Families can be together forever

When Mum passed away almost 7 years ago, it was hard to say the least. I cried a lot over the loss and longing to talk to her but not being able to. All of a sudden, I didn't have a Mum. I felt ripped off, why had this happened to our family? I had joined the club of people who have lost a parent and I didn't want to be part of it. None of those feelings have changed. I still feel the loss all the time. I still cry over not having her here to talk to, get advice from, and probably most especially I hate that my children don't get to have their beautiful Grandma at their parties, on the weekends, to hear them do talks in sacrament and all of those things that Grandmas do.

It breaks my heart and I don't see that hole and feeling of loss ever going away.

But what strengthens me and buoys me up whenever I think it's too hard to bear and tears sting my face, is knowing that Mum is still here. I can't see her and talk to her as I'd like, but I will see her and live with her again. She's still my Mum and always will be. Families can be together forever....that's the plan of our loving Father in Heaven. Death will part us for a short time and but our family is sealed for eternity.

Mum had to cope with the death of 3 babies and although she was strong about it, I can only imagine that her heart ached over the years that she hadn't been able to raise them and love them here. From reading her journal I know she had a strong and abiding testimony that families are forever and I don't doubt that she is with them now.

When I was in the temple I felt impressed to write down my feelings about eternal families. I have faith that I will see Mum again, and even though I cry over missing her, I know we will be together again. Boy am I excited for that reunion!!!! I know that my husband and I have been sealed by power on earth that will transcend death. We will be husband and wife forever, and our children can be with us as well.

Shortly after Mum died, a friend asked me a question and I didn't answer it very well. The question went something along the lines of 'where do you think your Mum is now'. If I could go back and answer now, I'd say 'Death is not the end. Mum no longer has a physical body, but her spirit lives on and she's just the same as she's always been. She's in the spirit world with loved ones who have already passed on and they continue to learn and grow together. The illness that plagued her at the end was lifted immediately in death and I know she felt peace and rest as soon as she passed on. I love thinking about that because I don't think the end was easy for her. Basically I know that Mum still lives, her spirit is alive and well although her mortal body was buried nearly 7 years ago. And I know that when I pass on from this life I can be with her again. YAY!!!!!

On Saturday I got to go to the temple and do some work for my family. It felt really good knowing that I was helping Mary Elizabeth get one step closer to being sealed to her family for all eternity, something she can no longer do for herself, but I could help with!

It's probably a bit hard to see this small screenshot, but Mary Elizabeth is one of my Great, Great Great Grandmother's daugthers

One of my favourite songs

I love Hilary Weeks and this song it one of my favourites. I love that they're more than just a song, they're thought provoking, inspiring, encouraging. The tune/melody, whatever you call it and the lyrics really speak to my soul.

Summerland School update

Faith's second week of school has come and gone.....

-Mrs Lord says she's a star, a real leader and she's going to be so upset when she moves to her next class in 4 more weeks!

-She tells me often that she loves her teacher so much

-She's super keen with the reward system of stickers and tells me every day how many she's gotten

-Her teacher said she's confident but not too loud and bossy

-She loves to read her readers and library books

Subway lunchorder....very exciting obviously. It took a lot of explaining for her to understand this actually costs Mum and Dad money (she was insistent that her teacher gets it for all the kids). Eventually we came to an agreement that she can have one every second time the class is up for subway, which means once per month

Every afternoon (that I'm working) she comes to my room, plonks herself down and scoffs the rest of her lunch whilst groaning like she's starving

First ouchy at school, and boy was she taken with the whole sickbay experience. They called me from the office to go up and see her and when I got there she was banging on the glass window with a big smile on her face. She'd got her hand stuck in something on the playground and it was badly pinched and bruised :( Nothing some sickbay attention couldn't fix.

A record breaking whiz around the supermarket before getting the other 2 kindy kids

Seffy makes himself at home in her classroom, loving the special black chair that one lucky child gets to sit on. Looks a bit like he's trying to fight the 'boggle'

For the second afternoon in a row, we went from sissy's room straight to the playground. Seth gets his crawl on all through the bark (annoying!) and all the big kids play around him, while a few come up and talk/play with him. A little 5 year old last week loved him and kept carrying him around to look at new things. Seth didn't really love it but it was cute so I let her do it for a little while...sorry son!

All prettied up for the disco, straight from a quick change at basksetball (which they drew 4-4)

Quite hesitant but happy to walk around on her own watching everyone dance

Of course she needed to join in on the junk food like everyone else

Faithy and her 4 boyfriends!!!!

