A complicated love story.

I teach a Primary class in Church for children ages 8 to 11. Yesterday it was about the story in the bible of Jacob and Rachel. A beautiful story of Jacob's love for Rachel as he saw her for the first time. It was a love at first sight no doubt.

Jacob asked for her hand in marriage to his uncle Laban so the agreement was that Jacob work for his uncle for seven years in order to marry Rachel. When the seven years finally are up, he cant't wait to be with his beloved Rachel but Laban tricks him and gives him Leah instead.

Jacob now has to work for another seven years for Rachel but this time he can be marrid to Rachel also and this is where it gets complicated because the kids asked: Did he marry both at the same time? yes, I said. My goodnes this is hard to explain. But not only that, Leah starts having children and Rachel is barren just like Sarah so there is some envy and rivalry between the two sisters.

At this point Rachel gives her handmaid Bilhah to Jacob to be used as a surrogate mother and Leah desides to do the same thing with her handmaid Zilpah so in the end due to the bitter feelings of these two sisters, Jacob ends up with four wives and twelve children. (Poligamy is one of those things I will never understand in this life)  In the end Rachael dies after giving birth to her son Benjamin.

At the end of the lesson I had the children write down the sons of Jacob also known as Israel because he changed his name from Jacob to Israel and their posterity would be known as the twelve tribes of Israel.
 Leah had: Reuben, Simeon, Levi and Juda, Inssachar, and Zebulun  
Rachel had: Joseph and Benjamin
Bilhah had: Dan and Naphtali
Zilpah had: Gad and Asher
Now I don't feel too bad about any family with step brothers and sistes like mine.

To be spiritually fed

I love this time of the year every six months when we get to hear the most inspired talks by the Lord's true desciples at General Conference. I took a few notes from many of the talks and plan to listen to them every day as I start my day since it is hard to remember it all. I wrote on my notes a quote I liked by elder Uchtdorf: "How much of life do we miss by wating to see the rainbow before thanking God that there is rain." I feel that there is so much to be thankful for and I am so thankful for General Conference.

 G.C. It's what gas is to a car or a battery is to a cell phone. It charges me up to go on for another six months. It brings me hope for these latter days. All of the talks were excellent and full of wisdom I can't say I love one more than another because they were all wonderful.

 Bishop Gary Stevenson spoke of your 4 minutes making the anology of our time on earth like the time an athete competes in the Olympic games.

 Elder Scott said:" Every child of God in mortality chose the Savior's plan. Trust that given the opportunity, they will do so again.

" Sister Stevens said: "The gospel is not weight, it is wings to carry us."

" Elder Bednar said: ' We are not, and never need be, alone.

" Sister Burton express this thought: " HELP WANTED! Light and truth, serve as a mentor, listen to promptings, live the gospel daily, do family history, become a misonary , rescuers, covenant keepers, true disciples stepforward in righteousness"and so on and so forth.

  However, this one touched my heart as I listend to Sister Reeves said: " The only thing that need to be accoplished in the home are: Daily prayer, scripture study, and family home evening." and how true this is!  I believe that if I had listen to the counsel given to me and my future husband at the time by my Stake President, Bian Swinton in 1981 perhaps we would have not gotten a divorce. We started fine but with time ended up not praying together at night. We hardly ever read the scriptures and we were not consistent holding family home evening. As simple as those things are, they do keep you on the right track.

I am fine now with a husband that enjoys reading the scriptures and praying together with me. Not having children our Family Home Evenings are a daily thing not just on Mondays. If there is anything I wish every young family knew is to always remember to do these basic three things.

