Rainy Wednesday

There are really only two times when I love rain.  I love rain in the summer because it cools everything down for a day or two.  And, I love rain when I run.  

I felt dismal when I woke up this morning.  And then I looked out the window and saw that it was raining and felt downright depressed.  I didn't wake up early enough to run or read my scriptures before the kids got up, which was frustrating because I desperately needed that rejuvenation.  

It's hard for me to ask people for help.  I try to do it only when absolutely necessary, but I didn't think this was one of those times when I could or should ask someone for help.  But I worked up the courage to ask Saige to watch my three children (in addition to her own three), so I could run 4.5 miles and stay on my half marathon training schedule.  I loved that I didn't have to elaborate on how I was feeling and why for her to know that I just really needed to run.

I dropped the kids off at Saige's house, then tried to find the first General Conference session on my iTouch, but it turns out that I did not successfully add it to my device.  I was so mad.  I kept praying that I could find where it was, but it just wasn't there.  So I ran in silence, mist, rain, and autumn on the W&OD, which I had almost completely to myself.  I prayed and pondered.  I marveled at the beauty of the earth.  I didn't I have any profound thoughts or revelations, but a silent, rainy, autumnal run was enough to feed my soul.

Thank you, Saige, for being my friend and giving me time to fill my well.

Highlights and lowlights

1. Patty came over for lunch last Friday. She told me not to fuss, though she's definitely worth fussing over. We at PB&Js at her suggestion. After the prayer, Stephen confessed, "I wasn't reverent." She laughed. She can do that now that her kids are all grown. I think I should laugh more. Thanks for the fun, Patty.

2. Last Friday night, we met Steve at Tysons for dinner. It was a fun family event.

3. Last Saturday, two Beehive girls came over to watch our kids as a service while we went to stake temple day. We dropped Mi Na off with Ken and Rachel so we wouldn't be separated for quite as long from her. We had a wonderful time, although I think Mi Na cried the whole time. Sorry, guys.

4. I completely forgot about two appointments this week, one doctor's appointment and one visiting teaching appointment! Where is my mind, people? I'm losing it!

5. I can feel the top of Mi Na's lower left front tooth. She seems much happier these days now that it has broken through. She sometimes makes this funny face that looks like she's getting used to braces. So cute.

6. Busy season is starting to get bad. I had this idea that I should go somewhere warm and rent a beach house for the next couple of months with a patio that goes right to the sand. Mi Na could take her naps in the house and Mei Li and Stephen could build sand castles. I could make sure all my babies were safe and happy. Perfect, right?

7. Sleep is just not happening for Mi Na and me. It seems like it's getting worse each night. It's hard when you wake up in the morning already feeling like you've had a long bad day. She was such a great newborn sleeper, but I knew it had to end some time. Too good to be true, you know? What to do, what to do? The answer was once obvious to me. It's not anymore.

8. Our workout routine is going down the drain. On Monday, we start anew. We're going to do this!

9. Stephen is happy to spend time outside in the cold practicing his glider biking skills. He once showed me how he could balance for a second or two.

10. My soul feels good in the middle of the winter/tax/no sleep season. Sometimes I look at it this way:

I can't believe I've managed to stay this happy.

Sometimes I look at it this way:

It is no wonder I am this happy. I am so blessed.

I hope I can maintain this through April 15.

October 11-17

On Monday, we went apple picking.

I took my three kids to an apple orchard and met Tiana and her family there. I had Mi Na in the Baby Bjorn so bending over to pick the dropped apples was slow going. We ended up with half a bucket, which I later turned into a large container of applesauce. It was an experiment that turned out really well. I will have to make lots of applesauce next year.

Tuesday was the first day of preschool. We were on time.

Mei Li is loving preschool, but I am not. It's in the afternoon and it is messing up Stephen and Mi Na's naps, which is no fun. I need to figure out how to make this work.

Wednesday was the day I lost track of time.

But it didn't matter because we had no plans other than our picnic. I packed our picnic basket with peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, carrots, oranges, and water. I packed the stroller with a picnic blanket, library books, and children. I packed Mi Na into my baby wrap.

We walked to the field, but realized that we left Stephen's football at home. So we went back home, then back to the field. Mei pretended to be a fairy, Stephen a football player. We ate our lunch on a blanket out in the sun. Sandy, who lives right by the field saw us and came out to sit with us. She brought her cute granddaughter with her.

It got hot so we moved into the shade of a tree, where Mi Na napped covered by a crocheted blanket. It seems nice to be a baby sometimes.

We read our library books on the blanket and talked. I forgot my cell phone, like I usually do, so I didn't know what time it was.

We walked to the library, where I learned that we had been at the field for nearly three hours. We returned old books and checked out new ones and then walked home. I will always remember that day, but hopefully there will be many more like it.

I hardly remember Thursday.
I remember that we were late to Mei Li's second day of preschool and that it messed up naps again. It appears that I took this picture on Thursday.

