There is sunshine in my soul today!

"I have always been delighted at the prospect of a new day, a fresh try, one more start, with perhaps a bit of magic waiting somewhere behind the morning..."

 

I have a wonderful feeling about 2012, and am so excited to welcome him in. As you all know, I turned thirty last year, and now that that ordeal is finally over (lol!), I'm actually feeling quite empowered about the whole thing.  I've heard from many people that the thirties are when life really starts, when the turmoil and 'figure-it-out-ishness' of our twenties is finally over, and we can start to really enjoy yourselves. As I've thought about it over the last couple of months, I've become more and more excited.  There are so many things I want to do and see, but mostly, there is so much that I'd like to become and 2012 really does feel like a year open, unspoiled and full of possibilities that I really can become that person I've finally figured out I'd like to be.

So happy first of January everyone - could Heavenly Father have sent us a more beautiful morning here in Brisbane Australia?! Not a cloud in the sky, such a freshness in the air, and that gentle morning breeze so lovingly encouraging us to get up and embrace a new year.

xo Tammy

EFY Counsellor Trainings

Thought those of you who've lost me to EFY over recent months might enjoy seeing this photo montage of our three big full-day counsellor trainings :)

xo Tammy

I have no life right now...

THAT'S why I haven't been blogging.
Or emailing friends.
Or checking other people's blogs.
Or replying to friend's emails.
Or sleeping....

Very happy to be doing the stuff I'm so busy with at the moment - it's important - but am really excited to be done with it all on January 14th too. It's okay to feel that way, right?! :)

xo Tammy

Dear Lauren...

I dedicate this new post to you.

Ta-da!

xo Tammy

Wonderful - Day 9: We thank Thee Oh God for a prophet

Today Mum and I drove home from Uncle Dougs house. It took several hours, but I really enjoyed it. The company was wonderful (I so much enjoy spending time with Mum, talking about anything and everything - she's sort of my rock here on earth, my mum), and the weather was beautiful, and the scenery for most of the trip was just soo beautiful (we loved whatever river it was that the road followed along for much of the way. Bridges, farmlands, sun dancing on the water, tall gum tree forests. Mum and I kept pointing things out to each other). And for most of the drive - since it was Sunday, and since in Australia it was conference weekend - we listened to General Conference. I love General Conference, and I always look forward to it! And this October conference was no exception. I loved Elder Scott's Talk on the Power of Scriptures, and Sister Thompson's talk on Personal Revelation and Testimony; Presiden't Packers talk, Counsel to Youth was excellent, and Elder Cook's talk It's Better to Look Up has become a favourite (I've decided to adopt his 'Look up, Step up, Cheer up' as my motto. I'm pretty good at the 'step up' bit, but often fall short with the other two, so I appreciated that counsel). I loved Elder Ballard's talk The Importance of a Name, and if someone doesnt' stop me soon, I'll probably go on to list every talk, lol!

My favourite though, really, was President Monson's talk in the Sunday morning Session, Stand in Holy Places. What a wonderful message he gave, and with such love and wisdom. I tell you, there is no doubt in my mind that he is a prophet of God. And there is no doubt in my mind that I am incredibly blessed to live in a time where I can here prophets speak so reguarly, and with such inspired and diving messages. It all rests with me now, to take their messages and find was to apply them and build on them. I have been so blessed to hear and see so many of our apostles and prophets over the years (sometimes in person, and often via satelite) and I count each and every one of these experiences as wonderful highlights of the last 30 years.

Did you have a favourite talk from conference?!!

xo Tammy

Wonderful - Day 8: heritage

Tonight's post comes from the iPhone, so it will be short! Lol :) but I've spent the afternoon with uncle Doug, and it has been such a pleasure to hear and learn more about his life. I've especially enjoyed hearing about his mother (my great grandmother) Kathleen Mary Fitzgerald (how's that for a good solid Irish name? Lol). She had a very difficult life in many ways, and with a lot of hardship, but she sounds like a very kind and gentle woman with a sense if fun. Doug says she was very popular, because she was an accomplished pianist with a beautiful singing voice.

One story was about a time she was riding the train from Adelaide to Darwin, and for some reason (he can't remember if the train broke down or if it was flooded up ahead), but either way, the train (and everyone on it) was stuck there in the middle of Australia, for two days! Anyway, it was soon discovered that she could play and sing, AND it turned out that there was a piano in one of the luggage cars, so a bunch of fellows on the train unloaded the piano out onto the ground right there by the railway track and the train (in the middle of no where!), and as Doug puts it, she 'practically played for two days and two nights straight, while everyone enjoyed a non-stop singalong :)

She played everything, from all the great wartime classics (like 'it's a long way to tipararee'), well loved 'pop songs' of the era, like 'somewhere over the rainbow' and of course all the old Irish songs (like 'take me home Kathleen').

How wonderful that they had her and a piano onboard to keep the all so cheerful and entertained. And how wonderful for me to be part of such a wonderful family, with such a lovely heritage. Hearing stories like these aren't just fun because they're great stories, but they're also fun because they help me realize that I'm part of a chain of wonderful people. I start to understand more about who I am, and why I am the way I am. And it makes me want to live the kind of life that future generations could draw strength from.

So that's pretty cool, really ;)

xo Tammy

Wonderful - Day 7: Today, today!

Tonight's post is coming to you from Ballina. That's right, Ballina. Turns out that mum's weekend suddenly freed up yesterday, and since we've been planning to take a road trip to see (great)Uncle Doug for almost a year now, she proposed an impromptu weekend trip. With so much going on, I unfortunately couldn't take any time off work, but at 5:30pm this afternoon, I shut the computer, threw some things in an overnight bag and was out the door by 5:45pm to head over and pick up mum. (We left Dad trying not to look tooo excited about the prospect of watching his football DVDs on the couch all night :)

It's an 8 hour drive to Kempsey in NSW where Doug and Ella live, so we did 2 hours tonight (hence the stop in Ballina), then we'll do six hours tomorrow morning and spend the afternoon/evening and Sunday morning with Doug and Ella (we're hoping to transcribe a bunch of the fabulous life stories that Doug has bursting out of his head), and then we'll drive home Sunday afternoon/evening. It's a lot of driving! But Dad kindly burned all of the conference sessions onto CD for us (old school, I know, but I can't figure out how to get it onto my iphone), and we're really looking forward to listening to them.

So here's what's wonderful about my life for today's post: How amazing is it that we get to live in a time and place where we can MAKE a round trip journey like this in just a weekend? I know people moan about crime, and disease and global warming. But I love living 'now' (even if I do kind of yearn for the music and fashions of the 30s and 40s, which were awesome. Though with the depresssion and the world war, I guess it's not really a fair trade. But I digress....)

I'm grateful for cars, airconditioning, medicines and doctors who know more than medievel doctors did (I read a book recently about life in London in the 1,400s - and if I'd gotten sick back then, I think I'd rather have died in my freezing little mud hut than risk the 'skill' of a doctor with very strange notions!). I'm grateful for computures, and the internet, and google and wikipedia. I love Emails and blogs. I love airoplains and movies and phones, and music that can be enjoyed even when it's not being performed live. I love that my iphone always knows exactly where I am, and that the flashing blue dot can direct me to wherever I need to go (you rock, iphone!). I think it's wonderful that we books are everywhere, and that in today's world you can instantly know about things that are happening on the other side of the world. I love that within a day or two I could be on the otherside of the world!

You know, if I had no financial committments and a bundle of money sitting the bank...

But still!

xo Tammy