Goodbye Singapore

Today is National Day in China - so all of our offices were closed - even Hong Kong. But I am a diligent worker and went into the office one last time here. My trip to Singapore was productive and I think well worth the time and money. The people in the office here are just yearning for a leader. I wish I could be it for them. I will give them what I can, but I know that is not my job - at least not right now.

Singapore itself has been heavenly. What a beautiful country. In contrast to Hong Kong it is very sunny and slower paced. Many people have been moving from Hong Kong to Singapore and even a lot of companies have been making the switch - many of them citing the pollution problem as the reason. The drawbacks to Singapore are that it is an island - and the only way to really get off is on a plane. So I can see that people might feel trapped here. But until that time what a great place to live.

My favorite things we did this week were our trip to the zoo and to the island of Sentosa. The zoo was just the right size and similar to other parks outside the USA they aren't too worried about lawsuits so you actually get to be closer and more interactive with the animals. And the animals were active! It was a great few hours spent with the family and looking at animals. Tevia already posted a bit about the zoo.

Sentosa was great as well. Tevia had already gone with the boys, so when I went we made the trek back over on the subway and then on the monorail. I think this was my first time on a monorail. The island is just south of Singapore and connected by a causeway. The first thing that stood out was the breeze. There isn't much of a breeze in Singapore, but there was here. It also had such manicured lawns and bushes. Just sitting down on the lawn and listening to the soothing music being played was worth the trip. We went up to the butterfly park and, similar to the zoo, you have much more opportunity to interact with the butterflies. So you could touch them and the caretakers would put them on you for photos. It was great. I saw so many and a few that were outright huge and gorgeous. I loved the time there and could have spent quite a bit more time there. But the family was ready to move on and so I obliged. Jarek was not a big fan of this part as he does not like bugs.

We then went on a small nature hike on the "dragon trail" where we found dragon bones and read legends about dragons. It was quite fun. We then headed back to the city and left the beautiful island of Sentosa to the rest of the tourists.

I am very happy to have been able to come here. Tomorrow we head back to Hong Kong where life speeds up a bit, pollution is a little more obvious, and the sun doesn't shine quite so bright. But the Chinese spirit is bright there! Tonight they are doing thousands of fireworks over the harbour which we are missing! I am ready to get out of our one room hotel and back to our larger apartment with the wonderful view. But if I ever get the chance to come back down here - I'll take it!

bret and another woman

well, that must have been weird! what a coincidence! or was it? .... better keep your eye on her.
:)

Singapore

This Tuesday we got up very early to head down to Singapore. Singapore is a small island city/state just south of Malaysia - near the equator. It is a three hour flight from HK. I had been told by many people that I would love Singapore - even more than Hong Kong. I think those people know me very well. I have loved it. It is beautiful. It is hot. It has an ocean. It has great food. What better combination can you have. Hong Kong has most of those things, but Singapore is much more tropical and feels almost like a resort. The office here is smaller than in Hong Kong with about 30 people. It has been great meeting the people in the office, seeing the island, and just enjoying the weather.

To give you a better understanding of the two places, Hong Kong is like NYC but hotter and in the mountains. Singapore is like Phoenix, but more humid and green and with an ocean. I love both NYC and Phoenix, but for the same reasons I like (and thus live) in Phoenix rather than NYC are reasons I think I like Singapore more. Tevia has loved it because of the sun. It is almost like Mexico but more cosmopolitan and clean. I didn't feel right about leaving Tevia and the boys in HK alone the week after I flew them out, so bringing them down seemed the best option. I think they have liked it.

Mansion and Beef Sushi

So i started being a nanny for this family up in Alpine and it has already been a very very interesting experience. First, the house is house. I would say up to 10 million dollars... Jacob has corrected me however, and thinks it is far less. But i dont know! what i do know is that it is HUGE! the biggest house i have ever been in by far! It has its very own gym, not a work out gym, but a gym, like the one that has a basketball court and it is indoors. It is SO cool! It also has the prettiest outdoor setting with a huge pool and not just any water slide going into it but one that you would honestly find at a water park and then a big hot tub! Then a huge trampoline in the ground thing and all these fancy plants. It really is something else. The thing i love the most though is the master bedroom. because its not just a master bedroom. Its a master suite. The suite has 4 rooms. The actual bed room, the tv and fire place room, the window outlook room, and then of course my favorite the AMAZING bathroom. The vanity mirror is like taller than my apartment wall, the spa in there could be qualified as a pool, the shower wraps around the corner and is probably 4 times the size of any of our entire bathrooms in our house and then there are the closets, one for the dad and one for the mom which are both bigger than my room at home. There are also like 5 fireplaces, an island kitchen with a big table, a thousand bathrooms, and like 7 spare bedrooms. Oh ya also one of my favorite parts is in the kitchen they have this ice maker the size of a dish washer and the ice is soft and small and there are always like a thousand ice chips in it! MMmm its so good!
Anyways, the place is insane. And i work there and its definitely been quite the experience. For many reasons. One, simply because its a mansion. Two, because the children do not have very good discipline or any at all. That is because the father is always gone. He actually goes to San Fransisco for school to get his MBA and his job requires him to fly all over the world at least once a week! And the mother is too nice and never actually raises her voice or punishes them. She lets them get what they want. The father will "talk" to them, but again hes always gone. So they need help because she is often alone and also pregnant and due at the end of October. So the kids think they can get aways with everything... probably because they can! So its been kind of difficult when a problem arises to make peace or solve something because each child will have a fit. They are 2, 4, and 6 by the way. And yesterday the 4 year old, Grant ran upstairs crying when i told him to get out of the way of his brothers bowling came, screaming, "you are not my mother." I was like oh boy but we had a talk and things went good after that. I told him that in order for us to have fun we have to listen because thats what friends do and read him this funny elephant story and he was actually really happy. It sounds weird but i think kids like discipline sometimes.
But we did have fun yesterday and i already have fallen in love with them. They are fun kids and so cute! The mother's family is half hawaiin and half japanese so they are kinda dark and just cute. So for dinner the mom's mom made this beef stuff wrapped in seaweed and it looked like sushi so i was a little apprehensive to try it but OH my goodness it was so good! She is gonna give me the recipe. I am excited to be a part of this new family but am still debating whether or not to stay because the drive is like 35 min both ways and its only 10 an hour. We'll see. But i just wanted to let you know whats going on over here.
School is going good as well and i love my classes especially my marriage and family relations one. It has taught me so much, as has my D&C one. My sign language is still tough but im getting by and its still fun and enjoyable so i am very pleased so far with this semester. Also i want to tell everyone to decide about christmas because I NEED TO KNOW! =) k I love you all

how dumb are we?

When we left the house for the Poconos on Wednesday evening, we really weren't in any big hurry. there were no kids to yell at, it was only a 2 hour drive ahead, and we were in a relaxed mode. dad had just ran his IBM 5k, so he was tired, but happy. I always worry about leaving the house alone while we are gone, so I went around and closed and actually locked all the windows, which I never take the time to do. ( we know from experience that you can put a hole through a screen and get the screen out and if the window is unlocked, you can be in our house in less than a minute.) (and all the ground floor windows already have holes in the screens.)
When we arrived home, through the garage, and came upstairs, we noticed our kitchen was full of moths. (we also always leave our kitchen lights on.) Our first thought it someone had broken in a window and there was a window wide open somewhere in the house. It only took a few seconds more to see that our patio door was standing wide open! The gate for patio was still closed, but dad had me stay down by the door as he searched the house. No one around, of course. Yes, we were that dumb. We let Daisy sit out on the patio every day in good weather, and she had been out there that morning. We left the house locked up and closed except for leaving our patio door wide open for 3 days! Lucky we live in a safe neighborhood, and also lucky that the gate was closed, or we could have had more than moths! (Daisy was not home, she had gone to visit Logan Mongelli for the 3 days) We couldn't believe we did that. :)

Hong Kong - 2nd Round

I have an advantage over Tevia in that I have been here before. I was here for 4 weeks and pretty much know my way around, what foods I like, etc. Coming back was easy and wasn't even "exciting" like it was the first time. For me it is pretty much back to usual: working most of the day and coming home to the family at night. I feel for Tevia who doesn't get that routine. But she will soon. Hong Kong has been great to be back to. I found the little bus route to my work from my new apartment (which is also much cheaper than the shuttle route I used at my last apartments). I have ventured off to find some great lunch places. One day this week I found an Indonesian place that is tiny. I had some awesome Mango Fried Rice with a tall glass of coconut milk (divine!).

This week we head down to Singapore. I decided to bring the family as I felt bad leaving them the first week they are here. It will be worth the extra money to have them close and also the opportunity to see a new country (newer!). We will be there a week. Unfortunately two of those days are holidays in Hong Kong, so I will miss out on them since they are not celebrated in Singapore. Oh well. I still have a bunch of days off that I need to take.

Work has been a little different since I came back. With a new boss (different from the one last month) it has taken time to get used to her style and work. She is not quite the dynamic leader that my last boss was last month (he is based in London but was here on assignment until a replacement was found). I honestly think this will be a big part of my decision on whether to stay (of course, the family's feelings come first). So who knows, we may be back in PHX early in 2008. Who knows what they will do with me in PHX. It would be interesting. But I trust the Lord and the talents he has given me.

Yesterday was a lot of fun as we went to Stanley and walked around the market. Then we had lunch and Tevia ordered some canelloni that was amazing. In the afternoon the boys and I (sans Enok) tried out the pools since their suits came. It was a lot of fun. They have a huge kiddie pool that is shallow that the boys loved and Enok will, too. That evening we went to a big mall and had hamburgers and found a voltage converter for the Wii. So now we can play Wii. It works! So it survived the trip.

