A FRIEND IS A TREASURE

Friendship is a link that gives us the ability to share experiences, knowledge and even means. The bonds of friendship and reciprocal power can not exist separately. The reality of friendship is dual. Implies the existence of at least two people. Friendship needs a partner to share, grow and discover each other (be) therein its values ​​and its shortcomings.

                                                       Sharing unique moments

A good friend does not cancel the other but that power is his partner and a facilitator of its many possibilities. Suffer when you suffer and rejoices when you're glad. It is not envious or arrogant or takes advantage of you

Friendship is based on mutual trust, where the goal is to help the other consequently himself.

Friendship is not imposed, nor program, like everything in life takes effort to get it and most importantly, provide the means to achieve and maintain.

                                                             Unconditional support

The friendship shown in the happy moments: the birth of a child, holding a job promotion, the housewarming. At other times friendship is embodied in a phone call to ask for advice or share a project or exchanging political, religious or existence ideas, or just the feeling we have that there is a person, even hundreds of Km ., to which we can resort only to talk and greet.


Our friend who we can call and let us advise, download, mourn, laugh and listen appears in all situations, both good and difficult times. Either way communicate with him.

                                In the good friendship, cries, laughs, supported.. All is possible

Friendship is a relationship of equals with a common characteristic. So teachers, parents, bosses can not be friends with their students, their children or their employees.

Friendship is not focused on the qualities of the other but rather in its very essence: how he is as a person, what qualities you have, what causes feelings.

Friendship does not create sympathy for the person but empathy: ability to understand and to share joys and sorrows.

                                Although we are far you're always .. you never lose anything.

When a friend tells her confidences, says its discretion and friendship requires correct subjective errors, in order to learn the objectivity of the facts.

The friend is someone who knows all about you and loves you as you are.
THE FRIENDSHIP covers loyalty and confidentiality. Achieve mutual sincerity.

Friends are those people who in difficult times is with you. The distinction for true and false friends is a common presence in the good times and the only real help in bad.

                                                   Good confidences and healthily

In friendship we seek unconditional support, we rely on business to better spend your sorrows, joys and divide duplicate anxieties half.

A proverb about friendship in which I agree is: "He who seeks a friend without faults will be left without friends."

A friend you call when we are going through an unsafe situation to advise us in their view, we ask for your opinion, so then we choose our own discretion, without prejudicing our relationship.

                                                         A goodbye is see you later

There are differences in the relationship of Friendship with the relationship of Love. Differences between known friends.

Sincere friendship is mutual, both people enrich that relationship to grow and learn from it.

Sincerity, generosity, understanding, mutual affection are pillars on which a mistad that consolidates over time is constructed. This is needed for a healthy and constructive friendship.

So in the saying "Friendship for interest, not last because it's not" Friends of convenience, in which certain people approach who can give them prestige, and there are other matters of truth in strengthening the friend.

In today's society prevailing materialism while is pragmatic, prevails among the people the feeling of friendship.

Friendship requires the faithful feeling of sincerity, no cheating, no demands communication, mutual self-giving, unselfish concern for the other, the boundless confidence, patience, respect for ideas, accept the way of life of friend , boundless confidence, the ability to listen, to forgive, the faithful friendship even be this far or have been a long time.

With friend there are two important components: trust and share from your projects, problems, concerns, dreams and failures. All this is learned from childhood to adulthood, through the young-teen that at this stage their social environment and supports friendship is a great release on many occasions in their mental and emotional turmoil, his personal maturation depends their integration into the adult world. It feels and is in dire need of "ally" of relating to other people your age and condition.

In friendship I dislike the lack of loyalty and betrayal. But unfortunately disloyalty exists, and this I have tested on my last years in Australia, here is something very strange happens, you come to a new country and start from scratch, thankfully there are many in the same situation, whether everyone is your friend until proven otherwise, considering that also do not have family, friends are an essential part of your life.

