Monday, September 9, 2013

Letter to Richard - 9 September 2013

Dear Elder Powrie J

With the vac last week I got to slow down the pace a little bit, which was much needed, but of course you never feel like you’ve had enough rest… I got to work on the textbook a bit and made fairly good progress. I also finalised my test paper that the will be writing this week. I also met with one of the other lecturers who will be lecturing financial analysis to the first years. I redid the slides for the module for us all to use, and I put in lots of animations and pictures and cool stuff. And she was saying how much she liked the new look. And then today, after she gave her first lecture she came past my office so excited and said she just Loves my slides, and the students were really impressed too! Pretty nice to hear J Especially considering there was quite a bit of criticism of the first draft of the test paper I put together. .. So nice to know I’m doing some things that are appreciated!

Some of the nice things with the kids this week…

I took a meal to the Borehams who have just moved back, and Hannah wanted to come with me. It was so special to share a Relief Society service moment with my little girl, and see what she’s going to be like in years to come! And she is such a sweet and caring girl, that if we can keep that side of her nature strong she will be exactly what a Relief Society sister should be J

Hannah also had her first swimming lesson of the season this past week. She was really excited, and although she got a bit anxious when she was then actually in the water she very quickly got her confidence back. So I think she’s going to be back to where she was last summer very quickly J

And it was just amazing to watch Josh at his swimming lesson as well. At the beginning of the year he was so anxious about his swimming, with lots of tears and he didn’t really want to interact with the other boys. But now it’s a complete turnaround! He plays in the water with the other boys, splashing each other and stuff, he doesn’t want to get out of the water at the end… It’s so awesome to see!

And things are going so well with getting the kids to be more independent! And quite often that means that things are going better in the morning, although we still haven’t been able to get to school on time Every day… But it is improving J

Josh and I went to the dentist, for a check-up, but also because Josh was saying his teeth were sore. So I was concerned that we would have a problem with his teeth, also because the kids aren’t great with how they brush… But his teeth are perfect! 3 of them are getting loose though, which is why he was uncomfortable, but nothing to be concerned about J But now we have to be ready to have the Tooth Mouse coming to visit soon!

We had a really social day on Saturday, which is fairly unusual for us… Hannah had a party in the morning, and she only took about 20 minutes to settle down, so a big improvement from the last one J At the same time Josh went to play at his friend, Connor’s house. And then in the afternoon Colleen and the kids came for a braai (Rohan was sick). It was really nice to spend some time with her and the kids. And all of the cousins are starting to play so nicely together now! Especially Hannah, Caleb and Amy were all greeting each other very excitedly J

At church yesterday I attended the High Priests group lesson to observe. What an honour to sit among those men! Such a wealth of experience and spirituality among them! The lesson was on unity, and it was also great to observe the level of unity between them. It’s also been interesting to see how by splitting the High Priests and the Elders you can now see the strength of both groups coming out. And it’s wonderful to see the leaders of the ward and feel that we’re in good hands J

So another busy week, but on the whole a good one!
Love you lots!

Shelly

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