We should be back on internet when we get back from Singapore (Oct 3).

fun in the Poconos

We arrived in Bushkill, PA on Wed night, and kathy, Fred, Mike, and Marsha were already there. Kathy and Fred bought into one of those vacation points systems, and they got this condo for almost nothing. it had 2 bedrooms and baths downstairs, and a loft upstairs where dad and I slept, a nice kitchen, dining room, and family room with fireplace, right on a lake. there were tennis courts, basketball courts, game rooms, 3 pools, etc. very nice place. on Friday, we went hiking through a park called Bushkill Falls. it was$9. to get in, but so pretty. there was a small river or creek that had lots of falls throughout its path. they built wooden stairs and bridges all over and around it. it was beautiful. the rest of them hiked the long trails, and dad and I hiked the short one, then had corn dogs and a rootbeer float and shopped the little trading post and relaxed. it was a really cute place. dad and I would love to go again, and even take all of you there. we enjoyed getting to know Marsha better. I had make 50 little pieces of paper with 50 memories on them for Michael for his birthday. ( this was all done for his 50th birthday celebration next week) so we had fun pulling out the memories and questions all the time and talking about each subject, like, what was your favorite tv show as a kid, first kiss, first job, best teacher, when did you first meet Carol, what was your earliest memory, etc. It was a great idea and kept us talking from morning until night. I love my sister and brother. it was a very bonding weekend.

Not Quite As Tough Stuff

Okay, I am really laying it all out there for you guys. Bret says I am very transparent in my feelings and moods so it does no good to try and hide it all behind words on a blog.

I am not made of the tough stuff I always thought I was. I am finding that I am pretty lame, fearful, anti-social, whiney and well just not tough. I thought it would be a piece of cake to come out here and just go with the flow. I didn't realize that the flow here was super-lightening speed. A speed at which I and my kids just don't operate at. I get frustrated and angry becasue I want to be able to do it all by myself, but I just can't. I really, really loathe that feeling. I have never been good at accepting the fact that I am not all powerful to control my every situation. It is a strange sensation to be so helpless.

Here is something else that is unnerving to me. There are all these domestic helpers here from the Phillipines and wherever. They are generally tagging along "helping" these English, Austrailian, American... families. I happen to look like these helpers. I don't get a lot of the mothers talking to me becasue they think I am just a helper. Now, you may be thinking, "well that is dumb, why don't I just say hello and they will hear my american accent?" Well that would be because not a lot of them even look at me. They think that since I am hauling around three boys I must be a helper. No other woman in her right mind would have three kids to begin with and then take care of them by herself. That would be insanity! :) So that has been strange. I know these things are all probably bigger problemes inside my own head, but that seems to be where I have been living the last week.

The reason I am posting this on the family Blog is for one reason only. You guys already know I am crazy and still like me. I don't think I should share my crazy with all the rest of the people reading the other blog. Being crazy is a strange thing. Some days I feel absolutely normal, while other days it is all I can do to make it through the day without being admitted to the looney bin!

Anyhow, I have gone on far long enough. I am sure I will eventually carve my happy little rut here and make some friends. I will get more confident to go places with three small children and not worry about them holding everyone up. I will do this becasue it is either adapt or get run down, and for me, the second is not an option.

Abuot the other Blog

Hi, just wanted to inform everyone, in case you weren't aware, but not that it matters too terribly much, but the other blog is inclusive of many of our friends, the kids teachers, PT, etc...
So, if there is something you want to post that is of a nature not inteneded for people other than family, you might not want to post it on the other blog. Unless of course you don't mind who reads it and responds to it.
Thank you kindly.

Time

I'm sitting here in class and just thinking about time. I think as it (time) goes on I find how more and more valuable it really is. As a child, teen, and even young adult, I never thought much about it... it came, it went... Oh blah di blah da! However, as I am finding more and more time has so much greater value. I'm pretty sure the days last as long, I think there are the same number of hours in a day as there always have been... right? (perhaps in my younger college years there were some days that would bleed late - very late - into the night... but for the most part each day was 24 hours long). Jacob, you are still an exception to the rule of hours in a day... averaging about 3 hours of sleep a week... you're just not human.

But my point(s) is(are) this:

I have less time (I think) because I own less time. My days are all but planned out for me from sun up to, well, beyond sundown. I get up at (or around) 7 and go to work. I'm at work all day. After work I rush to class where I live until 8:30 (some nights extend my stay a bit longer). From school I go home and the few hours from the time I leave class until I choose to go to sleep are all I own. They're all the hours I have to dictate what I do. Unfortunately they are not my without constraint... strings seem to be attached to most every facet of my life these days... I have homework... and LOTS of it. I'm not trying to complain. I know most of you can pretty closely relate to such a schedule in your own life.

I wonder... How is it that the technological advances of our day - designed to save us time or streamline duties, etc - tend to have an opposite effect?

Where are all the hours going?

Does it ever get "easier"?

From 3 am...

Well I woke up today with Cari elbowing me as usual. Having been up till 3 am the night before with Boomer Hawks and Tom playing SSBM, I was unconvinced that 8:00 in the morning was, in fact, the start of a new day. Regardless, it was a day to be remembered. I had promised Cari she could take a test today since she is a week late. If I had known she would go for the 8:00 am slot I would have clarified the promise with a more specific time. I also made her promise she couldn't take a test without me present so that if negative I could provide as much comfort as a tired insomniac could give...

I woke up again to more elbowing. It felt like I had slept another hour, but Cari reassures me it wasn't more than a minute. Yes, Cari was/is pregnant! I don't remember much else and soon fell back asleep happy to be entering the next phase of life. I'm not sure I convinced Cari of my excitement. But in my defense, I didn't know I was a father until after I stayed up to 3am :-)

Well to sum things up, by the end of the day, I was completely convinced I had not dreamed Cari's pregnancy test and the expensive pee tester had still refused to insert "not" in front of the word pregnant. In addition, our news was overpowered by Nicoles Knutti's engagement announcement! Andrea Scott is also getting married in December and will require us to fly into Washington DC as she is from Baltimore. If Nicole decides to have a white Christmas as well, the PHX extravaganza might be a little difficult to attend. We will know a little better when dates are finalized.

These names are final:
Girl - Hazel Marie Wall
Boy - Speed Zadok Wall

Twins Boys -Speed Zadot Wall
-Dash Allen Wall

Twin Girls - Hazel Marie Wall
Ester Marie Wall

Puppies For Sale

We had a speaker named Dan Clark at our Pru meetings this week. He shared this short movie that he wrote and I thought I'd share with you all. I loved it.

Enok's Birthday

It is hard to believe that a year ago today I was in the hospital pregnant and waiting the arrival of our third child. The year he has been in our lives has been full of joy and laughter and new experiences we didn't get to observe with Jarek and Malik. Enok is happy, delightful, energetic and full of personality. He is sweet and silly and exceptionally LOUD!!! :)

Today is his birthday and because we are in the middle of getting ready to go to Honk Kong I fell like a negligent parent. He probably won't have a b-day cake, like the other two kids, and I haven't hardly thought much about his birthday today as I have a billion things to do. Tonight Bret wants to go get ice cream to celebrate, and we got a couple of small toys for him that will be fun to take to HK. It is a strange day as far as celebrating goes, but I am so thrilled that he is a part of our family and I am a lucky woman to have him as a son. To Enok, I hope you grow up to be as good of a man as your father is, as loving as Jarek and as funny and silly as Malik. You have a lot of potential and I know you will be amazing.

7th grade home and careers

I love to teach! I had to show a movie 5 times today about the difference between fashion and just clothing. I found it interesting, but none of them did. Most of the designer labels are all still made by the exact same company. I didn't know that. One company alone makes 8 different brands of jeans. and good old Tiger Woods, according to this movie, Nike people pick out his outfits for his tournaments a year ahead of time, and then they make cheaper copies of the outfit; hat, belt, and all, and sell these during and after the tournaments. Most clothes are still bought at Walmart. I had fun with these young teenagers who think they are so cool. It is funny to watch them. I had 3 free periods, to read and eat lunch, but I am still tired.

Stake Conference and Sushi

Stake Conference: Today was our stake conference. Jacob and I got up on time and decided to walk to the Provo Tabernacle where stake conference was to be held. We got there a couple minutes late (a couple = less than five) and we told that there were no more seats left. There were a LOT of people milling around outside who had all also been told that there was no room left in the building. So we went home, not really having any other options.

A few hours later, our friend, Frank, stopped by to ask Jacob a question about the internet problems our building has been having. We told him about our funny experience of the morning and about our surprise that the stake didn't plan better for the number of people in our stake. We all got really confused when he told us that as far as he could tell, there were plenty of seats at stake conference.

After a minute, he laughed and informed us that our stake conference was in fact at our stake center, not at the Provo Tabernacle as we (and several other ward members we saw there) thought. Two weeks ago, the location was announced as the Provo Tabernacle. Then last week, they corrected the previous announcement, but we were all in Phoenix for our nephew, Jarek's, baptism. So, we (and many others) showed up at another stake's stake conference, who are probably now congratulating themselves on such a fabulous turn-out for their stake conference. :-)

Incidentally, Frank also informed us that this is not the first time this has happened in this stake. He said he'd remind the high council, again, that they need to be more careful about the announcement they hand out.

Sushi: Since we had so much more of our afternoon today, we had decided to make sushi for our Sunday dinner. As we were thinking about how much to make, we realized that we'd invited about 16 people over for dinner. For those of you who have been to our wonderful little condo, 16 people is do-able, but a bit of a squeeze. We figured we'd have a couple of cancellations, as we often to, and that everything would be fine.

