May 28th

Spent Thursday morning watching mutton busting videos on Youtube with Maeser to be sure he wanted to ride a sheep at Strawberry Days in June... it's gonna be great.

Just a few highlights. Nothing new. 😀

"See mom! It's a nice foot."

A few of Maeser's poses, always something new.

Abe is playing Kerbal Space Program while humming Praise to the Man. (At the moment it's his favorite song.)

Visitors for lunch, they left their half-eaten lizard at the gate.

Tutus, popsicles, trampolines, puppies, and family. So many great things about this photo.

He earned this "T".

Can't wait for more of this all. summer. long.

Maeserisms

We got to hear Dallin speak Hungarian this week. Fenton sent us a video from Mother's day...
It's amazing to think that somebody can understand him. Scout walked up to the computer and started talking to him, as if it was a real call and Maeser came in yelling, "I wanna see! I wanna see!" I told him you couldn't hear us, but he sat and listened anyway. They love him so much!

In case you are missing him too, here are some Maeserisms from this afternoon. He was really on one.

Amy "You want to get me the bumbo?"
Maeser "No. No offense."
Amy "None taken. Get the bumbo."

10 minutes later he passed by and randomly states "You know, the good thing is you aren't embarrassing me." Good thing kid. Just you me and Moses here.

I went to lunch with the missionaries today. I was totally in a bad mood by the time I drove in to park and then I had the greatest inspiration. First the back story.

I visit teach a Korean woman who's son rides the bus with Mary and Abe. She is really cool. Her son is the same age as Mary but hasn't been baptised yet, so the missionaries have been really persistently trying to lock down a date. After a primary child has turned 9, they have to take the missionary lessons and be interviewed by an elder before they can be baptised.

Anyway, I left the house with Moses and Scout both in tears to meet her for lunch and was feeling bad about leaving the kids. And then the missionaries asked if they could come to our VT appointment. Then my companion brought her sister-in-law... I was feeling discouraged it seemed more like a party and less like VT.

But then I had this thought, we make commitments for what we hope to have happen, not for what really happens. I made the appointment to talk to Anna. To be her friend. To support her. That was the first intention and the only reason I left the children home.

Immediately I didn't feel angry anymore. No matter what plans we make, they have to be the right ones at the right time and sure they might change or something might not work out how you intended. But it WILL always work out.

It was a big lunch. Lots of people. Not very personal or spiritual. But then Anna turned to me and said (without prompting) "Can Woo Jin be baptised with Abe in November?" And the missionaries were there to answer all of her questions about teaching Woo Jin. After summer break, Woo Jin and Abe will take the missionary discussions at our house.

I should have felt confident the whole time, because honestly it wasn't what I had planned, but it was perfect. I'm sure it was because the missionaries were there and probably have been praying for Anna and Woo Jin. Missionaries are awesome. This is a great work!

Louie Eppel got his mission call on Friday. He is going to Nagoya Japan. He also spoke with his parents in church today. Probably one of the best meetings we've had all year. I think Louie's mother is inspiring. Louis will make a great missionary, I think he is well prepared because of his personal study, and his parents. Can you imagine sitting down to dinner every evening and it is like going to Brother Eppel's Sunday school?

Dan says hello. And he went cycling with his Hungarian friend yesterday. He was gone for hours. 3 hours. Still plural. He's got a loop on the west side of the island now too.

A few pictures from this week:

Abe at his art show.

Scout out for a walk.

Mary's art, that was used as the school's christmas card.

Mo's a little unsure of Scout here.

A midnight invader. So scary, this centipede was at least a foot long.

3 weeks left till summer

Almost daily Maeser asks how old he'll be when Dallin comes home. We were at a playdate on Friday morning and he walked up to his friend's mom (not a member) and told her he'd be 6 when he comes! "I'm going to go on a fast jet with Dallin."

Conversations go something like this:
"Guess who's coming over for dinner tomorrow?!"
"Dallin?!"
"No."

We had the biggest lightening storm on Wednesday night! The children camped on the carpet and read Calvin and Hobbes and watched the ipad for several hours. By the time the storm passed the house had been hit twice and we'd lost several small electronics, 2 aircon units, cable box, internet modem and the pool has scorch marks above the water line around the rim. It was bigger than anything when you were here. Excepting the inconvenience of replacing everything, I loved the storm. The line "I hear the rolling thunder, Thy power throughout, the Universe displayed..." continued to run through my head. Dad watched the storm from his apartment and said it was awesome.

