Spiritual Saturday

This past Saturday on August 31st our stake youth went to the temple to do baptisms for the dead. The difference with this trip from other youth trips to the temple was that each youth was encouraged to bring family names to be proxy for the baptisms. Thanks to my brother who is big into doing genealogy he emailed me some names so that my kids could do the work for them. We also helped a couple of other youth who were unable to find names for them.
Having done work for my own ancestors before has been amazing but to be able to witness my own child (my son was feeling sick in the morning and did not go on this trip) doing the work was even more amazing.
Shania did 5 names and another girl in our ward did 5 names as well and one young man did 5 names. I loved feeling a connection to someone who lived hundreds of years before. The dates for some of the names were from the 1700's. I was able to also be in the room when they were confirmed for the same people they were baptized for.
After our wards turn in the baptismal font was done myself and friend were able to go up and do initiatory work for the females that had just been baptized and confirmed only moments before. My visiting teaching companion was lucky enough to also be going through the temple on Saturday to take out her own endowments and be sealed to her husband. I was in the temple from around 0730 until 1500 on Saturday. I was so overcome by the spirit and the closeness that I felt with the name on the piece of paper that I was holding. I am glad that I was able to spend such a great day in the temple. All of the females names that were baptized on Saturday then also had their endowments done as well. I look forward to another day of going to the temple and completing the work for the names that I have as well as going forward and doing the research to get names ready to take to the temple and doing the work for them as they have since passed on from this life with out that work being performed while on the earth.
I am so glad for the gospel especially since 2 of my friends from high school have both lost their mothers in the past month. One also has a knowledge of the blessing of the plan of salvation and the other does not. It is interesting to see the differences in their facebook posts as to their view of the passing of their mothers. It is not an easy thing to lose your mother in death. But I am so glad to know that I will be able to see my mother again and that we can be an eternal family forever. As long as I am keeping the commandments and doing what my Heavenly Father wants me to do so that I can be reunited with my family members again.
I am so very grateful for the experience of the temple that I had on Saturday. It just reaffirmed my love for my Saviour and for the gospel in my life.

Thankful Post

This is what I am Thankful for at this time in my life. Hope you enjoy reading.

Hello Family,
This morning at 0651 PST my phone rang and it was my dear husband on the phone. He called to let me know that he is thinking about me and to be able to hear my voice.
I never really expect him to call since we have cell phones and he emails just about every day. The first couple of deployment I guess I needed it more, but I am not relying on the phone calls to get me through, I do rely on the emails though. So when I do get a phone call they are really nice surprises when they do happen.
Rick is doing well. He is loving (if that can be said for being away from your family) this deployment. He is with a great company and in a different spot than his previous deployment to Afghanistan. He is kept busy with his work so the time is going by quickly for him. He does get time to go to church though I think it is only a sacrament meeting and maybe Sunday school. Here is a quote from a recent email from Rick.
"Over here it is same day of ordering, receiving, sorting, organizing, and then eating, reading, PT, showering, and sleeping.
At least today I will have an hour of church.
I am happy that I am busy as the days are going by fast for me."
Rick sounds good. Just as it is nice for me to hear his voice he says that it is good for him to hear mine as well.
It is sometimes difficult to communicate since we now have a 12 1/2 hour time difference between us. So when I am getting up in the morning he is going to bed. It is a definite test of patience as I send emails and want answers to questions but don't receive them as instantly as I would like. We talked a bit about this(patience) during Sunday School today in Church as we talked about the Book of James.
With this being Thanksgiving week (for those who are in the US at least) I am grateful for Eternal Marriage and being sealed to my husband for time and all eternity. Even though throughout most of our 15 1/2 years of marriage we have spent close to 5 years apart due to deployments and other trainings and other times of being away from each other. I love Rick with all my heart and every day gain a greater appreciation for all that he does for me and our family and in turn for each of you as he helps to fight for the freedoms that we all enjoy.
I am also grateful for extended family, for the parents in law that I have, the extra grandparents that I got with my marriage to Rick. My siblings in law brothers and sisters. You all mean so much to me and I am grateful for the things that I have learned from each and everyone of you. I am Thankful for my parents and for the things that they taught me and knowing that because of the Plan of Salvation of our Savior I will see my mom again.
I am thankful for my brothers and sisters and for the things that I have learned from them. I am glad that at this point in my life I can be good friends with them and am glad that I am closer in proximity to them (than we were in Europe though I still love and miss Europe a lot!) so that it can be easier to visit with them and takes a little less planning and a lot less money to make those visits happen.
I know that there are some of you who are getting this email who are going through difficult times right now, it is through the Atonement and suffering that our Savior Jesus Christ went through in the Garden of Gethsemane, that we can get through our trials if we only turn to him and trust in him in all that we do.
I also know that there are some who don't believe the same things that I believe but I still love you for who you are and what I can learn from the things that you do believe in.
I am also grateful for all of the friends that I have made throughout my life so far. I am grateful that I was able to share the gospel of Jesus Christ over 17 years ago and that because I did so made some wonderful friends and met my husband because of my mission. I am grateful for the opportunities that having my husband be in the military has brought to our family. For being able to go and travel throughout Europe and meeting people from all over and making friendships that I hope will last a lifetime.
I am grateful for modern inventions like the telephone (including cellphones) and internet so that I can communicate with family and friends all over the world and receive a reply in a short amount of time.
I am thankful that I have a place to call home that protects me from the elements and that I have a way to get my children to their various activities. I really do love my kids even though they fight and misbehave during meetings, they really are good kids and when I meet with their teachers or advisors and they tell me what good kids they are in school or in church and how much they enjoy working with my kids. I think I have gone on enough.
I Love each and everyone of you. THANK YOU for all that you have taught me and continue to teach me as I am always learning.
I hope that you all have a fabulous Thanksgiving week.
Love from the Northwest Norris'

