Church Nativity

Adessa was so excited that she was asked to be the star in the Church Nativity this year. Being the star also meant singing a special solo in the Nativity, which Ads thoroughly enjoyed. 

Ads singeing her special song.

The final number in the Nativity included some signing which the children always enjoy. This was our 3rd Nativity this year and certainly our most intimate and spiritual. William opted out of participating and sat on my lap instead, he was meant to be an animal, which simply was not going to happen. Let's see how he does next year, all fingers and toes crossed.

William's School Nativity

I was SUPER stoked for William's Nativity performance this year as it was his second year and really his year to shine. It wasn't long before the children entered and just as last year William was the only child NOT wearing his costume. William has this thing about clothes and wearing them, a daily battle I fight very carefully with him and a battle his teachers obviously had lost. John and I were gobsmacked, but still hopeful that he would have his moment to shine. Shine, oh shine he did, we just hadn't expected it to be as he went crawling towards the manger of baby Jesus only to be chased down and retracted by his teacher. Have mercy! Wherever William goes his reputation precedes him. Cute and cheeky, but exhausting.

Since William would not participate as he was meant to do, he was given an instrument to play. I looked away briefly and when I looked back he was playing his instrument laying on his back with his feet in the air. I didn't know whether I should laugh or cry.

The teacher dragging him back after retracting him from his mad dash to the manger.

How can you be cross at "the face of an angel," which his teacher says he has.

Was it the Nativity Play I had expected? No. But I still love the fact that in England you can have a Nativity Play in the public schools, even if my kid is the one not in costume playing his instrument upside down.

Breaking Dawn Part II

Keeping with tradition Jenny and Thandi invited me to join them for the opening night of Breaking Dawn Part II. I was so happy to have friends to finish this film journey with. The movie was average, but the outing was awesome. Thanks for the fun night, girls.

Gold and Green Ball

I remember growing up hearing my parents talk about the "Gold and Green Ball" but I never really knew what it was. Well, it is a fancy schmancy dance and dinner hosted at the Church's local Stake Center. John and I got baited into going with a set of tickets from some friends who couldn't go, so went we did. Just know that I love John to bits, but the man CANNOT dance. We munched, mingled and even boogied for a number or two, but then we were swiftly headed back home. It was fun to have a night out together even if we both would have rather been heading to the cinema :)

My friend Manset danced like there was going to be no tomorrow. I love this woman.

We BYOB'ed it. Yes an evening with JUST water was simply not going to happen.

Cheers!

Sometimes doing something just a teensy bit different and occasionally out of your comfort zone is good, it certainly makes for some funny moments and memories.

Fingers with the Missionaries

Halloween is of course my favourite and so we had to share our family tradition of making severed fingers with the Missionaries.

Check out these beauties! (the fingers, of course)

Monkeying around

Sister Cubova is one of our favourite Missionaries of all time. This cute Missionary came to the UK from the Czech Republic speaking very little English, but has such a powerful testimony and heart you could feel it pouring out of her. Not long with Sister Cassasola and her English steadily improved.

Shortly after this Sister Cubova was transferred, but we still get an occasional email from her and always love hearing how she is doing.

Ads Merit Assembly

Today Ads was awarded her water skills Grade 3 swimming certificate as well as her gold medal and her highest all around gymnast score from gymnastics in front of her school. She beamed.....as did I. I am super proud of how hard Ads is working right now, she often has a tendency to rest on her laurels, but lately she has been working really really hard.

The Head Teacher asking her a bit about her awards.

Love in a Box 2012

Teaching my kids to serve other people is really really important to me. If my kids grow up to be hard working, thoughtful, kind, compassionate and giving people I will feel like the worlds most successful parent. Through my church I work on a committee that deals with Public Affairs and our Church. Love in a Box is a charity event for the Mustard Seed Appeal that puts together shoe boxes filled with hygiene supplies and little gifts and sweets to children in Eastern Europe for Christmas gifts. Our Church joined with the community to host this event and invited all peoples in the area to help and donate to this event. As a part of the Public Affairs Committee I spent the day helping where needed and took pictures when the Deputy Mayor of Maidstone came to help. 

I had posted on FB that I needed some of the girls in our Youth Group to come and help and my friend Maria saw my need and responded that she and little Maria would love to come. I was thrilled to have the extra hands to help and Maria did a great job working the nail painting booth. Maria really enjoyed herself and commented on how nice it was to actually do the physical labour involved in charity work rather than simply giving them money and never seeing what it actually goes toward.

Maria came specifically to help paint and decorate nails. She was superb.

Adessa thought that it was fun having little Maria there helping as well.

You can see the boxes starting to stack up ready to be shipped off to countries in Eastern Europe.

Who could say no to face painting when you have THIS face looking at you? Obviously not me.

The girls in charge of face painting were great fun and let Ads paint on her hand using her own imagination. 

Every year I participate in "Love In A Box" I am really glad that I did. I love that Ads and I get to work and serve side by side an dthen have great discussions about what we did on the car ride home.

Returning the Trophy

Today is the day that Adessa has to return the trophy for "Most Promising Recreational Infant" from Orpington Gymnastics Club to the Gym to be reassigned at the Club Championship. It was with great pride that she passed the trophy back and excitement about who would receive it next.

Cuz we are living in a disposable world....

