Relief Society

As I sit here (with a yucky sinus cold) listening for the second time to the General Relief Society Meeting talks given last night in Salt Lake City, I feel so grateful for this wonderful organization which is the Relief Society, which I am a part of along with tens of thousands of other women all over the world. What an inspired organization this is, how much love and concern our leaders have for us, for our spiritual well-being. Talks ranged from learning from the past, from history, recognizing and standing by our divine roles of women, mothers, wives, caretakers, nurturers, being beacons of righteousness, love, and service. That we, as sisters in Relief Society, need to utilize the power of the Holy Spirit to make choices and take on responsibilities of growing and nurturing rising generations in the restored gospel. Learning from the past, from history is important because it can change us, inspire us to do and be better, replace fear and doubt with hope and charity. I also loved the emphasis on visiting teaching and what a special calling that is. But I especially loved Pres. Monson's talk about not judging one another, some highlights below:

My dear sisters, each of you is unique. You are different from each other in many ways. There are those of you who are married. Some of you stay at home with your children, while others of you work outside your homes. Some of you are empty-nesters. There are those of you who are married but do not have children. There are those who are divorced, those who are widowed. Many of you are single women. Some of you have college degrees; some of you do not. There are those who can afford the latest fashions and those who are lucky to have one appropriate Sunday outfit. Such differences are almost endless. Do these differences tempt us to judge one another?
Mother Teresa, a Catholic nun who worked among the poor in India most of her life, spoke this profound truth: “If you judge people, you have no time to love them.” The Savior has admonished, “This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you.” I ask: Can we love one another, as the Savior has commanded, if we judge each other? And I answer—with Mother Teresa—“No; we cannot.”

I have always loved your Relief Society motto, Charity never faileth. What is charity? The prophet Mormon teaches us that “charity is the pure love of Christ.” In his farewell message to the Lamanites, Moroni declared, “Except ye have charity, ye can in nowise be saved in the kingdom of God.”

I consider charity—or the “pure love of Christ”—to be the opposite of criticism and judging. In speaking of charity, I do not at this moment have in mind the relief of the suffering through the giving of our substance. That, of course, is necessary and proper. Tonight, however, I have in mind the charity that manifests itself when we are tolerant of others and lenient toward their actions; the kind of charity that forgives; the kind of charity that is patient.

There is a serious need for the charity that gives attention to those who are unnoticed, hope to those who are discouraged, aid to those who are afflicted. True charity is love in action. The need for charity is everywhere.

Needed is the charity which refuses to find satisfaction in hearing or in repeating the reports of misfortunes that come to others, unless by so doing the unfortunate one may be benefitted. The American educator and politician Horace Mann once said, “To pity distress is but human; to relieve it is Godlike.”

Charity is having patience with someone who has let us down; it is resisting the impulse to become offended easily. It is accepting weaknesses and shortcomings. It is accepting people as they truly are. It is looking beyond physical appearances to attributes that will not dim through time. It is resisting the impulse to categorize others.I just loved that Ella cuddled next to me last night while I was watching and listening to the talks.

I want to get my soul and heart drenched in these deep spiritual fountains and always remember these words of council and testimony to increase my own testimony and hang on tighter to my convenants and be better in every way, to have an eternal family of my own with my sweet husband and daughter.

