Perth Week 10 - Simple answer to a Prayer and another adventure

Perth Week 10
20th- 26th June 2011

Monday night is family night and this week I decided to invite the families I visit-teach at church over for dinner and family night. In addition to my companion Pipi and her husband Joe, we invited a young couple from Taiwan over, and one of the fantastic young adults who recently joined the church.  Dinner was a little later than usual, and so after dinner we had a quick lesson and game with the kids and then put them to bed, while we waited for all guests to arrive. - It was lovely to have our home filled with people.  Worth mentioning that for dessert we had purchased a pavlova - but tasted nothing like the lovely Cowells Pavlovas in New Zealand.



For our lesson, we watched a recent YouTube clip for the Mormon messages entitled I am a child of God, and then discussed what it meant to us to know we are each children of God.  It was very faith promoting to hear the stories and feelings of others and ourselves. Afterwards we played a game of Hedbanz (where you have to ask a series of questions in turn to find out who you are), which was a lot of fun.  All in all, a very nice night with friends.

On Tuesday we had a busy day we went in the morning we went with Alysha on a school visit to the primary school to visit the school dentist. And then help walk all 64 children back to pre-primary - about a 15min walk. It was very entertaining talking with some of the children in the class - I learnt who was the smartest and how was the oldest and youngest. very cute the way the kids have worked everything out.

When we got back I took Hyrum and Gracie to Sci-Tec for a fun outing, and they totally loved it. Last time we had gone they where like whirlwinds going from one thing to another, but this time there was a huge difference, they spent lots of time at each display working out how is all works, the different displays even held Gracie attention. It was really cute watching them exploring and working out all the cause and effect for themselves.





When we arrived back at pre-primary that afternoon we had an experience with a answer to a simple prayer. Another Mum at pre-primary who I didn’t know was very distressed as she had lost her car keys somewhere in big park next to the pre-primary. She had left her two little kids at pre-primary while she had gone back to the park to try and find them. All the other Mums had gone home. I felt sorry for this Mum and I offered to take her and her kids home as i have a 7 seater car. She thanked me for my offer but said she wont be able to get in as the house keys were on the cars keys. She said she would call someone to come help who had a spare key. She then left with her two kids to look again in the park.

I put my kids in the car, and still feeling very sorry for this lady and wondering what more I could do for her, I said a prayer for her asking God to bless this Mum that she might find her keys quickly and that they may be right infront of her. I started driving home but still feeling sorry for this lady and thinking surely I could do more for her, I turned around and went back to the park to help her find them. The Mum and the kids were busy searching for the keys and were walking towards us, just as I had got my three kids out the car to come and help, the Mum walked right infront of the keys and found them. She thanked me so much for coming back to help.



The kids and I were very excited and humbled to know that God had heard and answered our prayer in the exact way we had asked. When we got back to the car Alysha said another prayer thanking God for answering our pray and helping that lady find her keys. I am so grateful to know that God does hear and answers my prayers it was such a small and simple thing but to me it was truly amazing.



On Thursday we started our 1st ever Joey Jams children’s music group at the chapel, for some reason I was so nervous about taking it. Alysha had the morning off pre-primary to come with us for a bit of moral support. I had put a lot of effort into lots of resources so I hoped it would go well. I was really surprised we had a really good turn out, with 8 other mums there and 10 children. They all seemed to enjoy it. Unfortunately Hyrum really played up in the second half, which added a bit of stress but hopefully next week he will do better as it’s pretty hard to deal with your own kids and run it at the same time. The Mums seem to enjoy talking to each other afterwards where the kids had morning tea and played with the bubbles. I guess the true test is to see if anyone comes back next week, I hope so. www.joeyjams.org
 
I dropped Alysha off at pre-primary then went round to Aunty Claire and Uncle Martin’s home and had a lovely lunch with them and the kids, the kids enjoy playing with all the toys that they have collected over the years. But are pretty scared of there two dogs, so as long as the dogs are out of sight it is OK. I gave Aunty Clare a Facebook lesson, so hopefully she has it all sorted now. got to love Facebook.



That evening I took Gracie and myself to go see a naturopath /  iridologist. He looked into both our eyes and told me that Gracie’s nervous system was very poor and her calcium levels low. We talked about her eczema and bowel problems and he suggested the need for Gracie to be wheat-free and see if that improves her. She is also now taking a calcium spray and some other homeopathy drops. He told me that I also had a poor nervous system - running at about 50% which will cause tiredness, low energy and nauseousness, which I have been experiencing. He also told me some other things which seemed to be spot on, pretty amazing really. So I am also taking some homeopathy drops and other mineral tablets, and we will see if things improve. It ended up being pretty expensive but hopefully worth it in the end. It will definately be an interesting journey being wheat free, but thanks to Karen (my sister inlaw) we have some amazing recipes, i don’t think it will be too hard, just making sure I plan ahead. http://www.perth-naturopath.com/



On Friday afternoon we experimented once again with another playdate for Alysha and her friend Elise from Pre-primary. Her mother and younger sister Katie came along to our house also, I had spent the day tiding and baking so we had some yummy home-made wheat-free afternoon tea. The playdate when so well with all four children playing so lovely together, it was such a huge change from when we went to their house. Not only did Alysha have so much fun but Hyrum loved having someone to play with too. We will definitely have to do it again sometime.