Veteran's Day or Remembrance Day 11/11/11.

This is what I posted on my Facebook profile today to honor the veterans in my family. Though I just realized that I forgot some of my husband family, Father was in the Air Force, Maternal Grandfather in the Navy and others but I can't remember exactly what service they were in though his brother is in the US Army National Guard, his paternal grandfather as well as a stepbrother were also in the service.

Thanks to all who have served, currently serve and will serve in the future to preserve our freedoms.

On this Veteran's Day I would like to thank my very own veteran Rick,(even though he is not here currently on deployment #4) for helping to protect and serve this country. I am also grateful for my other ancestors who have fought for freedom and sacrificed with their lives.

Thanks to my brother Mark for setting this up:

Lt. Percy Watkiss Fisher DCM. Born 15 Dec 1881. KIA 12 Sep 1916 Battle of the Somme.

Capt. Raymond Wadams Fisher. Born 13 Feb 1883. KIA 13 Sep 1916 Thessaloniki, Greece.

Lt. Francis Joseph Bore. Born 15 Feb 1913. KIA 17 Sep 1944 Sanatorium, Bray Dunes Plage, France. South Saskatchewan Regiment

F.O. Robert Jordan Sheen. Born 7 Sep 1918. KIA 13 Jul 1944 over the North Sea. Royal Canadian Air Force

Joseph Fisher. Home Guard WWI

Lt. Reginald William Fisher. 19th Alberta Dragoons, 52nd Batt.Canadian Divisional Cavalry & 10 Northumberland Fusiliers. WWI

Cpl. Archibald Rooke Fisher. 10 Hussars & Warwickshire Yeomanry WWI

Joseph Bernard Fisher. South Staffordshire Regiment WWI

John William Fisher. WWI

Percy Raymond Shapcote Bore. Royal Canadian Navy WWII

Sgt Clarence Sheen. WWII

Howard Coombs Stutz. US 3rd Army WWII.

I am also grateful that I have been named after my Grandfather Francis Joseph Bore (Jill Frances) and that I have had the opportunity and privilege to go and visit his burial place in Belgium as well as that of my great great Percy Watkiss Fisher, during our time that we lived in Europe.

Thank you also to all others currently serving that I have met on our military journey so far.

You all are appreciated very much.

New changes

This summer has brought a lot of changes for our family. The biggest one was moving from Europe after having lived there for almost 9 years. We are now located in the state of Washington. We are slowly getting settled into the area and the ward. We are part of the Ft. Lewis Ward. Our kids are all registered for school and will start on the 7th. We picked up our van on the 26th of August and moved into a 3 bedroom apartment off post while waiting for a place on post, as of right now we are just waiting for our household goods to arrive so that we no longer have to sit on the floor or sleep on little mats on the floor. We got cable and internet hooked up yesterday Aug 31 and we have had cell phones for a couple of weeks now. We are able to call or text any other cell number in the US for free and unlimited so if you want our number send me yours to my email: jnorris96@hotmail.com. That is all for now more to come when we get more settled.

