Two Bads, Three Goods

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In an attempt to get my children to open up more and to become more involved in my children's lives, I often ask them to share two bad things and three good things that happened during their day. I make sure that the good things outnumber the bad and that we end on the good, so we can leave the conversation with the positive experiences freshest on their minds.

The other day, I thought that maybe, on those days when I really don't have anything too exciting to write about or I don't think I have the energy that I feel I need to write (which seems to be the case more often than I'd like to admit lately), that I should just share my two bads and three goods with you.

So, here are today's bads and goods.

Bad:

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• One of my children is making my life a real struggle. It's actually been going on for quite some time. I am attempting to find the answer to this problem. The thing that I'm learning is that it's up to me. I can do nothing to change this child, but I can alter my actions and responses. That is all, and then hope that the patterns of interaction, on both our parts, will change for the better. We have a downward spiral going on--the bad leads to worse--and I know that it's up to me to be the one that's strong enough to fight the tide and reverse the spiral. This problem now is how?
• One of my children has a HUGE problem with obedience right now. With the other child's on-going issues, this, I'm finding, must be handled at the same time. TRICKY!

Good:

• I went to help at a friend's wedding reception this evening. Everything was so beautifully done. I loved that #3 was there working beside me. It was great to be in the company of the wonderful women who were doing all of this work. With the problems going on, as listed in my first "bad" bullet-point, I'm finding that I don't have the energy or desire to be with anyone, so it's been awhile since I've allowed myself to be in this kind of situation. It was very refreshing.
• Went shopping with #4 to get things he needed for scout camp this coming week. I also purchased some things for Portland-to-Coast.



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• Took #7 to a toy research study. She watched some things on a computer screen and had to answer some questions. When all was said and done, they sent her home with a big Polly Pocket set. It was so fun to spend time just with her. She suddenly seems so grown up to me.

I'm sorry, but I HAVE to add a fourth good thing. The BEST thing about Saturdays.

We received an email from #1. I posted it here already, but she'll be moving on to the Philippines in two weeks. Very exciting! 

From what I just read this evening, they're starting to send missionaries called to the Philippines (at least some of them) to the MTC in the Philippines. I think that's great, but I have been happy to have #1 in the U.S. for just this little bit longer.

There you have it, the bads and the goods for today. Not too thrilling, but let's face it, that's life.

#1's Weekly Email: Week #4

Here's this week's email. A lot of this is in response to things I wrote to her. I also received two letters from her this week. She's doing very well.

Okey dokey. So this'll be my weekly email. I seriously wish that we could just email all the time cuz then I'd never have to write a letter. I'm seriously getting calluses on my hands from how much I'm writing. My pinky has left a permanant indent in the palm of my hand :P

So to answer your questions. Brother C's little boy, Arthur, is adorable. He showed us pictures of him. So stinking cute. About the blanket. I talked to the girls and we all decided that that is a genius idea. You can just send it to me and we'll give it to him. We're the last group that he gets to teach dahil you can only teach at the MTC for three years. It's very sad.

Can you get the Prince of Egypt sheet music from K and send it to me with the rest of the music? It's called "When You Believe." All of us wanna sing it so badly.

Thanks for ordering the card reader. Hopefully it'll get here soon. I'm attaching a pic of my name tag cuz #3 wanted it.

Speaking of name tags, we only get the ones we have. We will be called Sister in the Philippines and the church is called the English name sa Tagalog because that's how it's spelled on the church buildings... Kinda lame but it's ok.

Yay! I'm so excited to go shopping. All of us over here are already sick of our clothes. Wearing the same things week after week is soooooo dumb. And I know that once I get back I'll be shocked as to how much we have. It usually takes a while for missionaries to get used to living the American way after coming back from a third world country.

So our other teacher is Sister S. She's been off her mission for about a year and she is awesome. She's so sweet. Oh and she's 6'2" and blonde. Ha! Imagine her being over there :)

Are you allowed to just show up at the Portland airport to see me? Is that okay? It would be amazing to see you guys but I don't want to break the rules. Oh and the district older than us leaves and then we'll be the old ones here. We get our flight plans on this. I'm so excited! So I'll let you know where we're landing I guess.

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I am sobrang jealous about 7/11. Seriously we were all sitting in class and were like Dangit! It's 7/11! We all started making plans about how to get a free slurpee but honestly we couldn't think of a way that wouldn't be breaking the rules. So... no slurpees for us. Darn.

And of course I use smiley faces! How on earth would you know how I'm feeling otherwise? :)

Yes, we SYL. I try to do it a lot but it's really hard to get my brain to translate from Tagalog into English. It hurts my head sometimes. But it is getting easier.

Tell #2 that he needs to man up and just get the Eagle over with.

Seriously life would be so much easier if he'd just do it. And then he can start learning to drive little blue. Pero, I don't want him to wreck her. I still want to drive her when I get home.

Oh and could you tell B that it's not "magandang araw" for the hello song. It's "kumusta." That's a lot easier to sing :)

Ok so this week has been fun. Nothing really big has happened. Just a typical week here. The food's still amazing. The spirit is still strong. The people are still awesome. And the church is still true. Yay! haha

Oh we're all becoming really good friends with the new elders that came in last week. They're all super funny. We call one of them Elder Teddy Bear because he looks like a big teddy bear and his companion is Elder Idaho because all he talks about is Idaho. They're so fun to mess with.

And I think that's everything I wanted to tell you. I love you guys and I miss you but it's all good cuz I know this is where I'm supposed to be right now.

Mahal kita!

Kapayapaan sa labas! (literally, peace out :))

-Sister Hess

Some Days All It Takes is an Orange

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The hotel we're staying at has the MOST amazing breakfast. You go down to the dining room, and they have made-to-order omelets. Wow! SO delicious! I just tell them, "Throw in a little bit of everything." They cook it up, and life is good.

Two mornings of that, and I feel VERY spoiled.

As I head back up to my room, I grab an orange to eat later.

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This morning, I peel the orange and the wheels in my brain just start to turning. I pull the peel off in one large piece. As I detach it, the white part just smoothly pulls away from the orange itself. As I section it, I get to wondering about oranges. How do they know to section the way they do? How do they each grow in such a perfect way? I have never yet peeled an orange to find there are no sections. That white stuff has always come off. Sometimes it's required a bit of work on my part, but so far, so good.

Maybe this is a silly thing to ponder, but as I look at that orange, I look

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at myself....I am who I am not by chance. My children are who they are not because of some random circumstances. The people that pass me on the street aren't thrown together by some wind of chance or a blast in the cosmos. An orange is an orange because it was made to be an orange.

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I am sometimes very dissatisfied with myself. My weaknesses overcome me. I become frustrated at this set of abilities and this set of imperfections that I attempt to work with and through each day.

But, this morning, as I taste the sweetness of the orange and work my way around the seeds, I understand something that I needed to remember....I was made this way for a reason, and more likely, many reasons.

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So, take the bad with the good--dig your nails in and peel off the rind, section it out, and work around the seeds to taste the sweetness of life. Oranges are oranges because they were made to be oranges.

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Returning After Many Years

Hoping to go here tonight....

I haven't been to this temple since April 7, 1989. How do I remember the date? It was the first time I entered the temple as an adult. My younger brother and I went together with our parents. The Portland Temple was under construction, and we were both bound for missions, so this was our temple at that time.

So looking forward to going back!