Busy busy

Move:
-Set move-in date & movers: check
-Change utility providers: check
-USPS address change: check
-Select paint colors: check
-Change address with current providers: working on it
-Select painter: still working on it...
-Order refrigerator: still working on it
-Shopping/selecting rugs: still working on it...
-etc. ...
The list goes on and on... lots to do but we're so excited! Can't wait!

Ella: will be attending private kindergarten at Primerose starting in fall. We're so excited as her teachers said she's ready and up for the challenge. Our concern was that maybe the challenge would be too big but they assured us she's ready. In less than six months she's learned and mastered things others have been learning over the past couple of years (having had the benefit of being at Primrose from their preschool, toddler/infant years.) This kiddo knows a ton of sight words, can count to a 100, can write all the numbers up to a 100, knows the coin denominations, can do additions and subtractions, and many other things. Amazing indeed and I give such much of the credit to her wonderful teachers, Miss Ashley and Miss Brenda. Miss Ashley's teaching style and perseverance helped Ella immensly in her transition to the new school. Grateful beyond words for such a sweet little girl we have! We love you, darling!!

Hrishi: is winning the dad of the year award again this year! Love to watch him spend time with Ella, take her to her swimming and gymnastics classes, coach her and be there for her every step of the way. He's so very busy at work but never fails to bring his best at home, never complains, has a cheerful and happy attitude which is so refreshing. He's been doing great with his golf game too! Hurray for all the (many) beautiful golf courses in the DFW area which he's happily exploring with his friends. He makes the best banana bread and muffins I've ever had, the best chicken/beef/lamb kobabs, and the yummies pan seared trout! He helps so much with house chores and he jokingly calls himself the best "houseband" in the world! Recently he launched a great initiative at work tied to simulation that's going to save the company tons of money. And not lastly, he's the most loving and supporting guy ever. And has a great sense of humor! Love you, honey! So happy to be in this together!

OK, I never want to write about myself but since I made the decision to document our life on this blog and make it into our family history (thanks to the Print to blog feature), here I am.
I've been a little better about eating healthy (at all times, I'm very good before 6 pm when I get home!) Still need a little more work on the excersise front. I've been eliminating most processed foods/ingredients from our daily meals which I think it's pretty great, thanks to my buddies here who are starting to love whole grain everything, buck-wheat pancakes, this will take us long ways. Also manage to have two leafy green/veggie sides with every meal. Work is going great, pretty busy with  more complex projects but I'm enjoying it. I'm so grateful for the growth opportunities and recognition, the people I work with and especially my boss. She's great! I've been doing good too on my daily scripture study so plugging right along. Hope and pray to keep it up.  I love being a mom and a wife as primary profession(s) and also having a challenging and fulfilling outside-the-home job/profession. I can see now that all those hard-working and sometimes heart-breaking and exhausting years at BYU have paid off.

We feel blessed beyond words and I pray to always remember and be the best that we can for all those around us.

Earth Day

So today is Earth Day! What a wonderful thing that we get to celebrate the beautiful planet we were given to grow on, enjoy, treasure and care for. All throughout last week and this week, Ella's class did a lot of art and science projects to celebrate our planet's beauty and natural resources. Great reminder of the treasures we have which we tend to take for granted (I know I do...) They talked a lot about recycling and reusing and she made a recycle sign herself and told me that she wants to start recycling things she doesn't need anymore. How cool is that! It made me want to go more "green", be better at reusing and recycling stuff.

This morning I found the cutest sage tricolor herb pot on my desk in celebration of Earth Day. What a neat thing! So grateful for the thoughtfulness that went into it. It made my day!

Here's to reducing, reusing, and recycling!

The words of this hymn we sing in church come to mind. They sum up so well what I feel right now:

For the beauty of the earth,
For the beauty of the skies,
For the love which from our birth
Over and around us lies,
Lord of all, to thee we raise
This our grateful hymn of praise.

For the beauty of each hour
Of the day and of the night,
Hill and vale, and tree and flower,
Sun and moon and stars of light,
Lord of all, to thee we raise
This our grateful hymn of praise.

For the joy of human love,
Brother, sister, parent, child,
Friends on earth, and friends above,
Pleasures pure and undefiled,
Lord of all, to thee we raise
This our grateful hymn of praise.

For each perfect gift of thine,
To our race so freely given,
Graces human and divine,
Flowers of earth and buds of heaven,
Lord of all, to thee we raise
This our grateful hymn of praise.

