Crying

Crying

“Crying is how your body speaks when your mouth can’t explain the pain you feel.”

The truth is that I cry at weddings, funerals, movies, I cry easily. I am an emotional person and I especially cry when I see one of my children cry. Yesterday my husband was out of town and I went on to listen to my daughter Cristi do her live Facebook Parenting video and I cried. 

I cried because I wanted to be with her and I can’t. I live in the Philippines and she lives in Boise Idaho.

 As excited as I am for my new phase of life, this week has been much harder than I ever anticipated.  The Area Presidency who all live in the same apartment complex we do went home for General Conference. It’s amazing how close you grow to people when you work with them day in and day out for almost two years. You learn from their example. You see each other go through trials.  You see each other’s joys.  You see each other overcome challenges. You see each other’s successes.  You celebrate the births and mourn the deaths together.  You really do become like a family and for that reason I wished we had also gone to Utah with them.  

And that is why I decided that today, it is okay for me to cry.  This weekend as I will listen to General Conference it’s okay for me to process those feelings of sadness and change knowing I am so far away from our children and grandchildren who reside in Utah. Normally I say to people “be strong, there is no need to cry because it is all going to be okay in the end”, but the fact is that every now and then I think it is okay to have a good cry and let it all out, and so today I won’t feel bad for crying. My children and grandchildren are truly worth crying over!

I need to look at all the good things and blessings happening to us. We have been so lucky and it has been such an honor to have people of incredible caliber as a part of our life each day.  They made getting up and coming to work for my husband each day an incredible experience.  They made the tough times easier and the happy times more joyous.  I can honestly say that I have been the luckiest wife of a DTA in the entire world.

The love and support our friends, brothers and sisters, employees and missionaries have given us these last seven plus years has been truly humbling. 

When I saw my daughter crying I was taken and truly thankful for all the expressions of love, support and outpouring of kindness she received right on the spot. It was truly overwhelming and it has been more meaningful to me to see angels administering to her, including her sister Bianca who is visiting her at this very crucial time.

 Thank you Cristi for your passion to teach parenting techniques to women who are trying their best to be better mothers and who want to change their lives and the lives of their children for the better.  I love you more than I could ever put into words and that you will ever know.  I hope that whatever is making you feel sad would be another wonderful opportunity to grow.

Con amor,

Vero

Vero's Zucchini Rolls

This is the appetizer I have been wanting to make ever since the Relief Society birthday party and they are a hit! I had Glena my helper try them and she said: "They are delicious" It is a winner! I absolutely love this recipe!

A couple of weeks ago the Relief Society had a social event to celebrate Relief Society's anniversary. The theme was "roll up your sleeves" and every one who had a type of a roll recipe such as spring rolls, cinnamon rolls etc. was welcome to bring it to the party to share. The party was a great success with all kinds of rolls you can probably find on Pinterest.

 I thought of making zucchini rolls but din't have chives. However, I think I could have been able to make it even without the chives because it tasted good without it. Today,  since Daniel is out of town and we are having company on Saturday, I decided to try this recipe. Anytime Daniel is away I like to try out new recipes to taste before I make it for him or any guests, I went to get the chives and made this one today.

I will re-name this recipe "Vero's Zucchini rolls" because I made some changes to the recipe.

You will need:
2 or 3 zucchini
100 gr. Philadelphia cream Cheese
50 - 100 gr. ham
1 teaspoon of red onion (optional)
1 Tablespoon chives (optional)
salt and pepper to taste

Preparation:
Slice the zucchini as thin as you can and grill it. Set aside to cool
Mix cheese, ham, chopped chives, salt and pepper. ( I did't have ham this time since I used it all up so I used my canned ham from my storage.) It comes in a form of Pate and it works even better. Other wise I would have to cut up the ham in very small pieces. This mixture is spread over the zucchini and rolled up. To tie the roll use the strings of chive leaves.