Joy

In spite of the typical whinning, tantrum throwing, or just pure defiance that are a given with any (almost) five year-old child, Ella absolutely fills our lives with JOY and AMAZEMENT. This is not to brag about how wonderful, talented, intelligent, loving, etc., etc., etc., she really is but to record for our family's sake some things that she will probably like to know about herself when she grows up and flips through the pages of this 2010 year blogbook or family history, how I like to call it! Things that she did or said, things she was good at.
Ella started piano lessons as the Coppell Conservatory of Music in August and has made huge progress in this two-month time period. I just remember the first time we sat down at the piano for practice and how her little fingers were hesitant but eager to press the keys in any (chaotic) order. I remember the very beginning stages where she was learning the notes (middle C, D, E, F, G, and what's the next one over there??), trying to remember where those darn notes were on the piano, with me hovering over sometimes patiently, some times not so patiently (sometimes thinking to myself: what in the heck we're doing trying to get this kid to learn piano at 4??) She's got a couple of songs memorized already, her form is beautiful -- fingers rounded on the keys just like little bear claws (that's what we call them.) Not only form, but she's got the theory part down too (whole notes, half notes, quarter notes, quarter rests, half rests, minor, major, treble clef (which she absolutely LOVES drawing), bass clef, etc.) She really picked up on this stuff fast. But what I'm most excited (and proud of) is her willingness to practice. I guess all that explaining (and almost brainwashing) that practice makes perfect, that in order to be good at something you have to work hard (very HARD) at it, and do it every day, IS PAYING OFF (Yeay!!)  And we did and still are: flash cards, worksheets, workbooks, 5-10 mins practise almost every day, and how I pray she'll continue to enjoy this because I know I did in my piano playing days. [This was my outlet to a world of dreamy beauty, where magical sounds were dancing all around me and where I and my piano together could make those sounds gather into beautiful happy or sad melodies. I loved it and still do. And my secret wish would be to start practising again, myself and dust off those books, and just play, play, play. Maybe someday...] but how I digress, this is about Ella!
This is what our little pianista plays nowadays:

And I have to say that my heart leapt with joy when my sweet husband sent my a text msg during class yesterday acknowledging my contribution to her progress. While I'm the one that calls "practice time" and sits there by the piano, flashcards in one hand, tapping with the other, it is Ella who willingly and excitedly sits down at the piano and repeats however many times we need to until we master a piece. Love you, babe, you are wonderful, keep up the great work!

Now Primrose Private Kindergarten: master of sight words, "Picasso/a" of colors and shapes (she loves mixing colors when drawing, coloring, or watercoloring), pure excitement for daily rotations, art and other activities her super duper teacher plans for them. A couple of nights ago she signed letters A through F or G. We though that was the greatest thing because we just didn't know she knew that. Well now, how about the little colors song in Spanish? Love to hear her sing it. We've adapted it to Romanian.

Celebrating Cultures

So excited about this fun event at Ella's school... where children learn about different countries, cultures, and traditions throughout the week and get to celebrate at the end with a country costume/heritage parade. Ella will be wearing his Romanian folk costume. I'm planning on having her help me make a little collage for her to take to school that talks about her Indian, Romanian, and American heritage. We'll be reading Indian/Hindi and Romanian folk tales this week at home and enjoying traditional dishes from our home countries (some of her Romanian favorites include sour meatball soup/ciorba de perisoare and crepes/clatite; from the Indian cuisine- she loves pohe/rice flakes cooked with yummy potatoes, tomatoes, and peas, and shira/semolina cooked in soy, with banana, and raisins.)

I think it's really neat that we can celebrate diversity of culture and tradition, and give children and parents of sense of pride in their heritage and an opportunity to honor it, all at the same time while  recognizing that in spite of our diverse backgrounds and uniqueness, we really are not that different.

And I'm so grateful for the great treasure we hold within our little family, of wonderful traditions, folk tales, myths, aromas, fragrances, and flavours, colors, sounds, and rhytms, all intertwined in the very fabric of our daily lives. I hope we can always celebrate and honor this treasure more in our family.

Will be posting pictures of the parade later on. I'm excited, can you tell?

     

With her class-aren't they the sweetest???

To the man I love

Happy Birthday, Sweetheart! You are so wonderful, we love you and hope your day is as bright as your smile and your heart! You mean the world to us and we're so very proud of you.

Looking forward to celebrating at our favorite BBQ spot tonight and with cake at home! Some of the things we love about you...

*You are calm and composed even in the craziest situations
*You are loving and tender
*You always compliment Ella and I
*You are such a great helper at home
*You are dependable and reliable
*You are a very good golfer
*You care about others so much
*You always look for opportunities to help out
*Your faith is so strong that it makes mine stronger too
*You are AN AMAZING HUSBAND and FATHER!!!

We love you, HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!