I love reading his love letters when i'm feeling sad <3

Cody's Address

Letters letters letters letters letters! There are going to be a lot of letters to Brazil from me!

Letters to Cody:
Elder Cody James Norman:
 Brazil Sao Paulo Interlagos Mission:
 Brazil Missionary Training Center
: Rua Padre Antonio D'Angelo,121:
 Casa Verde: 
02516-040 Sao Paulo -SP:
 Brazil

To send a package:

Elder Cody James Norman:
 Brazil Sao Paulo Interlagos Mission:
 Rua Euzebio de Souza, 121:
 Jardim Londrina:
 CEP 05638-100 Sao Paulo - SP:
 Brazil

Visa Came!

Watch out Brazil! Here comes Elder Norman!!!

Look at my sweetheart! He got his name tag and his visa! He gets his hair cut Saturday, gets set apart Monday night, and his plane leaves Tuesday morning at 6:30.  I wish somehow I could just fit in his suitcase =( But I have already been waiting for a long time so the only difference is the fact that I can start marking days off my countdown calender! And the fact that I won't be able to call him...(but i don't want to think about that)

My Birthday Present!

 My Birthday Present from Cody!!!

Even though Cody sent me money to buy my sparkly bum jeans, I still got a pink package from him! =) He sent me Funny Girl, Funny Lady, Funny Face, wishing dust, and a birthday card, and a five page letter! I love him soo much!

I watch superman fly away
You've got a busy day today
Go save the world I'll be around
I watch superman fly away
Come back I'll be with you someday
I'll be right here on the ground
When you come back down

And I watch you fly around the world
And I hope you don't save some other girl
Don't forget, don't forget about me
I'm far away but I never let you go
I'm lovestruck and looking out the window
Don't forget, don't forget where I'll be
Right here wishing the flowers were from you
Wishing the card was from you
Wishing the call was from you

'Cause I loved you from the very first day
- Taylor Swift

another example

This is so cute! She waited for him!

Tonight, while sitting on our couch, thinking about my life, I have come to the realization that I dont know where it's going.  I'm not talking about long distance.  I know what my future goal is.  I am just so stuck in the right now and I am completely baffled when I think about what I am living for right now.  I feel like i'm going to school and growing educationally and spiritually and mentally but at the exact same time, i feel like i'm doing nothing.  It makes me crazy to think about it.  I know that part of it is because right now, I am not around loved ones, such as family.  I guess I feel like my life is pointless? I am studying the scriptures, i do have a testimony, i do have a calling, i just am having a hard time figuring out what i'm supposed to do right now, in my life,  to make me happy...

Here is on of the most beautiful pictures I have seen in a long time! Cody sent this to me the other day. It's him and his little nieces.  When I saw it, I wanted to cry! 

It just makes me feel like he is going to be the best daddy in the world! <3 <3 <3

I Won't Give Up On You - Tyler Ward (original by Jason Mraz)

                                           I think I like this one better than Jason Mraz's version!

Holding Out For A Hero - Ella Mae Bowen

I love this version! 

As Fast As I Could - Josh Turner

           I just love this song SO  much! it's not on playlist though, so i couldn't add it to my playlist. =(

Cody's Farewell Talk

Approximately 74 B.C. here in what is now known as the Americas,  A man of God named Alma was preaching unto the poor and afflicted among his people about how to obtain faith in the gospel, and develop testimonies of their own. His analogy comparing the gospel of Christ to a seed has survived into this day and age.  And what a fitting description that is.

 Later, after the life and death of Christ, the apostle Paul wrote an epistle to the Ephesians. In his words, he compared The Lord to an object known as a cornerstone. Again, this comparison is very enlightening, and helps us to understand what Christ’s role is in our lives.

 Crystals and snowflakes are among some of the most wondrous and beautiful things found in nature, their architecture unique, and yet uniform. Structure formed seemingly spontaneously in a world of general chaos.

 Legos are also some of the most wondrous and awesome things in the world, and are capable of compiling into some of the coolest things ever witnessed by the eyes of man. Not to mention, I don’t think anyone can create a neater toy, with only plastic and pure imagination as the starting ingredients at hand…  I’ll find a way to fit that last comment in here somewhere…

 Of all the questions humanity as a whole has pondered, among some the most questioned are possibly: “How can I develop a greater testimony and faith?” And “Where did that remote get to?” For today, I’m going to focus on that first one, as the other may never be answered in this lifetime.

  Has anyone ever caught themselves thinking something along these lines? “I wish I had a testimony like brother or sister so and so.” “Choosing the right sure would be easier if I knew for sure it wasn’t wrong.” “Do I really believe in the Book of Mormon?” Or, “I’m not sure if I really do believe in the church, I’ve just always gone with my parents.” I have great news for those of you who have concerns similar to those, or any involving desires for greater faith and testimonies.