It was a very good thing we had been planning for leftovers. All 16 people showed up and we had a really fun time eating sushi, talking, and playing games. I guess sushi is more popular than I realized. Or maybe it's just us. :-)

2 Nephi 9:20

Approximately four years before Kris Prettyman, resourceful mother of five, died of a stroke, another woman approached her young Bishop about a health problem. She had cancer, and the doctor's report was that the situation was grim. The young Bishop had only been a member of the church for 11 years himself and only a bishop for one. He had been converted at the tender age of 21, the only member in his family, and had accepted the gospel and committed to serve a mission. An interesting side note that dose not directly enter our story but has some indirect contribution to it, is that He had been called to serve in the NY mission. Being fully unacquainted with the ways of the church, he had accepted his call and stowed his letter. As it turns out, just 1-2 weeks before he entered the MTC a friend was reviewing the call letter and sees that it reads clearly, you are called to serve in the NY ASL mission. This poor fellow had no knowledge of ASL whatsoever. Of course he learned it and did fulfill a great mission in NY. Now back to the story, hearing the severity of the woman's concern he asked if he can have a week to pray and fast before the sought after blessing was given. This woman was 37 years old and single. She had been a member all her life. She has an identical twin sister married with three wonderful children, but herself still single never married always faithful. So a week later the young and well prepared young Bishop lays his hands on her head and pronounces a blessing that the woman, Lorain Jacobson, would recover from her sickness and that not only that but in addition he promised her that she would eventually be married herself and to a man that already had children and that she would have the opportunity to help to raise these children in this family. For the next 5 years she continually would remind her Bishop of the promise and with that fact she had nothing to fear. The Bishop sweat bullets for five years, but no more, the promises of God pronounced in that priesthood blessing have been fulfilled every whit. Now Kris's mortal experience has come to an end, and Lorian Jacobsen Prettyman begins a new and challenging part of her life. For thy days are known and thy years shall not be numbered less, therefore fear not what man can do, for God shall be with you forever and ever. So God counsels Joseph in the Liberty Jail, and so it would appear is also true for each one of us. We need to trust God and let him do his great work.

Jarek's Baptism

This last week was very emotional. First I came back to my family after being away for a month. Then this last weekend we had the opportunity to have some family come in for Jarek's baptism. For those of you who did not make it, we missed you so much. For those of you who came: thanks! It was great to spend time with family - especially my siblings as we tended to stay up late talking about things like "fear" and daycare.

On Sunday September 2, 2007 we had Jarek's baptism at 4 PM. My goal was to have a quick, spiritual service as most baptisms I have attended tend to go a little long. Paul Bennion from the bishopric conducted the meeting. Grandpa Webb gave a wonderful talk to Jarek about baptism. The actual baptism went great. Jarek looked so old in his white jumpsuit. He noted the water was a little colder than he expected. I was so proud of him. He is such a good boy. I am so lucky to be his father and friend. His soul is pure and loving. After we came out of the water he said he felt the cleanest he has ever felt - more than when he just takes a shower.

After the baptism Jarek sang a song (My Own Little Lamp) about having his own testimony accompanied by his Aunt Borrego (Tammy). It brought tears to many people's eyes. I believe that Jacob Webb sang this same song at his baptism. Grandma Webb's eyes were crying the whole time. He did a great job. Following this Grandma Wall gave a talk on the Holy Ghost which was also very touching. We then gave Jarek the Holy Ghost. The spirit was so strong to me the entire time. It was a perfect meeting. It didn't last too long and afterwards we had great cookies to eat. Then everyone (family) came over to have dinner. Tevia had prepared Bonnie's Tacos. We spoke with family and enjoyed being with everyone. It was a great experience for me and hopefully for Jarek, too.

so happy together

I am so glad we have had so many opportunities this year to be together! I had fun being with all of you. Jarek's baptism was wonderful!

Happy Birthday to Cari on the 6th!

Hey Cari, hope you have a fantastic, wonderful, fun-filled birthday! Many many happy returns! Love,
tevs

Back

I made it back to the states. The trip was mostly uneventful, but one part was very cool. While standing in the "check in" line at the airport in Hong Kong I looked to my right and noticed a bald, white man who looked very familiar. Upon looking again, I realized it was Elder Dallin H Oaks and his wife. They were checking into the first class section on my same flight. Not one to often get "starstruck," I admit that I could not help but keep looking in their direction. Here, an apostle of the Lord just doing everyday things right next to me. I started texting people back in the states but could only get Tevia to respond. I eventually worked up the courage and determination that I should take this opportunity to talk to him and shake his hand. What better place than in a foreign country where few people know who he is or even speak his language. So I took the opportune time to introduce myself just as he sneezed, which made the introduction a little strange as he decided it best to shake my hand with his left hand since he had just sneezed. I asked what he was doing here and let him know my name. He asked what I was doing here and I told him it was for my job and that I was going back to gather my family. He mentioned how the church is quite strong in Hong Kong and told me to keep strong in the faith while I am here. I assured him I would and left him to wait for his wife (who had gone to use the restroom).

I saw him again as he boarded the plane and sat in the section in front of me. So for 12 hours we sat and endured the plane ride back to San Diego. Upon arrival in San Diego I ended up being close to him and his wife again as we awaited our luggage which seemed to take much longer than the other luggage. I thought of witty things to say like, "this truly is a test of our faith," but opted just to say hi again and ask if they were going to Utah from there. His wife replied yes and then I spoke with her for about 5 to 10 minutes as Elder Oaks walked worriedly around wondering if their luggage was lost. When I saw mine arrive I advised that since we checked in together that theirs' was sure to show up, and as I walked away and said goodbye, sure enough their luggage showed up.

I eventually got back to Phoenix and got to see my family. It was a joyous occasion. Enok was a little intimidated by me the first day, but now he is back to being a daddy's boy. I think being away for a month had a larger-than-expected effect on the family. There has been some adjustments as I think we got used to doing things without the other person there. It is amazing how quickly some people can adapt. We are working to be a better team. I often feel very bad that I left my family for so long. I am SOOO happy they are coming back with me.

I am excited for this weekend. To see family, friends, and baptize Jarek. It will be great.

how many states?

I can't believe how many states members of our family have been in or over the last few weeks. Kathy is now on her way to Denver from Dallas. Jacob got to go all the way to Charlotte, NC. we sure are a travelling family. I stop in Chicago. I should have gotten a nonstop. now I am worried.

report on grandpa Pylick

just to let you kids know how grandpa is. He has a blatter infection, and his kidneys are not working quite right, probably due to his enlarged prostrate. they are doing all kinds of blood work and tests and an MRI next week. He is feeling fine, and hates going to all these doctors. he was in the hospital the week we were there because they thought his kidneys were shutting down. keep him in your prayers.

The Drive

Hey. Well the trip went pretty good. I think we were in the car about 30 hours straight, from 830 in cedar point to 1230 when we arrived at Jake's.

it was a pretty exciting trip. a couple interesting things we ran into. first was there was quite a lot of construction slowing us down through the first couple states. nothing as bad as what we hit at the end of Illinois. we got to the mile marker about 15 so we were close to the end when we hit some bad traffic. A complete stop for at least 45 min. There was no sign of construction or anything. We couldn't figure out what the slow down was. Eventually it started moving slowly, maybe about 10 mph on average. It lasted until like mile marker 1, so about 14 miles, and slowed us down a good 2 hours. It ended up being that the road was closed going east because of heavy flooding, and only 1 lane had been cleared going west, and that was just barely opened when we got there.

Before this though Jake and i had already stopped i think 1 or maybe 2 times. One time was to get some food. We ended up going to a McDonald's out in Illinois. It was the classic McDonald's, with slow service, and the disturbing fact that everyone there was over weight. Jake picked up a drink that would later serve as basically a nitro for energy during the night.

So, through out the traffic in Illinois, I had forgotten we were about to cross the Mississippi river. Well, we missed it, didn't even realized we passed it until half way through Indiana.

Indiana was just driving, nothing exciting there, just some construction, but I think we made good time through there.

Iowa was next, and it started off with a laugh. For all the states we had gone through previously I-80 had been a toll road. Pick up your ticket at the start, pay it at the end. And the sign for Iowa was no different. It said I-80 Iowa Toll Road. Well when we got into Iowa, you go around a turn and the road splits for about half a mile. Both sections go parallel and have one main difference. One had three lanes of tolls, the other didn't. Not paying attention Jake and i just went to the left, which had no tolls, and then realized it had split. There was absolutely no sign about the tolls except for one right at the end of our section, right before the 2 roads merged. It said something like, "If you missed the toll, please pay online". We have no clue what that meant, and there were no tolls through the rest of Iowa. So, just a random fact for anyone planning on driving through Iowa, the tolls are optional there.

Next we decided we'd drive to Des Moines and get something to eat. Des Moines was about 2 hours into Iowa. We got there around 830 on Fri night. Well bad choice, Des Moines is a big city, lots of buildings and businesses, it had Drake University but no food. The entire city only had McDonald's and Burger Kings, and then knock off fast food places like Taco Johns or Iowa Castle. No normal food. We eventually went to a place called Pancheros, which turned out to be a knock off of Chipotles.

I drove form there until about 12 when Jake decided to take over so i could sleep. He drank his nitro and drove through Nebraska in the heavy fog until 330. Then we stopped to sleep and he got up and drove from 5 to 6 and we were done with Nebraska. Then we switched and i drove us through Wyoming, which still has absolutely nothing and we got to the Utah border at around 1130.

From there we took a mountain pass road called 189 to Provo and arrived about 1230. Altogether it was a nice drive. Total driving time was about 24 hours and total time in the care was 30. It went by fast and was fun to see the country, but still, I hope Kathy's grateful that we drove her a car out here for her. I think thats all the exciting things about our trip.

