2020 in a nutshell... count your many blessings

you have to laugh or you'll cry... and that's the truth right now

cause here is my 2020 in a nutshell and it sounds like something out of a meme.

january - death and a funeral'

february - work (other people's funerals) and estate paperwork

march: the plague 

i seriously feel like i've lost 3 months of my life! i had so much to do, that it was all go go go and now it feels like there is nothing - and so much time in which to do nothing. the kids have been the strangest bit - we are, of course, keeping them home and do not leave the house unless absolutely necessary, as we've been instructed to do, but they complain a lot that they are bored. i am sure they are, they are used to being able to go outside as much as they want, across to the park - and run a muck and now, we have to stay home. 

so - i said to them this week that we need to think of some things that we are grateful for. because the best way to be happy, is to think of things that you've been blessed with. here are some of mine.

1. first and foremost. i am so grateful that we can still have church at home. that president nelson was inspired to create a home based learning program - and that my husband is able to administer the sacrament in our home.

2. i am so so so so so grateful that my husband not only has a job, but that it's an essential position and he is required to keep working through all of this. so while others may lose their job or struggle, his wages will remain the same and we will be okay. 

3. we have savings. so if something were to go wrong, we would be okay.

4. being a church member prepares you for all kinds of things. we learn to teach from the time we receive our first assignments at church, so we can teach! plus there are so many resources available online, so if it should happen that i need to start teaching my children at home, i can do so.

5. we are healthy and strong and i know we will remain so, because i was told we would be - and i have faith to believe so. 

this may be a scary and uncertain time, but i feel confident that we as a family will continue to be blessed. ❤

easter teacher gifts

the kids went off to school for the last time in the foreseeable future today - and even though it's not quite easter yet, i had planned presents for their teachers so decided just to go for it. we gave each one over with a perfect disclaimer: "made in a very clean kitchen in a house full of healthy people" and all four of them seemed very happy with baked goods.

madeline has 2 teachers this year and joseph just one, but seeing as they have such a small amount of kids left now, they have opened up the barrier doors between his class and the one next door - who just so happens to be madeline's teacher from last year - so i guess that counts as being joseph's teacher too? yeah? we adore her, so i am 100% per cent taking it - and she was thrilled to bits to be included.

this years offering was home made rocky road using whatever the heck i could get from the supermarket at this crazy time:

2 blocks woolworths milk cooking chocolate (slowly melted in microwave)

1 bag woolworths marshmallows (cut into quarters)

1 bag party mix (cut into pieces)

2/3 packet woolworths chocolate finger biscuits

1/2 cup desiccated coconut

1/4 cup chopped peanuts

melt chocolate and pour over other ingredients. mix well and spread over a lined tray. allow to cool in fridge until set. bring to room temperature before cutting.

rocky road is soooo easy to make. you can literally throw anything you want in and it will work as long as your combo isn't too far out. to this day i still giggle when i remember putting froot loops in a batch because i had nothing else. seriously. sky is the limit.

we packaged them up in these adorable cups we got from target on clearance after easter last year which are the cutest! lucky we have all girl teachers huh. haha. i'm not even bothered that easter is still a while off... we are due for easter holidays soon - we just had no idea covid-19 would shut down the world and ruin everything for everyone (insert eye roll emoji here ahaha) i loved making them and just hope the teachers loved them too! we are so lucky to have been blessed with amazing teachers this year. they have truly been a source of strength to our children (and us parents!) over the last few weeks, remaining calm and assuring us all each day. they deserve the biggest pay rise of all time when this is done. 

all saints anglican church

a few weeks ago we were in the bank, opening another account when some photographs on the office wall caught my eye. they were of a beautiful old church and anyone that knows me would know that i am a sucker for an old church. upon asking a few more questions, i found out it was a local one and i made a mental note to make sure i went and had a look one day.

today was the day... as per the guidelines of social distancing, we don't want t be anywhere that anyone else is... so i took the kids for a drive and found said church.

it's in henry street in henley brook at the end of the road - which is at the end of gnangara road over west swan road (going east) and super easy to find, as it's actually the only thing on that road!

