Our holiday with my mom - January at the South Coast

 

And such is dying...

SUCH IS DYING

I am standing upon the seashore.  

A ship at my side spreads her white sails to the morning breeze and starts for the blue ocean. 

She is an object of beauty and strength 

and I stand and watch her until at length she hangs like a speck of white cloud

 just where the sea and sky come to mingle with each other.  

Then someone at my side says:  "There!  She's gone!"

Gone where?  

Gone from my sight, that is all.  

She is just as large in mast and hull and spar 

as she was when she left my side,

and just as able to bear her load of living weight to the place of destination.

Her diminished size is in me, not is her; 

and just at the moment when someone at my side says:  

"There!  She's gone!" there are other eyes watching her coming 

and other voices ready to take up the glad shout, 

"Here she comes!"

- and such is dying.

My Dad  gave this poem to me in the winter of 2010.  We were chatting after Kerry's funeral and he asked me to give this poem to her parents.  He said I should read it before I gave it to them.  I remember being deeply touched by it.  Little did I know the significance it would hold for me a few years later.

My dad was involved in a car accident on the 9th of October 2012.  He was on his way to work after dropping the children off at seminary.  It was rainy and my heroic dad, who I thought was immortal crashed into a concrete pillar going under a bridge.  He lost control of the car.  I had written to him asking for my brother's email address for his mission that very morning.  It is so hard to look at that email and know that he would never answer it.

My Crazy Dog

We have been having a heat wave this week and our dog took full advantage of me watering the garden.

Tears that don't stop

Today I went Visiting Teaching. We had been given a new assignment.  I had sat next to this sister once in church and her children played with Orin's crayons and coloured in.  Well today I went to visit her in her home.  I was immediately so humbled.  Her husband and herself and two small children are living in a room about the size of a double bed plus maybe another metre on each side.  Everything was so neat and clean and each item had been assigned a specific place.

We chatted for a while as we sat on her bed, playing with the children.  After my companion had given the lesson she stood up and started dishing up two plates of food for us.  She said that she had eaten already and I wondered if she was going without lunch so that we could eat as it was only eleven o'clock.  The food was simple but delicious and I could barely keep my emotions in check as I ate.

I have spent the whole afternoon thinking of ways that I can help her and her family to be more comfortable.  They are both such nice people and always seem so happy at church.  And I think they ARE happy, but what can I do to change their lives.  I got to thinking about the heaviness I feel, so helpless to provide a bigger room for them.  Will we feel such strong, painful feelings of empathy for those that suffer once we pass on.  Logan's Dad told me that he thinks we will.  Heavenly Father weeps for us as we make mistakes and as He sees His children suffer.  I think maybe we will feel less powerless to help those that need us and that will make all the difference.

Happenings in August

August has flown by at lightning speed.  At the beginning of August I took photos of my good friend Becky and her mom.  Becky's mom had come over to South Africa to visit with her after the birth of her baby.  This photo was taken a few days before she flew back to England.

On the fourth I took a few pictures of the Holmes' new grandson.  They are away on a mission in Ghana and I thought they might like to see a few pictures of the little man.

Blessing day of Becky's little one.

Then for the big event of the year:  Snow day!

Relief Society Women's conference in Benoni.  I was asked to take pictures.  The light wasn't so great but it was a wonderful conference.  Left feeling very inspired.

We had our yearly dose of coughs and colds.  Orin got very sick compared to the others ( I always wonder if it is because of being born prematurely.

Kyle had a birthday.  We combined the day with his uncle's birthday.

My mom made me a new set of bedding.  She is such a star!

We said goodbye to my little brother Jeremy.  He left to go on a mission in London, England.  I felt so proud of him and was glad my boys could see some of the process.

Here is the huge gathering to see him goodbye.  This is just siblings and parents.   Two of my brothers are missing.

Seminary ended.  This was a sunrise picture I took on the second last day.