The problem with this is that not fit in with the whole world, this had never occurred to me not because I've always moved in the same environments, the positive is that I've met people with ideas, lifestyle very different from mine and that will be friends for life, with this is that I stay.

I think the people are wonderful, worth fighting, the circle you can have larger or smaller, according to the character you are, You have no friend having too many friends By Aristoteles but I prefer, God created us without frontiers, my goal is friendship with the world.

 I love to have people on my side, I think is one of the handicaps I have they met with the Australian Society are too reserved, but they say that once they are your friends are forever I still I keep trying .. Someday .. maybe. 

Meanwhile I'm enjoying every day with people I love and who loves me, and why not know more people who do not know but I would also like to be friends.

 With All my Love to All my Friends,

Xox Ele

The Arrival of a new Member to the Family

Start the countdown, and probably Macarena arrives next week.

Feelings of emotion, illusion, joy and fear come together …. I mean like when you have the first, make sense?

Excitement at seeing her face, take care, give all the love and share everything between 9 and they are already at home.

And fear because all is well, healthy and both have strength and grace to accept our new responsibility of another Gift of Heaven…

When the day is coming, at least to me several things happen to me, do not know if you will feel identified, the previous children become unbearable, many people think they know who comes another, it seems to me that not true, simply requiring the attention they had before .. and obviously becomes difficult ..Because you have another Baby.

So far,  I wrote before she was born, BUT.. God Knows more..

Macarena was born on April 20th,   in Holy Saturday, for me as a Catholic I found it a very nice and special date, and the truth is that Macarena has been very special.

This is what we wrote after leaving the Hospital: 

" As you all know our daughter Macarena (number 11 in the family) came into this world with lack of oxygen in half her body and major heart problems. A few minutes after her birth the doctors confirmed that the problems she had were associated to another cause; she was born with Down syndrome (Though we had gone through all normal pregnancy tests we had no idea about this until then). Moreover, they took me into a separate room by myself and told me that the baby had to be taken to another emergency hospital for urgent intervention and that they feared for her life.

It was quite a shock for us as we expected that everything would be normal and uncomplicated as it had always been so for us. We began to pray and asked friends & family to pray for Macarena to get well.

From then on and although Macarena was still not recovering or getting better, we began to feel a sense of peace and of being accompanied. In the following days, Macarena miraculously began to evolve positively and we were given a message of reassurance from another hospital where she underwent further tests. We eventually returned home with her last Saturday . Now she is the focus of all her siblings and all contend to see who can be the one to hold her or give her some of her bottle. 

As many of you know the name " Macarena", along with being the name of a popular song about singers from Seville in southern Spain  (where I come from), is the most famous invocation to the Holy Virgin of this city. The meaning of the word is " Blessed ". We feel that our daughter Macarena came blessed from heaven from the moment of her conception. She is for us a blessing from heaven for our entire family. We are happy with this gift that and we eagerly accept the life, joys and challenges that are in front of us as a family.

We have received messages of support from all over the world and even though we are far away from all our Spanish family (all except for my holy sister Carmen) we have felt very supported , lucky and loved. I have attached a picture of the Our Lady of Macarena from Seville (Spain) and once again I thank you  again for all your continued support and prayers" 

  

This is the true reality so far ..But what happened to the uncertainty of not knowing or fear of the new, as guess with a Down syndrome child when sometimes we do with those who are normal .. For me this step was 5 hours…it was to accept that it was my life and my daughter no more .. my gift from God. 

 The only thing I can say is my version so far, I have no idea the difference between a Down Syndrome baby with the third chromosome 21, for this, I will rely on partnerships I'm sure that will help me for questions I could have, but what I know sure is we adore her, we love her, the lovingly more than anyone because it appears that asks me which is my daughter and I live day by day, if I will face difficulties appear as the any of my children if slower in learning to sit, give me the same, if all I will learn to give more love,  love and love.

Just think of someone who does not know selfishness from evil, envious .. already love her,  if you have more slanted eyes .. or some other characteristics I see her beautiful ..

