niedziela, 17 października 2010

The kind of woman I forgot to be

For some reason latelyI have forgoten to be a true woman - to look and behave like one. Doing my driving licence course I haven't even tried to look nice - no skirt, no untied hair, no heels. No way. Getting on a car felt like preparing for a battle - a battle on the road - with men coursing and doing unkind things (of course not all men are that way).
Other than that, nothing in the world today reminds me of trying to be a true woman. It's more popular to be an aggressive, vulgar and seducive woman than to be virtuous, kind, loving and sensitive. Women don't treasure their roles as mothers. Staying at home as a mother is usually considered boring. It's hard to be this kind of precious woman in such a world. It takes confidence and even courage.
It's not just the look that makes women - women. There are women who are beautiful, clever and talented but they lack these attributes of true womanhood. Or they don't find it necessary to develop them.
However, homes and families need true women. The husband and children are watching. They look for example. If a mother and a wife allows herself to course, raise her voice (I'm not perfect at that one), then everyone else at home feels allowed to do it. Cause if the woman/the example can, that means it's allowed.
My husband loves it when I have a flower in my hair, when I wear a skirt. He loves it when I have a cheerful attitude, he's always around me then. This is why we got married - because we are different, because we are a man and a woman. He loves it when I'm not afraid to be different from him.
And finally when I react meekly and kindly, but not silently, to his stresses of the day or emotions caused by mistakes, then I pass the final exam. He always recognizes this. After the tension is gone, he would show me extra love and have children love and respect me more.
Somehow after five years of marriage, we became so much alike, that I guess we forgot to be that different - the reason why we fell in love with each other.
After all, the fruits of the Spirit are the attributes God want us all to posess: "love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance [...]"(Galatians 5:22).

czwartek, 25 czerwca 2009

It's been a loooong time...
since I have last written anything on my blog. Well, I was busy. Because of the many things I've been doing, I had to make my life simpler. Decided to focus only on these things: marriage, raising children, service. Everything else comes after that or doesn't come at all:).
I must admit, what would I do without the Church in my life? It gives me tools to have a happy marriage and family. With prayer, scripture study, listening to my leaders speak I get all the solutions to my troubles and see reasons to be happy.
Oh, life is beautiful...I feel it especially when I have some stress in my life, even just for a few hours. Afterwards I feel relief and great power and energy to lift others. Bringing light to peoples lives through sharing the gospel and administering service brings real meaning to life.
Besides that, there are many reasons to be happy... It's summer, rainy but warm. There are strawberries and various kinds of fruits and vegatables, flowers and greenness all around. You can enjoy it only at this very season. I love summer.
I love you all

środa, 4 lutego 2009

10 things I love about Radek

You guys may not know him very well. He calls himself "aspołeczny" which means antisocial. Since talking well of your spouse and mentioning his positive sides is very therapeutic, I wish to do it on my blog .
Radek has a great sense of humor. His humor lies in the fact that he's very word - creative (plays with everyday words; his Mum does the same) , very ironic, sometimes cynical. He says his funny phrases (like "it stinks like in an African home after dancing [of a crowd])".
Other than that, he's very smart. I admire his knowledge and ability.
He solves my problems faster than snapping fingers; my problems are his pleasures - they are easy for him - it ussually has to do with finding information, coping with emotions or repairing stuff in the house ( ok, appartment).
He teaches me self-respect- finding time for myself, taking rest, not excusing myself in front of others, which I always do and serving but not over my ability.
He always supports me in my missionary efforts and Church service.
He loves our sons - duh! He does and says things only he would say to them . That's why they love him.
He's very precise and professional in what he does. It just has to be perfect.
He never holds grudges (for longer than three minutes) and doesn't allow it to me, neither. We may say things impulsively, but we are not allowed to stay quiet and be angry. Quiet is good but not angry (hard).
He's into computers, telephones, Stock-Exchange, genealogy.
He's a good cook. "Kisiel"(fruit gluiy pudding on water) is his speciality.
To sum it all up, Radek is an extraordinary man. You won't find a copy of him anywhere in the world. I love him.
This article has been published by permission of the main character of this post.

