5 ways I can learn from Laman and Lemuel.

Recently I have been busy my friends! I have started an Online educational program that will help assist me in getting a degree. One of the courses I am currently taking is a religious study class on the Book of Mormon. This Past week our reading was out of the Book of Mormon in 1 Nephi 15-22. After studying it on my own and also discussing it with my fellow classmates, I was enlightened by their insight. I was able to learn about myself and took so much more from what I read and discussed than I had anticipated. I learned How much I want to be like Nephi. What a great example he continues to be for all of us. That even through the hardest of trial he did not once murmur. Even when his father had begun to doubt and his faith was tested Nephi was valiant in his conviction and belief in following what he was asked to do by heavenly father. That although he could have asked God him self for revelation, how he understood the order of authority, even when his father Lehi was falling into disbelief. Nephi shows true strength and courage by keeping his faith.

All those things made me Want to be like Nephi. I want to not murmur when things go wrong or unplanned. I want to cast out fear and have faith in all things.

I came to realize that I am Laman and Lemuel. Their examples in the scriptures is a lesson for me to learn the signs of falling into disbelief of the Gospel.

Ways in which we can learn from Laman and Lemuel are:

1. Look at the signs- Look for signs that point to Heavenly Father and are guided by the Holy Ghost. Don’t be blinded by what society may deem as acceptable.
2. Count your blessings- Be grateful for the things you do have. You will be surprised at just how blessed you are when you think of every great thing you have in your life.
3. Learn from the past and repent- True repentance happens when you have learned not to repeat your misdoings. Truly Make an effort to learn from mistakes.
4. Murmur not- In time of trouble, find the positive that will come out of a negative situations. Choose to have joys, and see the trials in your life and opportunities for growth and understanding.
5. Trust God- Always trust Gods Plan have faith in all the things you do. by doing so you will cast our fear and make all things great.

I know that when I chose to follow the good examples of Nephi, and learn from the examples of Laman and Lemuel. I will continue to grow spiritually. This I pray, will Strengthen my temporal and eternal relationships. I testify to you that I know this Church is true. That by choosing joy even in hard times, will help me to better understand my heavenly father and his Plan for me. I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ.

Amen.

I invite you to learn more by reading the Book of Mormon or by visiting lds.org

This is literally my first post in years

linʛuischtick

This is something that I’m sure a lot of people have noticed: there is trend toward using the word “literally” in a sentence where the speaker is not actually being literal. For instance:

“There were literally a million people at Dave’s party” (when not even 50 people showed up)
“I literally dropped dead from shock” (when of course that didn’t happen)

This is really starting to irritate people, and “literally” even appeared on a few lists of “words to ban in 2015” such as TIME and TYT. Of course, those aren’t literally attempts to ban the word (ha!), but this is definitely an indication of how annoyed people are.

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Why yes it is my first time…

(Warning: beware of typos 😜)

WOW! On Sunday 4/12/2015 I  accomplished something, something that to others may have been a small accomplishment but to be was a life changing experience. I completed my first open triathlon, what is an open you might ask… well it is 100m swim 3mi. bike and 1mi. run, and although that may not seem like much to a person compeeting a a full triathlon(2.4 mil swim, 112 mi bike, 26.2 mi swim) for me it was huge, you see even a year ago i had trouble even walking more than 20 min, i would be out of breath, tired, my hip would become dislocated, my body was tired and as much as i would have wanted to even try my body was not prepared. but on April 12, 2015 my body and mind proved it self capable of thing that when I weighed 345 impossible.

THe emotions that went on before during and still after the race are well … amazing!

The drive up to beautiful Lake Berryessa was calm and breathtaking. But even with the calmness all around me I felt anxious and excited. I remember my heart pumping and my hands we shaking. 

When I arrive I to the venue site I begin to set up my transition area. At this point I’m feeling less anxious and more excited! I head to the doc where we will have a pre-start meeting. During the meeting the event director tells us about the course and how the open distance became to be as well as how we the participants are changing the lives of those around us, he and I couldn’t help but get choked up. 