As a Catholic, I am proud to have as an angel in heaven, Beltran my Baby gone with 6 month and now Macarena , and this is my job, my great job, and I think worth it.

In summary, I can not be sad, I do not wonder that the famous, Why? Only I thank God that my daughter is healthy and we can fight for her, not that it is better or worse is just SHE, and deserves the best. 

His brothers are delighted and THEY do not see the difference, do you see?  I DO NOT!

We have a new member in the family and is very special, a star in the hearts of all! 

Thank you all for your prayers! 

FROM SPAIN TO AUSTRALIA

Whenever we talk of emigration, we think of students, expats or perhaps work contract in the destination country. In my case things are different…

The main reason why we chose 

                                                        The Parks are WONDERFUL

Australia is because I was born here; I have always been proud to be Australian and Spanish. 

Then there are other life circumstance which make you think about things…

                 

                             We came to Australia and we were so naive, it was a dream

In 2006 the fifth of our children passed away when he was only six months old. This was a very hard period of our lives. Though we have always accepted the will of God, it was from then on that I felt the need to leave Spain. This was not for any reason in particular: we were happy and much supported by our family and friends but then… something had changed us, our concept of family was not different.

We then decided to come on an adventure with our seven children; I now tell you how life has changed and is changing us here. 

Upon arrival we were like a dream or a different holiday, we came with blind illusion and that's what made us have the strength make so many changes to our lives. Thank God that my sister-in-law is here and when we arrived we had a beautiful home, with a full fridge, pantry and even a car.  

Everything was fine until our Nanny how had been with us for 4 years returned to Spain.

My life as a housewife started! Now here are the challenges I first encountered! 

                                              I feel identify, I don't know where to begin.

•     Things are no longer arranged for you and NOBODY is going to arrange them for you. 
•  You have to give food to your children and husband who goes to work 
•  Children are only yours when you are with them they take priority; If you're in a park you find it hard to talk to anyone because your child may walk off! 
•  I found the house at that time: huge! And I wanted to have it perfect every day! I was exhausted! 

Little by little I realized that the happy mother who was disappearing, was not getting me to achieve my goals.

At first the problem was the language: Australian English is a particular language! My English was getting there but my husband Manolo who is from Sevilla (Imagine the accent!) needed time.

Then every day was something new: going to a supermarket, going to school, maintaining a conversation with people… 

We missed a lot our family back at in Spain; We realized that we were alone here but that took time. Then within three months of being here I fell pregnant. This meant I needed to re-organize my life so that the family was okay.

                                    Part of my family in Spain, is a great family!

Now we have been here for almost four years and the changes I can see in my family life are incredible:

• The children now clean their rooms, their clothes arready the day before (not all the kids are ready but then… some things never change)
• Each kid has a daily task: vacuuming or cleaning the bathroom, setting the table… etc. This was previously impossible!
• I have learned how to cook and making a weekly menu has made my life much easier.
• I clean the house but now I do not overwhelmed if it is not perfect,
• I have leant to be much more open with people: here in Australia our friends are now also my family
•  I have learnt to appreciate and love people differently: people who are very different to me and my family.

I never thought that you can actually do so many things in a single day, but if you do not worry then life is taken with more realism.

We've all changed and I guess to better appreciate other things such as our family, and above all to enjoy the kids!

Celebrating my birthday a very special occasion for the whole family! Not a Picnic!

Regarding quality of life, (for now, although long-term will be better): it's worse, but we appreciate everything so much more: a romantic dinner, an excursion, an anything little is now enjoyed much more, as they are usually exceptions.

So after four years, the   weighing of the scale is positive despite the effort invested. I am now expecting my number 11 which is the fourth girl (a true miracle). The best thing has been the people we have met: Australians or no Australian we have met fantastic people and I 'm sure we'll be friends forever: Lebanese, Asian…

                       Great friends and my only family here, my sister

The children are bilingual, and the whole family has grown as people. We have all fought a lot (each our own battles) and I think that for this alone it has been and it is worthwhile being here. 

