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

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

My shoulder

I went back to the orthopedic doctor this morning to find out what the results of my MRI were. I have torn a tendon but luckily for me it wasn't the tendon the doctor had originally thought it could be. He thought it was the Supraspinatus tendon, which would require surgery but as I said, luckily for me, it is the Long biceps tendon which connects the biceps to the shoulder blade which has a small tear. This won't require surgery but will need physiotherapy twice weekly for at least the next six weeks. The orthopedist wants to see me again in six weeks to see if the physio is doing its job; if not then he wants to give me cortisone injections - which I don't want!!

I have noticed an improvement in mobility the past few weeks, so I am hoping for a full, speedy recovery without the assistance of any steriods.

Just a note: my computer crashed the other day (after Aaron took it to a LAN-party) and I don't know if all my data has been lost. I haven't done a back-up for a few months (I know, silly me!) and am afraid that all of my photos have gone!! Boo-hoo!!

A friend, an IT specialist, is taking a look at it for me but it doesn't look good.....

It's still spring break here so the boys and I are going to watch "How to train your dragon" at the cinema this afternoon. Hope you too have a lovely day......

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