It's starting to feel like summer!!!!

Last Sunday after a few days of sicky kids and home confinement, we had a summery BBQ. Just what the Dr ordered!!! I'm so hoping they become a frequent occurrence around here.

We had grilled chicken, hashbrowns (not ideal but I couldn't be bothered peeling spuds and roasting them) and a salad with lettuce, avocado, tomato, carrot, cucumber and eggs (with my homemade dressing from here)

This is how I did the chicken. It's the first time I've done it and wow!!! I loved it!

1/2 C olive oil

1/4 C lemon juice

2 tsp oregano

2 large chicken breasts (sliced in 2 and then halved through the middle so they were thinner)

Score lines along the chicken breast and then leave in the ingredients above for a few hours.

This is a little trick I learned on Pinterest  a while ago about boiling eggs has served me so well that I want it written down. Put eggs into pot with water and turn onto high. As soon as the water boils, turn the element off completely but leave the pot sitting there for 10 minutes. After that, peel the shell off the eggs and they'll be done perfectly. Not underdone, not over done and grey......perfect everytime!

Lil Leff Leff enjoyed investigating the BBQ, with his low-riding pants. Nan gave these pants to Faith as a present and they've gone through Ella and now Seth. Faith wore them as a 6 month old, so I should probably take them out of Seth's drawers now that he's 14 months old!!!

One of my favourite sauces for kebabs, felafel salad, and now grilled lemon/oregano chicken (greek yoghurt and grated cucumber peel)

My yummy yummy homemade dressing. Always a good thing to have on hand in this household. It makes salads full of lettuce go down a whole lot better.

 

And to really cheer us up out of our housebound blues, lovely Sister Heidi surprisingly turned up with this delicious homemade apricot and peach sponge on Sunday afternoon. She'd heard our family was down and out and thought to do this for us. Yum and so nice to know we were thought of and loved! A wonderful end to the Sabbath and weekend.

Grandma Ormsby's happy birthday!

Yesterday was Mum's 58th Birthday. I'm sorry to say I had completely forgotten, it hadn't even crossed my mind until Aunty Nae asked if I was making the special passionfruit sponge. As soon as she said it I was excited to tell the girls so they could get excited about her birthday with me.

I worked yesterday and all day I planned to go straight to the supermarket after school, race home, bake the cake and then shoot back to pick up Ella and Seffy at Stars Kindy. Everything went to custard when my card unexpectedly declined at the checkout!!!!! (All fine, just a little miscalculation on my part). But that meant that Felafel Wraps for dinner were a rush and I just couldn't bring myself to start making the cake at nearly 7 o'clock. I was going to go ahead with it just so I didn't let Mum down, but I knew she'd be thinking 'don't worry Mel, just relax on the couch, watch the Block, and do my cake tomorrow'

So that's what I did....kids in bed, blob on couch, and the cake was done today instead. Not ideal but the best I could manage. How do working Mums fit in things like mid-week birthday cakes?

I could easily write 58 things I love about my Mum, but for times sake, I'll just write a few.

1. You are wonderful example to me of patience and love for your children. Even when things must have frustrated you to the hilt with a busy house full of kids, the best you could come up with was 'Shivers!!!' And that was usually if something was broken or spilled or something, not necessarily because of our bad behaviour. I could learn a thing or 2 from that

2. You are stunningly beautiful, at all ages and stages of your life. Young, Young Mum, pregnant, grandma. Even when you were probably tired, frazzled, busy, you were always beautiful.....we have the proof in loads of photos. One of my dreams would be to be as photogenic as you!  I'm so proud to say you're my hot Mumma, even after 9 children!

3.  Your faith and commitment to the Gospel will always inspire me. Even through deaths of not one but 3 children, hard times and finding out about being sick, your faith never waivered. I sometimes shudder to think how I would cope under the circumstances you faced in life, and I guess I'll never know unless they happen to me. As much as I hope and pray they never will, I know I've got such a wonderful example to look to.

Happy late birthday Mumma, I was thinking of you  yesterday (and everyday!)

Ella knows Grandma's not here cause she's in heaven, but when the cake came out she said 'is Grandma coming to our house for her cake?'. She said it with such a straight face as if I'd say 'yes, she'll be here in a minute'  I wish!!!!

Oh no, Ella thought Faith blew out the candles, even though they both leaned in and did it at exactly the same time

Never fails to please