Light the world
Yesterday I learned about a program my church is doing. Or what is it called? An invitation? A challenge? It's on lds.org and it's called 25 ways to #LightTheWorldThisChristmas. I have some catching up to do. It gives a focus of the day, for 25 days. December 1st was just a "worldwide day of service". Well, I'm in Costa Rica, so I'm making effort worldwide. I guess? This is the 3rd country I've spent quality time in. I pulled some weeds in the yard, I'm hoping that counts. Usually I can make a bigger difference if I'm aware of the goal, though. So here's to being aware, as I toast you with my bottle of water. Because it's also crucial here to be aware of my hydration. So Day 1 I didn't know about.
Day 2 is a 1 minute video about how Jesus honored his parents. So I'm supposed to honor mine.
I like to write, I have am about to finish up journal number 35. I have a decent vocabulary. But still it seems near impossible to find the words to express my gratitude for being here with my Mom, Angel. Would it be easier to just refer to her as Angel? I remember when I was a kid, in my earlier journals before moving to the States, I called her Mum. I love her more than I can say. We have the same sense of humor. We have the same energy levels. We like the same music. We are the same kind of polite.
We were discussing some of the things she went through as a mother. It was just me and my brother, and we had our own set of challenges for her. Just me alone, it included many trips to the emergency room for stitches and things, before the age of 6. Then at the age of 6 I was hit by a car while crossing the street (my own fault), and she had to deal with all of that. My 7 year old brother running home to tell her that Suzette was hit by a car and her kneecaps went flying! Except it was my shoes. She had to deal with my 3 weeks in traction, trying to fix my broken femur. 2 months in the hospital, total. Including a cast that went from my ankle up my leg, and around my waist. I had to learn to walk again.
As a kid I asked to join a special program called French Immersion. I was accepted, but it meant living in town with my Grandma. Angel (and our family) had just completed building a big 2 story house on a dirt road, surrounded by woods. Which started in the 6th grade. I didn't move full time into that house until my last year of high school. What a commute that was! I was already my own independent human being at the age off 16. If I wanted to get somewhere, I got myself there. I did get rides everywhere I went. For the last 5 years of high school (and 2 different schools for the program) I had to ride 45 minutes on 2 buses just to get there. Even longer for my senior year. It took about 1-1.5 hours. So we had quality time, not quantity.
When I was 18 I moved to Las Vegas to marry Joshua Ward. When my second child was born was the time Angel moved to Costa Rica, in 1994. So we haven't seen much of each other as adults. She took maybe 5 trips to see me in the US, and once last summer. I went to Costa Rica once in 2004, and this is my second time back. I owe a debt of gratitude to my husband and my mother for making it possible. I just interrupted this post to go to the other side of the house to watch a family of howler monkeys. Wait, a group is called a troop. See, I learned something new. I could see about a dozen of them, and they like to be upside down, which is pretty funny. I'm jealous of their tail. We knew they were there because we could hear them. Mostly they look like moving silhouettes, but in the sun the fur on their back lights up a pretty brown.
Where was I? My mother and I have kept in touch, first letters (which took at least 3 weeks to get to Central America), a few phone calls a year, then emails. Then Skype added an awesome dimension. Then marrying Ron Hamblin added another dimension to my life. He helped with Angel coming to Cedar City last summer, and the trip this year would have been another long shot dream without him. This trip to Costa Rica has been such a blessing. Even if my mother lived in Colorado and not Costa Rica, it would be fantastic. But the bonus of being in the tropics, near a beach, is mind blowing. I learned a lot about using humor in difficult situations, when I worked for Chrysalis and then the college. Working with people with high anxiety and high aggression has taught me a lot of skills. Now that I can just relax with my Mom in the tropics, we are laughing our heads off every day. Then we help each other put them back on. Ron and I bought tickets to spend a month here in Samara, with my Mom. I told my boss I would be back the first week in October. Sorry Boss! My husband said we should stay, and there was no argument from me. As much as I absolutely loved my job. Yesterday was the 3 month mark of being in here in Samara!
If I am supposed to honor my parents, does that include grandparents, and people who were like a parent to me? No time for that, I just watched an 8 inch lizard crawl down the wire fence 5 feet from me. Breakfast is over, time to start my day.
As for my father, I will say what I tell myself. That he taught me independence. He was a Danish citizen in Canada when I was born, I could have claimed my Danish citizenship before the age of 21. Instead I moved to the United States. My father went back to Denmark when I was 12. I went to visit him for a summer when I was 14. Since then he came to visit me twice when I lived in Las Vegas, when Jaden was little, and when Reece was a baby. So that would be... 1997 and 1998. I spoke to him maybe 3 years ago. I haven't been able to reach him since. Mostly I email my cousin Charlotte to ask how he's doing. I'm hoping to go to Denmark again in 2017, wish me luck! My Danish heritage has always seemed so elusive. I'm terribly curious about it.
Half of me is very Danish blood, and the other half is pure Polish. I've been close to my Polish grandparents and cousins. I'm 3rd generation Canadian on the Polish side. Actually, that's just on my Grandmother's side. On my Grandpa Szpradowski's side, I'm 2nd generation.
And yet I moved to the United States of America and became a citizen in 1998. And yet I have half moved to Costa Rica now, like my Mother who has been here for over 20 years. (and built yet another big house for herself). Both my parents were in construction, among other things, and I love that kind of stuff. So thanks for that too, Dad. And the memories of the big house boat you built and I played on as a kid, in the Pacific ocean, off the west coast of Canada.
