A good day?

There are some days that are better than others and today is definitely not one of the better ones! You see, I'm sick. Melissa was kind enough to share her germs with me resulting in a nasty head cold accompanied with a sore throat. That was Monday and today is Thursday and I'm still feeling pretty sorry for myself. Luckily for me, the sore throat has gone away but in its place is the nasty green stuff with a cough, which means its travelled south!
I slept better last night, which is really positive as the previous two nights were spent on the sofa.....
I hate being sick!!
I feel like I'm in a bubble. Like a spectator looking in. The kids returned to school on Monday and I haven't really talked to them about their new beginning. I don't really want them to come too close to me as I don't want them to get sick, especially at the beginning of the new semester.

While I was lying here, I was wondering what constitutes a good day? And I've come to the conclusion that it's different for every single person on the planet and that the answer could also change every day too. Just take the beginning of my week, for example. On Monday "a good day" included:

• a good start at school/work for everybody
• not too much muscle ache from gym 

By Tuesday "a good day" would have meant:

• no more sneezing, no more sore throat
• being able to sleep
• having the cold meds do their job

Does having "a good day" constitute only of good things happening to us?
Does a mother with a newborn baby call it a good day when her baby hasn't woken up crying every two hours? 
Does a mother of young children class it a good day if she hasn't yelled at her kids and made them cry (even if she was the one that felt like crying)?
Is it a good day when you have succesfully cleaned the house and done the laundry?
Does a teacher call it a good day when he comes home from school and hasn't felt the desire to "strangle" one of his teenage students?

What constitutes a good day, or a bad day, and who decides?  
I guess we decide and it all depends on our viewpoint at that moment. We all have good days and bad days and some days that aren't one or the other. But really it's up to us to decide if the day is going to be a good one by our atitude. Sure I'm sick and I'm stuck in bed but hey, my body is fighting this cold as well as it can and I have a loving family around me to pick up the slack when I can't. It's not really a bad day - it's just a "could have been a little bit better day"! :)
The family will home in an hour ready for their lunch. Thank goodness Melissa is here and thank goodness I have food storage........

Hugs,
Becca

Melissa's graduation

Melissa graduation was on Friday evening and we are so proud of her. She had a few rocky years in middle school and we know how much hard work she has invested to get this specialised diploma ("Fachmatura" in German). The next step is a bachelor's degree in nursing which starts in September. She will continue working at the hospital until the end of July and then she has 6 weeks holiday! She deserves it :)

The next three photos are funny.

The first one: "Mum!! Do you have to?!"

"What! A photo!?"

"Oh, ok.......posing smile!" Melissa and Michaela (Michaela did her internship in Kenya!!!!)

Melissa receiving her diploma:

The graduation ceremony took place in the village church in Trogen (where the school is located) - some village church, eh?

Photos after the ceremony:

One very happy Melissa

 Melissa and Benjamin (her friend from church who also graduated)

I have never noticed a resemlance between Melissa and myself before, but after seeing this photo of her in that pose I saw ME! Wow!

I took some photos of Jordan today (he has a new haircut) and I'll see if I can post them before we leave for England on Friday. My thoughts from last week are going to have to wait until we come home!

Hugs,

Rebecca

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 ! :)

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