Friendships for world travellers

I am writing this blog from the perspective of someone who belongs to the world village. I don't know where I belong and having travelled so much, I have realised that the friends I make are a true blessing in my life. This is because they connect with me on a spiritual and personal level and are not friends based on location or history, but rather based on choice.

I am very blessed in my life to have some true and special friends. The first person that comes to mind when I think about my friends is my wonderful husband. I met him over 21 years ago now and I can truly say that he is the person that knows me better than anyone else in this whole world.

I am also blessed in that I am friends with my Mom and also my children. I can share interests and hobbies and have lots of fun with them.

Then of course there are my 'sister' friends. Women that I have met through my life that contribute to who I am. People who I truly like and in many cases share a deep and special bond.

Two days ago, a friend that I met during my time in Salt Lake City called. Sandy and I clicked immediately when we met. She loved scrapbooking, photography and her family. She was from Australia and on secondment with her husband. He worked for Rio Tinto just like Ivan and amazingly we met on our own through a 'friend of a friend'. We had so many great mornings together during our three years as ex-pats, and when I returned to Australia we stayed in touch via email. She moved back to Melbourne and we have had been lucky to get together a few times.

Her phonecall was out of the blue, unplanned and so much more special for the fact that I was the person she thought to call when she was in town. Our conversations picked up as though we had never been apart and our children continued to play together as though they had seen each other last week, instead of months ago. So Sandy, my friend I thank you for your friendship.

For my very many other friends, (and I hope you know who you are?) I salute each and every one of you for your wonderful contribution you make to my life. I am indeed blessed and lucky.

Beverly

Memory Albums

I am a scrapbooker and memory album creator. I went to my first Creative memories class in early 2000 and in February signed up as a consultant. I loved the concept and was soon addicted to creating my photo albums. I developed the most wonderful group of friends, Michelle, Annette and Susan and we met on a regular basis. I discovered that I loved the social therapy of a women's group where we could work on a craft and chat and solve the world's problems, as well as creating wonderful memory albums.

My first major project was my wedding album and I still treasure it today. I sometimes think that I would do it differently now, but if I contemplate changing it I just can't.

With our move to the USA I had to resign from CM but soon found a group in the USA and signed up again. I wanted my product at cost. Over the next three years scrapbooking filled my life. I saw so many beautiful things and had the chance to photograph and experience a lifetime full of wonders.

Our return to Australia left me again without access to Creative Memories, but I found another consultant and rejoined. This time it has been harder to create the wonderful groups that I have experienced in the past. I have neither the inclination or time to 'work the business', so with my good friends, remain a hobbyist. I do miss the social side of workshops and the inspiration from other people, but I have a lovely craft area and often you will find me working on one of my albums. I am also blessed with my 'page challenge group' - our online group who help each other keep inspired to work on our albums. Thank you Michelle, Mom, Tracey and Margaret.

Today I was thinking about all the memories that I have preserved. I am the proud owner of 61 completed traditional albums and 1 digital album that I made for Sarah. I have also created a few albums as gifts and these have travelled far over the sea. I figure that I have completed around 3700 pages in total with an average of 5 photos per pages. That is a grand total of 18500 photos in 8 years - about 2300 per year - WOW!!!!

The best part of all of this is the amazing memories that I have accumulated and the friends that I have collected along the way. I will continue scrapbooking and creating memory albums for my family. I hope that you will also find the time to save your memories, traditional albums, digital albums or even just slipping them into a picfolio album so that one day you will look back and relive your magic moments.

Poetry link

I have added a link to my new blog Vesta-poetry (right hand column), where I am going to be posting items of poetry that I have been writing. I am also going to use this site to share items of poetry written by my children, friends and family if they would like to share their work. I have an incredibly gifted and talented family and am very proud of them. My Mum writes some lovely words, as does my brother and with their permission I will share some of their works as well. My two daughters age 18 and 10 also love writing and Elizabeth (18) has even had some work published when we lived in the USA. So please feel free to share your thoughts with us, as we share ours with you.
Beverly

Holiday Movie

WALL-E!

