Italian Cooking Lesson: Week 1

Forgot about this from last Friday!

Went to Mainline school night to learn Italian cooking.   I never thought of how easy it is to cook Italian food and even better... fixing a big portion in no time that can feed a whole village.   It's so fun!!!  The teacher is really nice and has a cute Italian accent.

Sunday RS lesson

This quote reminds me of an incident between my friend and I.  I don't think we would ever be friends again and I don't expect her to talk to me like she used to.  We have both move on in our own path and I hope someday as we got older and more mature, we will handle our issue better.

"Remember everyone has weaknesses, and there are at least two sides to every story.  If you err in judgement, be sure you err on the side of love and mercy."   Joseph Fielding Smith

Lifelong Goal: The Golden Rule

After I was called to be the secretary, people would share with me their issues and problems.  Not that I don't want to help, but sometimes it's just impossible to help everyone and meet all their needs. I don't mind listening to complains but I do have problems filtering the stories among the sisters.  It bugs my spirit when so and so talk about another person because it will change my impression on others.  And that interfere with my lifelong goal; that is to only see the good in people, no judging or being negative!  Believe me, it's super difficult!

As we treat others kindly with respect and patient, others around you will do the same.  It's like a domino effect.

There was no need for the restaurant owner to give us free BBQ buns to take home.  The server at Wawa wouldn't have to give us additional smoothie.   They were not obligated to be nice to us but they did.  I pondered on the blessings for awhile and got the reasons why they did that.  It's because we showed an interest in their life and be patient with them.  I am not bragging about us being saints because we are not always that way.  But people in general are very giving when they see us being sincere!

So, always be nice and try to understand, be sincere and treat others with respect!  

Mis.

Don't ever take your blessings for granted!  Offering Sylvia to come to do the laundry is the least that I can do.  There has been some issue with the laundry arrangement at her apartment and her chronic pain is not getting her in any better situation.  I wonder what will I do if I were in her situation when both my health and financial situation are compromised.  Always count my blessings!

Another question I have in mind is how hard it is to have unity in the family.  I turned on whatsapp this morning and found two relatives actually left the group besides one who was removed a few week ago.  I kept thinking about uncle 7 and now uncle 8 for trying to pull the family together.   Why is it so hard to love and forgive your own family members?  Why?  Holding grudge is terrible especially with the loved ones.  I pray and hope that someday the family issue will be resolved.

Feb 24-28

It's been a great week.  Being visited by my visiting teachers, and went visit the sisters in my route.  Jady had a few half days.  I felt the need to visit Miriam on Friday and it's definitely inspired coz she just rented out her shop to another person and she also needs to move out from her apartment by the end of March.  I seriously don't know how much this friend has to struggle, but for sure that I am ready to help!

This is one of the incident that why we need to adhere to the promptings and act on it.  If I have not response to the promptings to visit her that afternoon I would have lost all her contact! One of my favorite talk from the President Hinckley was on "Forget Yourself and Serve"!  He said, "By and large, I have come to see that if we complain about life, it is because we are thinking only of ourselves.  For many years there was a sign on the wall of a shoe repair shop I patronized.  It read, "I complained because I had no shoes until I saw a man who had no feet."  The most effective medicine for the sickness of self-pity is to lose ourselves in the service of others."  

I am just grateful for his insightful message because serving others do bring us joy, gratitude, and an understanding heart.  It brings us comfort and peace to fix our own problematic lives.  I am a total believer of his words and teachings!!!  

Jady had half days from Wed to Friday, and we went to badminton as a family on Friday.  Had a date with her eating corndog and shamrock shake!  It was a great evening! 

Dad called this morning and was concerned about mom's medical report.  He got the reports from the Dr. but haven't had a chance to talk to the Dr yet.  The Dr. supposed to meet with them last Friday but had an emergency surgery.  So, dad has been waiting for him to call back.  The medical terms were really difficult to understand and I have a difficult time understanding the interpretation of their findings.  So, I sent it to Yo for help; but based on what I read... mom's lung looks find and the problem seemed to be in her right kidney and suggestions was made for more testing.  Since dad will have surgery on his eyelid, he worried that mom might left without help in case she has an emergency surgery.  I doubt it will happen on those dates since public hospital is not that efficient. I am fasting today and tomorrow for mom's health and dad's surgery.  It makes me sad that I am not there to help but I am glad that I get to go home and see her this summer. I am starting to think that we should prepare to go home and take care of our elderly parents.  

