A good start

Well the first week of 2011 started off well. It flew by, mind you, but all in all it was good. Jordan still wasn't well enough to go to school on Monday but he went on Tuesday and is feeling a lot better. Melissa has a revision break and will start her semester exams next week, so she is busy learning. Jordan seems to have passed his cold on to her, as she is coughing and spluttering all over the place! Nice! I hope she keeps her germs to herself........

It was the tri-stake (Bern, Zürich and St. Gallen) Relief Society temple day yesterday so Melissa and I went to that. We were dead tired as we had to leave at 5.30am but it was a good day and we always come away uplifted regardless of being tired. The temple was heaving but it was good to see it so full and to see so many people we knew. I guess that's what comes from having lived in all three stakes. The hubster's father was also at the temple and we got to have a quick visit and swap some family temple cards. One of the sisters from our ward saw René and said "that's R's dad isn't it? Wow, there's definitely no denying who he belongs to!" Yes, the older the hubster gets the more he's looking like his dad!
The sun was shining so brightly when we came out that it almost blinded you. It was so warm that you could have believed that it was spring not winter. We mananged to take a few photos but not as many as I would have liked as my battery died on me! So typical!

Today was a sepcial day for our family. As Daniel turned 12 on 22nd December he was now old enough to leave the primary organisation and progress into young men's. Last Sunday he was "picked up" and taken out of sharing time and taken to YM by his quorum and today he was ordanied as a deacon in the Aaronic priesthood! He is so excited to finally be able to pass the sacrament which he will do next Sunday. I can hardly believe that my youngest is finished with primary! When did that happen? He is so happy to be able to go to Mutual with Jordan every Wednesday and I love it when my boys go off and do activities together.

Here are a few photos of today:

Let's see what "week two" has in store for us.

Have a lovely week.

Hugs,
Becca

Change

Before the autumn break Daniel's teacher mentioned that she thought it might be a good idea to get Daniel's eyes tested as she feels he may need glasses. He couldn't read certain words or letters on the overhead projector and she'd even put him to the front of the classroom. As you can imagine, Daniel wasn't very pleased to hear this news although I am pretty sure he was aware that he couldn't see correctly.
I rang my opthalmist to make an appointment and was told that we'd have to wait 5 weeks to see the doctor. Wow! What a long time - although Daniel was quite pleased at this news.

Well, we finally got to see the doctor on Monday afternoon and guess what? Yes, Daniel is short sighted (-1.0 in both eyes) and he is colour blind! He can't see pastel shades of red and green! Well that shocked me! Apparantly I carried the X-gene through me from my father who was also colour blind. This I did know. My brother Keith is also colour blind but apparantly it only jumps over a generation meaning he couldn't have got it from our father, but rather from our maternal grandfather, J.Cecil Tullett. I called my mother and she confirmed that he was indeed colour blind. Wow! All of my kids have a 50/50 chance of being colour blind - nice!

This was the test that the doctor did on Daniel and he couldn't see any of the numbers except for the 25. The number 29 is Daniel's main problem - red and green.

This afternoon Daniel and I went to the opticians and looked at some glasses. After about 45 minutes he had made his decision and we ordered them. They should be ready in about 7-10 days and Daniel doesn't care how long they take! It will take a while to get used to them but hey, if you can't see then you need glasses! I know how he feels: I was 13 when I got my first pair of glasses and I cried!!!!

Anyway, photos will follow once the glasses arrive......

Hugs all,

Rebecca

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

Update - Change

I have to make an update regarding Josua. We went to a baptism at the chapel on Thursday evening and Josua was there and he kindly informed me that my blog entry wasn't correct - "tonight", he said "would be the last time we (or Melissa) would see him!" So I stand corrected and am glad that we were able to see him before he left and to snap a few shots of him with some of his friends.

 

Benjamin, Susanna, Melissa and Josua

The pictures I took of them turned out blurry so I asked Samuel, Benjamin's brother for a copy of his photos. Susanna and Josua are actually looking at me while Melissa and Benjamin are looking at Samuel ! :)

Change

Melissa had another afternoon at the hair stylist in preparation for the exam next week (she is a hair model for her friend) and came home with another hair colour. It's so much better than the black-brown she tried out in New Zealand. I've lost count how many different colours she has had in the last year but she is having fun!

(I apologize for the bad quality of the photo. We still haven't got the auto-focus fixed on Roland's camera and I'm still waiting for the new battery recharger that I ordered for mine)

This is actually Melissa's natural hair colour - a dark blonde/light brown/goldenish colour - and I like it! :)

(this picture was taken 2 years ago)

Talking about other changes:

• "Congratulations Aaron!" Aaron passed the road theory exam this morning (finally!) and can now get his plates for his motor bike which has been sitting in the garage since last October (he got it for his 17th birthday). He can hardly wait to be independant and have his own set of wheels, even if there are only two of them! I'm off to buy him a helmet tomorrow. I hope he doesn't smash his bike within the first week!!!