Hoodies

Hi, I am missing two hoodies. I don't know if I left them somewhere or if Bret took them with him to HK. If you happen upon either a gray BYU hoodie, or a gray Aeropostale hoodie would you please let me know? Thanks.
tevs

A Night on the Hong Kong Town

Yesterday after work we had an office get together to say goodbye to Sarah Savoia - who I have replaced here, if just for the short term. She started here 6 years ago when we opened this office and thus has a lot of relationships and respect. I have known her for years as well, and it has been a pleasure working with her and taking over her role.

In Hong Kong, as I have mentioned, they work hard. Well, they also PLAY hard. The city is known for its parties and long nights. Pubs and bars are everywhere and it is not uncommon to stay out past 1 AM even on weeknights. We took a cab over to Kwan Lai Fong, which is the "hip" area that has the streets literally packed until 3 or 4 AM. We went to a club/bar called the Cavern and sat outside (where most people complained about the heat - though it wasn't that bad to me and I was in a tie). Of course everyone drinks. But here they drink even more than in the USA, and so after an hour or two many of the people are quite drunk. I'm not really uncomfortable around drunk people as I have been around them much of my life, but it still amazes me how some people act when they are drunk. I am convinced most of them are faking (not being drunk, but doing the stupid things they do). It was fun to be with the team - we had a group of around 30 or so which continued to grow and diminish in size as the night went on.

For me, I not only don't drink alcohol, but I am cheap. Remember, Hong Kong can be pricey, and even a Coke at the pub was like $4 or $5 - and not a can - but a small glass. So I had my one Sprite and couldn't believe these guys could go on all night without even eating (beer has a lot of carbs, so that must do it). A few of us finally did get some appetizers. People in HK are so friendly. It is almost impossible to pay for something when you order things together. People always volunteer to cover the cost. Even when I was given a bill for Vodka (which of course I did not order), one of the girls just said she would pay for it for whoever had ordered it). It is really neat to see how kind and unselfish people are. Probably because they have so much money - or at least used to spending so much money.

By 11 or so at night our group had gotten down to a dozen or so. Most people went into the dance floor area which I gladly followed and had fun dancing - something I haven't done in years (well, outside of my living room where I dance all the time!). It is also interesting to see the mix of people. In the USA there typically is a separation of ages. People in their 30s don't want to be dancing with teenagers and vice versa. Here there really aren't age limits at the pubs (which adds to the mingling) and so on my one hand I may have a 40 year old woman and on my left a 16 year old little girl. Kinda weird. They had a live band (they must have been from the USA) who were pretty good. Mostly R&B stuff, which I love. I finally noticed it was almost midnight and figured I better call it a night. I was sweaty, hot, and tired. But I had a lot of fun. I can see how this sort of life can be very intriguing to people. It is also very easy to live it here even if you have kids because everyone with kids has a "helper" that lives with them to take care of the kids and clean the house, etc. It was a lot of fun.

During the night at the bar here in Hong Kong I was continually texting with people back in the states on my Blackberry. It is amazing what technology can do. I can chat with Tevia in Phoenix while I sit under the stars in Lan Kwai Fang Hong Kong. It's midnight here and 9 AM there. Crazy.

On another note, I ate at a McDonald's here yesterday for lunch. They are crazy packed all the time. I was in the mood for a shake and was curious to try something. I ordered a McChicken sandwich and a shake. It cost me $13 HK, which is about $1.50. So cheap. And good. It reminded me of the old McChickens that I used to actually like until they made them healthy. :-) I was told that the McDonald's in Hong Kong are the cheapest in the world. Not sure why, when most other things are more expensive. Goes to show you can never predict things.

Last note. I hated Avril's last song (Girlfriend). I was worried she had sold out. But since I have been here I love her new song "When You're Gone" which I am listening to right now on Deezer.com (love that, too). I think I'm a sucker for it since I miss my family a lot.

Harry Potter

Unlike our blog a couple of years ago, we didn't really do much discussing Harry Potter. I believe I already posted that I loved the book, but didn't go into too much detail as some people were still reading and we couldn't spoil anything. For a long time I was waiting for a review from Orson Scott Card (which is linked below) as I enjoy his reviews and I knew he loved Harry as much as me. And if you haven't read the book and still plan to: you are an idiot and you shouldn't read any more of this post. :-)

Here in Hong Kong they have the book on sale (in a cool different book cover) for like $17 - and I think I will buy one tomorrow and read on the way home. I agree with OSC in that this is classic literature that will be remembered for generations. It is like The Lord of the Rings for our generation. Sure, it may not be as deep, but it is great story-telling and does contain the same values that make great works of art (think LOTR, Star Wars, and now Harry).

I am amazed at how Ms. Rowling could finish the tale with such style and emotion. I remember telling Tevia that I couldn't believe she got me to cry when Dobby died (OSC mentions this as well)! I hated Dobby. He annoyed me. But I shed tears in that scene, probably due to the true dread I was feeling that Hermione might actually die - and that she was in pain. It even became believable that Snape was truly acting in the best interest of Harry. This did not make him a "good" guy, but answered questions and yet was not a redemption of his ickiness. (Though I do find it convenient that Harry just happened to be there when Snape was killed - had he not been there we would never know his motives).

I feel bad for the many people who have missed out on this great literature. This includes you MOM! I can't believe you never got past the second or third book. I am happy to be related and friends with people like you who have spent hours reading a story of a young magician. We have laughed, cried, cheered, and loved.

http://www.hatrack.com/osc/reviews/everything/2007-07-29-extra.shtml

God, Sex, And Greed

Yesterday at work while I was waiting for the last donor to finish up, CNN came on with a program called God, Sex and Greed. I only watched the first 10 minutes or so but it sure got my attention and stirred my emotions. It explained how the world has gotten so sex-crazed and greedy for money. The amount of pornography, strip clubs, gambling, greediness, etc has crept into our society and is now everywhere. On our money it says 'In God We Trust' and we have patriotic songs such as 'God Bless America.' They asked should we really be saying 'god bless us,' or 'god save us.'

Anyway, the show explained it a lot better than I can. It made me realize though, how evil this world really is. The reality of it all hit me at once and I almost started crying right then and there at work. (This could be because I also have been more emotional since Jacob and Ellery left me here alone in Louisiana.) It made me feel so bad how awful things have gotten here on Earth. I feel so bad for people who are living these lifestyles. I thought of how sad our Heavenly Father must feel to watch His children live like this. It's made me feel more anxious to become more righteous and serve others and teach them about the gospel. (Even though I'm really not an expert on this.)

Along with these many other feelings, I became overwhelmed with the thought of raising my children in righteousness. Since I was a child the world has become more accustomed to evil, and I can't imagine how it will change when Ellery and my future children are grown. I just hope Jacob and I can somehow raise them in a way to keep the world's influence off them. This blog of course no where compares to my feeling, as I am not good at writing emotions. But I am just feeling quite scared and overwhelmed at this realization.

Emotions on the Surface

Okay, generally I am not an overly emotional person. I don't cry at every little thing, it takes more to make my water works turn on than most women, heck even more than Bret for that matter. But.... since Bret has been gone to Honk Kong, I have to admit that those tears are so much closer to the surface. For instance, on Friday I had a lot of errands to run. On the way to the first place, I had to stop at an intersection as a police car cruised into the intersection and stopped traffic in all directions. He got out and directed a funeral procession ahead of everyone else. As I watched over a mile worth of cars go by, my heart strings were tugged and little tears came to the surface. I was so sad thinking that on this beautiful day a whole bunch of people were grieving. My heart and prayers went out to the family.

At the very next stop light I was again stopped as a fire truck blared its lights and horn in order to get through the intersection. Up ahead a few lights, there was a very bad car accident. You could see it from where I was.

I felt so strange sitting in my van, healthy and whole while all around me peoples lives were changing. I had never had two emergency vehicles stop me at lights like that before. I was wondering if I would see a third as these things tend to come in threes. But I didn't.

Back to the topic at hand. I have been so much more emotional the last few weeks. Small joys, or sadnesses seem to stir up in me feelings of empathy or sympathy or happiness or sadness. It just feels so strange walking around with it so open in my heart and to be so quick to tears. A very strange state of being to be sure. Just thought I would share.

sean covey

egh, ok, i guess. drove all the way down to yorktown for a fireside by him for the youth. we had youth from every ward go. I was disappointed. I would rather have heard dad or Br. Checketts.
dad thought it was good. oh well. I hope the youth got something out of it. he didnt even mention his book, which I thought he was going to talk about. I guess it is good that it wasnt a media ploy.
but, his material was a 6 at best, he looked at his paper constantly, and had no pep.

2 Years

2 years is a long time. It's how long boys serve missions. It's about as long as it takes for an elephant to have a baby. And coincidentally, it's how long Jacob and I have been married as of about 2 hours from now. :-) It's also how much longer we still need to be married before we've been married for longer than we knew each other before our marriage. Yeah, that may have not made sense, but just think about the timing of it all and it will come to you.

We actually stayed up last night until 4 am just talking with each other. We used to do that all the time when we were dating and engaged, but haven't done it much since we got married. I guess that most of the time, we can talk for short times all the time that we get the same amount of talking in. But lately, I've been really busy with work and friends and Jacob's been really busy with friends and his list of summer chores, that I guess we haven't taken much time lately to just talk to each other with no time constraints.

It was really, really fun. We talked about movies we've seen recently and vacations we want to take someday and how we think we'll handle different things our kids do. Mostly, we just talked about our marriage. I guess the idea of the 2-year anniversary was on his mind too.

The main conclusion that we came to is that we're both very happy in our marriage. Yes, we have things we need to work on and no, neither of us are perfect, but we're both very happy right now. Probably the best thing that came out of that conversation amidst all the patting ourselves on the back for making each other and ourselves happy is just how much I love this man.