This blog is for my parents, but mostly for my kids. Although I hope they already know all of this, but it's story time. One day, their kids need to know. About their loca Abuelita Ward-Hamblin. Or, as I like to call myself: G-Ma. hahaha. I crack me up. I really do.
Day 2 is a 1 minute video about how Jesus honored his parents. So I'm supposed to honor mine.
I like to write, I have am about to finish up journal number 35. I have a decent vocabulary. But still it seems near impossible to find the words to express my gratitude for being here with my Mom, Angel. Would it be easier to just refer to her as Angel? I remember when I was a kid, in my earlier journals before moving to the States, I called her Mum. I love her more than I can say. We have the same sense of humor. We have the same energy levels. We like the same music. We are the same kind of polite.
We were discussing some of the things she went through as a mother. It was just me and my brother, and we had our own set of challenges for her. Just me alone, it included many trips to the emergency room for stitches and things, before the age of 6. Then at the age of 6 I was hit by a car while crossing the street (my own fault), and she had to deal with all of that. My 7 year old brother running home to tell her that Suzette was hit by a car and her kneecaps went flying! Except it was my shoes. She had to deal with my 3 weeks in traction, trying to fix my broken femur. 2 months in the hospital, total. Including a cast that went from my ankle up my leg, and around my waist. I had to learn to walk again.
As a kid I asked to join a special program called French Immersion. I was accepted, but it meant living in town with my Grandma. Angel (and our family) had just completed building a big 2 story house on a dirt road, surrounded by woods. Which started in the 6th grade. I didn't move full time into that house until my last year of high school. What a commute that was! I was already my own independent human being at the age off 16. If I wanted to get somewhere, I got myself there. I did get rides everywhere I went. For the last 5 years of high school (and 2 different schools for the program) I had to ride 45 minutes on 2 buses just to get there. Even longer for my senior year. It took about 1-1.5 hours. So we had quality time, not quantity.
When I was 18 I moved to Las Vegas to marry Joshua Ward. When my second child was born was the time Angel moved to Costa Rica, in 1994. So we haven't seen much of each other as adults. She took maybe 5 trips to see me in the US, and once last summer. I went to Costa Rica once in 2004, and this is my second time back. I owe a debt of gratitude to my husband and my mother for making it possible. I just interrupted this post to go to the other side of the house to watch a family of howler monkeys. Wait, a group is called a troop. See, I learned something new. I could see about a dozen of them, and they like to be upside down, which is pretty funny. I'm jealous of their tail. We knew they were there because we could hear them. Mostly they look like moving silhouettes, but in the sun the fur on their back lights up a pretty brown.
Where was I? My mother and I have kept in touch, first letters (which took at least 3 weeks to get to Central America), a few phone calls a year, then emails. Then Skype added an awesome dimension. Then marrying Ron Hamblin added another dimension to my life. He helped with Angel coming to Cedar City last summer, and the trip this year would have been another long shot dream without him. This trip to Costa Rica has been such a blessing. Even if my mother lived in Colorado and not Costa Rica, it would be fantastic. But the bonus of being in the tropics, near a beach, is mind blowing. I learned a lot about using humor in difficult situations, when I worked for Chrysalis and then the college. Working with people with high anxiety and high aggression has taught me a lot of skills. Now that I can just relax with my Mom in the tropics, we are laughing our heads off every day. Then we help each other put them back on. Ron and I bought tickets to spend a month here in Samara, with my Mom. I told my boss I would be back the first week in October. Sorry Boss! My husband said we should stay, and there was no argument from me. As much as I absolutely loved my job. Yesterday was the 3 month mark of being in here in Samara!
If I am supposed to honor my parents, does that include grandparents, and people who were like a parent to me? No time for that, I just watched an 8 inch lizard crawl down the wire fence 5 feet from me. Breakfast is over, time to start my day.
As for my father, I will say what I tell myself. That he taught me independence. He was a Danish citizen in Canada when I was born, I could have claimed my Danish citizenship before the age of 21. Instead I moved to the United States. My father went back to Denmark when I was 12. I went to visit him for a summer when I was 14. Since then he came to visit me twice when I lived in Las Vegas, when Jaden was little, and when Reece was a baby. So that would be... 1997 and 1998. I spoke to him maybe 3 years ago. I haven't been able to reach him since. Mostly I email my cousin Charlotte to ask how he's doing. I'm hoping to go to Denmark again in 2017, wish me luck! My Danish heritage has always seemed so elusive. I'm terribly curious about it.
Half of me is very Danish blood, and the other half is pure Polish. I've been close to my Polish grandparents and cousins. I'm 3rd generation Canadian on the Polish side. Actually, that's just on my Grandmother's side. On my Grandpa Szpradowski's side, I'm 2nd generation.
And yet I moved to the United States of America and became a citizen in 1998. And yet I have half moved to Costa Rica now, like my Mother who has been here for over 20 years. (and built yet another big house for herself). Both my parents were in construction, among other things, and I love that kind of stuff. So thanks for that too, Dad. And the memories of the big house boat you built and I played on as a kid, in the Pacific ocean, off the west coast of Canada.
This blog is for my parents, but mostly for my kids. Although I hope they already know all of this, but it's story time. One day, their kids need to know. About their loca Abuelita Ward-Hamblin. Or, as I like to call myself: G-Ma. hahaha. I crack me up. I really do.
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