Wedding Pre-Op
3 weeks until W-Day. It's feeling very surreal that it is ACTUALLY GOING TO HAPPEN that my eldest is going to get married. Mom - I just want to apologize now for putting you through this at such a young age. It's not until walking in your shoes that I fully realize what I did to you. I'm sorry.
On the good side of that coin, I think we're basically ready. I have a little to-do list but mostly it's stuff that I can't take care of until the last week. So I'm turning my attention to Christmas and my family for the next couple weeks. We have two weeks to do all our pre-Christmas celebrating so the Christmas season is feeling too short and rushed. But I'm hoping that the actual Christmas Day will be quiet and peaceful. We will get back into Grants Pass two days or so before Christmas when I will purchase a boatload of food to see us through the holiday and hopefully sequester myself with my family for a long weekend and just enjoy our time together.
Our Christmas presents will be simple - they are already on their way and once wrapped I will be almost done with that. One gift per kid but they are good ones.
I've been reading books like crazy. I realized something several months ago. With family and church busyness I had almost given up reading for pleasure and I discovered that I NEED that. It's really one of my favorite pastimes and I don't need to give every good thing up in my life in order to serve my family and my ward. So I considered my options and made some time. Utilizing my Kindle app and the Deseret Book app has helped immensely. When I'm sitting in the carline at school I have a few minutes to read. Setting a goal to read a fun book for at least 15 minutes before I go to bed has also helped. Right now they're mostly re-reads (Brandon Sanderson novels and my Anne books), but I have a few educational books by my bed that I read for a few minutes. I'm a firm believer that we can make time for whatever is important to us - and I decided that this was one thing I wasn't giving up. my piano practicing on the other hand... that's taken a bit of a hit - although I still plunk away now and then. Thank goodness for church playing that keeps me in practice!
I'm excited for the curriculum changes in Relief Society. It's going to help us get a little deeper into the Gospel, serve a little more, and allow us to really be taught individually by the Spirit and by each other. Figuring out how to accomplish this is a little more challenging. For instance, one of the suggestions for our 1st Sunday council meeting is to sit in a circle. Since I already have 45 women packed into our room and no time to rearrange chairs, we are trying to think how we can get that feeling without having to rearrange the room. Also, we discussed how to teach and train our teachers to think of themselves more as facilitators and give them techniques to work with. One of my counselors threw out some great ideas so maybe I can delegate this to her. ;-). That's the great thing about having talented women to work with. Sure love those ladies. This has been the best calling for getting to know the members of my ward quickly and thoroughly! It has it's stressful or frustrating moments and a lot of exhausting ones, but overall it is a calling of JOY. I'm learning so much. I just feel bad for my poor ward members who have to suffer through my stumbling and slow learning.
During my 20-30 minutes of treadmill time I've been enjoying the Amazon series the created about Queen Victoria (also enjoyed The Crown - about Queen Elizabeth II). They are basically historical fiction films - my favorite book genre on the silver screen! It's slow going just the right kind of show to keep my interest while I'm walking. I tried watching short comedy shows like Last Man Standing that are about 20 minutes long, but they're too fluffy and when you are watching them that frequently they all sort of start to run together...
On the good side of that coin, I think we're basically ready. I have a little to-do list but mostly it's stuff that I can't take care of until the last week. So I'm turning my attention to Christmas and my family for the next couple weeks. We have two weeks to do all our pre-Christmas celebrating so the Christmas season is feeling too short and rushed. But I'm hoping that the actual Christmas Day will be quiet and peaceful. We will get back into Grants Pass two days or so before Christmas when I will purchase a boatload of food to see us through the holiday and hopefully sequester myself with my family for a long weekend and just enjoy our time together.
Our Christmas presents will be simple - they are already on their way and once wrapped I will be almost done with that. One gift per kid but they are good ones.
I've been reading books like crazy. I realized something several months ago. With family and church busyness I had almost given up reading for pleasure and I discovered that I NEED that. It's really one of my favorite pastimes and I don't need to give every good thing up in my life in order to serve my family and my ward. So I considered my options and made some time. Utilizing my Kindle app and the Deseret Book app has helped immensely. When I'm sitting in the carline at school I have a few minutes to read. Setting a goal to read a fun book for at least 15 minutes before I go to bed has also helped. Right now they're mostly re-reads (Brandon Sanderson novels and my Anne books), but I have a few educational books by my bed that I read for a few minutes. I'm a firm believer that we can make time for whatever is important to us - and I decided that this was one thing I wasn't giving up. my piano practicing on the other hand... that's taken a bit of a hit - although I still plunk away now and then. Thank goodness for church playing that keeps me in practice!
I'm excited for the curriculum changes in Relief Society. It's going to help us get a little deeper into the Gospel, serve a little more, and allow us to really be taught individually by the Spirit and by each other. Figuring out how to accomplish this is a little more challenging. For instance, one of the suggestions for our 1st Sunday council meeting is to sit in a circle. Since I already have 45 women packed into our room and no time to rearrange chairs, we are trying to think how we can get that feeling without having to rearrange the room. Also, we discussed how to teach and train our teachers to think of themselves more as facilitators and give them techniques to work with. One of my counselors threw out some great ideas so maybe I can delegate this to her. ;-). That's the great thing about having talented women to work with. Sure love those ladies. This has been the best calling for getting to know the members of my ward quickly and thoroughly! It has it's stressful or frustrating moments and a lot of exhausting ones, but overall it is a calling of JOY. I'm learning so much. I just feel bad for my poor ward members who have to suffer through my stumbling and slow learning.
During my 20-30 minutes of treadmill time I've been enjoying the Amazon series the created about Queen Victoria (also enjoyed The Crown - about Queen Elizabeth II). They are basically historical fiction films - my favorite book genre on the silver screen! It's slow going just the right kind of show to keep my interest while I'm walking. I tried watching short comedy shows like Last Man Standing that are about 20 minutes long, but they're too fluffy and when you are watching them that frequently they all sort of start to run together...
Comments
Post a Comment