Leaving a legacy

 I am making a baby albun for Daniel with pictures his mother shared with me. I love the fact that she took the time to make him a baby book. In it, she has in detail things like: His first hair cut, first tooth, first word, when he first walked etc. She has it all posted with dates. All the gifts he received when he was born and all the presents he got for Christmas and birthday celebrations. I feel a little sad that I didn't do that with my all girls. I took a lot of pictures of Cristi and finished her baby album but didn't do that with Bianca and Mandy. I started those albums and never finished them. I don't even know what I did with them. I hope sometimes I could rewind time and go back to when I was a young mother. I don't know where the time went and why I didn't do those things that matter most. Why did I have to be involved in a million other things when I should have done more for my family? That will be one of my regrets in life but what I do now is make baby albums for others. Daniel has one that is very old, and what I decided to do is to make it better. His mom did a wonderful job with what she had at the time but the pages are all yellow and the pictures are gettig faded so before all that is gone, we have saved them in our computer and also shared them with the kids. I am taking what she wrote and I am placing them exactly how she had it but in an acid free album. I am also making albums of our family and so far I have done three. I have learned my lesson to not take those precious moments as a family for granted because one day they will be so valuable. I hope to do a better job from now on. It is never too late to start. This is why I have started writing in this blog more often.

I decided to start writing something on my blog daily if time permits it because I have never been good at keeping a journal and this is a good way of doing it without too much effort. Typing something is so much easier than hand writing thoughts that come to mind. I hope since I have a little more time on my hands now as an empty nester which will also allow me to be consistent.

In this blog I hope to share the values I stand for such as respect, going the extra mile, service, integrity etc. as well as special events, lessons I have learned, my personal goals, my family, I will share moments demonstrating the good times and the bad times or what some may say, the good, the bad and the ugly. As the wife of a DTA (Director of Temporal Affairs) I get to listen to amazing inspirational speakers and may experience wonderful things of the heart. I feel so lucky this way and would love to share those amazing moments.

You never know what I would write since it will all depend on my day to day activity and that is why I have named my blog One day at a time. You never know if the post will be a funny story, an inspirational thought, or an important event.  And so this blog will become the only way I can communicate effectively to the entire family. The Flores-Henriquez Almeida family is huge! This way I keep everyone in the loop and on the same page.

I want to leave a legacy to my children and grandchildren and this is why this blog is in English, my second language. Most of my family is in the United States and want them to feel like they are part of me no matter where I am living and want them to know of everything going on each day around my life. In addition, it will let everyone in my family know exactly what my core values are and what matters to me the most.

 I can honestly say that for the first time at age 54 I have felt the need to write my life story, a daily message in hopes I can be connected with all who know me but mostly my children and grandchildren. I heard a quote once who stated “In life you will realize that there is a purpose for everyone you meet. Some will test you, some will use you, and some will teach you. But most importantly…some will bring out the best in you.” My hope is for my children and grandchildren to learn from my experiences good and bad and especially not make those same mistakes I have made. To know me so when the time comes when I have passed on, they can honestly say: “I knew what she stood for.”

 

Let me give you a hand

As I am typing, I am waring a brace. I am suffering from what it's called Carpal Tunnel Syndome. Is a condition that develops slowly. At first you are to most likely notice it at night or when you first wake up in the morning.

 I remember when I went to see the doctor and got a test done years ago and sure enough it was carpal tunnel from using my hands gluing folders for the print shop all those years. It has never affected me all too much until this past week. It has been terrible.

 The feeling I get at night is like pins-and-needles pocking at my hand. That sensation causes a lot of pain. It feels as if my hands are on fire but have fallen asleep at the same time and hurting. Not only that, but the feeling is almost as if my hands are on fire too. They hurt!

 During the day it begins to go away with a tingling sensation when holding things like a phone or a book or when I botton my shirt or when driving. My hands go numb so I get them in ice water, get them massaged and shake them because that always seems to help but if it persists, I take an advil, and how I hate taking drugs. I will probably have to get surgery, the only problem is that it only works for a few years because it tends to come back even worse.

 Moral of the story, I wish I had known back then what I know now. I would not have touched a single folder to glue. That is one thing I regret doing since I wasn't appreciated anyway and in the end it didn't matter working my finger to the bone. At times I want to cry. It hurts! 

