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!"

Easter/Paste Traditions

Hristos a-nviat! Adevarat a-nviat! is the special greeting we use around Easter time back in Romania. It translates to "Christ is risen! He truly is risen!" I love it! Since I joined the Church this phrase became more meaningful and "alive," something that I can contemplate on every day of the year and not only at Easter.

Some of the beautiful Easter traditions I always looked forward growing up in Romania where coloring/dying eggs (dark red, blue, and green hues), cooking the traditional cozonac, pasca, drob, and friptura de miel. Yummy! And although the Easter dinner festivities were a big part of the deal, going to church, to the Orthodox Easter mass was just as exiciting. Another cool thing I used to do with my maternal grandmother was to go church on Good Friday and do what is called "trec pe sub masa" explained here. I have sweet vivid memories of Easter growing up. Thanks to my wonderful husband who is very encouraging of keeping family traditions and holidays, we were able to retain and practice many of these traditions (especially the ones related to food!!!!!) over the years. I made cozonac from scratch the first Easter we were married and it was the best I ever made, unfortunately I do not have a digital picture of it so I can "prove" it! Oh and before I forgot after we colored the eggs we crack them stirring up quite a competition, who's egg reigns supreme, that is who's egg survives without a crack. We go around and "knock/crack" eggs with each other saying the "Lord is Risen/He truly is Risen" greeting.

I do love the new traditions we've made here in US. One in particular which is so much more fun when you have children, the famous Easter Egg hunt. This year we started early as one of Ella's friends at pre-k had a birthday about a week ago and one of the high-lights of her birthday party at school was the Easter Egg Hunt and the visit from the Easter Bunny. I can still hear her saying "Mommy, the Easter Bunny is REAL!" Glad that was confirmed to her.

Back to Easters past, I thought it'd be fun to remember how we celebrated it. Since Ella was allergic to eggs, we didn't dye eggs (this year though we will as she can enjoy them too.) We used pretty plastic eggs instead to decorate the table. And both years we were fortunate to spend Easter with our families.

2008

2009

Happy Easter Everyone!

Temple Grounds Tour

This past Saturday Ella's Primary organized a tour of the Dallas temple grounds. The children were told the history of the temple, some details about the architecture and the building itself, and got to enjoy roaming free on the beautiful and peaceful grounds. Ella did for sure. She was running like a little wild goat kid ("iedut") soaking it all in. We got to take some family pictures courtesy to one of the sisters in the ward who was there with her high-fi camera equipment. We snapped quite a few pictures ourselves with our own camera. Just loved being there, feeling the Spirit. It was so tangible. So grateful for temples and their blessings. When we entered the temple foyer, Ella whispered: "Where is Jesus? I can't see Him." I've explained that we can feel His presence rather than see Him.

Primary leader handing out temple cards as little reminders of this special place and how to prepare to go someday.

Ella trying to mesmerize her friends with her new FurReal Bunny

I love this picture...

Can you tell she loves to pose?

Love this one too.

This past week was a little crazy to say the least, we've been challenged with health issues and are so grateful that Father watched closely upon each of us, especially daddy so he could return to us safely. We love him so much. I'm grateful for the power of prayer, for the power of love and I am reminded again and again of the fragility of our physical bodies and life and the grand importance of our spiritual well being.

We've started looking at homes in our area, there are a few we think we'd like but have not scheduled showings yet. We'd like to stay here for the excellent school district but that of course comes with higher home prices.

Looking forward to Easter and General Conference. How neat that this year we get both on the same weekend. I'm planning on making cozonac (sweet bread) and friptura de miel (lamb roast.) Dying eggs will be the highlight though, I'm sure. Life is great!

Hugs

This morning at drop-off Ella got two hugs from two little friends in her class. It was really sweet to see them come forward and just hug her as she entered the classroom. She loved it even though she got shy right away. It just made me think of how awesome little children are, sharing their love freely, simply and with much candor. Can't we all be like them?

Cowgirl

Had a great weekend: big shopping trip at our huge nearby mall, played, visited with dear friends, and hung out at the FW Stockyards. Ella rode the mechanical bull like it's nobody's business-the first time ever in her life and absolutely loved it! She's such a natural. She also got to sit on a real bull and ride a horse (note: she wanted an upgrade from pony rides to horse rides and she did great.) She also managed to strike up quite a conversation with the horse/pony lady whom she told that she was new in town, moved from Omaha, NE where it gets too cold in winters, and that's why she moved, etc. The lady was so amused. While the rest of kids were quitely going round and round on their ponies, not one spoken word, our Ella was chatting away, petting the horse and giving it a "giddy-up" once in a while. She got her first cowgirl hat which she has been wearing to school every day ever since.

Thank you TX for the lovely days we're getting!

The MYSTERY reader

.. so today I was one of the mystery readers in Ella's classroom. It was really fun to see the big surprise smile all across her face when she saw me walking in! What a treat! And it was great treat for me to sit there in front of all those beautiful bright faces with my sweet baby by my side (she sat by me in front of the class) and read the amazing Dr Seuss' stories.

Kind of funny how so many of the kids have their eyes closed in the pic! Ella was just so excited that she did one of her very silly poses (head back!)

It was a very special moment and I look forward to many more of this kind.

On Tuesday I went to the temple with a bunch of sisters in our ward. I just love it how our RS president made this a tradition for our new ward. We carpooled together and it was a lot of fun. The temple of course was wonderful, my heart started beating so fast, full of emotion and joy all at the same time as we drove in to the temple grounds. I didn't think it'd be such an emotional reunion (me going to His Holy House after a couple of months of absence due to the chaos of moving and being sick), but it was- right from entering the very gate of the temple. I was able to do ordinances for quite a few dear women in our family, on my maternal grandfather's side as well as other women who of all places lived in Nebraska, how neat!!!?!!! An incredibily tangible warmth and peace came all over me and has not left me every since (and honestly, I never want it to but I know it will eventually. It's a good thing though as it'll make me want to go back there again soon.) How I love the temple! It is the most amazing place on the face of the earth as it allows us to get the closest we can to Heaven and feel that strong connection with Him, the creator of all.

My sweethearts carried on with our Tuesday night family tradition of going to the library for story time and got a double dose of Dr. Seuss (books and craft) How cool!

Last night we made yummy koftas, an Indian snack made out of freshly chopped cabbage rolled in a mixture of wheat, corn flours and egg then fried. We made it into a snack, no curry although the traditional rendering of this dish involves a thick curry. They are my all time favorite snack/appetizer!

And also last night Hrishi and Ella planted our Upsy Downsy tomato and strawberry seeds. We're very excited about this little urban/apartment patio gardening project and look forward to the yield!

Let's see what else?! We're soaking in the beautiful sunshine and warm weather we've been having and getting real excited about spending more time outdoors. We're planning a trip to the zoo on Saturday! Ella is more than super excited! I am too!

Almost forgot! Hrishi made some amazing banana bread this week. Chocolate chips, gummy bears and a dash of cocoa in addition to the traditional banana. This is becoming his signature dessert as he does such an amazing job! I could eat this for breakfast.... every day! Oh wait, I did eat this for breakfast! :)