although the church is closed under current government restrictions the outside is still amazingly cute as you wander around in the small yard containing old graves. i love cemeteries too of course... so double bonus. i'll be super keen to come and have a look once the church is open again!

according to the information board out front, it is the oldest church in western australia...

another hidden gem, right on our doorstep!

born of goodly parents

i have been trying so hard to make sure we read from our come follow me book and have a discussion each night. i know that the responsibility to teach our children about the gospel is now on us and i cannot and will not let the lord down. i was trying to think of something good to teach for our family home evening on monday and the words nephi said in the opening verse of the book of mormon came into my mind, "i nephi, having been born of goodly parents." having wonderful parents of my own, i have always loved those words and know that it is something important that he pointed out. 

so for family home evening tonight - i had joseph read the words aloud from 1st nephi 1:1

I, Nephi, having been born of goodly parents, therefore I was taught somewhat in all the learning of my father; and having seen many afflictions in the course of my days, nevertheless, having been highly favored of the Lord in all my days; yea, having had a great knowledge of the goodness and the mysteries of God, therefore I make a record of my proceedings in my days.

and then we talked about it. both we and our children were blessed with goodly parents who raised us in the gospel. to believe that god is real and hears our prayers - so that we could one day know for ourselves. we aren't so different from nephi. we have the same thing, both earthly and heavenly parents who are here to do what the hymn "i am a child of god"teaches us:

i am a child of god and he has sent me here

has given me an earthly home, with parents kind and dear

lead me, guide me, walk beside me, help me find the way

teach me all that i must do, to live with him someday.

and like it or not, we have something else the same as nephi. afflictions. because this life just wouldn't be what it is without them. maybe they are nothing like his, but we are certainly feeling some right now! my point was, having goodly parents, means we can turn to them in our times of need. like right now. i know the first person i call when i am upset is my mum! we are right here to talk to them and help when we can - but so is their heavenly father and they can talk to him any time they like too. i hope they will!

i did also find some wonderful advice on how to become goodly parents - so i'll leave it here, i am sure it will come in handy for me at some stage.

***********************

our "afflictions" in this craziness continue...

schools are still open whilst practicing social distancing, we got the message sunday afternoon that dance classes were off... so i guess we just continue to watch and wait.

earthquakes and updates

just when it seemed that things could not get any more strange, we woke up thursday morning to the news that there had been a pretty big earthquake that had hit utah, particularly salt lake city itself. andddd it had been enough to rock the angel moroni atop of the salt lake temple and knock the trump from his hand! cue the internet with people freaking out that this was going to be the end... and alllll of the epic memes. my personal favourite was the one that said we probably should start to worry now that it looked like moroni was checking his watch. nannaleah had the best comment though, "what are you all freaking out about? he can't blow his trump to signal the end of times if he can't find it, can he?" hahahha

but. what a blessing. the very reason the salt lake temple is closed is to undergo a seismic upgrade... to prevent possible damage from earthquakes! foreseen or what?

well. updates from our end. at this stage the schools here remain open... but all activities have been cancelled. my phone kept going off on friday all day with notices from the school. swimming lessons on hold, no further assemblies, colour run cancelled... every thing one by one.

our australian borders closed to anyone that is not an australian citizen or permanent resident midnight last night and we are being encouraged to stay at home to prevent any possible spread of the virus. it still feels like a bad dream, like something out of a movie - but it keeps on getting worse. madeline is just waiting for their dance classes to be cancelled and i cannot imagine that it's far away. when will this end? 