For our Saturday adventure, we took the kids to Cheeky Monkeys indoor play area. It was a little different to where we gone a few weeks previously for Aysha’s friend’s birthday.  A bit older and a bit grungier - but that didn’t matter to the kids.  They absolutely loved it.  Hyrum & Gracie liked playing in the cars on the circular racing track.  Alysha loved the play house and she even made Grant and I come inside it to play with her.  They also loved the little roller coasters.  It is just so nice to see the kids enjoying themselves.  Grant was thinking that he wouldn’t mind owning a kids playground they seem like so much fun.  

 
 

 In the afternoon, we went for a walk (scooter / trike ride) and explored down by the Swan river.They have wonderful walks right along the river. It was very pretty, and picturesque. The kids had a great time exploring and meeting the ducks. It was a lovely Day.





Sunday was a super busy day for me, we had soup day after church and I was asked to make a big pot of soup to bring along with two other ladies. Well I decided  that being kiwi i would have to make a big pot of kumara soup. Well, it was a big success with 8 - 9 litres of soup disappearing very fast and lots of people saying it was so lovely. I also received a calling at church to be a primary assistant teacher. They only have three primary classes with a max of 5 children in each class, and I will be assigned to one of the classes to help if needed or relieve if the teacher is away. I thought that was a very easy calling, but I am happy to be doing something.


Alysha came home from church with theses drawing, I was really impress at how much detail she had done. One is a picture of our family, note- eye and hair colour and the other is Jonah in the Whale. I was very impress with her art work, well done Alysha.


In the evening we had a stake RS (womens) fireside, and I was assigned to form a committee and do some of the catering - we were asked to do Sensational Sandwiches and create a theme to decorate the table. I had three other ladies help me, and we did a ‘high tea’ theme, with four different types of sandwiches  - Cucumber and Watercress Tea Sandwich, Club Sandwiches, Chicken Sandwiches, Vietnamese Rolls. It ended up looking amazing as lots of ladies in our ward loaned us there 3 or 2 tier cake stands - the sandwiches disappeared very fast - there is definitely some truth to the importance of presentation. The fireside itself was very uplifting and motivating talking about our Divine role as daughters of God, as mother and wives. There always so much more we can do to help and bless the lives of others and prepare ourselves and our families for the future.

Until next time....



This weeks Funnies

Alysha (miss 5) came home from pre-primary today and said “Mum why did you tidy the house today - where you trying to surprise me?, Thank you for surprising me! “ - too funny, she must love a tidy house.



Sometimes Alysha talks in a really loud voice, and tonight I said to her “Alysha, do you have a quiet voice in there” and she said “I do have a quiet voice, but it keeps getting stuck in my bottom.” lol



I was helping Hyrum (mr 3) get dressed the other morning and I noticed a bruise on his leg,  I said to him “oh Hyrum that bruise looks really sore what happened?”, and he said “ that bruise is what keeps making me fall over sideways.” - you never know what they will say.

Perth Week 9 - Are you ready!!!

in

Perth week 9
13 - 19th June

On Monday night for our Family Home Evening - we learnt about the fourth Article of Faith . We got the kids to build steps on the whiteboard and we talked about each step and what it means. It always surprises me how much the kids know and how much they teach us. We then played some games, Chinese whispers, which was really funny playing with little kids and the animal noise game. Both games were very entertaining and it was a fun evening.
This week brought another week of sickness for our family but this time it came to us, the parents. Grant was off-work sick on Monday and Tuesday. I came down with it on Tuesday and it seemed to hit me hard for a few days. Hyrum who is totally besotted with his Dad right now was really excited to have Daddy home for a couple of days, and even when Grant was having a sleep in the day I found Hyrum asleep curled up next to him. (Hyrum hasn’t had a sleep in the day since he was 18 months old) it just shows his great love for his Dad, he will do anything to be close to him. On wed night my lovely friend Pipi brought me over a big pot of homemade soup with rolls, it was so kind and thoughtful of her, she definitely is an earthly angel.

  

It’s so neat watching the kids playing together, they all play so nicely with each other (most of the time, they are definitely not perfect). They are very creative in their play, lots of role playing games and inventing things - today they built their own helicopter outside and was busy for quite a while working together to build it. Which they later turned into a boat. I thought they did a great job!