I used to never believe my mom when she would tell me that as much as I love Jacob now, I'll love him more after a year of marriage, or 5 or 10 or 30 or more. So arrogant, I assumed that no one could love anyone as much as I loved him when he left on his mission or when we got engaged or married. At that point, I guess I didn't think it was really possible to love someone more than I did right then. And sometimes, it's really, really nice to be proven wrong. :-)

Hong Kong Temple

This morning I got up early to make the adventure to the temple. Surprisingly, the temple is not found on Hong Kong island, but rather on the Kowloon side across Victoria Harbor. To get there I took the shuttle from my apartment at 7:30, went downtown, got on the MTR (Subway), switched over to another subway line and got off in upper Kowloon at Festival Walk - which is a mall, of course. I was going to meet a couple I met at church last week who have been here about the same time I have been here. I actually ran into them at the mall and so we walked up to the temple. The short walk was hard in full "church" attire as it was super humid and hot this morning. But we made it. I would say I could probably make it to the temple in 30 - 45 minutes easily. That's about the same, if not less, than in Phoenix.

The temple was beautiful. Outside and in. I rented my clothes and went in to the waiting room before going into the endowment room. I'm not sure if they have more than 1 endowment room. The one we went in was fairly small. We had about 10 men in the session, but about 30 women. Most of the women were Filipinas (from the Philippines). They were as amas (or "helpers") here in hong kong. Most of them live with families and are the live-in nannies/maids. Most expats have them - and most people expect me to get one once we settle in. We'll see. So they make a large population here. Many of them are married and their husbands live back in the Philippines. They ship the money back. They get one holiday (time off) per year. Saturdays are typically their days off. There are so many of these women that the church here actually has church sessions (sacrament meetings) EVERY day of the week. I have never heard of this before. But our ward building has sacrament meetings every single day. Very odd.

The session was going to be in chinese (not sure if it was going to be cantonese or mandarin) so I was given a translator. But at the last moment they decided to do it in English and so they took mine away and gave some to some of the others. It was actually really cool to hear different languages during the temple ceremony. As you may be aware, there are moments in the temple where you talk. Of course, the people listening in their languages then talk in their language. So at one point you may be hearing 4 or 5 different languages. Very cool.

It was a great experience and I spent a lot of time thanking my Father in heaven for my blessings. I spent a lot of time on my knees and fasting over the past few months for the Lord to point me in the right direction for my career. I feel this opportunity was a direct answer to those prayers.

Afterwards we went back to the mall. The mall had an ice rink inside it, which was pretty cool. It also had a Toys 'R Us. We ate lunch and then split up. I looked around the mall a bit and then got back on the MTR and got off at at Kowloon Park which is a cool city park that had a pond with ducks and flamingos. I then walked down to take the Star Ferry over to Hong Kong island. This is an old ferry that has been running for years. It is cheap (about $.30) and takes about 10 minutes. It was fun and I thought how much the boys would enjoy the ride.

After returning home I went hiking a bit. I walked down to the reservoir which was so beautiful. The road there is paved, but closed to cars. It is about a mile or so and has picnic sites and BBQ pits. It was gorgeous and I was anxious to bring the family here some day.

In the end it was a fun-filled day with a lot of stuff. I am tired and worn out. I also bought some awesome european bread (baguette) and havarti cheese and pastrami which made one heckuva a sandwich for dinner.

Draft

Ok... So I'm probably never going to finish my draft from a few days ago... To be completely honest, I can't remember where I was going with it and also... next to Bret and Tev's blogs, I'm sure it would seem quite trite.

But reading Tevia's blog about Malik's wish makes me look forward to the days when CJ will be just as clever... I'm assuming she will be... just look at her mommy!

Ellery is growing so fast! She's laughing and smiling a LOT more lately... and since there is opposition in all things, crying a LOT more lately too... I think it's because she might be teething... but we're still waiting for teeths to pop out! Traveling and spending so much time with her has been great, for the most part. She did really well on the plane rides, and in the car to New Orleans and also in the car to Texas (we went to Shlitterbauhn in Galveston - I'm pretty sure she was by far the youngest person there too)... she seemed to like the lazy river, just like daddy! It was a cool lazy river cause it had rapids!!!... but just littler ones. She sure gets a LOT of attention from the yokel locals!!!

Anyway... If any of you were ever thinking about planning a trip to Louisiana (anywhere in Louisiana) don't bother... despite what ever any travel bureau may say to the contrary. New Orleans is a dump - for those of you who have heard the Simpsons take on it in "Oh Streetcar (The Musical)" they hit it right on the nose! As for the rest of the state... well... I can sum it up in one word: Marsh.

Don't get me wrong though, the trip has still been good. Millie got to taste Waffle House, crawfish, and grits for the first time ever, and we both got to eat frogs legs, alligator! So... I guess there is a silver lining around ever cloud, even if lightening does kill hundreds of people who go looking for it! :)

Malik's Wish

Today when I picked Malik up from school and as we were walking to the car, he grabbed my hand and asked me,

"If you could have any wish in the world, what would you wish for?"

I said, "I don't know, I will have to think about it." Then I asked him what he would wish for.

He said,"Oh that is easy. I would wish that you would be five years old and would come to kindergarten with me and we could play together at recess and eat our lunch together."

What a wonderful wish! What a wonderful little boy. I am such a lucky mother.

tree of life

for any of those who are in a new spiritual high like me and want to think about this deep thought for a second, is the tree of life just figurative, or is there really one? I was reading in Alma today, chapter 42. it sounds like angels really are guarding the tree.

Observations from Hong Kong

Just some random thoughts from my recent weeks here:

- hot & spicy spam is really good, and I'd never heard of it before
- in the shanghainese restaurants they have a dumpling called xiao ban lao which is awesome; they have soup inside them so you have to eat them in one bite or you get spilled on.
- there are SO many expensive cars in Hong Kong; I see Ferraris, Lamborghinis, Bentleys and more daily; I even saw a wrecked Ferrari on the way home one day - it had lost control and slammed into a wall - that's an expensive crash
- the USA needs to adapt how you buy movie tickets here; you purchase your actual seats, which is awesome
- in Hong Kong a 30 minute commute is a LONG commute; yet one of the areas people keep suggesting we live is 45 minutes away
- people work so long here; three are still many people in the office at 8 PM.
- you need umbrellas in hong kong; lots of umbrellas
- if you like to shop, hong kong is the place for you; there are malls in almost every building - seriously
- the movie Serenity is on tonight; I'm going to watch it - Jacob hates that movie! (Wall)

chasing kathy

first a hurricane warning, then an earthquake, then a tsunami warning. who's sending all this stuff to Hawaii in one week? lucky for her, the earthquake was only on the big island, the hurricane went more south and lessened the nearer it got, and the tsunami warning given last night after the Peru earthquake was not as big as they feared. ket's hope they really do come in 3's, and there will be no more natural warnings to report for Hawaii this week....

and on my walk I saw..

6 geese, a mama turkey and her 6 babies, a bunny, 2 baby deer, 2 morning doves cooing, and I know that when I go out to read my scriptures, my 3 hummingbirds will come say hi!
I am so blessed.

happy happy birthday to Jacob

I don't even know if you read these blogs anymore, Jake. I wish you a super happy day! May you win at every game you play, and smile the whole day through. I am so glad I got to see you so much this year. love, mom

Camp Director Resolved?

I was called to be my ward's Young Women Camp Director back in January. I think I emailed most of the girls I know for ideas some time after that. I know I emailed my sister Janet because I remember getting a response with about 30 lines of "LOL". :-)

When I got called, I was put into the Sunday teaching rotation by the current YW president. When she got released, the new presidency just kept with the precedent. I was also asked to attend YW every week, attend all the leadership meetings and all the mutual activities. Now, I could definitely be wrong, but I had never heard of a camp director being to heavily involved with the young women before. So, I went with it.

Up until camp, I was relatively happy doing all those things that I considered not really in the stewardship of my calling because it allowed to me get to know our six young women better which I believe was the only way I was able to get all six of them to come to camp. But since camp ended, my discomfort with being so involved has only grown. I prayed about the issue, asking what we be the best thing to do, I talked to Jacob about it a lot and I talked with some friends about it and decided I needed to express my concerns to the YW president in our ward and see how it went from there.

It took me about a week from when I decided to talk to her to get my nerve up to actually do so. I can be such a non-confrontational wuss sometimes. Regardless of that, I did finally talk to her last night. I told her about how I was uncomfortable being so heavily involved and how I didn't feel that it was in my calling's stewardship to be doing the things that I have been doing, especially teaching the Sunday lessons once a month.

So here's the great testament of the power of prayer: as soon as I got blurting out how I had been feeling, she informed me that she had received an email from the State YW presidency earlier that week about how the wards in our stake had been too heavily involving their camp directors in the rest of young women and how that needed to stop. So grateful that my prayers were heard and are being answered!

The complete end of the story has yet to be decided. The YW president is going to talk with the bishop and the Stake YW presidency and decide that if I am not going to be released since camp is done with for the year, what my role should be in the YW until camp preparations start again. Until then, we decided that I should be as involved as I feel is best, which is to say, not at all. So I am going to all of Relief Society for the first time in almost nine months and I am excited. I do have a sneaky suspicion that this break from YW will be short-lived. The one advisor they have called is moving next week, so there's a vacancy and I already know the young women so well.....

I guess we'll just have to wait and see. :-)

thank you to Bret and Jaocb

As I sat and read my scriptures this morning, I had 3 hummingbirds keeping me company. then I went for a short walk, and there are more babies in the bluebird house. this time, they are not bluebirds. they have white stripes on their tiny heads. this is the third time babies were born in the house this year. It is a beautiful morning, and I am so blessed to live here. if we have to move, I will miss it.

