The laws of straightness MUST be obeyed!

So in college on Monday night we were talking about Maths and were each given a small box of mini Smarties. We were asked to estimated how many were in the box and what the most common colour would be. I estimated 42 and yellow, however even though everyone else's boxes had 42, mine had 43 (an odd number, argh!) and the most common colour was in fact green. As we were counting, the teacher walked around the room to see how we had each organised our smarties, and told me specifically to leave mine how they were, because she later used mine as an example of a good way of showing how popular each colour was. As you can see from the picture, not only are they all in neat rows, but they're in rainbow order, which made the brown ones difficult to place but hey. The girl sat beside me also had fun with her smarties as you can see in the other picture.

Update on life!

So life has been pretty interesting recently, pretty much since the creation of the Chorley 3rd Ward in fact. It really is such a great ward with a great feeling of unity and togetherness, which is only helped by the amazing bishopric we have. They're all very young and dynamic, and fun! Each one of them has helped me in some way in the short time they have been called, whether just by listening or giving me counsel which has helped me. As a result I've been on a bit of a spiritual high recently, having spiritual experiences and answers to prayers. For example, after a challenge by the missionaries a few weeks ago, a new family moved in next door within a matter of days. Coincidence? I don't think so, and though unlike me, I went around and introduced myself and gave them chocolate (a Paul Scott initiative for the ward). They're really nice people and we look forward to getting to know them better and hopefully working with them. I'm loving my new calling in nursery and feel like I'm making progress with the children. There have been challenges along the way too, having to go through yet more tests at the hospital (often painful) and being made to wait several months for answers, but in July we should finally be able to start the whole IVF process. I have also recently started my NVQ level 2: Supporting Teaching and Learning in Schools. It's a year long course but with only 12 lessons, the rest is all practical stuff in school. So, I've been spending a lot more time in school in the past few weeks, basically being a teaching assistant but on a voluntry basis, and I love that too! It feels really good to be working with children, like I'm meant to do it and it's something I can really enjoy and be good at, and I'm constantly learning how to do new things. Another thing I have been doing recently is trying to improve myself physically. Playing football every week and doing Body Combat at the gym once a week means I'm getting fitter and healthier, and (thanks to Paul McKenna) am now eating healthier too, let's hope it pays off!

Families are forever

A few weeks ago Tristram and I were asked to do a musical item in sacrament meeting the following week. We would be singing families can be together forever along with his mum and sister Paula. We worked out how we were going to do it and who would sing which bit. It was nerve wracking but exciting. Then two days later I received two emails that defined the whole rest of my week, if not longer. They were both family related and both were negative. The first one was from my mum, telling me that my dad had had a heart attack. Even though it wasn't serious and he was okay the words 'heart attack' in relation to a member of my family, or anyone who I loved really scared and upset me. The other email was from a sister in law in response to an email I had sent her, trying to mend the relationship of two family members, but she informed me that the reltionship was at an all time low point and explained why, and that some rather offensive words had been said by one of the people involved. This upset me and Tristram because I hate contention, especially when it involves family and people who I love and just want everyone to get along, and I want to have a good relationship with everyone. Tristram spent the evening making phone calls to various family members to talk about the situation, meanwhile I felt bad about having been part of it. I was just trying to be nice afterall.

The following Sunday we went to Darlington to visit my parents, particularly my dad. It was good to see them and spend time with them, and hearing my dad back to his old self and making light of the whole situation, and informing us it wasn't as bad as it seemed and he was actually in great health. This unfortunately meant we were unable to do our musical item in Chorley as we weren't there, but in sacrament meeting in Darlington we sang families can be together forever, which I thought was quite fitting.

Then the Sunday after that we were back in Chorley, and with my dad back to normal and the other family situation still unresolved the closing hymn in sacrament meeting was families can be together forever. This was too much of a coincidence and by now I knew that someone was trying to tell me something. I think that something was the importance of family. I still worry about my dad and other family members and anything bad happening to them, and while there has been progress in the other situation since, it's still not fully resolved, but I know my family will be together forever, and that's the most important thing.