            Building materials are available this very day to build up your faith and strengthen the foundation of your testimony. These building blocks of testimony and faith will fit any one’s needs, and secure any doubts you may have. You too can have the resolution of Nephi, and it’s absolutely free to obtain! If you’re worried about delivery of these goods, there’s no need. They aren’t physical objects at all, and they’re readily available at any moment. You just need to choose when to apply them.

 On this subject, I can’t imagine a better recourse than the words that Alma spoke concerning the matter of faith, and how to obtain it. READ ALMA 32:26-32

 Alma shows us the building blocks we need for a greater testimony, and how to apply them to our lives. You must act. You just have to! You can listen to everybody around you say that the novel that just came out is absolutely spectacular, but you won’t know for yourself until you make the effort to pick up its pages and read it yourself. Interestingly, there is a promise in The Book of Mormon stating this same principal! If you desire faith in the book, read it! Then kneel in sincere prayer, asking if its contents are true. This promise says that if you do, it will be made known to you that the Book IS true!  You can test every part of Christ’s gospel, and once you have, you will have testimony yourself if its divinity.

 If you want a testimony of the commandments, test them! Keep them, and see if blessings do not come into your life for doing so. Do you need more faith in the concept of tithing? Pay it! Even when everything seems contrary to you doing so, test these gospel doctrines, because that is the only way it will become doctrine to YOU. 

 Use it or lose it is a law of nature. This saying can apply to many aspects of your every day life. Possibly the easiest aspect to apply it to is that of your muscles. If you don’t use them on a regular basis, they will atrophy away at a surprisingly rapid rate. This can be said of your faith and testimony as well that you have obtained for yourself. If you do not act upon the promptings of the Holy Ghost, you will find his promptings and council will come to you less consistently. If you do not act upon the faith you obtain, and apply it to your life, you will find it has less and less meaning to you.

 But every part of the gospel of Christ would be meaningless if it were not for one vital component, and that would be Jesus Christ himself. All testimony, all faith, and devotion and belief should be built upon the sure foundation of Christ. Paul said of Christ: “Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the Saints, and of the ^dhousehold of God; And are built upon the foundation of the ^aapostles and ^bprophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief ^ccorner stone, In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord:”

            How wonderful that Christ was compared to a cornerstone. The significance of that saying grows if you understand the importance of this object. The cornerstones of a building mark the corners of the foundation for a masonry structure to be erected. The key significance of the cornerstone, is that its placement determined the placement of the entire structure, as all of the walls are built off of the first stone.

            This concept can also be applied to the world of crystals and snowflakes. These perfect formations that continually expand and grow are not capable of forming on their own. Crystals need a surface to form upon, whether that is a smaller crystal called a seed, or a rough surface. Snowflakes do not appear out of thin air, but fist must grow on a piece 

skype and farewell talks

i figured out how to skype! and cody and i skyped for the first time!!! i am soooooo excited! and i wish that i had figured it out like three months ago... he is as beautiful as ever! and i got to talk to his whole family! i love them soo much!
also
my birthday is on wednesday! i am turning 19 and i feel old. =) i am very sad that cody won't be here to celebrate with me, but after seeing him last month and skyping him, i just don't miss him as terribly much as i used to.  i mean, i still cry sometimes, but it really isn't as bad as the first two months.  i think it will get really hard once he actually leaves and i can't call him or text him.
by the way! my sweetie pie gave his farewell talk on sunday! i really wanted to be able to see it but i couldn't.  he is going to emial it to me...i might be able to post it?? =) i will find out! i guess on sunday, when he spoke, my younger brother spoke too, and my little sister sang, and my mom played the piano...LOL how funny is that? cody's mom said "it was like a "family" thing!"
i'm so proud of cody! he will be the best missionary in the world, and if i had the choice of him staying with me, or leaving, i would choose to have him leave.  i know that this is what is supposed to happen. i will miss him, but when he gets back, we will be able to celebrate our fifth anniversary!

Cody sent me money in my birthday card so I could get myself sparkly bum Jeans!!! ( my birthday isn't until the 14th) I have been wanting some for forever!!! I LOVE them! He is just the best guy in the whole world!

These pictures are from two Christmases ago. I wrapped his up and gave it to him and when he opened it, I took off my jacket! =) He said he loved it!

Cody gets his endowments out tonight at 6:15.  That will be 7:15 my time.  He told me about a week ago but i'm a bad girlfriend and forgot until he texted me today and told me.  My emotions are crazy all over the place! I am extremely proud, excited, and nervous for him! I am also extremely sad because I feel that he is going to become so much better than me.  And I guess it scares me because he might learn so much new stuff and I will become something small and suddenly unimportant?!? I think I am overthinking everything.  I just think i'm going to stop writing now.