When I tasted the ham and cheese I figured that with those two main ingredients, you can actually make this recipe. You can do without the onions and chives. However, it was great to have the chives because that is what I used to wrap the rolls but I supposed you can use any other leaf like a banana leaf. It is mostly for decoration.

I know so many people who don't know what to do with all the zucchini they harvest when Summer comes along. Try this one. You can eat it cold!

Con amor,
Vero

Holy Family Care Center

Today I attended a group discussion with Damas Latinas at the Holy Family care center orphanage. The presenter, Sor Jenny was showing us a power point presentation of the vision and mission of the home which houses about 25 girls in transition from the center back to their homes. 

She made it known various times  that the girls were only there temporarily and that they were free to chose if they wanted to stay or leave. As she was explaining the purpose of the center, I thought of how free agency is at the core of all of what we do. The following thoughts came to mind as I was listening. 

 Every day we make choices. Some are minute. Some are major. I could have chosen not to get out of my home and instead, stay in bed a little longer but I chose to get ready to be out the door by 9:00 a.m. which is hard to do if you have been up all night like I was. I could choose to wear a dress or pants. I wore pants because I didn't know if I was going to be actively doing involved in some activity. We choose to smile or we choose to frown. We choose to get offended or we choose to let it roll off our backs.  We choose to hold a grudge or we choose to forgive.  We choose to take time to help someone in need or we choose to rush by telling ourselves we are simply too busy to help. The list of choices we make each day goes on and on. So the million dollar question of me this day was, do I have the time? 

 Some choices we make without even consciously thinking about them.  We are constantly making choices every second of every day: It is true that we may not choose or control is the things other people do or say to us, but we always choose the way we react to them.  We always choose our own actions and behavior and response.  We always have a choice.  Always.  True, we may not always choose every circumstance we find ourselves in, but we still always have a choice on how we will deal with things.

One of the easiest traps to fall into is the trap of believing that you don’t always have a choice.  Some people find themselves in circumstances so daunting that they begin to believe that they don’t have a choice and they allow themselves to feel  helpless.  The more helpless you allow yourself to believe you are, the more you become frozen from taking action to change your situation.  You may not even realize you are doing it, but by allowing yourself to think you don’t have a choice, you are actually making a choice.  Sure you may not be making it consciously, but the reality is that you are, in fact, making a choice. 

 It takes courage to take action.  That is true.  Sometimes it is scary and uncertain, but nothing in your life will change unless you make the choice to be proactive and take ownership for changing your own future.   Don’t wait for someone else to make your life better, it is not their life, it is your life, and your future belongs to your choices and your choices only.

Sor Jenny explained how if we want a better tomorrow then make the best choices we can today.   Never lose sight of the fact that we always have a choice, and always try to make the right choice.  If you have two good choices where one isn’t necessarily right and one wrong, then make the best choice you can with the knowledge and experience you have to draw upon.  Then move forward with confidence and optimism.  Don’t become frozen with fear of the unknown. 

 Everything has elements of unknown, even those choices that seem to lead to a guaranteed outcome, because rarely is everything guaranteed to go as planned.  At this point I would guess that all of us have learned that lesson the hard way.  Life is never certain, so you have to learn to trust your instincts and have faith in your choices. Then move forward with them. I wrote the names down of all 25 girls who are choosing to follow certain rules in order to be cared for and safe. That was a choice they made. Others, sadly, leave and go back to the streets and that is their choice too. 

“Our choices have the undeniable power of transforming our lives.”  -Jose A. Teixeira

If you are thinking to yourself, “what if I make a choice and it turns out to be wrong and I fail?  Okay, so what?  Learn from it, grow from it, get smarter from it, and then move forward knowing that at least you tried.  At least you chose not to be a helpless victim.  At least you took control and tried to do the right thing.  At least you are trying to make your life better instead of choosing to do nothing. You are choosing to take charge of your life and you are choosing to become a better person with each choice you make.  I would call that a success. 