First day of the holidays today and we thought we would go and see a movie. The unanimous decision was to see WALL-E! It was wonderful! Within moments of it beginning, I was drawn to this delightful little robot who touched my heart. I do not want to give away the story, or any of the suspense and drama of it all, but it was totally captivating.
Disney has once more created a truly wonderful picture. The environmental message is front and centre of the movie, but unlike "Happy Feet" (which I disliked) it is not a 'we have to fix this' message - (it is already too late). It has the magic of Cars and will be one that we add to our extensive DVD collection. For the very little ones it may be a little slow moving, but it sure appealed to me as an adult and my 18, 14 and 10 year old.
Need something to do these holidays I would recommend heading to the movies to see WALL-E.

Weekend wonder

Our Beautiful Back garden

We have had a wonderful weekend. After a week of sick children and busy work schedules, we decided to focus on rest and health. On Saturday we thought a picnic might be a good idea, but with everyone still feeling a little under the weather, we decided to take advantage of our own beautiful garden. We took the picnic blankets out under the trees and all lay around together chatting.

Ivan got out a poetry book and read us some of his favourite poems.(Robert Burns - A Red, Red Rose; John Keats - to Autumn and Robert Frost - Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening).

Sarah brought out the Disneyland 2004 album and we all had such fun reminiscing about our wonderful holiday. Matthew lay and patted Abby and then came in to play on the computer.

Elizabeth lay and read her poetry book and I lay and read my new book by Dr. Wayne Dyer "10 secrets for success and inner peace." The first secret is to "Have a mind that is open to everything and attached to nothing". One of my favourites lines was from Michelangelo who suggested "the greater danger is not that your hopes are too high and you fail to reach them; it's that they're too low and you do." Wow! So often we fear aiming for the stars in case of failure, but what would be worse is to never aim for anything. Failure is not an issue if we see it as a lesson and not an end result. If Eddison had stopped at failure where would we be - still in the dark! And every child that falls as they learn to walk, does not give up, they just start again. Hmmm lots of food for thought. Dr Dyer also writes that if your thoughts are filled with doubt and you have a closed mind, you will of necessity act upon those closed-minded doubts, and you'll see evidence of your thinking virtually everywhere you are. On the other hand, should you decide (& it is a choice) to have a mind that's open to everything, then you'll act upon that inner energy, and you'll be the creator as well as the recipient of miracles wherever you are. I am so looking forward to the Second Secret which is "Don't die with your music still in you".

That couple of hours under the trees ignoring the housework, gardening, washing and the 'shoulds' of life was very refreshing. We all topped up our souls and 'happy place' and energised our batteries. Today we have been able to achieve some of things required of us, but all of us in the family have experienced a feeling of positive energy.

Refill your tank regularly, find a peaceful spot and take some time to dwell on quiet thoughts, reflective moments and fun.

I hope you all have a wonderful week.

Winter bugs!

Anyone want three sick children? It has been one of those years for us. All three children, especially Sarah and Matthew have succumbed to the cold virus, over and over and over again. They have missed so much school and our medical bills are high enough to support a small country. The problem is that there seemed to be no solution to the problem.
I have recently begun a new approach and that is the way of Naturopathy. Sarah, Elizabeth and I have seen Alex (Healing Hands Natural Health Centre) and her diagnosis is that we have a 'compromised immune system'. Due to the fact that we have lived in so many places and travel so much, we do not seem to have built up an immunity to any one set of bugs! (Simplified explanation). We are now on a course of cleansing; mineral and vitamin replacement therapies and a focus on avoiding processed foods. Reverting to a more natural and healthy lifestyle.

I am also working mentally and emotionally on the writings of Louise L. Hay (You can heal yourself & The power is within you) and other writers like Eckart Tolle and Jerry and Esther Hicks. The idea is that 'what we think is what we create' and if we say "I am sick" then you get and stay sick. It is better to say " I am experiencing an illness". I am Beverly, I am not sick. It is just something that my body is experiencing and if I focus it externally, then I can fix it far more easily. I experience what I think and if I change how I think about something, then it is different!