Dreaming

I just can't wait to move into our new home. I've been dreaming (day and night dreaming) about setting everything up, picturing how the furniture would be arranged, the wall decor (need a lot of sprucing up here as we don't have much stuff that would fit with the tall walls, but I'm working on it), the kitchen, the bedrooms, my plants on the deck, where the tomatoes would go, etc.... I just can't wait. Hrishi was lucky to go there again a couple of days ago with one of our friends who is a civil engineer (one of the real smart ones-- he was the lead engineer for the new Dallas stadium) to take another look at the house with his professional eye. He couldn't see anything amiss so that brings extra piece of mind. I told him that I wish I could go there almost every day... but I'll just have to wait the end of May when we close.
I have great visions of this place. I think it's going to be good home for us. A happy place where we can grow together, fill the air up with laughter and singing, a place of peace, of teaching and learning, a welcoming spot for family and friends. How blessed I am and we are. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
Lately I've been checking out a lot these websites....can you guess what for?
Pottery Barn  Pier 1 Imports  Cost Plus World Market  Rooms to Go 
If you know of any other home decor/furniture fun (and affordable) places to shop, please send them my way.

Up in the clouds

Ella said the other day, "mommy, I'd like to go up in the clouds!" We asked why, honey? She answered, "because I can see everything from up there!" Pretty amazing. Love you, sweetheart! You bring great joy and happiness in our lives.

Just got back from the local farmer's market, always so fun to go to! We just bought some natural honey and our little teddy bear ate a lot of it already! So happy she likes it!

After farmer's market, we went to a local kids amusement park, had fun there doing all the kiddy rides, stopped by McDonalds for a happy meal and playground fun. Now we're home enjoying some toffutti icecream cones and getting ready for a nap! We love Saturdays.

Home is where your story starts (or continues)

I like this little quote. I modified to fit our bill as we're CONTINUING our story in our new TX home. Hurray!!! We're so excited and grateful and humbled and just amazingly happy for this wonderful blessing, our new home. Isn't it beautiful?? Love it, love it, love it!

We're closing end of May, lots to plan, lots to do and I know it's going to be crazy but boy oh boy, are we excited! Ella is probably the happiest as the neighbors across from us have a nice property with horses that graze nearby and there's a beautiful park with playground just a few steps away from the house.
One of Hrishi's favorite things about the house is the brick color which is very close to the Dallas Temple's exterior color (but the temple is marble of course! :-)) One of my favorite things about it is the nice kitchen with stove exhaust/the kind that vents outside as there'll be a lot of cooking going on in this house. It's got tons of other beautiful things that we fell in love with. So please come visit us anytime you wish!

Easter 2010

Colored eggs

Egg cracking contests

Lovely gifts from grandparents

Martisor
Easter bunny bonnet
Lamb roast

Gogosi (Romanian doughnuts)

Cozonac (Romanian sweet/sponge bread)

Drob

Conference talks

Duck feeding

Nice naps

That was Easter for us this year!

Big Girl

Ella loves..
 -Picking out her clothes (and changing them about 2-3 times a day)
 -Putting on berretts, clips, head bands or other any other hair accessories.
 -Picking out her own books at the library.
 -and now more recently the color of nail polish that she'd like to try!!! (I didn't lure her into this as I  myself

am not a big nail polish user of but she firmly said that she'd really like her finger nails AND toe nails colored in pink and blue. So I conformed and got her blue nailpolish as we already had pink in the house. I think deep inside I was just excited for this as she was as I get to do the girly girl things I used to do in college with friends and roommates all over again (for many years to come with my own little girl.) Can't believe she's ready for makeovers! Yeay for having a girl!!!
And she's growing in other (more meaningful) ways. Yesterday she gave her first talk ever in Primary at Church. She did great, Hrishi and I could not believe how relaxed and brave she was. Her topic was the restoration of the Church by Joseph Smith. She told the story of the First Vision and talked about the blessings of the restored gospel (priesthood, temples, fulness of the scriptures) and bore her testimony. She used the Gospel Art visuals throughout which I think helped her remember what to say. Amazing little girl we have here! She's also a missionary--she often talks about God and church with her friends at school. Yesterday we had Ward Conference and had the opportunity to hear our stake leaders for the first time. The stake president attended primary and actually sat by her. She was so exicted about her talk and couldn't contain it: she was telling him that it's the first time for her and that she was going to use the pictures, etc. We were watching from the back of the room. We just love her to pieces!

An update on the house... our beautiful house (not YET ours...) we're still negociating, I just hope it ends soon. We submitted another offer after they (finally) came back/responded and we're waiting... Hate this wait but I hope it's worth it and we'll get this house in the end.
I owe posting some pics here from Easter, tomatoe planting, and others. Hopefully I'll get to it soon.