An announcement was made that the race would start in 1 min, that min felt like the longest min in my life. I felt panic… But in that moment of panic I folded my arms and I prayed to my Heavenly Father. And he heard me I felt his presence the entire time I was out in the water. Mind you this is my first time ever swimming in open water. No matter how cold the water was I welcomes the way it made me feel alive, blessed and awake! I swam my little heart out. Once the swim portion was done I was headed over to the transition area to prepare for the bike portion of the race. When I saw my brother inlaw (who was doing the race with me) I thought for sure he would be ahead of me but unfortunately he got hurt. I felt as if I should not go on. After all my legs at this point already started to feel like gelatin. But something said to me ‘you will not stop, you will and can finish this!’ So I kept going. I get on the bike course and as I’m peddling through the beautiful Calistoga scenery and rideing through the rolling hills I think of the things I’ve learned in the temple. And how I appreciate the beautiful land that Jesus has created for us to live on. When I reach the turn around point on the bike I suddenly feel extreme pain in my thighs and I think to myself ‘this is it this is where I can’t go any further.’ And then in my mind pops up someone who is n inspiration to me, Noelle Pikus Pace! If you don’t know who she is google her! Her story is so inspirational! And in that moment I think I got this so a start pushing harder peddling faster! And before I know it I’m done with the bike portion! I thanks my Heavenly Father for giving me the strength to finish this much. I go put my bike up and start heading towards the run portion of the race. I think ok if you collapse it’s ok you got this far. Once again I pray for endurance, I think there is no way I can run this … So I walk about 1/4 of a mile when I feel a rush an urge to run so I start jogging. When I get to the half way point of my run my husband is there cheering me on and pushing me, telling me I can do it I’m almost done. At which point somehow gave me super strength and I was able to run the rest of the race to the finish line!!! I crossed that finish line with such joy, appriciation, and happiness! It was such an overwhelming emotion. I literally started crying out of how good I felt how alive I felt and how blessed I am! 

  

Never in my life did I think I would ever cross a finish line. Never in my life did I think I would do a triathlon, and never in my life did I think my body could do that! 6 months post wls I couldn’t be prouded of my body and what I know it is capable of! And this is just the beginning! I hope this inspires other who think they can’t to at least try and see that they can ! Pray, Train, eat clean, and give it your all! In the end it doesn’t matter if you come in last or first, Heavenly Father loves you the same!

Xoxo, 

M. Carmen Dorigatti 

 

Fittness knows no size.

As I’m getting ready for my first open triathlon (100m swim 3 mi bike 1 mi run.) I am having thought about what will it be like, how much others have trained, how much I have trained, have I trained enough?  Then I got to think about the misconception that one must be thin to be fit… Or that if one is thin one is fit … It’s almost like the misconception that if your a certain age your a certain height. (We get that a lot for our 7 year old daughter who is nearly 5 foot tall) just like age has nothing to really do with height, size really has nothing to do with fitness. I am still in a size 16 and here I am getting ready for my first race … this is just my opinion but there is a huge gap in society in regards to self/body image and what is acceptable as fit or unhealthy and although I am still working towards a smaller waist it’s not very fair to say that because I am not thin I am not fit enough to complete this race. 

Drug free is the way to be and I´m finally drug FREE!

OK so at first you might look at that title and say ¨what!¨ but what it means is so significant in my life not because I had a meth addiction or something along those lines… but because my physician gave me the best news ever. I am 100% off all my prescribed drug! this is huge for me. I have been on medications for nearly half my life for everything from severe migraines to diabetes. My stressed over weight body was killing me softly and I felt so trapped by my body! I know my body is still over weight but not nearly as much as it was before. so far I have lost 48 lbs post WLS (weight loss surgery) and I have never been as active as I am now. I wanted to share my happy news. because I feel like celebrating! I feel like Shouting it to the world, ¨I have my life back!¨. This is one Huge Blessing not just for myself but also for my family! Much love and until next time!

