Three more Sundays!

Here's what today's quiet Sunday activities consisted of at home:

PLAY-DOUGH!!!!

Isaac with Kirby, who happens to be eating a cheese sandwich

Joe with a pokeball he constructed using a toy pokeball as a mold (so clever!)

I think after 19 years of living on this earth I may have finally perfected the play dough eggs and nest. I'm no Michelangelo but that's really an improvement from the last time I tried. Complete with bird, even!
It's quite fulfilling!

Some of the teaching I'll be doing involves play and activities, and while I've been a little nervous about using the language development method they trained us for back in December (you know, the part where they learn English from me?) it's at least good to know I still have the childlike creativity to get me through the activities with flying colors. I'll be a rock star of the play dough world ;)

Thanks, boys!

A very early bridal shower for Sunny

One of my best friends EVER is getting married in May while I'm in China and although it is still one of the BIGGEST bummers of my life I was really happy we were able to have a shower for her while I was still here to celebrate with everyone. Lots of good food and good company :) Here are a couple of highlights:

The beautiful bride herself, complete with fancy sash!

Playing the question game

Opening gifts (oo la la!)

Group shot :)

What's a bridal shower without chocolaty goodness??
Name that dessert! ;)


I was way proud so I had to take a picture with it ;)
(Told you the bangs would work out!)

Pebbles and I had a great time planning the shower and throwing it, and I'd say for it being the first time of bridal showering for both of us it was very successful! It will only get better from here so Sunny, we apologize in advance ;) Although when your two friends throwing it look like this....

..... you pretty much know what to expect by now ;)

Tom Sawyer

Joe's 6th grade play was today! An awesome benefit of not going to school is being able to go to the boys' fun stuff more often. I couldn't make the night performance to this but luckily there was one during school hours! Isaac was my charge this afternoon so he was my date to the elementary school.Waiting around for the play to start. Isaac may or may not have been bribed into coming with cookies.

I am so lucky I get to hang out with this kid as much as I do :)

Joe creepin' around in the cave scene with a lantern. He did awesome!

At the "town meeting"

Way to go, Joe!

the countdown gets longer but continues

Alright sports fans...

My departure date has been moved back six days to February 23. When Amanda and I were originally going to Taiyuan (northern China) we were scheduled to leave that day and return the first week of June. We wanted to be gone longer so ILP switched us to Zhongshan (southern China), for which we would leave February 17 and return June 26. Awesome, right? Well my flight itinerary was emailed to me yesterday and lo and behold, we're back to leaving on the 23rd. And our layover is in Korea instead of Taiwan (which didn't especially matter to me either way--although once I realized I can spend the entire layover looking for Jin and Sun I'm admittedly so tickled about it hehe). Not sure why all of this changed but meh. I guess the universe just really wants me to leave on Justin's 20th so....

Happy birthday, Justin :)

Let us remain undaunted even though the wait has been extended...... in four weeks from today my blog can finally start filling up with cool pictures like this:

Yay!!

The Neverending Soda....

Sometimes this song plays in my head when I think about how long it has taken to get all the paperwork finished to go to China (I realize it's first and foremost the theme song from "The Neverending Story" but this is tons funner because you get to use a Homestar voice--see, there's no arguing with that!). I turned in what I thought was my last document and 2 checks last week only to get an email the next day telling me I needed to send a resume for my visa and another email the day after that informing me the Hong Kong trip (that I had just paid for, mind you) costs ten dollars more due to unforeseeable circumstances....

and here it goes again...


Gah. Will it ever end??? Will I make it to Zhongshan??

Of course. But before that happens I will be making {crossing fingers here} hopefully only one more blessed trip to the ILP office in Provo.
And after that I will probably just pour Mountain Dew on myself until February 17th, singing, "The nevew ending sooooooda!"

Just kidding :) I'm just a checklist person so once the list stops getting longer I will be very relieved!

But on the bright side...
The Relief Society has been AMAZING about helping me get my teaching supplies donated! Last week they started putting stuff in the bulletin about supplies I need and such so it will be awesome to see how that's progressing next week (this Sunday is Stake Conference- woot!). I need to take a suitcase full and it's really fantastic how multiple people have asked me, "Only one?"... this organization is amazing!

Oh and I always thought it would be awesome to have your name in the bulletin (like it made you a celebrity or something? I dunno...) but I have discovered it just means you have to explain everything about the announcement to every person who asks you individually (regardless of whether or not the answer to their question was in the bulletin to begin with). My desire to be in the ward bulletin has been quenched ;)

{Still confused about the Homestar reference? Click here to watch. Just know you may not think it's as funny as I do but at least you'll understand partially!}

Today :)

HAPPY 6 MONTHS TO ELDER GRAF!

If he could use American money I would have sent him a roll of these to celebrate:He's doing so well at 6 months! He has adjusted perfectly to the work and he is totally conquering Farsi as well. Every email he sends sounds like it came straight out of the Ensign--he's just that incredible!! I learn so much from him and I'm so grateful for the even more amazing leader and teacher he is becoming every day, and that is saying something because he was already perfect when he left. He is the best!!

Going in! Yellow tie :)


English Gospel Principles vs. Farsi Gospel Principles
(both are true)


Justin loves his Persians :)


Pass Along cards!
(I think Justin needs to take more pictures of himself, I didn't have too many to choose from for this :p)

He has really become a missionary and I'm so proud of him!! The next 18 months are going to be even more amazing!

You're gonna win!!!!

2009 Theme: FAITH

Faith is knowing the sun will rise, lighting each new day.
Faith is knowing the Lord will hear my prayers each time I pray.
Faith is like a little seed:
If planted it will grow.
Faith is a swelling within my heart.
When I do right, I know

Okay so I'd seen a couple of these and felt intimidated at the idea of doing it myself. That is, until I read Seriously So Blessed and realized that if the fake, superficial Mormon mommy could choose a ridiculous one, I could definitely put the time into choosing a real one for myself. And it's still January so I'm good ;)

As I thought about this year and what it holds for me there was really only one topic that stood out in my mind, and that is that I need to have faith! I need to have faith in the Lord and in my Savior Jesus Christ that everything is going to work out as it should. That said I also need to remember to keep my feet moving-- faith without works is dead (James 2:17), and everything I do should reflect the type of person I want to become. I need to have faith that all of the righteous desires of my heart will come to me as I keep the commandments and work hard to serve those people in my circle of influence.

When I was in young woman's and started working seriously on my personal progress, my leader asked me which value I wanted to start on. I looked at here blankly and told her immediately I wanted to start with Faith. This was mostly because my logical brain said, "Start at the beginning of the book, and work through it until you're done!" but the more I finished the Faith experiences and learned the lessons intended in those I realized there was a reason Faith was first: everything else is based on faith! If you don't have faith that you are of infinite worth to Heavenly Father, you have a hard time thinking positively about yourself. If you don't have faith that good works will make you happy, you're probably not going to be as adamant about looking for those opportunities. So we're going back to the basics here, friends! I tend to be afraid about the future and doubt myself so a focus on faith will drive both of those away. They cannot exist at the same time!

I have no doubts this year will be a good one, and I'm grateful for the hope of the Gospel and the blessing it is in my life. Every thing good that I have is a direct result of it!