This Country is noteworthy for its children-friendly environment: aid to families, parks and outdoor activities for children, the order of things, job opportunities, etc. Otherwise explain to me how a family of 11 can go forward starting from 0 in a different language! Unbelievable!

               More friends! are great support here!, I have a lot to give thanks for that!

From Spain, we of us miss the tapas, beer from Spain, etc. To me this is not important, what is really miss is: 

Some things don't change! Eating habits!

The thing that I truly miss is the people: long-life friends and family of course!

                                 Family coming to see us! 

Another thing the fruit and Vegetables,  here is amazing! I love the Passion Fruit!!!

                                            Family we could visit them!

I will be delighted to welcome people to come and visit us!.

I hope you liked it! keep writing more about moving!

CHEERS, XOX ELE

THE HAPPINESS

THE WAY TO HAPPINESS

I love writing about happiness! In writing this post I also dusted off some philosophers like Aristotle, Platon .. even Nietzsche jaja??, And most famous figures of our time, as Dalai Lama, Gandhi or Blessed Teresa of Calcutta .. which I love and happiness concept is quite what we consider today away.

For example, I love when asked the Dalai Lama what surprised him most of humanity, he answered "The Man." Because you lose your health to earn money, then lose their money to restore their health and by thinking anxiously about the future, enjoy the present. So do not live neither the present nor the future. And live as if they had never die .... And die as if they had never lived.

Also a more social level, we can find us and we must argue that in many ways, contentment, which can be defined as the state of being satisfied, is closely associated with the concept of happiness. In Positive Psychology social scientists study what contributes to living ‘the good life’, or what people need to do in order to having increased positive moods, pleasures, optimistic attitudes and outlook and overall satisfaction with their life.

So does overall satisfaction with your life mean that you are happy? I think this can give you a breath of happiness but not true happiness, it's like when you are very thirsty and you take a coke with ice, and what you usually say is "can be happier" then you probably are, but is not to be happy.. Is all right?  

They all come to the conclusion that happiness is in ourselves, Ok! Fine but how to achieve it? 

The Key is GIVING!.   The world is filled with people who have suffered from one misfortune or another. The only thing that sets one apart from the rest is the desire and the attempt to help others. People who reach out beyond their pain, out into the world in a trusting way – they are the ones who make a difference. Nietzsche said, ‘He who has a why to live for can bear with almost any how.’

Happiness is not found with the acquisition of stuff. Nor is it found in the list of past achievements. Personally I have changed my life radically, initially lived in the past, remember that great life .. I believe that to be happy we must look forward. It is the now and what we do with the now that makes all the difference.

If you wish to maintain a flow of happiness in your life, then make it your number one priority to be a giver. A giver of Love. A giver of your time. A giver of your talent. A giver of smiles. A giver of the word thank you. A giver of respect. Why Not? A giver of Money.


At every opportunity turn it into a moment to give.

I think parents have advantages in this, we are donating 100%, everyone here is look within and honestly think if you can give more to your husband and your children, with gladness because we want to be happy!

Even in your times of pain, choose to give. Selfish people, who hold on to everything that they have, live and die as lonely and bitter people.
Don’t delay living as you await the dreams arrival. Grab each moment and live it to the max

People who live unhappy lives have at some point decided to be unhappy. Don’t let it be you. Pour your life out and into the lives of others and when you are empty you will find that by some miraculous event, you will have been filled again so that you can go and give once more.

When Beltran died, my son, six months, was a great loss, but I saw the generosity of people, the support, the love of many. Also could not allow loss as something useless, whether we enjoyed what we had to make sense of what we lost. It makes sense right?

The end result will be the happiness that each and every one of us desires and deserves to have..

I hope you have not seemed too thick, by the way the next time, less deep! 


Now to be happy!
Lovely, 

Xox Ele

WHY I HAVE SO MANY CHILDREN?

                                                      I am very proud of my family.


The quick answer would be that "I have no idea."

I never thought I would have so many children, of course, I'm married in love and so still that I was bringing a baby every year.

