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I've never really met a celebrity before (with the exception of seeing them from afar at the Sundance Film Festival and at concerts)...until now. Eileen, my mother-in-law, invited me to her Women's Stake Conference and guess who was the guest speaker?? None other than Marie Osmond! How on earth did they get Marie Osmond?? Turns out the 1st Counselor in the Stake Relief Society Presidency is one of her best friends and apparently Marie owes her big time...so she was cashing in on the favor. It was a huge favor too because Marie flew in this morning and caught a flight back to Vegas so she could perform tonight. Talk about a busy woman.

I didn't realize what an amazing, spiritual, and hilarious woman Marie is. She joked that if we were born after 1985 we are too young to remember her...it's true, I wasn't around for her show and don't think I know any of her songs but I HAVE seen her on Oprah...and I love Oprah (and the countdown begins, only twenty something shows left)!

Marie Osmond is a woman of all traits. She has her hands in everything: has her own show in Las Vegas, owns a craft, fabric, and doll line, and has 8 kids. With all that on her plate she still manages to find time to work at the Las Vegas temple every Wednesday...and sit still. She said we all need to find time to sit still everyday and listen to the spirit. I'm kicking myself in the butt for not coming prepared with anything to take notes because I learned so much.

Eileen and I tried to remember all the things she talked about. These are some of the things we remember and that resonated with us:

-When you think you can't stand it anymore, kneel.

-Her mother used to call the Devil Scratch, she said the Devil is like a rash, if you scratch it he won't go away. 

-When Marie was on Dancing With The Stars she went through so much pain. She passed out, was in the middle of a divorce, and her father had passed away. She seriously considered quitting because that combined with actually being on the show was just too much to handle. When she read one of the hundreds of emails from fans, she couldn't quit. This email in particular was from a young 23 year old girl wanting to quit and not take her finals at BYU. The girl didn't quit because she was inspired by Marie and thought if Marie can do it, so can she. 

-Being the only girl with 9 brothers, she was very close to her mother. When she passed away that was the hardest thing Marie had experienced...until her father passed away, she said that was almost harder because she was a daddy's girl. But when her son committed suicide her heart was broken. She went back to work because she didn't know what else to do and was heavily criticized for it. After her Vegas show they do a Meet and Greet with fans, a lady came through the line and put her arms around Marie. She said she too had a son that had passed away. Marie asked if it got easier and the lady said, "no". Marie said that meant more to her than all the sympathy cards because it was honest.

-She talked about trials and how we all have to go through them. I guess her mother called them Abraham trials - like being willing offering his son as a sacrifice, and how could we be with the people of such great faith in the Lord's kingdom if we don't go through these trials.

I really enjoyed meeting Marie and hearing her testimony about faith, hope, and charity (the theme of the conference). This woman is so incredibly funny and had all of us laughing. That's how she copes with stress, is to laugh it off. We left the conference uplifted. She has had so many trials in her life, I will think of her when I feel that I can't get through it. Eileen and I had so much fun and now we want to drive to Vegas to see her and Donny perform...we hear they put on one heck of a show!