Sunday, May 5, 2013
Saturday, May 4, 2013
Thursday, May 2, 2013
No, I am not falling off the wagon...
I'm just a little late. OK, a few days late. But better late than never, right?
It has been a big week for the Gisseman family. Biggest news? Alyssa is home from BYU and had a great freshman year. She had so many growth experiences and has matured so much. It's SO good to have her home. She finished her second semester with all As and one A- (which is still an A to me). She also landed her first job just a couple of days after getting home -- she starts her job at the Ann Taylor Outlet today. She also started taking the missionary prep class at church on Sunday. Things are going well for her. Blessings abound and we are truly grateful. Her mission papers went in last Friday so now we're in the dreaded waiting period...waiting to find out where the Lord needs her to serve. It's an exciting time.
Brie, unfortunately, has not had such a great week. She suffered a head injury in her soccer game over the weekend which resulted in her missing school and soccer practice on Monday. She also had to sit out most of soccer practice yesterday, although she was able to attend. She's still having some headaches but is doing much better than she was. Poor girl...but at least we made it through two sports (volleyball and basketball) with no injuries. That's got to be a record for her. In good news, though, her birthday is coming up and she's having a birthday party this weekend, complete with a barbeque and glow-in-the-dark outdoor activities. I hope it turns out to be fun and that she and her friends enjoy it.
We have a houseguest with us for a while. My friend Paula got a job in the DC area and is staying with us while she and her husband make some decisions about their living situation. We're excited to have her with us. She and her sense of humor fit right in around our crazy dinner table. :-)
Still no update on the furlough situation. The FAA and Dept of Justice have now cancelled their furloughs. DoD is still sitting at 14 furlough days, but we're hearing they may reduce it to 7 days....I'm still obviously hoping and praying for no furlough days.
They started a Zumba class at church on Saturday and I went. It was SO much fun! I don't think I've ever sweated that much in my life...and I don't like to sweat...but I had so much fun. I have missed dancing so much. I found out that there is at least one studio in the area that offers adult classes and their prices sound really good, so I'm going to look into that and hopefully start taking ballet again. In the meantime, Zumba is a total blast and such a good workout! I'd love to do ballet one day and Zumba on another day...exercising twice per week is twice as much as I'm doing right now. :-)
Life is good and we really can't complain. We are very blessed.
It has been a big week for the Gisseman family. Biggest news? Alyssa is home from BYU and had a great freshman year. She had so many growth experiences and has matured so much. It's SO good to have her home. She finished her second semester with all As and one A- (which is still an A to me). She also landed her first job just a couple of days after getting home -- she starts her job at the Ann Taylor Outlet today. She also started taking the missionary prep class at church on Sunday. Things are going well for her. Blessings abound and we are truly grateful. Her mission papers went in last Friday so now we're in the dreaded waiting period...waiting to find out where the Lord needs her to serve. It's an exciting time.
Brie, unfortunately, has not had such a great week. She suffered a head injury in her soccer game over the weekend which resulted in her missing school and soccer practice on Monday. She also had to sit out most of soccer practice yesterday, although she was able to attend. She's still having some headaches but is doing much better than she was. Poor girl...but at least we made it through two sports (volleyball and basketball) with no injuries. That's got to be a record for her. In good news, though, her birthday is coming up and she's having a birthday party this weekend, complete with a barbeque and glow-in-the-dark outdoor activities. I hope it turns out to be fun and that she and her friends enjoy it.
We have a houseguest with us for a while. My friend Paula got a job in the DC area and is staying with us while she and her husband make some decisions about their living situation. We're excited to have her with us. She and her sense of humor fit right in around our crazy dinner table. :-)
Still no update on the furlough situation. The FAA and Dept of Justice have now cancelled their furloughs. DoD is still sitting at 14 furlough days, but we're hearing they may reduce it to 7 days....I'm still obviously hoping and praying for no furlough days.
They started a Zumba class at church on Saturday and I went. It was SO much fun! I don't think I've ever sweated that much in my life...and I don't like to sweat...but I had so much fun. I have missed dancing so much. I found out that there is at least one studio in the area that offers adult classes and their prices sound really good, so I'm going to look into that and hopefully start taking ballet again. In the meantime, Zumba is a total blast and such a good workout! I'd love to do ballet one day and Zumba on another day...exercising twice per week is twice as much as I'm doing right now. :-)
Life is good and we really can't complain. We are very blessed.
Sunday, April 21, 2013
And She Scores!
The big news of this week is Brienna's goal in her soccer game yesterday. For the last several years she has played defense...very few opportunities to score from defense (although she did actually score in a game a few years ago...from a defense position). Yesterday she had two that almost went in (one hit the crossbar) and one that went in. Yea! Very exciting. Her soccer team won their game yesterday 4-0. After the game she and I went to lunch at Red Robin with the family of one of her friends/teammates. It was fun. Then last night that same friend came over to hang out with her while Mark and I went to the movies with her parents (Dean and Kristin Coleman) and another couple at church (Jeff and Annie Greene). We saw the new Tom Cruise movie, "Oblivion." I don't generally like action/suspense movies and kept my eyes diverted in this one more than I needed to (I don't like blood and guts but there wasn't much of that in this movie)...the suspenseful music kept making me hide my eyes. LOL But the storyline was good, if not a rehash of other sci-fi movies. It was almost like the movie was an homage to sci-fi movies...I saw nods to Star Trek, Wall-E, Armageddon. Even though the movies isn't getting great reviews for its plot, I enjoyed it and it really made me think. I love analyzing books and movies and so I'm still working my way through analyzing this one. I need to see it again, I think. There were two unnecessary scenes that really didn't contribute to the storyline and could have (should have) been omitted, and a few swear words but not as much swearing as I expected. And we had a lot of fun hanging out with the Colemans and Greenes.