Sundays can be lonely

Sundays are by far the loneliest days when you are alone. These are days when you are grateful church is 3 hours long. Because the rest of the day there isn't much to do. I tried filling in the hours today by taking a short nap and watching the extended version of the Return of the King (which is ending as I type). I looked at pictures of the boys and family in NY and the Grand Canyon, but that just made me miss them even more. I am so excited to see them again. Two weeks should go quickly. I know last week went very fast, so this week should do the same and then the next week I am in Japan which I imagine will be exciting and go even more quickly. Then just another weekend and day or so in the office and I'm back on a plane to PHX.

Yesterday I played basketball for the first time since being here. I had to rent the court (like 1/2 court - but even smaller) and the ball. But it was worth it. I had a lot of fun. In thinking of all the things I will miss by not being in the USA, I can only think of two that I really will have a hard time with: family and basketball. I have heard there are some courts downtown where some people play, so I'll have to look into that. But the reality is I doubt I will get to play as often as I did in AZ.

Church was good today. I went to the actual branch I am supposed to go to this time. This branch is considerably larger. I think there were at least 100 people in sacrament meeting. It was also a new chapel. There are three and last week's chapel was fairly small. This one was larger and shaped in an L shape, so if you sit at the back you can't see the people in the other arm of the L. Kinda weird. I did notice a basketball court while I walked around, so maybe there are some people who would like to play. The branch is made up of mostly expats from around the globe as the branch is an English branch. Everyone, even the young men, wear suits. There were several young men, nearly as many as in our ward in AZ - most of them American. Though I enjoyed last week's services better, I think that is because it was so small that people went out of their way to include me. I mean, when there are only 4 elders in the elders quorum meeting I kinda have to be involved. But with the larger branch I introduced myself to a few people but others stuck to their routines. I met a couple who moved here from SLC two weeks ago. They are here for 3 -4 months. His wife was very nervous as this was her first time outside the USA. I wished Tevia was here to help her out as her husband is at work all day. With no kids or friends yet, she has been lonely.

I look forward to talking to Tevia tonight before I drift off to sleep and then another work week starts.

Typhoon/Orientation

This week, as opposed to my previous week of sunshine, was mostly gray and rainy. This isn't good when you don't have an umbrella, but I was able to get one and that helped. I have now mastered taking the shuttle down to the office and back. The times are very limited. That is one negative of living where I do is that you are limited to the local bus routes. You can always take a taxi, which is fairly inexpensive, but I am ultra cheap and so just try to fit into the limited bus schedule. In fact, we had two typhoons pass by this week. The first didn't do much. They have a typhoon numbering system here in hong kong which is from 1-10, 10 being the most strong. The first got to a 3. The second came through yesterday. If a typhoon gets up to an 8, then everything shuts down. This makes it hard for people that live some distance away. For example, one area I am interested in living is Discovery Bay. It is a 30 minute ferry ride away. If the ferry shuts down, you aren't getting home! So as soon as it looked like it was going to be an 8, everyone was told to go home. In fact, the 8 was hoisted and then all businesses shut down. Now imagine having thousands of people having to go home at the same time: pure mayhem. For me to get home I had to either wait a couple of hours for my shuttle or take a taxi. The taxi lines were forever long, so that seemed a bad idea. What I ended up doing was taking the subway (MTR) downtown and then taking a shuttle from there. It took over an hour, whereas usually it is a 10 minute drive up to the apartments.

Funny thing is, nothing happened. It was a little windy, but not terrible. The rain didn't seem all that bad either. I think they overreacted a little. But it was a fun experience.

Today I had an orientation planned with my settling-in agent. She was going to take me to look at another serviced apartment to see if we wanted to move in there with Tevia and the boys and then show me around the city. She is from Discovery Bay so we were going to go over there, too. With the typhoon we decided to just go look at the apartment (availability was limited) and play it by ear after that. The apartment was great. I decided to take it as it gives the family much more flexibility and options than where I currently am. It is a two level flat with a view over repulse bay so that we can see the beach (across the street) and the sailboats, etc. It is gorgeous. It also has a nice grocery store right in the complex. It will be a little further from work, but not too bad. Still about 20 minutes - less if by taxi and good traffic.

Afterwards we went to the south part of the island called Stanley. This is a little town with a cool street market that many people love. One of my friends that lived here had suggested I live in that area - even though it is a little further. It was really cool. It has a great "boardwalk" where you see the sea (and there were big waves today with the typhoon). We walked around the market where you can buy anything from art to clothes to books, etc. And fairly cheap. In fact some of it is really cheap. They had some cool shorts (quicksilver) for like $5 USD for me. We then went to a restaurant that my friend had suggested and had tapas (Spanish restaurant) on the bay. It was beautiful and serene. It really is such a nice place to live.

The food has just been amazing. I love to try different foods and love different types of foods. Hong Kong has so many foods. Indian, many types of Chinese (Cantonese, Shanghainese, etc.), Japanese and more. Yesterday for lunch I went to lunch with some of the team from the office and we did dim sum. I have had dim sum in the USA, but the team was excited to take me as they think it is funny to see foreigners try odd foods. It was great! I loved it. I think most people were surprised. The only really odd thing was the deep fried chicken feet. To be honest not even many of the native people ate those so they didn't expect me to eat them. But I did! I'll show them. It wasn't bad at all. One thing about the food is that many of the cuts have little bones in them so you have to spit them out after chewing the pieces. Certainly this isn't normal in the states.

I was planning on going to the temple this afternoon, but the last session is at 1 and I missed it. So then I was going to go see a movie, but my credit card isn't local so it doesn't work online to reserve tickets and most of the movies sell out on the weekends, so I didn't feel like just taking a chance. Maybe I will, though. It is cloudy and rainy, so I can't go hiking like last week.

Yesterday was Jarek's birthday. I was a little sad that I couldn't be there for that. I do miss everyone a lot. I am excited. Just over 2 weeks! Not this week but the next week I am going to Tokyo for most of the week - so that will be fun and I'm sure will pass very quickly.

A Week in the East

It has been over one week since I have been here in Hong Kong. To be honest, it almost feels like home (sans the family, of course!). Hong Kong is a wonderful place. I think the most amazing part of Hong Kong - and I've read this many times, but just really didn't believe it - is how safe it feels. For a city the size of NYC you would think it would be sketchy in some areas. But I haven't once been on the streets and ever felt uncomfortable (not including the "I hope I am going in the right direction" feeling). I get on buses, in taxis, walk down streets and never feel unsafe. I hardly even worry about my wallet - something I do even walking around in Phoenix. It is an amazing feat that they have such a safe feeling in the city.

The past few days have been a great experience for me in terms of my career and job. Earl Lee, the president of our company, has been here in Asia. I was able to go to a client meeting with him (Morgan Stanley), have dinner with him, and then lunch today. Not just him and I, but with others, too. But having face time with him and getting to speak to him about my thoughts and having him ask my opinion was a great opportunity. Today his great leadership skills were epitomized in my mind when he came in my office by himself and sat down and just asked how I am doing with all of these changes in my life (re: the move to Hong Kong). He thanked me for being willing to do it and we talked for some time just him and I. I was telling Tevia that I feel "important" now. It is weird. I am not one who looks for approval from my leaders (I look for their respect, but I don't need their doting). It has been a great feeling to feel valued by my company in a way that I haven't before. At one point I was taken into a meeting with Earl and my boss here in HK (Stephen Fairn) to talk about a very confidential project that they wanted me involved in and wanted my opinion on. It was a project I had brought up a few years ago and it was nice to see it come back and know that my opinion was important.

The one funny thing about moving "up" in a company is that you actually do "less." You still have a lot to do, but it isn't so much task driven. You get a lot less to do in terms of action items that have to be done today and a lot more long term things that need to worked on slowly. It is an interesting change.

A typhoon is coming in tonight. They label them with levels of danger - 10 being the highest. Offices shut down if they are 8 or above. It is level 1 right now. I'll let you know how it goes.

extra blessings from the Trek

Hi, there is so much to tell you, and to write in my journal, I don't see how I can even write it all down. for now, I will attempt to just say that all the work for this pioneer trek was worth it. I would guess that about 80% of the youth, and all of the 36 adults that went, got something out of it. my goal was that after all the planning, the Lord would send the Spirit to teach and inspire. He did. I never expected myself to get anything out of it. I truly didn't even think of what I would gain, not even once. I enjoyed the organizing part, and wish I could have done better and had more help. there were things I know could have been improved.
but, the Lord truly blessed me for my efforts. all I can say is that some of the 'hidden knowledge' that He promises us was handed to me Sunday. well, it started on Saturday, when our Stake President suggested that I talk to him about the temple, and that he had an amazing revelation in the temple about the organizing of the trek. that was all I needed. the next 24 hours my mind and heart were filled. I was also fasting, so this helped. ideas I never thought of came to me. everything had a different look and perspective. it was like I was lifted to a higher plane. I can't wait to go to the temple again, so I am going next week, to comtemplate and ponder some things. I hope to be able to share some of them as I organize my thoughts. This I know, the Lord helped me and loves me. and He trusts me. how cool is that!
I am very blessed. Kathy is in Hawaii. Bret is in Hong Kong. Tom is preparing to get the priesthood- which, by the way, will happen in Cleveland on his 18th birthday. Jarek gets baptized Sept 2, and I am flying out to AZ for the baptism, wow!
I stand all amazed, for sure! love, karen

A Greater Understanding

We have now completed an entire week without Bret. The boys were so amazing today. I don't know why I am such a lucky woman. Thanks for all the prayers in our behalf. They are very much appreciated.

