It's A Wonderful Life

  Deanne asked me what I wanted for my 50th birthday dinner and I said Costco hot dogs and soda.  She rolled her eyes and said, "Come on, what do you really want?"  She just would not believe it, but that is what I really wanted.  I like the hot dogs and all you can drink root beer is never a bad thing, especially when the kids rarely get soda.  We limit them to just water when we hit a fast food establishment for the dollar menu.  That way we can keep our McDonald's tab to around $30 per visit.  It is very entertaining to go through the drive through lanes and order thirty 99 cent double hamburgers and 15 waters, then listen to that awkward pause in the speaker while the otherwise capable order taker tries to figure out if they heard you correctly.  As a side note - Did you know the digital display boards at most of the drive-throughs don't go to double digits?  Little things large families find out....  Anyway, back to my sophisticated birthday dinner.   Aft

Just to preface, I wish I was a better writer. These situations today were pretty profound but I just don't know how to do them justice. I wish you could have been there to see it. Today was a day to watch the hand of God at work. We took the children to Temple Square in Downtown Salt Lake City. It was important to us to have Scott have a spiritual experience and hopefully find someone that spoke Mandarin that could communicate with him about God. Most children from China don't know that a God even exists so we weren't sure how to help Scott understand. The very first thing we did was go see the Christus statue. There is a recording of many of the things Christ said like, "Come unto me, In my house are many mansions" and so forth. There is a strong feeling of peace and love in the room with the Christus. Some missionaries played the Mandarin version and then the English for the rest of the kids. I wasn't sure how much of it Scott was understanding but in

  You want to take a guess why this picture is so AWESOME?   No?  Ok, I'll tell you then.   Those red flip flops are Scott's. Sitting right out in the family room with two other pair of shoes that don't belong there. Why in the world would I think that is awesome? Well, this is the first time that Scott has left anything out of his possession or out of it's proper place. He walked off to bed tonight and left his shoes out!!!   This means that he is feeling safer and more at home. Beyond awesome!!   Since I already broke my rule of no two posts a day I might as well post more pictures of a boy that is transforming before our very eyes..     Tyler, Scott's oldest brother, so cool to say Scott has a brother, is in the production The Scarlet Pimpernel. We took all the older kids that wanted to go and met Ressa and Jason there. Scott chose to sit by Jason, he loves older males. Scott LOVED the play. He laughed and was attentive

As moms we all have moments that remind us of why we do what we do. Why we give up our lives for our children and for the most part love it. Today I had one of those moments. Actually a few of those moments today. I wanted to make bread for lunch and bring a loaf to some friends. I was in the middle of the process when Olivia showed signs of emotional distress. I kind of felt if coming but today I saw it clearly. (I don't say any of this to reveal Olivia's story but I have decided more openness is in order.) I was sitting at the computer while I waited for the next step in the bread making process. I called Olivia over. She didn't move. That is not like Olivia, she obeys quickly most of the time. I could see in her eyes that she couldn't do it. She couldn't emotionally bridge that gap between us. I tried to coax her over as thoughts of going to her crossed my mind. Immediately I knew I needed to stay put and have her come to me. She HAD to trust me. I said "

Today Gideon was hiding from me in the corner of the couch and wall. I decided to play along and hide from him so I laid on the couch so he couldn't see me. The next thing I knew children were piling on. Gideon joined in on the fun and climbed on my back. This interaction then took place. Bria, "Mom you're a Butt" Pierce, "Mom Bria just called you a Butt." said as he is laughing his head off. Time for some narration here. We DON'T use the word Butt in our home. I was raised that it was a bad word and though I know it really isn't that bad I just can't bring myself to say it nor do I allow my children to say it either. Now on to the rest of the story. Mom, "You just called me what?" Pierce, "A Butt" still laughing. It dawns on me that Bria is pretending. Mom."Oh, you mean a boat?" like in Finding Nemo. Pierce, "No, a Butt" Mom, "Wait, a Bus." Bria climbs down and comes over

Well, Doug, Creed, Pierce, and Scott made it home safe and sound. Doug kept telling me he was going to post and catch up but he has been so busy trying to catch up with the other parts of life posting has not happened. So here I am. I will fill in the part since they came home and encourage Doug to do the rest. The boys were scheduled to come home at 12:10am Wednesday night. I got a call at 6:00pm from Doug telling me that their flight was delayed an hour. The ticketing agent offered for them to go standby on the next flight that left at 6:30pm if there was room. Doug had checked on that option and was told it would cost $170 to change flights but because their flight was delayed they could try to get on for free. At the gate the agent let them know that there were about 20 people in line for the available seats but they didn't know how many they would get on board. Just a few minutes later Doug and the boys names were called to board the plane. Someone must have liked them beca

There has been a lot going on here at home while Doug and the boys have been in China. Great opposition and darkness have surrounded us. It might have been good to list all the things that have happened on the negative side of life just so I could remember but I got to the point that I had to just forget it and move on to the next challenge. I began to get very overwhelmed and I don’t do that easily. Many voices of fear and negativity continued to pound my soul. The things that would normally have been just something to take care of became insurmountable obstacles. Some days I could just barely hold on. Unlike the proud person I am, I cried out for help. Family and friends came to my rescue and kept my head above water. People checking in on me. Others stopping by to visit and invite me to get out of the house. I had people come to my rescue in so many different ways. There are no words to express my deep gratitude for the kind words and acts performed on mine and my families

More festive photos of last night.  Bubble machines and LED light toys were everywhere! The part of Guanzhou called New Town accross the river from the Canton Tower.  It's definitely the hot spot of the city. There are about 8 new high rise buildings still under construction.  The new US consulate is in the middle of this area. Statue in front of a building.  Fat chinese ladies in a tug-o-ward.  Scott stepped right up for this photo. The new US consulate building.  It took me a minute to realize where we were and that the American flag was out of place. Guangzhou library. The spaceship looking building is the Guangzhou Opera House. Just a cool building. We had to buy one of the more traditional Chinese toys.  Scott made it look easy. The museum.  We actually went back to this area specifically to go to the museum, but there were hundreds of people in line to get in, so we bagged it.  There is part of the line for the museum.  I

Scott has been very smiley the last couple of days and has had a lot of fun teasing Creed and Pierce.   Of course, he is having a hard time with limits and boundaries, so it is hard to be patient when he takes things a little too far once in a while.   I have had to remind the boys he has to learn how to be in a family and we need to not get frustrated or annoyed with him.   It’s a balancing act to know how to set the limits with him and tell him when to quit without throwing him into an emotional downer. He is very easy to take care of on his personal needs.  He takes showers twice a day and changes his underwear each time.  I have to recycle some without him knowing.  If he doesn't unroll them  himself after I give him a new pair from the package, he is suspicious of them and will smell them to see if they are clean.  The ones he wears just for one night after a shower still smell clean so I just roll them up and fake him out.  I hope that is not being a dishonest parent - I