Passing of an elect lady

Shirley Van Leeuwen was loved by everyone who knew her. An elect lady, and devoted mother, grandmother and great grandmother. She died sooner than anyone would have ever imagined. Her mother lived way into her 90's and Shirley seemed to be doing fine other than her back. At Mandy's wedding she looked great for her age. Now I can only imagine the reunion with her mother, husband, and her son Blake. How sweet it must be for her to see them again. I hope that the friendship my father and she shared will continue into the next life and perhaps someday I will also get to see her again. For now I will always remember her with gratitude for her great example to me and my girls. This picture of Shirley and my father, Manuel Flores, was taken in El Salvador in 1992.

Some of the things I learned from her was her love for sewing, art, but especially cooking. She taught me how to can peaches, make pies with peaches, etc. She had two peach trees in her back yard and at times didn't know what to do with all that fruit! Our family would go to her home every fall to pick them. She was a hard worker and a dedicated wife and mother. She was able to carry a tune and and would teach the girls cute songs. Bianca even wrote a song from a song she learned from her. I also think Bianca got her singing ability from her. She also was a good daughter to her mother Mimi and a nice sister to her brothers. She had no sisters and that is one thing she wished she had. She was the oldest daughter of four children. She married George Van Leeuwen and together they had five children: four boys and one girl: Randy, Craig, Blake, Brad, and Lisa. It was not a big family but enough to have a nice Thanksgiving dinner at the farm in Heber and Sunday dinners at her home. One thing I know for sure, you would never go hungry in that home. She had reserves of a zillion things you could eat for a whole year. She loved to travel as well. We went on one trip to El Salvador, many trips to Mexico where Brad had gone on his mission and many printing conventions.

One of my first Thanksgiving in The US was at her home in Holladay on November of 1980. I remember wanting to give her a nice gift for inviting me to have dinner with her family but had little money in the bank, nevertheless I bought a very nice centerpiece she could used every Christmas. It was beautiful and expensive. I looked at how much money I had and decided to buy it even though I would be left with only $25 in my bank account to spend the whole month of December. El Salvador was at war and the money from my parents had stopped coming but I felt I wanted to give her something nice.

Before that or after I can't remember exactly when, she had been in the hospital so I decided to stay   the whole night in there while everyone else was away. I only did that because that is what people do in El Salvador and didn't know in the US is not a tradition. I remember riding the bus to school the next morning after I found out she made it ok through the night, I don't even know if she knew I was even there.  At that time I was in love with her son and would have done anything for his mom. At times I feel like Joseph Smith and those pages. He wanted so bad so God granted Joseph his wish like he did with me just to teach him a lesson even though He knew it wasn't meant to be. From 1980 to 2014 = a 33 year friendship. I will miss her. I don't know if she ever liked me all that much but at least she got to know me even in my darkest moments and she knew how much I suffered and felt empathy for me. The last thing she said to me was: "I am very sorry Veronica  for what happed to you,  how I wish things were they way they used to be." and I said: "it's ok, Shirley I am fine."

Shirley left a wonderful legacy to her chldren, grandchidren and great-grandchildren. She loved telling jokes and had a great sense of humor so I hope they appreciate all those cute jokes she told and remember her as a warm, fun and loving woman of faith.  Her family blood line goes as follow:
Randy had Amey and now Amey had Lion.
Craig had William, Jakob and Libbie now William had Reagan
Blake never had any children
Brad had Cristi, Bianca and Mandy and now Cristi had Nixon and Beckett
and Lisa had Travis.

They are all mourning their great loss and at this time how I wish I could hug them too. they were a huge part of my life!

Sister's reunion

It has been a long time since we were all together but on my way to Utah on November 23 we stopped in Miami to be with Mari and Vane who had just given birth to baby Mateo and what a blessing this has been for all of us who have prayed for this miracle.

A beautiful day on August 10 2013

 

Mandy and Spencer were married for time and eternity in the Salt Lake Temple and exchanged vowls on Saturday August 10 2013.