Balm to the soul

I always look forward to General Conference when church leaders and prophets of God speak words of encouragement, counsel, and love. I just love listening to the talks. They always seem to be exactly what I need to hear, to learn, to ponder on. I decided I'd post some of my favorite quotes from various talks. I loved the emphasis on teaching children truth and values,  the role of parents, our personal worth as God's children, patience, faith, prayer, and moral cleanliness, and many others. All the talks are available here. I love going back and re-reading them and trying to "study" them so I can find application in my life in each and every talk.

Here are a very few of my favorites:

Mother-daughter relationship and its eternal impact:
"Remember, sisters, God is the source of all moral and spiritual power. We gain access to that power by entering into covenants with Him and keeping those covenants. Mothers, teach your daughters the importance of making covenants, and then show them how to keep those covenants in such a way that they will desire to live worthy to go to the temple." (Elder Russell M. Ballard.)

The role of family in rearing and rescuing children:
"Heavenly Father has assigned us to a great variety of stations to strengthen and, when needed, to lead travelers to safety. Our most important and powerful assignments are in the family. They are important because the family has the opportunity at the start of a child’s life to put feet firmly on the path home. Parents, brothers and sisters, grandparents, aunts and uncles are made more powerful guides and rescuers by the bonds of love that are the very nature of a family.

"The family has an advantage in the first eight years of a child’s life. In those protected years, because of the Atonement of Jesus Christ, Satan’s use of the mists of darkness to hide the path to return home is blocked. In those precious years the Lord helps families by calling Primary workers to help strengthen children spiritually. He also provides holders of the Aaronic Priesthood to offer the sacrament. In those sacramental prayers, the children hear the promise that they may someday receive the Holy Ghost as a guide if they are obedient to God’s commandments. As a result, they are fortified to resist temptation when it comes and then, sometime in the future, to go to the rescue of others. " (Elder Henry B. Eyring.)
"Parents must bring light and truth into their homes by one family prayer, one scripture study session, one family home evening, one book read aloud, one song, and one family meal at a time. They know that the influence of righteous, conscientious, persistent, daily parenting is among the most powerful and sustaining forces for good in the world. The health of any society, the happiness of its people, their prosperity, and their peace all find common roots in the teaching of children in the home." (Elder L. Tom Perry.)

Do not judge, be "His Hands"
"When we are tempted to judge, let us think of the Savior, who “loveth the world, even that he layeth down his own life that he may draw all men unto him. . . .
   “[And] he saith: Come unto me all ye ends of the earth, . . . [for] all men are privileged the one like unto  
    the other, and none are forbidden.”
"As I read the scriptures, it appears that those who receive the Savior’s strongest reproach are often those who hold themselves in high esteem because of their wealth, influence, or perceived righteousness.

"I am not suggesting that we accept sin or overlook evil, in our personal life or in the world. Nevertheless, in our zeal, we sometimes confuse sin with sinner, and we condemn too quickly and with too little compassion. We know from modern revelation that “the worth of souls is great in the sight of God.”4 We cannot gauge the worth of another soul any more than we can measure the span of the universe. Every person we meet is a VIP to our Heavenly Father. Once we understand that, we can begin to understand how we should treat our fellowmen.
"One woman who had been through years of trial and sorrow said through her tears, “I have come to realize that I am like an old 20-dollar bill—crumpled, torn, dirty, abused, and scarred. But I am still a 20-dollar bill. I am worth something. Even though I may not look like much, and even though I have been battered and used, I am still worth the full 20 dollars. (Pres. Dieter F. Uchtdorf)

I could go on and on ... they're all so deep and amazingly instructive.

Things have been going well, life is fast, too much to do in too little time, we're always running from one place to the next but we're happy and wouldn't have it any other way. Our house search has continued and led us to making an offer last night. In our home search our testimony that God guides and provides for us has been strenghtened greatly. When we do our part and put in the effort (study and research) along with prayer, He is there to hold our hand, guide our thoughts. I was able to experience this so first hand with our home search.  Really neat. Although many homes looked great, while digging deeper we found quite a few registered sex offenders in a 1 mile radius/so very scary and that has dramatically changed our preferences. It was incredible to see how much evil is out there, how many convicted ones there are, and how many more out there who have not yet committed a crime but they might in the future... .  So we think we found the right place for us; now we're waiting to hear back from the seller. Let the "waiting game" begin!!! This house would really be a wonderful place for us....

What else... Ella finally started back with swimming (they didn't have enough children and instructors for the longest time) and she loves it. Still says she loves gymnastics although sometimes we feel she's just there to play but that's alright as we're not planning on her being an olympian. As long as she's enjoying it and getting the exercise, we're good.

Oh, forgot to mention in my Easter post that Ella has mastered the "egg knocking/cracking" little game we play with eggs on Easter. She's also gotten quite good at saying "Hristos a-nviat/Adevarat a-nviat!"