Tho whole purpose of this home is to empower the girls to make their own decisions someday and make right choices and to not be so dependent on the nuns that have cared for them. The girls can be in the home for up to five years but eventually they need to figure out a way to be on their own. The girls were mostly neglected and have to become independent by the time they need to go back into the "world."

 “We can let the circumstances of our lives harden us so that we become increasingly resentful and afraid, or we can let them soften us, and make us kinder. We always have the choice.”  –Dalai Lama 

Next week is the start of a new month. Today is the start of a brand new day.  Look at your life and decide what choices will make it better, then make them!  We were there to see in what ways we could help and it is going to be up to us, if we want to do something about it or not! 

Con amor,

Vero

The M & M game

Yesterday I attended a FHE with the missionary couples. It was so fun to get to know people as we played a simple game. 

Each person got to choose one M&M this was not be eaten but to know what color we each chose and depending of the color we needed to answer the following question: 

For Blue: What things do you like to do in your spare time 
For Red: What would you rather do, go to the deep ocean or space
For Yellow: What is your favorite song or Hymn
For green: What animal describes you and why?
For Orange: What was your dream job when you were a child and why? 
For Brown: If you want to visit a special place in the world which one would that be? 

I selected Blue and told them I love to write on my spare time. 
What a simple silly game but so fun. No right or wrong answers and those are the type of games I like! 

Con amor,
Vero

The kindness of a stranger

Last week I found an old photo that brought back a tender memory of the kindness of a stranger. The picture has some water damage but it still shows the faces of three little girls over 25 years ago.

The setting was a busy store where my sister Liz, her family and my girls and I went shopping for souvenirs on our way back from Orlando to Miami where my sister and family lived at the time.  We had been enjoying the parks in Orlando so it was time to stop at a mall to buy a few things.

We were all together watching each other’s kids when I got destructed looking at some things to buy when all of the sudden here comes in the store a gentleman with a little girl in his arms and a police officer asking if anyone knew who this little girl belonged to?

As I looked at them, I couldn’t believe my eyes. That little one year old little girl was my Mandy! I felt petrified and in shock to even think she had gotten out of the store into a parking lot without me knowing. Somehow I thought she was being watched by my sister and brother in law and they thought she was with me.

I can’t tell you the impact that one experience has had in my life that I have never ever forgotten about it.  First, it was a huge relief that my baby girl was okay. But second, it was an amazing thing to know the kindness of this person I didn’t know. What an angel he was to have done that. His kindness was truly humbling. He handed Mandy to me after I proved to the officer she was my daughter by showing him a picture of our family I was carrying in my wallet. That is the exact picture I found. Mandy was of course in the picture.  

The policeman handed Mandy to me with some hesitation as to saying to me: “what kind of a mother are you”?  I know, I deserved to be scolded. I had lost my child and didn’t even know it. Lesson learned! Never assumed your child is in the care of someone else and never lose sight of your child that small and quick even for a second.

 Another lesson I learned that day was the kindness of a stranger who took the time of his day to find this child her mother. Too bad we never exchanged contact information because I would have wanted to thank him but I hope somehow he realizes how deeply grateful I am for returning my child.

I love the scripture that reads: “BE NOT FORGETFUL TO ENTERTAIN STRANGERS: FOR THEREBY SOME HAVE ENTERTAINED ANGELS UNAWARES.” (Hebrew 13:2)

That quote reminds me that we should always be mindful of others, even strangers that we haven’t met or gotten to know, because you may be touching the life of someone very special. We just never know the impact that we can have on another person’s life.

My letter today is dedicated to this fellow with no name who went out of his way to reach out to find my daughter, her mother. I hope that I can take his example into my life and make sure that I pay more attention to the kind things that I can do for another; even someone who I may not even know.

Today’s challenge for me is to find an opportunity to touch someone’s life just like this person with his kindness so long ago, touched mine.

May we all do better to be more mindful of strangers…

Con amor,

Vero