Friday night was a ward activity for the adults. I usually don't care much for ward activities but I enjoyed this one. We started with a pasta dinner and then had three presentations -- communication for couples, finances for couples, and family worship Lots to think about and lots of things we need to start or do better in our family.
Alyssa has finished most of her finals -- only two to go. She is doing well and getting good grades. We're so proud of her, and can't wait to have her home this weekend! Her mission papers will be submitted on Friday.
Brie also received an award this week for straight A honor roll. I love that our daughters do well in school, that it comes easily to them, and that they want to do well. What a blessing!
I taught Relief Society today. The lesson was on trials and tribulations. There have certainly been enough of those in the world in the last couple of weeks. The Boston Marathon bombing this week (I'm so glad they caught the guys who did it, although one died in a shootout with the police), my friend Kristie Escoe losing her husband to cancer, my friend Amanda Jarvis losing her husband, my friend Tammy Hicks losing her mother (who is also my friend Nancy Macedone's aunt) to cancer....the fertilizer plant exlosion in Texas, and two major earthquakes...one in China and the other in the Middle East. I'm so grateful for General Conference two weeks ago and the messages of finding peace in troubled times that were shared. How incredibly timely. As my wise Relief Society President, Melaney Tagg said, there are no coincidences in the gospel. I firmly believe that. It was not coincidental that the conference speakers shared the messages they did when they did. I am grateful for that.
Anyway, it was against this backdrop that I gave the lesson today. We talked about why we have trials, tribulations, and temptations...what we learn from those experiences and why they are important...what we become as a result of those experiences and why that is important...how to deal with those experiences,,,how to help others deal with those experiences. I feel like it went well. One of the quotes in the lesson talked about how easy life would be without trials, but how complacent we would become. I just finished reading (ok, listening to) 4th Nephi this week and was struck by the cycle that the Nephites went through all through the Book of Mormon...as they became prosperous for a lengthy period of time, they would become prideful, turn away from God, and then go through trials and tribulations and eventually turn back to God. If we didn't have trials, how easy it would be to become complacent and how difficult it would be to learn compassion, humility, and dependence on the Lord. I'm not saying I enjoy my trials, but the lesson gave me a better outlook on them.
I was also struck by the fact that the Savior himself felt and expressed feelings associated with trials and tribulation -- tears, sorrow, frustration. Mormon expressed such sorrow and shed so many tears over the fallen Nephites. The image of President Hinckley weeping at his wife's funeral has stuck with me for a few years. From these examples we learn that tears are normal and natural...frustration and anger and sorrow are normal and natural. The key is to feel them but not to dwell in them. To move from a place of darkness to a place where the light of the Savior and the gospel can reach us and to lose ourselves in service to others, while allowing others to serve us. Easier said than done.
What's in store for the Gisseman family this week? Getting ready for Alyssa's homecoming. Can't wait!!!!!
Friday night was a ward activity for the adults. I usually don't care much for ward activities but I enjoyed this one. We started with a pasta dinner and then had three presentations -- communication for couples, finances for couples, and family worship Lots to think about and lots of things we need to start or do better in our family.
Alyssa has finished most of her finals -- only two to go. She is doing well and getting good grades. We're so proud of her, and can't wait to have her home this weekend! Her mission papers will be submitted on Friday.
Brie also received an award this week for straight A honor roll. I love that our daughters do well in school, that it comes easily to them, and that they want to do well. What a blessing!
I taught Relief Society today. The lesson was on trials and tribulations. There have certainly been enough of those in the world in the last couple of weeks. The Boston Marathon bombing this week (I'm so glad they caught the guys who did it, although one died in a shootout with the police), my friend Kristie Escoe losing her husband to cancer, my friend Amanda Jarvis losing her husband, my friend Tammy Hicks losing her mother (who is also my friend Nancy Macedone's aunt) to cancer....the fertilizer plant exlosion in Texas, and two major earthquakes...one in China and the other in the Middle East. I'm so grateful for General Conference two weeks ago and the messages of finding peace in troubled times that were shared. How incredibly timely. As my wise Relief Society President, Melaney Tagg said, there are no coincidences in the gospel. I firmly believe that. It was not coincidental that the conference speakers shared the messages they did when they did. I am grateful for that.
Anyway, it was against this backdrop that I gave the lesson today. We talked about why we have trials, tribulations, and temptations...what we learn from those experiences and why they are important...what we become as a result of those experiences and why that is important...how to deal with those experiences,,,how to help others deal with those experiences. I feel like it went well. One of the quotes in the lesson talked about how easy life would be without trials, but how complacent we would become. I just finished reading (ok, listening to) 4th Nephi this week and was struck by the cycle that the Nephites went through all through the Book of Mormon...as they became prosperous for a lengthy period of time, they would become prideful, turn away from God, and then go through trials and tribulations and eventually turn back to God. If we didn't have trials, how easy it would be to become complacent and how difficult it would be to learn compassion, humility, and dependence on the Lord. I'm not saying I enjoy my trials, but the lesson gave me a better outlook on them.
I was also struck by the fact that the Savior himself felt and expressed feelings associated with trials and tribulation -- tears, sorrow, frustration. Mormon expressed such sorrow and shed so many tears over the fallen Nephites. The image of President Hinckley weeping at his wife's funeral has stuck with me for a few years. From these examples we learn that tears are normal and natural...frustration and anger and sorrow are normal and natural. The key is to feel them but not to dwell in them. To move from a place of darkness to a place where the light of the Savior and the gospel can reach us and to lose ourselves in service to others, while allowing others to serve us. Easier said than done.
What's in store for the Gisseman family this week? Getting ready for Alyssa's homecoming. Can't wait!!!!!
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