Alysha’s front two bottom teeth have been wiggly for the past couple of weeks.  As Grant was putting her to bed on Tuesday night, he noticed that she had a space where a tooth once was. Our baby girl had lost her first tooth! When asked, Alysha wasn’t even aware what had happened.  She had been eating a carrot just before bed and we weren’t sure whether the tooth came off with the carrot and she swallowed it, or whether it came out earlier at pre-school and we didn’t notice. She didn’t have a tooth to put under her pillow for the Tooth Fairy to come and collect - so she wrote a letter to the Tooth Fairy, explaining what had happened, and asked the Tooth Fairy to find her tooth. She put the letter under her pillow, and in the morning, she woke to find a letter from the Tooth Fairy replying to say she had found tooth and rewarded Alysha with a gold coin.

Three days later the other tooth came out while Alysha was at pre-primary.  Her teacher wrapped it up on cotton wool and put it in an envelope.  This Alysha brought it home excitedly and put under her pillow when she went to sleep. The Tooth Fairy came again and again rewarded Alysha with a gold coin.  Two visits by the fairy in one week!  Now we call her “toothless”. (it’s very cute and she has even started to talk with a bit of a lisp)

On Friday I was feeling much better than earlier in the week, so we ventured out the house and took Hyrum and Gracie to the library for their reading and rhyme time. I think both the kids were really excited to get out of the house, and seem to really love their time at the library. After the session they do colouring-in, which Gracie really looks forward to.  She queues up with all the other little kids to collect her colouring-in sheet to go and colour. She really loves her colouring in right now, as for Hyrum, he’s too busy trying to leave to go find his new books for the week.


In the evening I was blessed to go to the Temple. I left early so I could fit two session in. I was able to do baptisms which is something I haven’t done in such a long time. It was such a neat experience, I so love the temple I feel so blessed to be able to go to the temple and feel at peace, it is such a great blessing in my life.
On Saturday afternoon, we went to a church activity that they promoted as ‘A Wizard of Oz’ activity.  A great part was that they took our kids off us and babysat them with a bouncy castle and other activities while we got to participate in the programme.  It was an educational afternoon all about emergency preparedness.  It was really well presented - Dorothy and Toto got caught up in a tornado and found themselves in OZ, without any food or water.  Dorothy went to the scarecrow who shared with Dorothy (and the rest of us), all about being self sufficient, in food and water (a years supply).  Dorothy went to the Tinman (who’s outfit was absolutely fantastic, but he got changed before we got a photo of him), and the Tinman shared with her (and the rest of us) about being financially self sufficient - to watch our pennies, spend less than we earn, get out of debt, and to save for a rainy day, and he also encouraged young families to own their own home.  Dorothy then went and visited the Lion, who shared with her (and the rest of us) about 3 day emergency packs.  It was very well done, complete with refreshments that had made from ingredients from people’s store cupboards.

 

I came away feeling that we are always full of excuses (our excuse at the moment is that we are in transition and will do once we are settled), and that we really should not be putting things off.  The video they had sliced together of the disasters all over the World in the last 6 months was a really powerful way of posing the question “Are you ready?”

After the ‘Wizard of Oz’ activity, we decided to purchase some Chinese food for dinner and took it home.  We had some chopsticks in the draw (home is furnished), and thought it’d be a fun experience for us all to use chopsticks. The kids thought it was fun and tried really hard to do it, but didn’t quite get it. It was really funny watching everyone try.

I was given an assignment by our Relief Society to start running a children’s music group at the Chapel for young Mum’s. (I did have a little laugh to myself as I didn’t realise you can be given that kind of assignment, I guess you can be assigned to do anything in the church).


So after much thought we created “Joey Jams children music group”. I will start this coming Thursday. I am very nervous about it, as they have never had a children’s music group running at our church over here, and because I still don’t know that many people here, I’m not sure whether people will come and support me. But i will try my best to get it up and running and we will see what happens.our website is www.joeyjams.org or Facebook search for joey jams

Until next time....

Funny Moments
Our Gracie (miss 2) was meant to be eating her lunch when I found her in the laundry.  I asked her “why are you not eating your lunch?”, and she replied “cause I’ve done a poo in my nappy and it’s really poo stinky” When I checked her nappy she hadn’t done anything.  - a great excuse.

Our Hyrum (mr 3) is very afraid of loud unknown noises at the moment. The other day we were  travelling in the car and it started pouring with rain, The heavy rain on the car was really loud, and Hyrum who hated the loud noise started crying with his hands over his ears, saying “call Daddy, Daddy will fix it, Daddy can make the rain stop”  - too cute, Daddy can fix anything. The second part to the story is that we called daddy, and Hyrum talked to him, and the rain did stop.  Daddy can apparently now control the weather .

Our Alysha (miss 5) learn a valuable lesson this week -  when coming out the bath, it’s not a great idea to put your towel over your head and spin around in circles,  you might just fall down the stairs. - poor Alysha,  she wasn’t hurt to badly, we had to try really hard not to laugh though.