2 February 2015
Dear Richard
We’re all pretty much healthy again :) Caleb only needed to
stay home for the one day last week, and then he was back to normal, so I
finally did manage to get some work done. Although there were still plenty of
distractions. This week is pretty clear, so I should be able to get some really
good work done now! I’ve started with reading through a couple of other masters
theses that are very high quality, to get an idea of what is needed, and today
I got to actually look at a bit of literature which is relevant. By the time
you get home I need to be finished with my literature review and be onto the
actual study.
Some of the distractions were household stuff, like doing
the groceries. But we also did all of our visiting teaching and I helped Sister
Pam out with a bit of stuff. And then we also had a solar geyser installed, so
that was a bit of distraction with having the workers in our house. But we can
see that there is less electricity being used already :) And I also went for an
assessment at the Eye Laser Clinic, to see if my eyes are suitable for the
laser surgery, and I’m booked for next week to have my eyes done! Very exciting
:) :)
Josh has been doing really well with school :) During the
week I’ve been moving further and further away from him when the bell goes, and
he’s stopped crying in the morning now completely :) He’s also been playing
nicely with his friends at aftercare, so on the whole he’s doing well. They had
their first class swimming lesson, and he’s one of the few in the class that
can swim properly, so that will also be a good boost to his confidence :) And
tomorrow he does cricket for the first time, which most of his friends are
doing too. Fun times ;) Josh was also invited to his first sleepover party, at
a friend’s house where we do trust the parents enough to let him sleep over ;)
He was fairly excited about going, and it felt very strange to not have him at
home, and just be putting Hannah and Caleb to bed alone. Those two really
missed him as well. I dropped him off before fetching the others, and they were
so distressed at the idea of only seeing him the following morning that I had
them both crying! But they did calm down, and we had a nice evening together.
And then at about 9:45 I got the message that Josh actually wanted to come home
to sleep. I was expecting it, but I’m really proud of him for even getting that
far! And I must be honest, it was nice to get him back home and have everyone
where they belong ;)
Hannah and Caleb are of course doing great. Caleb is getting
so excited about his party, which is in 2 weeks. He wants it to be NOW! You’re
going to have a great time getting to know this lovely little boy :)
We went to Fish Hoek on Saturday for our usual visit, and
talking to everyone there I was struck again at how clear it is to see that
people who live the gospel have lives that just work out better. In our family
it’s harder to see the pattern, because we only have 1 person that is
less-active. But in Andrew’s family there are 3 and 3, and it is so clear to
see that although everyone has difficulties, the 3 that are less-active just
have so much more tragedy in their lives. We truly are blessed when we live the
gospel! And the January visiting teaching message is also along those lines.
‘The scriptures teach “when we obtain any blessing from God,
it is by obedience to that law upon which it is predicated” (D&C
130:21). Our spiritual growth takes place as we draw close to God
through obedience and invite the power of the Savior’s Atonement into our
lives.
“As
we walk in obedience to the principles and commandments of the gospel of Jesus
Christ,” said Elder D. Todd
Christofferson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, “we enjoy
a continual flow of blessings promised by God in His covenant with us. Those
blessings provide the resources we need to act rather than simply be acted upon
as we go through life. … Obedience gives us greater control over our lives,
greater capacity to come and go, to work and create.” ‘
If we’re not obedient we just won’t be able to get through
life successfully!
For FHE this week we again used an article that I read in
the Ensign during the week, this time on media standards. I also happened to
come across a video on the church site that animates the story Pres Packer
shared in conference recently about the house finches in the ivy outside his
house who were safe from cats, but then a snake came and they weren’t safe. So
we spoke about what Satan is trying to do, and why it’s bad, and what to do. I
think Josh got the message, but Caleb especially was obsessed about “Saturn”
and “What if Saturn tries to…” and then all sorts of funny things. But we persevere,
even though our lessons often tend to disintegrate into chaos… But we take
heart from Elder Bednar’s example! As long as we’re consistent, that’s the main
thing! And we are getting some messages through, at least to Josh who is old enough
to understand :)
And yesterday afternoon I went to the launch of the My Path
to Self-Reliance program for our stake. Apparently we’re the first stake in
South Africa to launch it as a stake. I think the program is really exciting,
and I hope that I can be involved in some way.
I presume you know Colleen’s news…? I’ll leave that to her
if you haven’t heard from some other source yet.
So a busy week, as always, but overall a good one :)
Love you
Shelly
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