Happy New Year

Well we have come to another year and this one brings big changes to the Norris Family. Before you go reading any further NO I am not pregnant. the big change is that we will be leaving Europe after almost spending 9 years on this beautiful continent. We have thoroughly enjoyed our time here in Europe and are sad that it must come to an end. I can only hope that we will be back some day soon. The reason that we will be leaving Europe is that the military has decided that we need to spend some time in the Northwest part of the United States. While it isn;t like staying in Europe by moving to another country I am happy with the move as it will allow us to get reacquainted with Rick's mom. Rick has been in the army for 10 years now and the last time Rick physically saw his mom was right before he flew from SLC to head to SC for basic training. So this will give us a chance to get to know her again, and give her a chance to get to know Amina who she hasn't met yet only seen in pictures. I can't even say that Mother(Grandma Jackie) has talked to Amina on the phone because Amina doesn't like to talk on the phone. I am sure that will change though once she becomes a teenager. So as of now we have about 6 months left to explore Europe as well as take care of everything that comes with the whole moving process. We are planning on a Baltic Cruise as our last major touring of Europe. I have at least one brother (hopefully 2) that want to come over and visit us before we leave so we will show them around the local area here in the Netherlands and branching out to surrounding countries. I hope that I can get as much last minute trips to cross of my list as I can so that I can be truly satisfied and not think if only we (I) could have gone to.... I am excited for the new opportunities that lie before us in the upcoming months and years. I always try to look on the positive aspects of each adventure we get with moving. I only hate to say goodbye (or see you later) to dear friends that I make. At least we have email and facebook in which to stay in touch. That is all I got for now I will try to be more on top of this blogging process as time goes on. I hope you all have a fabulous day.

Where has the time gone? Update Time.

As you can see I am not doing very well keeping this blog updated. Life happens and we get busy with our kids etc and put aside things like this blog. I will try to do better at keeping this blog fairly current but won't promise anything. A lot has happened since the last time that I posted anything. So I guess I should start where I left off last.
Rick finally arrived back from his deployment on the morning of April 11th. So needless to say we weren't together for another anniversary thanks to the military. We were however able to still celebrate a week later than the original plans so that was all good. I won;t go into details but we had a nice couple of night to ourselves thanks to some great friends who watched our kids for us. Shortly after Rick got home he was called to be in the Young Men's presidency of our ward which he still serves in that calling. Now he has an added calling of scoutmaster in our ward. The scout troop was started about the same time that rick got home so we have had a ward scout troop for over a year now. I am still a consultant for Pampered Chef which allows me to bring in some extra money and still be able to take care of my kids during the day. Our Christmas Present last year was a 12 night eastern Mediterranean Cruise. We left from Barcelona which we drove to an dhad stops in Rome(Civitavecchia the port), Italy, Athen's Greece, Izmir Turkey, Alexandria Egypt and Malta. I loved it. It was so relaxing, I thought at first 12 nights was going to be too long but it went by way too fast. Before we leave Europe we hope to be able to take a Baltic cruise and visit countries like Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Estonia and Russia. I think I am hooked on cruising as a way to vacation, too bad it costs so much.
This year our kids are back in school at AFNORTH International School. AC is in 8th grade, Shania is in 6th grade and Amina is in 1st grade. At the school Shania is in what is called M2 and Amina is in IY3. At the end of the school year last year I had the opportunity to accompany the 5th graders (M1) on a week long trip to Arnhem, where we biked for 3 days of the 5. It was a fabulous experience. I ended up being a chaperone for a different class than Shania was in as they had to draw names for chaperones since so many wanted to participate. Rick went 2 years ago with AC's class and said what a great time it was and encouraged me to find a way to go. So I approached the other 2 teachers, after being notified that I was not selected to accompany Shania's class, and let them know if they needed a chaperone to keep me in mind. It really was a great time even if I was sore for a few days after riding bikes for about 70 km in total. It was such a neat experience to listen to some people talk about the Battle of Arnhem and beign a child (12 or younger) during WWII. They have a fabulous Airborne museum that we were able to attend and walk through, with a diarama that makes it feel as if you were a part of the actual battle some 60+ years ago. We were also able to walk through and old castle and we biked through a huge nature park and to the Kroller Muller museum which holds the largest private Van Gogh collection. It was fun to see the kids spot the artwork that they were trying to replicate in art class this past year, and exclaim "that's the one I'm painting!"
The biggest news of 2010 so far is the fact that my dear husband is now a SGT in the US Army. He was finally promotoed on May 1st. What a relief after such a long wait of 6 plus years due to various different challenges preventing his promotion. It has now happened so time to move on forward. This summer we didn't do much since we were waiting to hear if Rick will be attending Sgt school. We are still waiting in case you were wondering. We just hope that it happens before we are scheduled to leave the NL. We did go tp Walibi World in the NL which is an amusement park on July 6th since rick had taken a few days off because of Independence Day. After the day spent at the amusement park we took a drive to come home on a road that is built on a dike. It was pretty cool to only see water around you as we drove along. I can't remember how long it was though.
This fall all 3 kids are playing soccer, or football as it is called over here in Europe. Rick is coaching AC and Shania again and Amina is playing on a younger team being coached by 3 single female soldiers. One of whom happens to be our neighbor. I think they are having a good time. Amina has her moments when she doesn't want to play. Today was one of those days. Though when she does play she looks like she is having a lot of fun. This is her first year so I am not pushing her too hard to go and play.
I still am keeping busy with my calling as 1st Counselor in the Primary Presidency in our ward. I also volunteer as the secretary for the American Spouses Club. I am also taking training through ACS(Army Community Services) that they are offering since they are standardizing all the ACS programs. With the training that I am taking I will be able to teach any ACS class at any ACS in the world. There are 3 main training courses that they offer Instructor, Facilitator and Briefer. I have taken the Instructor so far and will take the Facilitator on October5,6 &7 and then the Briefer will be offered in Nov. My goal is to become a Master Trainer through ACS and then I can teach these classes that I am taking, no matter where we will be stationed in the world. It will also look good on my resume should I ever decide to go get a real job outside of the home.
I think most of our family members know this but not many of my friends do. We have orders for our next duty station. We will be heading to Ft. Lewis in Washington State. As sad as I will be to be leaving Europe which has been our home for the past 8 years( almost 9 by the time we leave) it will be good to be closer to family. Well closer than an 8 hour plane ride minimum, at least we will be able to drive to visit instead of having to pay $$$$ to fly. we know that wherever we are stationed is where we need to be. So since we have less than a year left we hope to be able to cross off a lot of the countries that we would like to visit before we leave. So if there are any of you who were wanting to come and visit us in Europe you have until June of next year to do so. Even though we won't leave until July we might not have furniture for you to sleep on.
I think I have rambled on enough. I hope that you have enjoyed this update and that it won't be over a year for the next one.
Bye for now.

