As I'm sitting here writing this blog post, sirens are going off throughout Nanjing to commemorate the Nanjing Massacre. I don't know how long they are scheduled to sound. It has already been at least a half hour, on and off, in the area that I live in. How interesting it is to experience the different occasions, sad and joyful, in another country.
The past few months have been some of the hardest I've ever experienced. Our family has gone through many trials. Just as we overcome our current trial, it seems as though a new harder trial is thrown our way. Let me tell you one of our easiest trials to deal with. Trevon was hit by a motor scooter and by a car while riding his bike. This all happened within about a weeks time. Luckily, Trevon was okay both times. There have been a lot of other trials that we've encountered. Some that we're ready to share, and some that we're still dealing with. But we are becoming stronger because of everything that has been handed to our family.
We have been fortunate enough to have a large home here in China, and we have been able to house several college students each weekend. Over Thanksgiving weekend, we had 18 students stay with us. Some of the college students in our church branch live a couple of hours away from Nanjing. So, they come to Nanjing on Saturday and spend the night with us so they can go to church the next day. One of the greatest blessings of this experience, and there are many, has been observing the excitement of the girls as the mission age was changed. We've had at least 5 of the girls that stay with us submit their mission papers. Four of them have received their calls, and 2 of them opened them via skype in our home. It has been an amazing experience and a great example for our kids. I love having these magnificent spirits and examples in our home every weekend.
Boyd was offered another year with Best Buy in China and has accepted the offer. So, we will be here until at least August 2014. It is great for Boyd from a work stand point, and it is great for Mikayla with school. It would be very difficult for Mikayla to change schools her senior year because of the way the junior/senior years are set up at the school here. She is in an IB program and the 2 years are made to work together. I'm still trying to decide if this is a blessing or a trial in my life. Probably a bit of both.
The 3 girls were in their school play, Kiss Me Kate, at the end of November. Tiana was Kate. Mikayla was Bianca. Marissa was Gregory. They all did an outstanding job. It was an amazing production. The costumes and set were fabulous. We had so much fun watching it. Even the boys sat quietly through both nights, which tells you just how good it was.
Mikayla had the opportunity about a month ago to attend an acting camp. It was in Korea. It was an amazing experience for her. She learned a lot about acting and life.
Marissa got to participate in a soccer competition about a month ago. She got to travel to Shanghai for this. They did pretty good considering they'd only had a couple weeks practice together as a team.
Thanksgiving this year was interesting. It didn't really feel like Thanksgiving. The kids had school the entire week, even on Thanksgiving. They had play rehearsal until 6:30 pm on Thanksgiving night. So, we invited the other Americans over from Boyd's work and had Thanksgiving dinner right as the girls walked in the door. We then did HW and sent the kids off to school again the next day. I really missed Thanksgiving break. We had a branch Thanksgiving dinner the Saturday after Thanksgiving. Our girls didn't get to come because they had an all day play rehearsal. (In fact, it was a sleep over play rehearsal. It started right after school on Friday. They spent Friday night at the school, and then came home at 9 pm on Saturday night.)
