**Please go down to my purple music playlist on the right column and click "PAUSE" before you listen to the video or you won't be able to hear it over the playlist music!!!**
Our dear Chelsea girl :)
I was thinking and thinking of the best way I can express how wonderful of a young woman you are and how much you mean to each of us in our family today for your 12th birthday...
This song came to my mind and we wanted to share it with you because you are such an amazing daughter of your Heavenly Father and you are a wonderful example of His love.
{If the Savior stood beside me, would I do the things I do?
Would I think of His commandments and try harder to be true?
Would I follow His example? Would I live more righteously,
If I could see the Savior standing nigh, watching over me?
If the Savior stood beside me, would I say the things I say?
Would my words be true and kind if He were never far away?
Would I try to share the gospel? Would I speak more reverently
If I could see the Savior standing nigh, watching over me?
If the Savior stood beside me, would my thoughts be clean and pure?
Would His presence give me strength and hope, and courage to endure?
Would His counsel guide my actions? Would I choose more worthily
If I could see the Savior standing nigh, watching over me?
He is always near me, though I do not see Him there
And because He loves me dearly, I am in His watchful care
So I'll be the kind of person that I know I'd like to be
If I could see the Savior standing nigh, watching over me. }
Would I think of His commandments and try harder to be true?
Would I follow His example? Would I live more righteously,
If I could see the Savior standing nigh, watching over me?
If the Savior stood beside me, would I say the things I say?
Would my words be true and kind if He were never far away?
Would I try to share the gospel? Would I speak more reverently
If I could see the Savior standing nigh, watching over me?
If the Savior stood beside me, would my thoughts be clean and pure?
Would His presence give me strength and hope, and courage to endure?
Would His counsel guide my actions? Would I choose more worthily
If I could see the Savior standing nigh, watching over me?
He is always near me, though I do not see Him there
And because He loves me dearly, I am in His watchful care
So I'll be the kind of person that I know I'd like to be
If I could see the Savior standing nigh, watching over me. }
This is you, Chels.
You are the kindest person I know.
You are so thoughtful and giving of your things, your time, and yourself.
You give your love so freely and abundantly,
especially to my little ones who include your family in every prayer they say.
You have made a difference in their tiny little lives,
an unmistakable and irreplaceable difference and they love you so much for it.
That is a special gift of yours, Chels, given to you by your Heavenly Father.
Always give your kindness and love to others as you always have,
for it is truly the only way you will always find happiness and peace in this life.
Even when people or "friends" and enemies are unkind and they will be,
especially at age 12,
always try to keep a soft heart and continue to keep that beautiful face of yours
up and toward the light. It will be hard but our greatest lessons usually are and they are worth the righteous character you will build for yourself by always trying to Choose The Right.
You are such an amazing example to all of us and to all around you;
your family, your friends, your neighbors, your teachers.
You make a difference in people's lives and those beautiful connections you make with those who you love and love you in return will help build in your life the strongest of confidence in yourself.
Self-confidence and self-worth are the basis of every decision you will make.
Self-confidence and self-worth are the basis of every decision you will make.
As you make and keep your promises and try your best in all you do, whether you win or lose is no big deal because you know the peace and good feelings that you feel when you give it your all.
During these upcoming teenage years and now that you are in middle school
you probably have had a lot of bigger decisions to make already this year!
When you decide what you will stand up for *before* the hard situations present themselves,
then when you are confronted with the choice in the moment to stand tall or to follow the crowd,
you will already have made your decision to be true to yourself and know how to stand up
for what you know is good and right.
Your good mom and dad have taught you so much goodness and have raised you to be the
confident, happy, bright, and compassionate young woman you are today.
Always know that you can turn to your family for everything and anything going on in your life.
Stay close to your mom and always tell her your secrets.
Moms are so special, Chels.
Especially yours.
Always know that you can count on her to be on your side and that you always have
the truest friends in her and in your dad and Adam.
During these upcoming years in school you will make and lose and remake friends a zillion times
over a million different reasons. School friends will come and go, parties will come and go, movie nights and mall trips will come and go, boyfriends and crushes will come and go.
Your family and your relationship with your Heavenly Father will not come and go.
They are your most important possessions and they are constant.
They will bring you the happiest and most comforting experiences.
When things are right with those two most important things,
things with the rest of your life will work out better and easier for you.
You have the great opportunity to be an outstanding leader and example to all your friends around you.
With all of your kindness and love for others and your acceptance of everyone,
you have the special opportunity to expand the circle of friends to include
those girls who may feel left out and lonely.
You can turn around the train of gossip that runs through the school when it falls on your ears and you choose not to repeat the unkind rumor.
You can put your arm around the kids that may be getting made fun of in class or on the bus
and let them know that they are not alone and that they have a friend in you.
This is who you are, Chelsea.
You are not afraid to stand up for what you know is right.
No one can change that about you.
There's a quote and it says:
{What is right is not always popular and what is popular is not always right}
You know this already, at age 12!
Do you know that there are people my age that still don't get this!?
You don't let others define you, you define yourself by standing true to what you know is right
inside your heart.
That is courageous and the older you get the more courageous an act it will become.
It takes guts to stand up to flat out enemies.
And it takes even more than that to stand up to friends who may be making wrong choices and choosing not to be a part of things that you know are wrong.
You have such a bright light inside of you and you let it shine for everyone to see.
I know that as you let your light shine and as you stand up for what you know is right all throughout these upcoming fun and difficult years, your light inside of you will shine brighter and brighter.
And, the neatest thing is that when your light shines brightly by making good choices in your life,
you help others find their way by the light you shine!
And, again, that's exactly who you are!
You love to help others and be a wonderful friend.
You are amazing, Chels!
We love you and I can't wait to see how many more wonderful things you do in your life!
You inspire me to be more like you by your thoughtfulness and your generosity.
You are just like the song above.
You naturally do the things that you would do if the Savior was standing right beside you.
Thank you for your bright shining example.
Happy 12th Birthday, Chelsea!