• Melissa's friend, Josua leaves for his mission on Friday and tonight at Institute is the last time she will see him for two years. He's going to the Germany Berlin Mission and is the first of their group (those born in 1990/1991) to leave. How did our kids get so old so quickly? His girlfriend, Roseanne is going to find it really tough but we are all glad that he has made the choice to serve. If Aaron does decide to serve a mission then the earliest date that he could leave would be in 2013. I know that seems a long time away but I imagine it will come quicker than we expect.

• This coming Friday morning will be the last time to get up at 05.15 for early morning seminary until it starts again at the end of August! What a lovely thought! I sooo love my sleep......

• Since hurting my arm I realise that I took my body for granted. I have been blessed with a healthy body and have never had anything seriously wrong with me. (Except for childbirth, I've only ever stayed overnight in a hospital twice.) I don't like the limitations this injury has on my body, I don't like the pain and I'm sick of moaning about it. (I suppose Roland is sick and tired too!) Change isn't always good.....

Just a thought while writing this......someone had better take these almonds away from me, otherwise my body will be doing some"changing" into a larger clothes size!! ;)

Hugs all,

Rebecca

Reflections

The prodigal daughter returned to the gym yesterday and was received with open arms and warm reminders that I had been missed and that they were glad I was back. There is something refreshing in the way that pain and sweat bonds women together, and so it was with me yesterday.
I'd been away for nearly 3 months and although I don't really know why I stopped going, I am glad that I got my backside moving and actually went. I had a fun, sweaty, fat burner session and am happy to report that although I have been absent for a few months, my body and brain still know what to do and function quite well. I don't have any muscle-ache today and that is my confirmation that I am okay :)
I just have to tone up that flab! ;)
I was tired in the afternoon and I imagine if I had been at home I would have probably crashed on the sofa for an hour, but perhaps luckily for my metabolism, I was expected at Stephanie's to look after Liora and Eleanor for a few hours, and couldn't nap. I was extremely tired at around 7pm and could have gone to bed right there and then. And this from somebody who hasn't reached 40 yet!!!

Looking back at my life during the past few years, I realise that I'm not as consistant in my doings as I would like to be. I stay healthy and fit for more than half the year, then relax to the stage that I've undone all the good work that I've achieved and have to start again. I'm now at a weight that I'm kind of happy with and the question is, "Have I learnt from my past actions to not fall into the same trap again?" I hope so. It's only taken me two big attempts/failures in the past, so hopefully "third time lucky"......right?
The same goes in other areas of my life with attempts in holding family home evening, or family prayer, journal writing, keeping in contact with friends, using my talents or even crafting. I can go for months where I won't create a thing and then months when I don't want to do anything else.
I wonder why I can't find consistancy and balance? I wonder if time management is the key?
Well, whatever it is, there is one thing I know I can't do and that is change the past. I can only do things better in the future.

I was reading the January 2010 Ensign this morning (while eating my super healthy chopped up apple in natural joghurt) and read the talk Elder Jeffrey R. Holland gave at a BYU devotional last January called, "The Best Is Yet To Be"
Two things stuck in my mind while reading, one was a quote from Peter found in Philippians 3:12-13:

"I have stopped rhapsodizing about ‘the good old days’ and now eagerly look toward the future ‘that I may apprehend that for which Christ apprehended me. This one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before..."

The other was:

"There is something in many of us that particularly fails to forgive and forget earlier mistakes in life—either our mistakes or the mistakes of others. It is not good. It is not Christian. It stands in terrible opposition to the grandeur and majesty of the Atonement of Christ. To be tied to earlier mistakes is the worst kind of wallowing in the past from which we are called to cease and desist.

Such dwelling on past lives, including past mistakes, is just not right! It is not the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Perhaps at this beginning of a new year there is no greater requirement for us than to do as the Lord Himself said He does: “He who has repented of his sins, the same is forgiven, and I, the Lord, remember them no more”

The proviso, of course, is that repentance has to be sincere, but when it is and when honest effort is being made to progress, we are guilty of the greater sin if we keep remembering and recalling and rebashing someone with his or her earlier mistakes—and that someone might be ourselves. We can be so hard on ourselves—often much more so than on others!"

This is going to be my goal for 2010 - Forget about my past failures, learn from them and reach forth unto those things which are before me. I can look at the things which are working well in my my life, find courage and hope from them and put my shoulder to the wheel and get to work.

There are things that I can't change - like the horrific amount of snow outside my window - but I can take time to see the beauty in it. I can look outside my kitchen window, past the two baskets of laundry that I should be ironing, and see my neighbour sitting outside her house on a garden chair in her snow gear reading some magazines while her granddaughter plays in the snow.


Or I can look at the photos that I took yesterday on my way home from Stephanie's. The weather was gorgeous - clear blue sky and the afternoon sun reflecting on the snow on the trees. I had to stop the car and snap these shots. I may not like the snow, but I am able to see the beauty in it.


I am so very blessed and I am grateful for my life and the ability to change things for the better.

Well, enough of my reflections for today. It's nearly lunch time and Jordan and Daniel will be coming home for lunch and will be expecting a meal on the table in 45 minutes. So, duty calls......

Hugs all,

Rebecca