One of the hardest trials for me to deal with this last month was actually something that happened to us a year ago. In October 2011, I found out I was pregnant with our 7th child. We were so excited because we knew this sweet little spirit belonged in our family. November was a busy time. Tiana, Marissa, Brannon and I were in "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever" at a community theater, and Tiana and I had the lead parts. We were practicing a lot to prepare for December's performances. Boyd went to China for business the 2 weeks before Thanksgiving. He was scheduled to come home 2 days before Thanksgiving. While Boyd was on his trip in China, he would call me every day. One of his number one topics to discuss with me was the possibility of moving to China. This is something that I had no desire to do, and because I was pregnant I had an easy out. I told him there was no way I was having a baby in China. Boyd finally let it go, but a few days later, I knew something wasn't right with the pregnancy. I was 10 1/2 weeks along. Our kids were the only ones who knew about the pregnancy. So, I kept Tiana home from school to watch the younger kids, (Mikayla had already left for school and had no idea what was going on.) and I went to the emergency room by myself. I found out I'd had a miscarriage, and I called Boyd in China to let him know. I came home and took Tiana to school. She'd already gotten the other kids off to school while I was gone. Since no one knew, I didn't want to make a big deal about it. It was a Wednesday, and this was my busiest day of the week. After I took Tiana to school, I went and did Wednesday folders and take home reading at the school, drove kindergarten carpool, went to scouts as a cub leader, and then attended YW in Excellence with my 2 older girls that night. That night, things did not go well and I ended up in the hospital with a D&C the next day. At that point, we had to let people know. That was one of the hardest things of my life. We had planned on telling everyone over Thanksgiving weekend, and instead we had to tell everyone, "I was pregnant, but now I'm not" the week before Thanksgiving. At first, Boyd could not get an earlier flight home because of the Thanksgiving holiday, but eventually, after a lot of phone calls, he was able to get on a Saturday flight. The Lord blessed me with a wonderful ward that took terrific care of me and my family until Boyd could return. I was given a blessing. I was taken to the hospital and watched over. My family was fed. My children were shuttled around. We were watched over every step of the way with phone calls and visits. We truly felt the Lord's love and the love of our friends and family. I know the Lord has a plan for us, but I don't always understand that plan, and I'm okay with that. I know that one day I will understand everything, and I know that as life goes on, I see the blessings that are given to me because of the trials that I have to go through. It's just really hard to be patient sometimes. It just wasn't the right timing for that baby to come to earth. There were other more important tasks that that sweet little spirit was needed for in heaven.
Well, hopefully the timing is right this time around. I'm pregnant in China! Who would've ever guessed? NOT ME!!! It's the exact same timing as last year. My due date last time was June 10th. This time it's June 13th. I'm 14 weeks along and all is going well so far. I was on bed rest for the first trimester. The doctor was extremely worried because of my miscarriage, 8th pregnancy, and living in China. We had an ultrasound last week and everything looks good. We were so grateful and relieved. It has been a pretty stressful time after last years experience. We're excited to have a new baby in our home and are gearing up for all of the arrangements that we will have to make for having a baby in China. This is our best ever "made in China" product!
We can hardly wait to come to the states for Christmas. Especially me! I have so many cravings that have gone unfulfilled because it is impossible to obtain my food craving foods in China. We look forward to seeing everyone and getting to spend time with you!
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!
Alauna
Wednesday, December 12, 2012
Friday, December 7, 2012
quick update
Hello. It's been way too long. Sorry. Sometimes life is busy and sometime life starts to feel normal and doesn't feel like there in anything to post. I'll give a quick update and hopefully there is some value in what I write.
It has been two months since my last post. A lot has happened in that two months. Mikayla, Tiana and Marissa were in the school play. The did a wonderful production of Kiss Me Kate. Tiana was Kate, Mikayla was Bianca and Marissa was Gregory. They were all amazing. I was so proud of them. We went both nights of the play and loved every minute of it. I told Mikayla that I love watching them act just as much as I love watching the boys play football or basketball. I think she was a bit surprised by this. I really am proud of all our kids.
The kids have been very busy with soccer, marial arts, play rehearsal, ballet, and school so almost every free moment has been filled. This next half of the year we are doing less school activities so we can do more China activities. I think the kids are looking forward to a bit of a break as well.
Alauna and I went to a formal Charity Ball. It was so much fun. She got a beautiful dress made and I got a tux made. It was a ton of fun to get dressed up, go have a nice meal and have a great time with friends. We also won three nights at local hotels so that will be fun as well. I'll post pictures in a separate entry.
Before moving to China I told the family that living in China would be one of the hardest things we have ever done and one of the most rewarding things we have ever done. Both of these statements have proven true so far. There have been some very difficult and some very positive things happen since we have lived here. I have felt emotions that I have never felt before and didn't even know I had. Through it all I have always tried find the positive. Life is good though. China is good. America is good. Can't wait to head home for Christmas.
When we head to the US I think it will be a 24 hour event every day. The kids have so much they want to do that in order to do it all I don't think we can sleep. They have a long list of food they want to eat. They have a long list of people they want to see. They have a long list of places they want to go. I just hope that they find a bed at someone's house every night. I just realized they don't have US cell phones anymore. I guess we'll need to head to Best Buy Mobile and pick up a few prepaid phones to use while we are there so we can keep track of where everyone is.