At school, Maeser learned "How to find his inner peace."

Abe's baseball game.

"I think I need another drink mom."

An awesome run to Jetulong tower. Totally didn't see this mama monkey and her baby. I skedaddled out of there pretty quick.

One tooth.

Both eggs hatched this week.

Mother's Day

We finally booked our tickets for the summer. I really can't wait to see everyone and spend some time in Utah. Our list is huge, the time is short, and the calendar is already packed. Which is almost sad, in the past our summers have been very relaxed and slow. I almost want to scratch everything off the calendar and just show up.

We had a great family home evening lesson on names. Each of the children shared a story they know about their name, then we talked about the importance of a name and keeping the Lord's name holy.

But really, there is nothing out of the ordinary. 

May

Is summer really approaching so quickly! We are actually getting our flights together, which makes it seem so much closer! Time to start online shopping and packing in the summer plans!

Did I ever tell you we named the dog Ruin? Roo for short. So appropriate. Maybe we are never destined to get past puppy stage because I'm always ready to get rid of the pup before they grow up. Maybe we should adopt a grown dog.
Score board: Roo-4 Me-1
Lost two pairs of shoes and a rug to the dog. I scored because she got a bath.

(My sleepy Neanderthal. No clothes, no words... grunts.)

Dan left this evening for Korea. He has been busy now that his back is better. He went to Kuwait last week. He had two friends in NY who didn't drink, both of them Arabs. The three of them spent a lot of time together and were in most of the same study groups. One of them was getting married last week. He saw some friends from Columbia at the wedding. He said a lot of the guys there asked him about the church. I think it was great for him to see what others had done since school. Some of them have really great careers, like selling gold mines, large investment properties, managing shipping ports... all but one of them live as expats abroad. All those he saw are managing successful careers and moving on to families. I loved that two of his friends have 4 children each. I think it is so important that these successful and influential men choose to have families and balance careers with children. Most of the families in our expat communities choose to have one or two children. Especially in Asia, one is very common.

You wouldn't recognise Moses, his first tooth came in. And I wish I'd taken a picture of Maeser. I gave him a hair cut on Friday. By Saturday night he'd had 3 additional trims/fixes. I am the worst at cutting hair. I hope it grows back fast. He practically bald, not by choice, by now. I'll try to send a picture in the morning when he wakes up.

I love the song Because I Have Been Given Much. Especially the last verse:
Because I have been blessed by
thy great love dear Lord,
I'll share thy love again
According to thy word,
I shall give love to those in need
I'll show that love by word and deed,
Thus shall my thanks be thanks indeed.

Pretty much sums up my thoughts this week.

It's the last week of April

Somehow the days have passed without me noticing. Summer break seemed so far away and now there are only 4 more weeks of school.

Dan has recovered enough to go for a few runs and hit the road again. He is in Kuwait at the moment. A very wealthy tiny country next to Iraq. Sounds exotic, but I've heard it's a bit hot and sandy. :)

Mom and Dad have been here all week. It has been so fun to have them over in the evenings to play or practice baseball.

Daytime conversations around the home rarely are academic or philosophical. Proven by the short excerpts below.

The first, answered by Scout: "W" is for...?  Octopus! (The longest word she can say, so she proudly uses it to answer any number of questions.)

"Maeser, eat fast!"

"I just have my last 16 bites!"

April 18

Bonita and Stewart are here for another week, it is so great to have them here and to see them often. Mom has already found the best bakery on the island and dad is giving Abe tips for baseball. For FHE tonight we had a mini practice. It was a prefect FHE.

Mary hides away with a book anytime she can get away. She has just started Deathly Hallows. I can't believe she has become such a good reader. And she will read anything.

Dan hurt his back, he has to lay down every twenty minutes before he starts to blackout. Here's a photo of him working from the office. He took a rug in so he could lay on the floor. 😳


Life is great. We are trying to do good and live simply. I think that is one of the greatest lessons we can learn about being happy. Life can be simple and have one focus and everything else falls into place.

Proverbs 22:6 has been on my mind, "Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it."