October 31, 2011

Mere and Glenn had their first sacrament primary presentation at church yesterday. Glenn is still in nursery, but since we only have 6 kids in primary (on family with 4 plus Mere and Glenn) every kid went up. We do have a new baby and some investigators-so hopefully our primary will keep growing!

Because Mere was the only kid not shy enough to talk she pretty much did her 6 parts and many other lines too. She memorized "Heavenly Father has a place for me in the eternities" and some pieces of her other parts, but having so many lines she wasn't always sure what to say or when-though Saki had the idea of doing pictures for each part to remind her-which really helped. Saki and I were impressed with her as were her grandparents and the branch :)

Sometimes I really wish we were in a big ward with lots of primary kids, but I suppose that day will come. I have learned a lot by being able to serve in a branch and enjoy the opportunity to get to know the Fijian culture a little better.

On Friday we went to a Halloween party for the ward that shares a building with us. Mere and Glenn enjoyed it-they said trick-or-treat at various classroom doors and then went to do some crafts and games. Mere was pretty excited to do everything going on but Glenn was more interested in sitting down and eating all his candy. Glenn is a tiger, though I couldn't find tiger stripe fleece. I didn't want to use fur, since I figured he could use the jacket and pants after Halloween, but it's a bit small anyway. Oh well...it looked cute even though I forgot to draw on his nose and whiskers. Mere wanted to be a cupcake which evolved into wanting to be a cupcake princess-so I made a dress with a pillowcase and fabric scraps and we bought cupcake appliques and ribbons with some money from her piggy bank.

My dress is the pioneer one from a pioneer treck back in young women-and I sewed Saki's vest-figuring we may use it in pioneer treck's or pioneer day-I was pretty excited about being able to create a a pattern for it from an old t-shirt of his-though the collar needs to be redone...

PHOTOS-Mere's duplo/toy creation, trick or treat bag I sewed for Mere, costumes, musical chairs, primary stuff.

October 23, 2011

This has been a long week being a bit under the weather. On Tuesday though we did something the kids thought was very exciting! We walked on the golden gate bridge! Unfortunately we couldn't walk very far since they're doing a seismic retrofit, but we walked a little on it, then around it, and then up high on some trails so we could see a nice view of it. It's  a pretty amazing bridge and I'm impressed with the amount of tourists and people walking or riding bikes on it on any given day.

We also made crowns. Mere did hers for her costume and Glenn did one and we made mini ones for Tiger and Bearsie.

Cool article on Fiji .... NZ help Fiji

Style Guide - The Name of the Church

The official name of the Church is The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. This full name was given by revelation from God to Joseph Smith in 1838.

While the term "Mormon Church" has long been publicly applied to the Church as a nickname, it is not an authorized title, and the Church discourages its use.

When writing about the Church, please follow these guidelines:

• In the first reference, the full name of the Church is preferred: "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints".
• Please avoid the use of "Mormon Church", "LDS Church" or the "Church of the Latter-day Saints".
• When a shortened reference is needed, the terms "the Church" or "the Church of Jesus Christ" are encouraged.
• When referring to Church members, the term "Latter-day Saints" is preferred, though "Mormons" is acceptable.
• "Mormon" is correctly used in proper names such as the Book of Mormon, Mormon Tabernacle Choir or Mormon Trail, or when used as an adjective in such expressions as "Mormon pioneers."
• The term "Mormonism" is acceptable in describing the combination of doctrine, culture and lifestyle unique to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
• When referring to people or organizations that practice polygamy, the terms "Mormons," "Mormon fundamentalist," "Mormon dissidents," etc. are incorrect. The Associated Press Stylebook notes: "The term Mormon is not properly applied to the other ... churches that resulted from the split after [Joseph] Smith's death."

October 16, 2011

Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thy own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. Proverbs 3:5-6

This year has had many challenges, major decisions, and opportunities. I have enjoyed getting to know myself and Saki better and watching my kids grow older. There are so many things we would like to do, but so much is timing. I am grateful the Lord is patient with us and for the many reminders I have had this year that things don't have to be done all at once and that material things are not the most important things.

  When we strive to seek and follow the Lord's counsel we will be blessed in all things that are most dear to us and other things, while they may seem desirable are not viewed in the same light. Long-suffering and patience are truly virtues. I am so grateful for a patient and long-suffering husband and for the temple and the blessings, understanding, and strength the gospel brings to my life that nothing else could. May we all strive to live up to our covenants and be submissive to the Lord's will rather than seeking our own. 

October 9, 2011

Mere and Glenn went to their third "dance" class this week. It's more of a creative movement class, one of a handful of community classes in our town. Mere does well listening for some of the class and gets distracted at other parts-I thought she did very well this week. Glenn is shy and sits in my lap (the parents can join in) the first half and by the second half he tries to run around and hug/hold/tackle? Mere and doesn't listen well. It's a bit past his nap time by then. Luckily there are a fair amount of 2 year olds in the class so not everyone is really doing what the teacher asks. I'm considering trying the music class instead. I think the teacher was thinking there would be older kids-but she does well and is pretty nice. I would love to have Mere take a real ballet class this winter-but I have to find out if the one I want is already full. Their winter break is even at my due date so that's great timing.

Mere really love playing at the park with her friends from dance class after class when we wait for Saki to pick us up (we walk to class, but Saki picks us up after as it's a bit far from home). It's a fun park and all fenced in-not to small or too big-lots of parents and caregivers with newborns to around 8 year olds. Mostly babies and toddlers/preschoolers. They also have LOTS of trucks and cars and riding toys all over for kids to grab and play with, and a water spout which we try to avoid :)

General Conference was wonderful last weekend. I am so glad we have a living prophet leading the church these days and apostles and so many wonderful people called to help him! It is hard to pick a favorite talk, but I am glad we can listen to them all online at lds.org and really enjoyed the one by Apostle Russel M. Nelson on the Abrahamic Covenant. 

I was also blessed to be able to go with Saki's mom Seru to hear Sister Julie Beck of the Relief Society Presidency speak on Saturday. She spoke to 4 large groups in Northern CA so we got to see her in person! She spoke a lot about the role of mothers and many things relating to women-with lots of references to the scriptures, I'll have to write more later to those interested :) 

Hope everyone had a great weekend and has a great week : )

Journaling

As a friend reminded me blogging is a way of journaling-which I am terrible at, so I think I'll try again, at least I'll be keeping some sort of record though my mind is scattered and photos may not be posted every time. We just listened to some beautiful talks on General Conference.

Mere is now almost 4 and Glenn is a bit over 2 and we are expecting another baby boy in February : )

Here's some photos of the past 3 months... Glenn's second Birthday-my dad was in town that weekend for business staying out our place so we were able to have him there, my mom watched the song and cake cutting and presents on facetime, and Saki's parents were also there.

My birthday breakfast-Saki had to work, he got up early and took the kids so I could sleep in a little and went to his parents where they made breakfast and brought it back for me :)

Kids on the temple grounds...if we can't go together one of us will watch the kids while the other attends. I think it is so good for the kids to go and feel the spirit at the temple-Mere is often asking to go, and even with kids it is important to attend the temple OFTEN even if it's hard and overnight and you can't be inside at the same time. Those temple covenants and the teachings and peace inside keep me going- so make that extra effort! We saw a missionary from the area Saki served in Kirabati/Kirabus at the visitors center.

Mere's favorite activities are "making cakes" and other things like carousels etc which are piles of toys and items collected, I fell asleep-never a good thing-and woke up to this in the hall.