Carmen

Not a New Years resolution but a life resolution

Happy 2015! I hope everyone enjoyed time with family over the holidays! I am so happy these days not just with life but with the direction my life is going. I have made a commitment to live a healthy life and so far the benefits are outweighing the “sacrifices”. In retrospect the “sacrifices” are really benefits. Like giving up fast food, soda, being lazy, etc. right now I am 3 months post WLS ( weight loss surgery). And some of the things, well emotions I have been experiencing are sometimes less than fun … For example the misconception that WLS is an easy way out, boy let me tell you how far from the truth that is, being overweight (345lbs) was hard on my body shedding my first 45 lbs 2 years a go took me so long to lose. Plus painful, it was hard to move around, hard to breath, hard to walk! My medication was preventing me from losing weight, well let’s be honest so were my eating habits. So I decided on WLS the gastric sleeve to be exact, best decision in my life! Not because the weight is coming off a bit easier but because it’s more than just eating less it’s about making total life changes! Never in my life would I have imagined walking a 5k, which I did 1.5 months post surgery. One of the most amazing feelings is the tremendous amounts of energy and strength I have felt in losing my latest 46 lbs. a scripture that keeps me on my path to a healthy me is “The Lord is my strength and song, and he is become my salvation: he is my God, and I will prepare him an habitation; my father’s God, and I will exalt him.”
Exodus 15:2
Like I stated before WLS is not the easy way out it is however a helpful tool. As of now I have been taken Off all high blood pressure medication, diabetes medication as well as anti-depressants. It has saved my life and if you are considering WLS know that you are not alone! It will take time! It will take hard work! It will take “sacrifices”! But … The best part is “IT WILL BE 100% WORTH EVERY MIN.! And that is why this year I didn’t make a new years resolution, but rather I made a life resolution because once all the weight is off I have to keep working towards keeping it off! Well until next time my friend 🙂 stay happy!

This ones on the heavy side

In my life I’ve always been viewed different, for many reasons, race, weight, social status… When I decided to join the church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints I really didn’t think I would have an issue or be looked at different … The bizarre part is that now it’s from both ends … My peers on the nonmember side and some people from the church who haven’t taken the time to get to know me … Although I hear and feel their judgment, not for a single nano second do I feel regret for joining the church and following heavenly fathers plan for me. In the end the way others feel about me doesn’t matter. If you choose to judge me I will love you the same.

I love days like this …

So no one commented on what they would like to hear about so today I’ve decided that I will write about my feelings an thoughts throughout the day … Recently I came across a video a friend of mine shared on FB … beautiful rain I love how this little girl reacts to the beauty of rain… I made me think about how children see the world and how amazing things really are. You will rarely find me complaining about the rain ☺️. But I will constantly come across people who dislike it, this past Sunday at church we as a church whole prayed and fasted for rain, and what an amazing answer to our prayers!!!! RAIN. I have a testimony that Heavenly Father answers our prayers. I think it’s beautiful that Heavenly Father made it possible for us to live in this beautiful world. Have you ever taken the time to look at a flower I mean really look at it … It’s amazingly beautiful.

So lately I haven’t been feeling 100% physically, but it’s given me a chance to slow down, reflect, appreciate, ponder and of course pray more. We all have a choice in how we want to take any news given to us weather it be bad or good it is up to us as individuals to decided weather or not us as individuals is going to be happy or unhappy about it . Now I know for a fact that it is easier said then done. But if we try to continually remember to be happy it helps.

I love how my heavenly father is always here for me no matter what and that he continues to put people in my path to make sure that he shows me just how much he loves me. The other day I had to m

Have a minor procedure I was scared and embarrassed not to mention on my own, my husband was at home with our kids so he was unable to acompany me. So the doc explains what he has to do then leaves the room to get things ready when he returns he asks if another MA can help assist … Of course I say its alright… At this point though heavenly father knew how uncomfortable I was…as they were prepping me I felt a calm it’s like the other MA he brought was meant to be my comforter … So the procedure is complete and im getting dresses and the new MA he brought says to me I’m LDS too…she noticed my garment.( our garments are sacred clothing that serve as a reminder and protection) immediately I was relieved and happy and mostimportantly comforted.  Later throughout the week I couldn’t and still can’t stop thinking of how that small moment would strengthen my testimony

Not your ordinary girl.

So as you all can already tell I am by far a good writer, I suck at grammar and punctuation … Etc… But I just hope someone out there is reading this and gets it. I also want to make it clear that there will be times that I will go off on some rant because of an opinion I might have on a particular subject or issue… Just know that whatever I say is not intended to hurt anyone’s feeling and are simply my opinion …. If you disagree you are entitled to havering your opinion 🙂 things at times are going to be raw. But I really hope you enjoy reading them . So I thought it would be cool if you all left a comment on what things you want to hear about in my life … Don’t be shy I’m kinda an open book 🙂 so go ahead I’d love to hear what you all what to hear.

Life as I know it…

So I’ve decided to Do it I decided to start writing a blog … Mostly because my life has been well eventful to say the least. My goal is to write about my life in a positive way and demonstrate how even in the most negative of circumstances, there is a blessing, and a lesson is learned, in my life I have no regrets. Every experience and every choice has made me who I am today! And although I am far from perfect, I am perfectly happy with where I’m headed.  So stay tuned cause it’s going to get Interesting