:(

everyone freaking out - leah's gold comment

harmony day at esps

each year australia celebrates harmony day - a day for inclusion and a celebration of cultural diversity. the children at ellen stirling primary school can choose to wear an orange shirt or their cultural dress. looking at what my kids chose to wear says so much... joseph in his easy as orange shirt and madeline in her samoan lava-lava print skirt made by her nanna.

and this photo says the rest. i wish i could tell you this was an outtake - but this is just real life. hahaha. he did not want to smile or even have his photo taken, but was cracking up after this.

the school had planned a full assembly including them all being able to sing the harmony day song "everyone belongs" but it (along with everything else) was cancelled due to ongoing issues with covid-19, so instead they did special activities in their classrooms and sang the song in each class.

guess it's a very good time to all pull together isn't it! this is a crazy time for everyone, especially these poor kids who really just can't completely grasp all the changes and precautions. it feels mean to them, not as though it will protect them.

thankfully one of the kids remains relatively unaffected - alex is just carrying on as usual while the world rages around him. lucky guy.

home church (and why)

today we had church at home for the first time ever... we have received email after email this week from the church headquarters as things were cancelled or changed one by one. first was the email stating that the general conference meeting normally held in our church conference centre in salt lake city, utah would be closed to the public. this was shattering news to members of our church. all of sudden this was major. never in history has general conference been closed off. thankfully due to modern technology, it will still be able to be viewed around the world, live, then be available for download not long after - which is a wonderful blessing. we still get to be a part of it! at the end of last month the church sent out a media release asking that anyone outside of the united states not travel to attend the conference due to the coronavirus issue - which has now lead to this digital only conference. 

the very next day, this announcement was made... and it all got even harder to get our heads around. all church meetings suspended. everything. our sacrament services, our stake conference scheduled for next weekend, our relief society activity that would have happened the very next day. wow. looks like home church was a go. 

in the final months of 2018, the president of our church, russell m nelson made the announcement that we would be moving from our long time 3 hour schedule to 2, a huge change for us. we originally had our sacrament meeting, followed by sunday school and then our appropriate classes (priesthood/ relief society, young men/women & primary) but changed to sacrament followed by alternate weeks of the old second and third hours of the schedule. along with that, a home centred, church supported learning program was introduced, to allow us to learn ourselves and teach our children during the week to make up for that other hour we once had.

president nelson was obviously preparing us for a time like this. how blessed we are for the revelation he received to prepare us for this sudden and unexpected situation we find ourselves in. he truly is an inspired and amazing man, perfect to lead our church in these days.

and then, if that all wasn't enough... temple sessions were suspended the day after... all leading us into this first sunday, of at home church. it was a lovely morning... dougs mother came too and we ran our own sacrament meeting like we would have at church - we sang hymns, doug blessed the sacrament, we listened to a conference talk online and read another aloud and it was surprisingly nice. i feel so lucky to have a faithful priesthood holder in my home, to have allowed us to still have a normal sunday and partake of the sacrament.

i haven't been feeling good about this all week though. it's been hard. the uncertainty of it all, the difficulty of getting any groceries that we need and more than anything the anxiety i have felt. i have been constantly stressed. it's always playing on my mind and i have prayed over and over to just feel better about it because i don't know how much longer i can handle feeling this way. i had been trying so hard to prepare myself and our family for any situation and to make sure we had anything that we might need - getting more food, thinking of what we could do to shield ourselves, the possibility of being home and quarantined - and the list goes on. it was stressing me out.

in the end, i asked my husband to give me a blessing of comfort. in our church we can have a priesthood administration for many things. people mainly recognise them as being used for those who are sick in some way, but often they are used for direction and comfort. i felt a million times better afterwards as i was given the direction i needed. i feel certain that i have done what needs to be done to prepare my family and i also feel assured that my family will remain safe and protected throughout all of this. and just from that, my whole perspective has changed. i no longer feel anxiety and stress, just a hope for an end and for things to eventually return to normal in time. 

the final paragraph of the email regarding the temples gave me hope, "we look forward with great anticipation to the time when temples can again operate at full capacity and extend the blessings of temple work to members and their ancestors." things will get back to normal. of that we can be assured.

to cement how much better i was felt afterwards, i came across this on the internet and i truly felt peace. i know our church is lead by a man inspired to give us the lords word. we will be okay. it will all be okay. it will just take time. and we will have to be patient. but i know we are all known and loved and will make it through this with faith. i am so grateful for a prophet of god, who knew what we needed, before the world even knew. ❤