Thursday 30 September 2010

The Power of Words

I came across this uplifting YouTube video yesterday called "THE POWER OF WORDS: 50 WORDS THAT LIFT, MOTIVATE, AND INSPIRE FROM A LDS MORMON VIEW" and wanted to share it with you:



Are we aware how powerful words can be? Yesterday I was playing around with my boys and said jokingly, "I'm surrounded by idiots!" and low and behold, today at lunch time one of the boys called his brother "an idiot" and he meant it. We've never tolerated the kids calling each other names but it seems by me using the word idiot, even if it was only as a joke,  gave my son a "free pass" to call his brother one. We so have to be aware of the language we use because our kids copy it.

Anyway, getting back to the video and the fifty words - I chose six words I felt were special to me at the moment (I had wanted only five as it just sounds better but I couldn't do five, so six it is). They are words that have meaning to me either in my relationship to my children, with myself or my husband and I want to use them to help me to improve these relationships. Here they are.

  •  Mercy    Tenderness of heart which disposes a person to overlook error
  •  Progress   Increasing in truth and light
  •  Unity   Oneness and undivided having the same spirit dwelling in them
  •  Encourage  To inspire and give hope
  •  Confident   Having full belief
  •  Teachable  Readily receiving instruction

I'll let you know how I get along with these six words and how I am able to use them to improve the relationships of those I love. I know now that MERCY and ENCOURAGE are going to be the hard ones as I have the tendency to be negative with one of the kids at the moment and he needs just the opposite. So, onwards and upwards......

Hugs,
Becca

Wednesday 29 September 2010

Popular

Lately Melissa and I have been listening to the musical "Wicked" and one of our favourite songs is "Popular". It is so catchy and we love it! If you get the chance to listen to do then do so :)

Funnily enough I've been thinking about popularity these past few days.
Is being popular all it's cut out to be? Does it bring disadvantages with it? What happens when because your so popular your guy friends want to be more than just friends and you have to stop being so open and unguarded with them? What do you do when people tell you that "you just shine" when asked what it is that makes the guys fall over themselves?  What do you do when you spend so much of the evening or activity saying " hi" and having people say "hi" to you (because you know so many people) that you don't have time to talk to the real cute guy you have your eye on? Do you then wish that you weren't so popular?
Personally, I never had this problem! I was never popular. I had my close group of friends but I was never in the "really cool" group. The guys I liked hardly ever liked me and the ones that did I didn't have any interest in; except for two guys that weren't members of the church - typical eh? But I guess that is all irrelevant now as Roland found me and whisked me away to Switzerland at the tender age of 18! ;)
But seeing popularity from this other side has made me realise that it's not always as easy as we assume it to be. I guess the grass is always greener on the other side......

Tuesday 28 September 2010

Busy weekends

September has been a busy month and we are all looking forward to life slowing down a bit. One weekend was spent with members of our stake going on a hike together. Our motto for the year was "Unsere Berge bezwingen" which means to overcome our personal "mountains", or in other words to attempt overcome some of our chosen traits or weaknesses. As a crowning event for our work we joined together as a group of saints to literally climb a mountain, the Ebenalp. We met in Wasserauen in Appenzell Innerhoden at 9.00 am and set off in single line to climb the 768m to Ebenalp.



It wasn't very easy to walk in single line especially as people were stopping to take photos (I only took mine when we had come to a halt - sorry for the blurry ones ;) ) so after about 20 minutes the hubster and I started to overtake people to get to the front. After that it got a lot easier :)



As we climbed out of the forest the weather was rather foggy but we hoped that by the time we reached the summit that it would have cleared up.......



No, this is not blurry - it's fog! And by the time we got the the top we were sweaty and hot and in no time at all we were freezing our butts off.

 We took refuge in the building where the cable car reached the summit and it was full of mormons eating their lunch on the floor!


Daniel was so cold I asked him if he wanted to wrap himself in the blanket - he did :)


 After our singing and dedicatory prayer the clouds and fog started to lift......

 

Looking down on to Seealpsee. Isn't that green just breathtaking?



The hubster and I took a different way down  - a longer way, of course so it was just the two of us. Jordan went with his group of friends and Daniel didn't want to walk down so he went down in the cable car with Krystyna. We arrived back down in Wasserauen just after 4pm - tired but happy.