Christmas is very commercialized here in China. Every mall has a huge Christmas tree. The younger generation use Christmas as a time to give gifts but there is no meaning beyond gift giving. We went to a mall last night to see the Christmas decorations and got peppermint hot chocolate at Starbucks. It was a good night. I missed seeing the live Nativity in Alpine. That has been a family tradition for us for a few years and I always look forward to it. If you are near Utah county during the first part of December you should find the live nativity and go. It is such a great event and such a great spirit there.
Last night was was trying to get a cab and this guy in a little van pulls up and asks where I wanted to go. I needed to stop by one more store and then go to the mall to meet up with the family. He said he would take me. So I jump in and we start driving. As we were driving all his fellow little van taxi drivers would yell at him "hey you got a foreigner. Where you going?" I would yell back and tell them where we were were going and they would laugh. Then we got to the store and I asked him to wait. He said to hurry but he would wait. When I walked out of the store and saw him he had his hood opened and acted like he was working on the engine. I just laughed. He had the hood up because he was in a spot (in the lane of traffic) where he shouldn't be waiting. So if a cop approached him he could said he was fixing his van. Pretty clever. As I got in the van four other people jumped in as well. They were going in a similar direction so he took all five of us. Just a little van driver making a living. Pretty funny.
Life in China is good.
Take Care.
Boyd
It has been two months since my last post. A lot has happened in that two months. Mikayla, Tiana and Marissa were in the school play. The did a wonderful production of Kiss Me Kate. Tiana was Kate, Mikayla was Bianca and Marissa was Gregory. They were all amazing. I was so proud of them. We went both nights of the play and loved every minute of it. I told Mikayla that I love watching them act just as much as I love watching the boys play football or basketball. I think she was a bit surprised by this. I really am proud of all our kids.
The kids have been very busy with soccer, marial arts, play rehearsal, ballet, and school so almost every free moment has been filled. This next half of the year we are doing less school activities so we can do more China activities. I think the kids are looking forward to a bit of a break as well.
Alauna and I went to a formal Charity Ball. It was so much fun. She got a beautiful dress made and I got a tux made. It was a ton of fun to get dressed up, go have a nice meal and have a great time with friends. We also won three nights at local hotels so that will be fun as well. I'll post pictures in a separate entry.
Before moving to China I told the family that living in China would be one of the hardest things we have ever done and one of the most rewarding things we have ever done. Both of these statements have proven true so far. There have been some very difficult and some very positive things happen since we have lived here. I have felt emotions that I have never felt before and didn't even know I had. Through it all I have always tried find the positive. Life is good though. China is good. America is good. Can't wait to head home for Christmas.
When we head to the US I think it will be a 24 hour event every day. The kids have so much they want to do that in order to do it all I don't think we can sleep. They have a long list of food they want to eat. They have a long list of people they want to see. They have a long list of places they want to go. I just hope that they find a bed at someone's house every night. I just realized they don't have US cell phones anymore. I guess we'll need to head to Best Buy Mobile and pick up a few prepaid phones to use while we are there so we can keep track of where everyone is.
Christmas is very commercialized here in China. Every mall has a huge Christmas tree. The younger generation use Christmas as a time to give gifts but there is no meaning beyond gift giving. We went to a mall last night to see the Christmas decorations and got peppermint hot chocolate at Starbucks. It was a good night. I missed seeing the live Nativity in Alpine. That has been a family tradition for us for a few years and I always look forward to it. If you are near Utah county during the first part of December you should find the live nativity and go. It is such a great event and such a great spirit there.
Last night was was trying to get a cab and this guy in a little van pulls up and asks where I wanted to go. I needed to stop by one more store and then go to the mall to meet up with the family. He said he would take me. So I jump in and we start driving. As we were driving all his fellow little van taxi drivers would yell at him "hey you got a foreigner. Where you going?" I would yell back and tell them where we were were going and they would laugh. Then we got to the store and I asked him to wait. He said to hurry but he would wait. When I walked out of the store and saw him he had his hood opened and acted like he was working on the engine. I just laughed. He had the hood up because he was in a spot (in the lane of traffic) where he shouldn't be waiting. So if a cop approached him he could said he was fixing his van. Pretty clever. As I got in the van four other people jumped in as well. They were going in a similar direction so he took all five of us. Just a little van driver making a living. Pretty funny.
Life in China is good.
Take Care.
Boyd
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