Today, we took the kids to the Philly temple site.... the experience took me to another confirmation that the Lord is mindful about his children.  As we got there, we saw two members from NJ, the elders missionary and an investigator standing outside the trailer waiting.  Johnny and I had no idea that we supposed to schedule the appointment ahead of time if we need to go inside the trailer for information about the temple.  Luckily since the elders already had the appointment, we just went and joined them.  

Sister Carr is the missionary there with her husband (Brother Carr is the project manager there so he is not currently serving as a missionary but act almost like one there)!  They talked to us about the temple site and shared with us a video made by the church on temple.  The video is about the purpose of the temple, why it is important to us, and what we do in there.  As I was watching it, I felt very strong that I needed to share this with my dad.  I thought to myself that it will be great if they have it in Chinese and I even thought if they don't have it in Chinese, I would be more than thrill to translate it for them.  

https://www.lds.org/church/temples/why-mormons-build-temples?lang=eng

So after the movie, I asked Brother Carr if there is a Chinese version. And his lights just went on..... because a few months ago, there was a Chinese investigator who got baptized and her missionaries wanted to show this temple video to her; so Brother Carr asked a few friends who know Chinese to do the translation and caption!  Brother and Sister Carr even gave me the scripts of the video.  I came home and I noticed that the Chinese church website doesn't have this video in caption yet and I am so ready to share it this great video with all my fellow Chinese members in who can read and speak Chinese!!    

Note

Oh man, how could I even miss this note from Jady.  No wonder she asked me who's my valentine last night.  And I thought I need to be honest and told her that her dad is....  Thank goodness that I saw her frown and asked her why.  Her response was, "Because you are my valentine!"

Lessons learned - sometimes honesty hurt and I could be more creative and said everyone in the family is my valentine.  Be smart mom!

Last Sat., Evan went to compete with the youth from the stake who plays ping pong.  He won the title of Valley Forge Stake ping pong champion and got a $25 Wawa gift!  Way to go, son!

One thing I feel good about this week is that Jeannie is finally getting better with her companion.  She's been on my mind every since I found out she will be having the same companion from the MTC.  Thank Lord that they are getting used to each other now.    

Mom has been discharged from the hospital yesterday and she is feeling great!  The only concern that we have now is the medical scanning today. There is a spot on her lung and the Dr. would like to take a look at it.  The result will be sent to the Dr. for evaluation when mom goes back for the check up in five weeks.  I need to pray really hard this time.

ps. Everyone in the family is finally feeling better!  I am still a little tired may be from the cough. Thanks to the many days of winter storm and that we got additional rest.

Oh mom....

Took Jady to the Dr. on Monday and found out that she has strep, so the Dr. put her on antibiotics right away.  The medication didn't kick in until two days after.  She was able to stay home but her brother wasn't so fortunate.  Evan was too worry about catching up the missing homework so he went to school on Tues despite of his sickness.  Thank goodness, there came the snow again! It's actually a blessing to my family since we so needed the rest because by wed, I was down also with a nasty fever and sore throat.  Then, Johnny became sick!  We didn't really celebrated Valentine's day since I had to play piano for a church wedding and couldn't go out to dinner or lunch because of the snow storm! Yikes!  Got that beautiful flowers from Johnny though. :)

What's been bothering me was mom's situation.  The Dr. suspected that she had bird flu so he put her in the isolated until two days ago, but thankfully it was later diagnosed as pneumonia.  She sounded much better yesterday as I talked to her but her fever came back last night.  And worst of all, she couldn't keep anything down.  How the body fight often depending on the mental power of that person and how nourished the body is; and in mom's case... she is lacking both!  I wish I am in HK to cheer her up. May be I will have the kids send her a video clip tomorrow.  I keep praying for her recovery.  I'd thought about sending church members to the hospital to give her a blessing but dad is already a little annoyed about me telling him what to do and I don't know how he would take my suggestion.  What should I do???  Lord, please bless my mom!!!!