So, I have learned a few things this week. I have gained a greater understanding and perspective toward our ward and what my function actually is in it. I am still so immature in so many gospel things. For some of you this personal revelation will be old news.

For so many years I have viewed the ward as just something I went to and did my calling in. I have not ever really thought of it as an extension of my life. Yes, I believe that there are reasons we go to a ward. To be spiritually uplifted, to have social contact, because it is what we are supposed to do. I never felt like I actually "needed" those things as I am a pretty self reliant, self confident sort of person. I always was looking at it from the perspective of I don't need all those things to keep me going.

So, for the first time, because I actually really benefited from being a part of a ward family, this made me realize what my part in the ward is . It is not to be getting, but to be giving. I have for so many years withheld myself, my service, my unconditional love, my missionary efforts from the ward because I didn't feel like I needed any of those things so I felt exempt from having to give them. But this is not the way it works. I realized that being part of a ward has nothing to do with what I want or need. It has all to do with what I can give and share. I have been very selfish with my time and talents. I really feel one of my talents is loving others and helping them feel the love of their Heavenly Father and Jesus. (if you don't believe me, read my patriarchal blessing!) I have hidden my talent under a bushel. I am not proud of this, but I am grateful that I have been given this understanding. I feel that this insight wouldn't have come to me if I had continued to be in my happy little bubble. It took me humbling myself to my lowest point and really seeing myself through the love of others eyes to realize that I needed to do the same thing.

The other thing I have realized and come to understand a tiny fraction, is just how much more compassion and respect I have for single mothers and fathers in this world. They have a hard road to walk. I can not begin to fathom what it must be like to know that day in and day out it is you, and you alone trying to make it all work. This also helped me realize the absolute importance and necessity of having worthy priesthood holders in the ward. There are women who don't have that in their homes, and it is a blessing to know that there are men in their wards that can give that comfort and strength when needed. I don't have a talent for humility. It is one of my big flaws, pride that is. These single women and men must be so humble. They truly have to put their trust and faith in others. I am amazed.

Like I said, this is probably not anything new to most of you. But my heart has been filled with an understanding that I have never had before. I know mom was trying to explain this about her trek experience, and I still want to hear more, so I do in a small way know what she was trying to explain.

I have a long way to go in this gospel. I love to learn new things, and to be stretched and challenged. This week has been a great challenge to me, and I have been on my knees more than I have been in a long time. I feel so much more compelled to read the scriptures with the kids, to try and give them strength and security. I am glad for this time in my life, to teach me more gratitude, more humility and more compassion. I miss Bret like mad, but I know that we are both learning things. I am looking forward to seeing him soon. I won't even get mad if he leaves an otter pop wrapper on the counter! :)

The Global Church

Today I had the opportunity to go to church. I was going to take the bus, but I was worried it might rain (it didn't, of course, I should have had faith) so I took the taxi. I got there a lot quicker than expected and so sat in the lobby of the building, which is a large building right on one of the main streets here. It even has a steeple. I noticed quite a few people speaking English but wasn't approached by anyone until I had sat for a while. A chatty guy who is from Hong Kong but has lived in Australia the past few years talked to me and let me know that I had missed the English branch for people that live on Hong Kong island (oh, LDS.org, how could you let me down???). It was at 9 AM. The people I heard speaking English were going home. Lucky for me, there was an English branch meeting at 1:30 PM from Discovery Bay (on Lantau island). They have been meeting here since their location (a school) is undergoing construction, so they have been meeting here for a month.

There were 37 people in the sacrament meeting, though I heard they usually have quite a few more. In the summer, since most of the branch is made of expats, many of the families are back in their home countries for home leave - just like we would be for some time next summer if we stay here. It was fast sunday, something I had forgotten. It was a great meeting as I listened to many testimonies in many accents and most of them humble and non-American. Sunday School had about 10 people and the teacher was Brother Suzuki from Japan. We opened and closed the class with a hymn (I loved that). Priesthood was 5 of us. An American from Montana (though recently lived in Manhattan) who moved here 3 months ago, Suzuki-san from Japan, Randy from Taiwann and another brother from New Zealand (Maori). It was probably the best Elders Quorum meeting I've had in years as we read the First Presidency's message for August and talked about Singles in the church. Who would have thought it would be such a great lesson? I loved being with people I knew came from different cultures than me yet believed the same things I believe. I truly felt a bond of brotherhood as we closed the meeting and I exchanged contact details. Discovery Bay is on another island, so I won't see these guys too often. They all tried to sell me on the advantages of Discovery Bay and said we should definitely go there if we stay longer than the 6 months and have to get regular housing at that point. It is on the same island as the airport and Disneyland. There are no personal vehicles allowed in Discovery Bay - which is a little odd. Apparently this helps reduce the pollution and increase the safety. The goal is to attract expat families. I will definitely keep that in mind. It would be a 30 minute commute if we lived there. However, my commute in PHX is about that and I have to drive. 30 minutes on a ferry where I can read/sleep/do whatever doesn't sound all that bad. Of course, being 10 minutes away by taxi/bus isn't all that bad right now.

My testimony was strengthened as I shared gospel principles and discussions with these members. I felt a real sense of acceptance and love, something I haven't felt much outside of the office here yet. It also made me miss my family even more. Of course, all of these expat men have similar situations each summer as their families typically stay back in the home country for a few weeks after the husbands return.

It was a great day to feel the spirit and enjoy the branch. Next week I'll go the branch we're supposed to go to and hopefully will find the same thing. Even so we will most probably do something with the families from Discovery Bay at some point once the family joins us. I believe the Branch President of the branch actually is one of the heads of Disneyland here, too. Pretty cool job.

Week End

It is Saturday afternoon here in Hong Kong. I just finished eating lunch, waiting for Tevia to get back from the temple to say goodnight. The week ended quickly. Hard to believe I left PHX nearly a week ago. Yesterday at work I had one on ones with the management team that will be reporting to me. They all seemed very nice and I look forward to working with them. It is a diverse group of employees with many from Hong Kong and Australia, the UK and other places.



Friday morning I was going to venture to take the bus to work, but as I was waiting for the bus somebody drove by and honked. It was one of the managers at the office who lives here and was driving in to work. So I rode in with her. Her husband is actually the chef here at the complex and the main restaurant is named after him. During lunch I decided to try and find the church for Sunday. I was able to find it and was surprised at how beautiful it was. There are two chapels and the English Branch I appear to be in meets at 1:30 PM. I am excited to go. I will have to either take a bus or taxi there.

Friday evening I went to dinner with Nicole Paulson who is the VP of China (non Hong Kong). She was in the mood for burgers so we went to a pub-type place and had burgers. It was good. Kinda funny eating burgers in Hong Kong. My burger had pineapple, bacon and jalepenos. Yummy. I then came home, watched some BSG and went to bed.

Today I woke up and chatted with Tevia. I worked out and went grocery shopping. I bought some good cheese and black forest ham from the butcher for sandwiches. Right now I get like $50 a day per diem for food and transportation. But I live cheap and probably don't spend near that much. Interestingly I have found that food here isn't all that much more than in the USA; in fact some of it is cheaper. Travel is pretty cheap, too. A taxi to work is about $5. The bus is $2.

After shopping I ate lunch and then went hiking. Hong Kong is full of great hiking trails throughout the islands. Many of the trails go right next to where I live so I got my backpack and water and camera and went hiking. It was beautiful. I took some pix, but I can't get them off the camera so I will have to wait to post them. The hike was pretty good. Next week I will go even farther. Some of the hikes are miles/hours long. I saw many beautiful butterflies and birds.

This evening I decided to take the bus down to central (downtown) and go to the IFC (International Financial Center) which is the tallest building in Hong Kong. Like most big buildings, including my office, it has a mall inside it. I ate dinner at "Pret a Manger" which is a great french little sandwich shop. They did have a Ben & Jerry's, which I'm sure i will try one day. I did find some Vitamin Water - so that was cool. Most of the shops were of no interest to me as they are high brow expensive shops like Coach or Armani, etc. It is amazing how much money people have here in HK. They have very expensive cars too, like Mercedes and BMWs. I wanted to see a movie, but Harry Potter was sold out. Most people buy tix before time online and you even get to pick out your own seats online in the theaters. Pretty cool.

It is now getting late. I am watching Dune (the original movie) which I got from the apartments' movie library. It really is a lame movie. I had always heard it was, but now that I am watching it, I can confirm that it is quite bad. Good night for now.

The Day of Fear

Today was my second full day in Hong Kong. I woke up early again, before the alarm went off, and enjoyed my wonderful shower and sunshine coming into my window. Since I am unable to get the pix off my camera at this time, I can't share any pix, but the apartment I am in is really cool. Tonight after work I went to the gym and worked out for an hour and came back and took a bath in the extremely deep tub surrounded by marble. It was great.

But earlier in the day I had one of those moments that I'm sure will happen again and is normal. It happened many times in Brazil. Since I am in the business of international relocation I am well aware of the many phases of relocation. Theres the excitement phase, honeymoon phase, regret phase, and more. Today as I went to get lunch and exhange my USD into Hong Kong dollars I felt how different things really are. Of course I KNOW that, but then I started to feel like this "different" was about to become permanent. The doubts began to swirl. Then I read an email from Tevia about Enok missing me and it brought tears to my eyes. Why would I put my family through this? Will they hate it? As I sat and thought about it, I think the fear had less to do with moving to HK and more to do with my "new" role. They really want me to be the Vice President of Hong Kong and Asia International Operations. I feel flattered, but of course that is a huge responsibility. So mix the self-doubt of "can I really do this?" with the anxiety of living in a new country and it really hit me hard.