The weekend after this one found us in Zürich for a special conference with Elder M Russell Ballard. The spirit was strong and we came away uplifted. Elder Ballard's talk about staying close to the whisperings of the holy ghost touched our souls and we have been trying to follow this wise counsel. The hubster tried this out on Sunday afternoon as he felt that he should come with me to visit a sister I visit and teach who is currently in hospital. While we were there she asked for a blessing and he was able to call another priesthood holder to come and assist him in giving this dear sister a much needed blessing. He was glad that he listened to the promptings of the spirit.

The following weekend after the conference was our ward temple trip. Every year we travel as a ward by coach to the temple which is 2 hours (by car) in Zollikofen. The primary aged children are tended while the youth participate in baptisms and the adults do a session.  There was a special moment in the celestial room as Renée, Krystyna and I sat together on a sofa holding hands and feeling the bonds of sisterhood and friendship. (Our husbands were all helping out in the baptistry)



For lunch we all drove to a nearby restaurant and were able to eat and chat with friends before loading ourselves back in to the coach for the journey back to St. Gallen



I just love this picture of these young aaronic priesthood holders.....


The day after our temple trip was our ward primary presentation. The children did a great job and we (the primary presidency) got a lot of compliments for it. They sang well and spoke clearly and the sunbeams were just darling. Personally, I am glad its over with and look forward to a few months of "normal primary"

So this was our busy September with October just around the corner. October means General Conference and school holidays and my mum will be flying in on Wednesday for a three week visit. It seems to me that it'll be a good month......

Hugs all,
Becca

Monday 27 September 2010

A night out

On Saturday evening the hubster and I went out to a concert to see "The Gershwin Piano Quartett". It was amazing - four grand pianos set out on the stage with four pianists entertaining us with pieces like "Rhapsody in Blue", "I've got Rhythm" and Cole Porter's "Night and Day". Roland's favourite was Ravel's "La Valse".



The music was innovative and the interaction and rapport the four pianists had with each other was fantastic. You could tell they were really enjoying themselves as they lost themselves to the rest of the audience. They were rewared with a standing ovation and we were likewise rewarded with three encore pieces. I was pleasantly surprised how much I really enjoyed the evening and it even brought back some memories of the music my dad liked to listen to. Thanks honey! xx

Thursday 2 September 2010

Back to being me

Well that took longer than I expected! I've never had a cold that needed a three week recovery but hey, I guess I'm no spring chicken anymore ;) It wasn't just the cold itself, I felt really down and depressed, and had absolutely no energy to do anything. But this week I have felt my energy levels rise and a motivation to get out and about. Even my ironing doesn't look so daunting ;)
I played squash with Melissa on Tuesday morning (she beat me), a game that I haven't played since High School, and had such bad muscle ache on Wednesday that I couldn't even walk up the stairs without moaning! I hurt in places that I didn't know existed! I went to the gym this morning and built up a good sweat on the treadmill while listening to some new music that I'd uploaded onto my iPod.
It feels good to be "me" again.

Well there's one thing to being sick and energyless - I got to read all the books that I'd ordered from Amazon and to watch some old episodes of Vampire Diaries, before season 2 starts next week. Yes, I love the vampire genre although I'm not really an Anne Rice fan - I'm more along the lines of Stephenie Meyer, LJ Smith and Sherilyn Kenyon.
Now that I haven't got any more books to read or programmes to watch, I have time to do the things that need doing.......


The kids have also been sick. Daniel was off school for a whole week (he went back yesterday) and Jordan started feeling bad on Monday.  Sore throat, runny nose.......here we go again!

Jordan started his new guitar lessons last week -  every Thursday at 4.50pm. He aslo has re-started piano lessons with his Dad. He has such a good musical ear. Seminary also started again on Monday morning at 6 am - half an hour later than it was last year - and life and routine has kicked in for Jordan. Now he just has to get fit again.......

Melissa is in limbo at the moment. School doesn't start for another three weeks so she is going through books like a book worm. She has finally been bitten by the book bug - welcome to the Gray family! I am pleasantly surprised how quickly she is finishing the books and they are in English too! Well English is her mother tongue.... She is busy in the evenings with volleyball training, institute and choir. She has her first lesson with a vocal coach tomorrow. She is excited.....

Well I just wanted to let you know that I am "me" again and that you can look forward to some regular blogging again. I may even get around to uploading the other parts of our UK trip.....I know, don't fall over in shock!!! LOL!

See you soon.

Hugs.
Becca