. I also want you to remember that you aren't perfect and you are going to make mistakes. I know you were disappointed that you'd left your folder at school, but I hope you remember that even if you disappoint yourself sometime, you need to give yourself grace. People forget things. It just helps us to remember to try harder next time to not leave important things behind. But it's not the end of the world. If you ever find yourself being hard on yourself for not being perfect or even just not living up to the expectations you've set for yourself, I urge you to take a step back and really analyze the situation. Is this going to matter in 5 minutes, tomorrow, next month, next year? If my best friend did the same thing, what would I say to her. For example, you forget your folder and you are very upset and crying that you could forget something. What if Jayci had left her folder? Would you want her to be upset and crying or would you say to her, "It's ok Jayci. I know you are sad that you left your folder, but it's ok. You're still a good person and we all forget things every once in a while even if we don't mean to." Hopefully you can learn and grow from this mistake which is what we should do when we make mistakes. Now maybe you will get in the habit of double checking to make sure you have everything. About a year ago, I went grocery shopping and when I got out of the car, I opened the side door and put down my purse that had my cell phone and keys in it. After I got Reagan out of the car, I absent-mindedly shut the door. Well, I'd already locked the doors and my purse was still inside the car. Now I double and even triple check that I have my keys before I lock and shut the doors. I may still lock my keys in the car one day in the future, but I am in the habit of making sure I have my keys so the chances of it happening are less likely. I'm still human, still not perfect, but as long as we learn from our mistakes, then mistakes can actually be a good thing. It also helps us to treat others with more kindness and grace. If the cashier that is ringing up your groceries messes up, you can have grace for her because you know that you aren't perfect either and that when you make mistakes, you would rather have someone respond with kindness and say, "It's ok. Just try again." I know that Dad and I have high expectations for you and your brothers and sisters. Please know that we just ask that you try. Even grown-ups make mistakes and we don't expect you to be perfect. I love you so much, just the way you are. I'm so grateful to have you in our family. I love you no matter what, making mistakes doesn't change it, in fact, nothing changes my love for you. It is there forever, no matter what! Love, MOM