Reflections

Well the time has come for me to update again as I haven't done to well of a job in the past. Though it really hasn't been that long since I wrote my last post which was just over a month ago.
We are nearing the end of Rick's deployment of 3 months. It has gone by fast and the kids are starting to count down(especially Amina who actually took Rick being gone harder than we thought) to the time when Daddy comes back. I just hope that Rick will return before our 13th wedding anniversary which is on April 10th. For the most part these past 13 years doesn't seem to be that long. There are times when it feels like just yesterday that we walked out of the Salt Lake Temple as husband and wife. If that was the case then where did 3 children ages 12, 10 and 4 come from. I am truly lucky to have Rick in my life. He is a great provider for our family and a wonderful husband and father. I have been doing some thinking during our absence and am realizing how truly blessed I am in my life to have my husband. I have great parents who rasied me in the gospel and taught me that the only true way to happiness is by following the example of our Savior. I know that my mom was a great example of that throughout her life and I thanks her for that example. I miss you mom. My dad continues to teach me that through service in the Church we will be blessed. I have wonderful siblings and in laws who even though I am not close to them where I can see them very often they do still make me laugh and smile even my cute neices and nephews. Aiden I love your Stephen joke. We miss all of you and Kristyn I hope that we will be able to come and visit you in WA before you move. When I saw the pictures of the tulips that you posted on your blog I thought it was from here in the Netherlands. So I guess we need to visit you there during the Tulip Festival and you need to come to the Netherlands to see Keukenhof and then compare which tulips are better Washingtons or Hollands.
I am looking forward to my reunion with my husband when he returns from Afghanistan. I really do miss him when he is away even if it is for a week or less. I am glad that we do have theses times apart though so that I do realize what a blessing he is in my life.
I even love my kids even though they may fight about stupid things, like who has eaten more Nutella sandwiches and how much is put on the bread each time. I am tryingto teach them that it is silly to fight about things like that and to cherish the times that they spend together. My favorite sound is to hear all 3 of my children laughing and playing together.
I hope that I have not bored anyone with the reflecting that I have been doing. Thanks for reading.