I had the children God has given me and I have never avoided. I know how to avoid it naturally, as some people have told me that if I don't know what is a contraceptive method….Ufffffff…

I don't think there is a prototype of mother of Big Family, in my case, I loved my job, I was in a Multinational, as Headhunter  in Human Resources during 12 years, I love dining out, meet with friends, fix me, travel, all are things that many children are very difficult to combine..By now I've made ​​it!! but it is becoming more difficult ..

But I think you can find balance and worth the doing, I am currently waiting for my number 11 and  Sometimes I think I'm losing strength and that I can't but suddenly,  there comes a smile of my baby Teresa or a picture of my daughter Elena, or they are worries about how are you and how they can to help me…

This makes me think, that large families also have some advantages: 

• They learn to share more easily , they are generous by nature.

• They are more independent and autonomous.

• They developed the spirit of service from small .

Each older brother is responsible for the babys. 

• They have a high sense of tolerance , because they must learn to live with more people.

• Are less whimsical , they know their parents can not concentrate only on them.

• Are more sensitive to the needs and welfare of others , which are independent of his family or not.

• They value family and care about each member.

• They are proactive children , instead of lamenting deal in action.

• Friendly relations between the brothers created.

• They have a high degree of responsibility because they have run from small household chores and taking care of their siblings.

• They are prone to mature faster , they must face challenges and difficulties since the early ages .

• They are aware of the efforts made by their parents give them material goods and therefore tend to a lesser extent, misuse of resources ( money, energy , water, supplies, food , etc. . )

• They are children who are always accompanied and grow in a home environment .

• They have a high tolerance for frustration .

• Due to economic conditions and other circumstances , these families tend to be close to God and strengthen each other spiritually.

We've only gone once to Luna Park and Taroonga Zoo still don't know, maybe one day,  no hurry.

All this is very nice and it's true, but what about the opinion of people who don't Know you and talks on the street, sometimes they don't understand, others are friendly, the most phrases common are:

Are They all yours? or Don't have TV at home ?,  Will be the last one?
Almost every day I hear them, or will have their hands full all day ...?

Normally feel Funny about this questions and  I answer with a smile, until you one day gets bad….

One day I was in ALDI (Economic Supermarket with good quality, but you have to get your stuff to 1000 per hour in the trolley, pay and leave the box… Running, Running ….) and I had six of my children, one was crying for her Dummy, another one threw chips and I kept everything, poking MY head to see if any of my children came of 9 and 10 years to save me..… and after spending the entire queue, sweating and looking …. with the face of disapproval..
Sometimes, stinks is that constantly being on the defensive means you're ready to pounce on the next person who dares to speak to you. I nearly bit the head off of a lovely woman who only meant to congratulate me. "How lucky you are!" she said, sharing with me her infertility challenges in the Whole Foods line, her only child buckled sweetly in a shopping cart cover that was fitted carefully in her cart. "It took me over four years just to have her!"

After we talked a while and thought, It's true. My hands are definitely full. And you know what? So is my heart.

But the real answer is: God said children are a blessing, and like everything he says, it is 100% true. I love these children, young and old, and cannot imagine life without them. Each day I feel blessed to be married to Manuel Pavia and to share these blessings with him. My children are wonderful, witty, intelligent, funny, and a delight.. Although not Always.. Yes for me!!!

See you Soon!!!

Xox Ele

I lOVE CHRISTMAS

Merry Christmas!!! 

All we kept in our memory

Christmas memories of our childhood.

Sometimes we did not understand because it was so bright, so beautiful,

after we discovered that families

join and people are trying to be or, better these days,

it was a magical time;

was the coming of our dear Jesus,

reliving every year, hope and the desire to be better people.

Merry Christmas Eve  and think that we do not see

are also with us.

A even if it hard for us sometimes because we have lost some loved one, 

remember that we will see through that 25th of December was born Jesus!

Merry Christmas Everyone!! 

That you have a very special night!

Of all the Pavia family!!

xxELE