As summer approaches and the winter fades, I am hoping that the fresh air, swimming and exercise and an outdoor lifestyle will speed up the process. Next year we will be better prepared.

To everyone who is feeling unwell - 'experiencing illness' I wish you a speedy recovery.

Beverly

I don't know how you cope?

At least once every few days I hear these words and I seldom know how to respond. I get asked how I cope with my husband travelling for about 6-7 months of the year. I get asked how I cope with running a home, property and family so well. I get asked how I cope raising three great kids - two teenagers and a tween. I get asked how I cope with children who have been so ill, with high demand children who need me so much.

I began thinking about this today as I went to the Naturopath for myself, the Dr with Elizabeth, the Pharmacy for Sarah and Elizabeth and back to the Naturopath for Matthew. Everyone around me, keeps asking me this question. I always answer with "Well what else can I do?"

On reflection I think that my coping skills kicked in at a very young age. I am the oldest child and being a 'big' sister to a younger brother who was very ill as a baby, meant that I had to cope. I found myself being really good and trying not to be too much trouble, so that I did not need any attention.
I also liked being praised for 'coping', for being 'such a big help.' It honed those skills really well.

I come from a loving family, but like all families we have had our tragedies and problems. My own problems never seemed important or 'believeable' enough, so I learnt to bury them and switch off from feeling and dealing with them. This to my detriment, I discovered in the last couple of years is not a good way of 'coping.' They all came back to bite me and boy it was a nasty bite.

This time I coped because I had a wonderful support network who loved me and believed in me. From my wonderful husband, to my best friend, my children and my parents. I also chose this time not to hide my problems, not to bury them, but to be open and honest. I also had the skills and knowledge from years of reading and exploring to ask for help and advice and search for the answers that I needed.

I cope because I am strong. I cope because I chose to go to bed each night knowing that I have done the very best that I could do that day. I cope because I know that I am the only person who can do what I do. I cope because I was put on this earth to share with others the lessons that I have learnt. So the next time I am asked "How do you cope?" My answer will be "I cope because I can and because I am meant to."

How do you cope? Ask yourself the question and give yourself praise for the wonderful successes you have everyday. Focus on your strengths, the weaknesses will take care of themselves.

Beverly

Can you Dance?

Do you love to dance? I do! I also love watching dancing programs. Last night I sat up really late and watched the finale of "So you think you can dance." I have watched the whole season this year and found myself immersed in the skill and beauty of some amazing dancers. From the auditions where it was fun to watch people without talent try out, to the last few weeks, when all the dancers appeared to improve beyond recognition. I sat entranced every week.

It really made me think about the joy we get from dancing, music and singing. I love to turn up the music loud and dance with my children, watch my husband lift one of his little one's in his arms and waltz them around the room, or throw them about in a jive, making them giggle and laugh until they can't breathe. My Mom and Dad always danced and my Dad's knees in the jive had a life of their own.

Can you dance? I can! I can dance for the joy of being alive, dance for fun and dance just because the music calls me to my feet. I will never win a competition, never perform on a stage, but I will also never stop dancing. So today turn up your music loud and join in the dance.

Beverly

Photo is of my Mom and I dancing for fun and for love. Thank you Mom!

The Fairy Vesta

This is Vesta!

She is my beautiful fairy that Elizabeth gave me as a gift to inspire and thank me for being her Mom.

It was through this that I finally found the name for my Blog, I hope you all think she is as beautiful as I do. She has red hair just like me and is wearing my favourite colour, purple.

Thank you Elizabeth for my gift and for being such a wonderful daughter.

Welcome to Vesta

Hello and Welcome to Vesta.

Vesta is the Roman Goddess of the home and hearth. She is the fire goddess who brings warmth to households, both as a temperature and as an emotion. She epitomises my life, in that my family and my home are the most important part of who I am.

I am only beginning this journey of owning a Blog, so it will be a work in progress. I hope to share with you all, my thoughts about raising families, sharing memories and ideas that build a better world.

Beverly