wtorek, 27 stycznia 2009

Turning the other cheek feels good
How many times have you found yourself in situations(especially at home) where you were provoked to talk back, you did it back and there and felt like tension increases... Perfect recipe for an argument. There are times where problems arise because of misinformation and this is where we should react and correct it. However usually people fight due to their different opinions or bad feelings. It happens mostly at home - this is where we spend the most time and where we feel most comfortable to express what we think.
Today I learned it takes a lot of inner strenght and character to keep your mouth closed when you think you are so right and it's just not the right time to say it. I had some nice spiritual experiences which helped me feel good about myself that day so I wasn't going to let spoil it. Then I heard some not appreciative opnions from my beloved husband on some of my actions and I decided to say nothing. I knew it would only contribute to creating a bad atmosphere. Within a couple of minutes the situation repeated and I still wanted to keep that warm feeling for the rest of the day so I didn't say anything at all, either. That was so against my nature, but not at this moment. Guess what the result was. In the next couple of minutes my second half shares cookies between us and the kids and says : "The first one will be for the most important person in this house". I have not heard such a compliment so far. And he had absolutely no reason to say that at that moment (Radek doesn't say things if unnecessary, believe me). Something had broken him. I think he knew he cannot go anywhere further with these unkind remarks.
Now I know what to do next time. Nothing. Just sit quiet and win. And wait for kisses , flowers and compliments.

poniedziałek, 12 stycznia 2009

WOŚP - Polish social phenomenon
Wielka Orkiestra Świątecznej Pomocy is the name of a benevolent foundation and a yearly event in Poland where money is raised to buy modern equipment for hospitals. It changes from year to year. Volunteers all over Poland collect money from people on the street this one day in the year which is always at the beginning of January. Things of all sorts are sold at sales auctions. All of the media trasmit information about course of the event on the go. This year the donations will be allocated to buying equipment detecting oncological diseases among children. It's a noble purpose but I don't think that Poles are seriously interested in helping get specialistic equipment that will in majority will not bring any use to them personally. I think why they do participate is because they like the idea of doing something together as a nation. We cannot take part in any war now (good!) which used to unite us the most but we can together help children by raising funds for the equipment. It's this biggest service project that the Poles involve in once a year. It souds kind of sad that it's only once a year but I believe there's still a lot of good people who have their smaller and quieter service procects a lot more often during the year.
I must say whenever we (as family) go to a hospital - whether for birth or treatment we see the equipment of WOŚP being used or children sleep in beds donated by this foundation. It blesses our family. And when you throw that y 1 zloty, you have that sense of unity with the nation:)

niedziela, 11 stycznia 2009

Great start in the New Year!
These first days of January seem to bring some freshness and new things to come. No, I'm not pregnant. Once we started to think about goals at the end of December, me and my husband started coming up with some interesting ideas and gave up the ones from the Old Year. I asked myself again: what is important to me now? What does the Lord expect of me right now? I pictured my life and imagined the things I will still be able to do when I'm fifty (e.g.perform, learn languages, travel and others) and the things I can only do now. The only thing I could think of was that I can exert the most influence on my children now. They yearn for my love right now. They want my time and attention, they follow me in everything as hard as probably never again in their lives. I hate looking back and thinking " I wish I gave more attention to or I was more focused through this or that experience". I don't want to be that way with raising kids many years later. [One thing about blogging in English that bothers the most is that I have to use the word "I" million times more than I do in Polish. We don't use I in Polish. We put a verb in the first person singular and that's it. I feel a bit self-centered].
In this process of "reprioritizing" I decided I do nothing but influence my children as much as possible. I gave up my entertainment tv programmes. I considered giving up my calling (I'm sorry, Lisa). I felt my children are now my everything. I finally started to enjoy every single moment spent with them. I woke up so excited to be woken by my son. I went to bed so happy that I had spent the whole day with my kids. I think I really felt the value of my work. This was when we were in hospital and afterwards. It was some couple of weeks of children being sick and me not leaving home for a moment (thanks to Radek doing shopping we survived :). There was nothing else but kids. I loved it. Then after a while I thought, I guess I can take a good care of my kids and reach out to other people and have a little time for myself. I started being happy with what I'm doing once I turned my world upside down, decided once again what really matters and added some other tasks which make sand around the stones in a jar (do you know what I mean?)

piątek, 2 stycznia 2009

Hi, everybody
(just in case anybody is reading it)!


This is my first blog post. I've never done it before. Personally I think I don't have time for it but if it makes me +one reader lough and makes us feel better, I'll go for it.

The purpose of this blog is to have fun writing and reading it. It will have some funny stories and some spirituals thoughts.

The reason I'm gonna write it in English is simple- this language reaches almost everyone of my friends and also I want to practice my English. If anyone wishes to correct it, you are very welcome to do it.