Okay okay, so maybe it's sung "material world," but let's face it, we are living in a disposable world. I have just returned from visiting my cousins in Sweden, a trip that blew my socks off......literally. *kaboom* I have spent the past few days sorting out all of my thoughts and feelings about this amazing trip to my motherland or better said my grandmotherland as my late far mor was from Sweden. There is so much to write about my family and my heritage, but that is for another day, today I am writing about something that has been gnawing at the back of my brain since my feet touched English soil and that something is......tableware. Really, tableware? A trip to Sweden and you are home thinking about tableware?! I know it sounds nuts, but my thoughts are justified.

The day after we returned home I hit my cupboards and I hit them hard. All plastic cups, plates, knives, forks, spoons and paper napkins.....gone. I don't know if it is an age thing or a life experience thing, but this girl who once advocated disposable fashion is speedily becoming an advocate of longevity. Let me explain myself. As we sat at the table with Gunilla and Lars-Göran each morning for breakfast we noticed that the table was set with beautiful dishes, glasses, egg cups, and silverware, there was a candle lit in the centre, there was an abundance of healthy delicious foods that were supported by inspiring conversations about heritage, tradition, and family. As we sat and ate, Gunilla and Lars-Göran expressed the importance of eating together as a family and how they believe that it supports and strengthens the family, a belief that John and I whole heartedly share, but something was different here than at home. I thought about what the difference was and it came to me, Gunilla and Lars-Göran had set their table with beautiful dishes, glass dishes, glass glasses, the table was set as if to say "you are important, you matter to us."

I had one of those "ah ha" moments when I thought to myself, "how does your table reflect on the way your family feels when they sit together?" I am a girl who eats on plastic dishes and my kids have eaten on IKEA plastic cups, plates, spoons and bowls since they were born, but I have realised that my kids deserve better than plastic plates and wondered  to myself "why am I not using glass dishes?". I tossed out the old plastic bits and bobs and immediately replaced that empty shelf with my glass plates, glass glasses and then went to a charity shop where I filled in a few gaps with some other glass bits to make our set complete. I have committed myself to making meal time a time where my family sits together feeling like I have prepared the very best I have for them.

Sure I am probably increasing my dish washing load, but with our disposable world we have also tossed out the great conversations that arise washing and drying dishes together, "I rinse, you dry." I know it sounds a bit cheesy and maybe a bit over the top for some, but as I have pondered about the way we throw things out when it loses it's style, or our interest, I have thought about how our plastic world has made the things that matter most as disposable as the plastic cups and bottles we toss out and that is our relationships. I know that swapping my plastic table setting out for my (charity shop) china isn't going to change the world, but I do believe that it will make a difference in the way my family feels when we sit around the table together. My kids will know that my best dishes are not just for company, but for my family, because they are special they matter the most and they are worth it.

Ex Pat Thanksgiving

My friend Rebecca invited us to join a bunch of other ex-pats at Toby's Carvery for an ex-pat Thanksgiving. I had been planning to cook and put on a big Thanksgiving dinner and invite friends over again like I did last year, but I was exhausted and this seemed like an offer I simply could NOT refuse. Sally lived in NY for a year or so and so she asked if they could join and we were happy to have them. I met some other ex-pats and I saw some friends that I hadn't seen in a while. Toby's is a very traditional British Carvery with all you can eat vegetables and yorkshire puddings, which meant we could have turkey, cranberry sauce, stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy. I did make some pumpkin and pecan pies and after dinner had Sally and Lauren and Hugh and Mary over for Thanksgiving dessert.  

My friend Rebecca who I met on FB through a mutual friend in the US. The world really is a very small place. A great big thanks to Rebecca for inviting us for a great Thanksgiving dinner and evening out with a bunch of other Yanks! This year I find myself grateful for this journey I have been able to take in the UK, it has been a VERY difficult one, but I have recognised a strength I never knew I had and am really grateful for it.

My 34th Birthday

As the song goes "another year older and deeper in debt...." Hooray for another year on this planet. I seriously love life, not because I have everything I want, but because I have enough and I have what I need and that brings me joy. It is funny as I reflect back on my 34 years to see how I have evolved. I use to LOVE getting dressed up and going out, but now I can hardly wait to throw on one my favourite tie dye t-shirts and sweat pants. Who knew?! Since it was MY Birthday, after Church I decided that I was going to celebrate it in MY kind of swagger......comfort. So the tie dye went on and I enjoyed in my casual comfort. My Birthday is on our AMerican Thanksgiving every 7 years so I have been spoiled with good food, good family, and good gifts for a vast majority of my life. John did his best to try to celebrate it with good food and a cake from the kids, bless him for trying to fill the gaps. 

Surprise! Aparna and family rang the bell to sing Happy Birthday to me and brought me a delicious little chocolate cake to share. This made me feel so loved :) Aparna is my sista from another continent.

William eyed my cake up and wanted to have a go at my candle.

Serenading me

My lovely lovely friend.

Ads had to have wished me a Happy Birthday one hundred times. This girl was SO excited that I was going to have a special day. She is simply the sweetest.

Sure it wasn't the big turkey dinner with pies and family togetherness that I am used to, BUT I am finding that joy comes in different styles of celebrating big or small. This year the celebrating was the Hubs and the kiddo's, loads of snuggles and a new pair of running shoes, which made for one AWESOME day.