drops in our lamps

i came across these shared pictures on the internet this week and was amazed by their relevance in todays world. we are surrounded on all sides by temptation and the beckoning of another path. it can be hard to choose to walk the strait and narrow when it seems like anything would be easier - and it probably would be! as president henry b. eyring said, "if you are on the right path, it will always be uphill."

president kimball said it perfectly when he spoke about adding oil to our lamps, we so desperately need to be prepared and ready for what will come. the past 18 months have spoken volumes to many about the importance of being prepared. so many were taken unawares by the pandemic that appeared seemingly out of nowhere last year, myself included. i had some things i needed, but not nearly enough... now i am certainly better prepared than before. we can always do more, but i am on the right track.

the most important thing, is to be ready - and mindful of others. showing kindness and sharing our love and what we have with others. kindness never goes astray. we need to be filling our oil drop by drop, so we can be ready when midnight finally comes. i am a great lover of being organised and prepared for anything, so i have always loved the parable of the 10 virgins. 

if you're not a member of our faith and you're wondering what i'm on about - you can read more about the 10 virgins here.

forms, forms and more forms

oh look at that, it's estate paperwork overload 2.0. i swore i would never do it again after completing the whole lot for doug's dad last year, but here we are - because 1. who else is going to do it and 2. i guess me because i have already done it once and i guess i know what i'm doing.

so here we go... superannuation, banks, life insurance, bills, foxtel... you name it, it's got to be sorted and will be the end of a million phone calls and pages and pages of paperwork. but i can and will do it. these things take time and i guess i have plenty of that now. it will certainly keep me busy though, that's for certain.

mask making

now that we have to wear masks again, i thought it would be fun to make some from the school tartan for the kids teachers. 

joseph's teacher had one that was a great shape and i borrowed it for a few minutes to make a rough pattern, which i took home and got to work. 

school tartan one side, a cute blue floral the other, so i guess they could be worn either way - and then thin hat elastic to hold the sides in place. they were a first attempt and certainly were not perfect, but i think with a little practice i could get them looking nicer.

but i did think they were fun - matching with the dresses - and the teachers thought so too. both of them said they had been worn, so that's a good thing! 

emptying a house

further to my last post... we have gotten so much done! these bags are already ready to be donated to one of the local charity shops, heaps of items are sold or sold pending collection - and we still have a world of work to do, but we are getting there. the biggest issue is not having doug's sister here to help, i keep putting things to one side to call her about and hoping i can get her when one of us isn't sleeping. 

as things did when steve passed away, they are somehow working out. my parents have bought oli's car and a whole pile of other household items. friends from church have messaged with requests of things they are after and bought them. my brother has bought some items for his older children to have in their homes... it's all working out slowly.

the recycling bin is overflowing with years of old paperwork... and we are still going.

 

lockdowwwwwwn...

we may be in lockdown, but we are not at home. being that there is no one at oli's house, we made an executive decision to use this lockdown period to get a start on cleaning out/ emptying her house  because it is a rental and at some stage we need to return the keys to the owner. we got to work, emptying drawers and the wardrobe, listing furniture, kitchen and larger items on marketplace... which we are already getting enquiries about for collection after the lockdown period. 

although we are all missing grandma terribly, the kids think this is a big adventure... they are having a ball with the sprinkler on the trampoline... having picnics on the loungeroom floor eating random food from the pantry and freezer that is still here... speaking of which - i have just inherited another pantry. this is the 3rd time this has happened to me and my food storage is growing. i'd really rather it hadn't happened this way! :(

there is a good few weeks of work ahead of this, but we have certainly made a good start with our efforts during lockdown. what a blessing to be able to get a head start on it.

 

outback splash

because we had decided to go to outback splash in the school holidays with our cousinbesties the niupalaus, until our plans were very much changed... we decided to play hooky from school today and sneak off the day before the long weekend, while there was (hopefully) no one there, instead of going on a saturday.

turns out you should always listen to that little voice, as while we were there (with the place indeed pretty much to ourselves) a snap 3 day lockdown was announced after an outbreak of covid-19 was detected in the community. 

we had everything we needed at home, so we remained at the park until it closed and drove home to make the 6pm curfew - and the kids had the time of their lives.

although the water wasn't very  warm, you would have never known while their crew did the slides and ran about

while this dad caught up with the latest news in sport

and cuddled the cold toddler while he warmed up

the kids all also did a run through the mazes, which are adjacent to the water park and included in the daily admission.

our model child posing for yet another photo.

i never thought i would be the mum letting her kids have the day off school without a really good reason, but in the past few years things have changed. sometimes you just have to listen to that voice telling you books and pens can wait awhile and run away for the day. i'm so glad i heard it.

today was a good day. ❤

not a care in the world

after all the stress and effort the last few weeks has involved, i loved seeing this today. alex and i went to the park and he sat on the swing and giggled and loved every moment of his freedom. 

i have no idea how on earth he stayed on, with the way he was leaning back as i pushed him back and forth, but i am just so glad he is happy, without a care in the world. he has no idea what is ahead of us with emptying oli's house, all the paperwork and all the sorting of everything.

and that's good. i'm so glad he doesn't have anything to worry about and can just be a toddler. that's the way life should be for him. ❤