But later on my thoughts returned positive. I met with the consultant who will be helping us find schools and housing and it went well. I had been a little nervous about the schools. We are going to apply to about 4 schools. One is the Hong Kong International School which is based on American curriculum. This school tends to be full and has a long waiting period, but since we are American we could "make it." We decided to apply to schools close to the two locations we will most probably be living (either in the same complex I am now in, which is great; or a similar complex on the other side of island called Repulse Bay which is right by the beach - I was looking for places that would be out of the "downtown" to avoid pollution for Malik). The other schools are two British schools and a Montessori school. I don't know much about Montessori schools, but it is brand new and I know a few people who love them. So we added it to the list. Hopefully we'll get into a couple of them and then we can choose. I learned that all schools bus, so they would come and pick up the kids each day and drive them back which would be very convenient. All 4 schools would be within 15 minutes of our apartment. The apartment I am in now which is up on the mountain is only 10 minutes from my office by taxi.

Tomorrow I meet with the managers that will be reporting to me. One other note - the food has been awesome so far. I absolutely love it - and it is fairly reasonably priced. Tonight after working out I went to the super market which is in our complex and bought milk and cereal. Fun, fun...

Since you've been gone...

We are now on day three of Bret being gone. Let me give a run down of how things have gone since then.

Day one. We drive Bret to the airport. We chat and laugh and make small talk. On the way there my mind is already starting to break down. I have been telling people for the last two weeks that I am not really going to think about the implications of all of this until Bret leaves. I am amazed at just how capable our minds are when we tell it to do something. We pull up to the drop off curb. I get a cart for him, as he has three pieces of luggage and only himself going into the airport. He gets the luggage. We hug for a minute and then he steps into the van to tell the boys goodbye. He hugs and kisses the older boys, and they hardly notice since their noses are glued to their D.S.'s. He leans over to Enok and kisses him. Enok starts to cry. He steps out of the van and I hug and kiss him. My emotions are almost too big to contain and tears trickle down my face. My heart is racing and I am overcome with too many feelings to keep them in check.

"I love you".
"I love you too".
"Call me when you get to San Francisco".
"I will".

I get back into the van and start to drive off. I look back once and see my husband pushing a cart full of luggage that will keep him from me for a month. I can see that he looked for me looking for him. I hope he doesn't see the tears streaming down my face and the panic that begins to overwhelm me. Enok is screaming and crying at the top of his lungs and I am getting agitated. He cries the whole way home. So do I.

At home I completely fall apart. Who am I? I am not this weak, sad, out of control person. Enok continues to cry if I hold him, cry if I put him down, cry if I look at him, cry if I don't look at him. I have to pull myself together to care for him. The older boys are glad I am a basket case because I tell them to just play Nintendo. I go in my room with Enok and just hold him. He wants to be close to me. He has cried himself out to the point of no energy. He lays his head against my chest and my heart beats in time with his baby hiccups that you get after crying so much. He clings to my arms with his and doesn't want to budge. Slowly, he falls into a restless sleep and I put him in his crib. He sleeps for three hours.

I don't remember if I even fed Jarek and Malik that day. I think Jarek took care of things. He is a good boy. I just sit and fall apart. I am not a functioning person. I don't know how this happened. I notice three hours have gone by and Enok has not stirred. I begin to worry so I go in and check on him. He is just laying there. I pick him up. He skin is clammy and cool to the touch. I try to get him to drink. He does.

The rest of the night he is very listless. He responds to my voice, but won't sit up. He falls over, either on the ground or, if I am holding him, against my chest. I am worried and call both mom's, and two nurses. Nobody knows what is wrong. I call Risa and she comes over. I am so grateful for her strength. She walks in and says I look terrible. I would have to agree with her assessment. I am still worried and can't seem to think straight. She convinces me to call someone to give Enok and myself a blessing. This is so terribly hard for me. I am so bad at asking for help, but I need it. I am lost. I get a hold of a brother in the ward and he is more than willing to come and assist us. He finds another brother and the first one brings his wife. I am a blubbering mess and too distraught to care about my appearance. First they bless Enok. A sweet blessing and already I feel peace creep into my heart. Enok seems soothed too. As they lay their hands on my head, I feel something dark lift from my heart and my mind begins to clear. When they finish I feel lighter, and more myself. I hug them both and the wife of the first brother hugs me. I hug her with an intensity that portrays all the emotion that is pouring out of me. She lets me cling to her as long as I need to, and she strokes my hair and tells me she loves me and everything will be fine. I am grateful for her strength.

Today is now Wednesday. Three days since Bret has gone to Hong Kong. We are more or less back to normal. More or less. Enok is still feeling Bret's absence and is very clingy and emotional. Night is the hardest for him and he just wants to be held and comforted. I sing to him and tell him I love him and that we will see daddy soon. It is amazing to me that one so young can be that affected by one parent gone out of the house. We miss the priesthood feeling in our home. We are trying to keep the spirit here by praying together and being kind to one another. The boys seem to be more helpful and loving to me and each other. They are good boys.

I have to admit, I can not believe that I fell apart. But I also know that it was my own doing. Perhaps if, instead of shunting all my feelings to the side until the day Bret left, I had let myself think about it a little each day, I would not have been such a wreck. But then again, maybe it was good that I let myself hit rock bottom so that I could build up from the bottom and move forward with all the things that I need to get done. Either way, I am excited for our adventure. I am glad for this opportunity and feel great peace that this is the time in our lives to be doing this. Our boys have such a wonderful opportunity ahead of them, and I hope that I can be a good example to them and show them a positive outlook.

Now I will be focusing on all the things that need to get done. Look out August, I am on the move!!!

On my way

Written on the plane:

July 30, 2007

It is 9:30 PM. I’ve been on this plane for over 6 hours. Halfway there! It was difficult trying to sleep last night, though I was able to better than I expected. As I woke up at 5, and then every half hour until 6:30 I realized I was nervous. I also realized that I was feeling sad. I had been so excited about going to Hong Kong I hadn’t thought hard about the fact that I will be alone for almost a month. And Tevia and the boys will be without me. That is a long time. I hope Tevia forgives me. I hope that this assignment turns out to be everything I expected – or even half – so that Tevia knows what a great opportunity this is. That it will pass quickly and soon she’ll be sitting here next to me with our three boys sitting on a plane for 13 hours.

I think I’m nervous due to a couple of things. Going to Brazil I was nervous and excited, too. Though I spoke Portuguese pretty well by the time I flew down there, my Chinese, and in particular my Cantonese aren’t nearly as good. I worry about simple things like will my ride be there waiting for me. Will I find a money exchange place. Will I get to my apartment okay. All these things will work out fine, but I worry about details like that. I like to know how things will work. But with all travel, and even more so with international travel, there will always be some flexibility required.

Tevia dropped me off at the airport this morning with the boys. She had tears in her eyes as she hugged me goodbye. I hugged and kissed the boys and felt tears come to my eyes, too. Poor Tevia. I don’t think she realized what was really going to happen. I have never been away from her or the boys for so long. This will be much harder than living in a new country. The flight to San Francisco was brief and then I had to get onto a small shuttle bus which drove me through the underworld of the San Francisco airport. I arrived just in time for boarding and got on. Last time I traveled internationally I went to Paris and sat in coach. This time I got business class and I recall seeing the seats with jealousy and coveting a few years ago. It really does make a huge difference. I bought a book at the airport (Dune: Hunters of Dune) to keep me occupied. I also have an arsenal of electronics to keep me busy. I read for an hour or so and then watched a movie (Disturbia) while they served dinner. Both were surprisingly good. I then broke out the Nintendo DS and played some “New Super Mario Bros.” Then I did some Sudoku until my brain started hurting.

I looked around to watch another movie and watched a few minutes of “300” in Portuguese. I don’t think it was edited like some of the other movies, so I turned it off (though it looked really cool) and broke out the lappy to record some of my feelings. I had purchased an electronic connection for my laptop and other electronic items which seems to work, so that made me happy.

While driving to the airport with Tevia I related to her how I feel like I’m starting a new life almost. I will be in a new country. I will have a new job that I’m not entirely sure what it is I will be doing. I have spent years building an ideal team environment and team and now I am back to square one. I will be in a new apartment. For the first time in my life I will really stand out. Even in Brazil I passed for Brazilian if not Argentine since I had dark hair and skin and spoke well. I can’t really pass of Chinese though. Though I am happy to be able to go a little earlier to get things ready for Tevia and the boys, I wish they would have come with me. It would be a lot to ask, but I will miss them. I have determined to focus on working out as I will have a gym and hiking at my disposal. And seeing those guys on 300 with their abs gave me some inspiration to get ready for when I see Tevia again.

I think it is good to feel stretched from time to time in life. Everyone knows that remaining static is not good. Even in the gospel we talk about growing each year, every day. This will be a good stretch for me. At the same time I will be getting something I have really wanted: an opportunity to live again outside the USA. I am excited to have my wife and kids experience some of what I did in Brazil. Obviously there will be large differences, but many of the same themes will hopefully come across. Themes like how spoiled we are as Americans (though living in a resort-like community home won’t be quite as effective as living in a shack in Brazil) and how wonderful we have life. Learning to love God’s children around the globe. Learning to accept and even love diversity. That is what I hope to get out of this. That and some awesome food!

I am watching the little map screen and see that we have passed the international date line and I can see Japan on the map now. The flight has been wonderful. I have been amazed at the service. Definitely much nicer than I anticipated. The one thing about traveling business class is that we won’t be able to lay the kids down as the arm rests don’t go up. But they recline pretty far. Hopefully that will help. With their DSs and movies and sleep, I think they will do great. We’ll see how I feel a few hours from now when I start going crazy. Tchau for now.