Friday was busy.
Steve took Friday off and we spent the morning packing for a weekend trip to North Carolina. Mei Li went to Lilly's birthday party in the afternoon and it was a joyous reunion for these two pals.


We hit lots of traffic on our way to North Carolina, but we did finally make it by midnight. We were there to watch Annee and Darin's kids while they went on a short getaway.

Mei Li climbed up a huge wall on Saturday.

We didn't have a set plan for Saturday activities with the Earnest kids, but we solved that problem when we discovered a free climbing wall set up just across the street by the park. Mei Li was totally into it. She went up that thing about eight times. She made it up higher and higher with each turn and finally she made it to the very top. I was impressed. Steve and I each took a turn climbing the wall too. I must do it again soon.

On Sunday, we took seven kids to stake conference.
I do not write that to seem heroic at all because there was actually not much to it. All of the kids were well-behaved and sweet.

Annee and Darin came home shortly after we did. We had a nice meal together and we said our goodbyes.


The four Earnest kids were so kind to our kids, especially Mi Na.
It's fun that they'll be just a drive away for the next three years.

Gal Pals

For an hour this afternoon, both Mi Na and Stephen were napping. I don't think this has ever happened before. It was very nice.

When Mi Na woke up, I nursed her in my comfy chair, and Mei Li played quietly in my room.

As I started to doze off, Mei jumped up and said, "Do you know what would be a good idea? If we made princess hats! TWO princess hats. One for me and one for Mi Na. We could roll up paper into a cone and THEN we could stick ribbons on the top! Wouldn't that be a great idea? Come on, Mom! Let's go make princess hats!"

I didn't feel one bit like doing anything but sleeping, but I got up and made her dreams come true with some paper, tape, and ribbon.


Sorta ghetto, right?

Mei Li asked me, "Mom, could you draw a heart on my hat that means you love me? Could you draw another heart that means I love you?" Then she asked for hearts to represent her love for Mi Na, her Papa, and Stephen. She drew butterflies on both hats and said, "I hope Mi Na loves butterflies." She also drew some flowers and one very special dancing flower.

Before the kids went to bed, I put some clean sheets on Mei's bed. She has the top bunk and it is difficult to put sheets on up there. Mei Li did her best to help me.

Mei: Do you know why I'm helping you, Mom?
Me: Why?
Mei: Because I love to hang out with you.

Mei is my BFF. This one too:


P.S. Do you see that double chin?! I can't stand the cuteness.

Mei Li's birthday party

Today we hosted Mei Li's first friend birthday party. I probably won't do this every year, but it was a good learning experience. Mei Li chose to have a flower-themed birthday party, which was a very easy theme to work with.

In the planning stages of the birthday party, I told Steve, "I really like to feed people."

"Gee, I wonder where you got that from," he replied, referring to my mom's desire and need to feed each person that she meets.

Here was our menu:

chicken salad croissant sandwiches (for the adults)
peanut butter and jelly sandwiches
grilled cheese sandwiches
watermelon
strawberries
raspberry lemonade

Activities:
decorating flower pots
the flower walk (like a cake walk)
eating

Favors:
a flower lollipop
sunflower seed packet
homemade flower hair clip
flower lei

Thanks to her old friends who all drove half an hour or more to be here. Mei Li had a great time.

Silver and Gold.

I started sobbing in the middle of dinner preparation after I talked to my visiting teaching companion, Taunya, on the phone. I am going to miss so many people when we move.

In the almost 3 and half years that we've lived here, I've watched many friends leave. I never liked being the one to be left behind, but leaving is no fun either.

My mother worked very hard to teach me that I can be happy if I decide to be, but life as we know it is so great that I haven't needed to decide to be happy. I just am.

Thank you all for making it so easy to be happy here. I will miss you.

9/23 on the farm

It was another fun day at the farm. Thanks to Abby, Sadie, and Jack for joining us.

More about animals

After last Friday's adventure with animals, I was happy to take my kids to the "safer" National Zoo, where we can't get too close to the animals. I do enjoy taking my kids to the National Zoo, and on Wednesday, I felt much support from the six other moms that went.

We had yet another animal encounter yesterday, when Jenny and I took our kids to a friend's house for pony rides. I have to admit that my fear of animals does not include horses for some reason. I didn't get scared being so close to them as I put my kids on their backs. Isn't that weird? Horses are massive animals and they don't scare me. Of course, it definitely helps that these were trained horses.

Stephen, however, is terrified of them.

*Photo by Jenny Henshaw*

Mei Li is a natural.
*Photo by Jenny Henshaw*

Mei Li's Aunt Christine rides horses, and I think Mei Li would have made her proud. Mei Li didn't hesitate at all when I put her up on Georgie, and then Georgie started off at almost a trot! Mei Li loved it. She looked at home on that pony, and after a while wanted to hold onto just the reins.



Baby guy felt at home in the dirt. "See look! Dirt! More dirt!"

After the riding ended, Lilly and Mei Li fed the horses hay.

Baby guy felt better about the horses with a fence between him and them.

Mei Li did not want to leave.

I can't fault her for it. We all had a great time. Thanks to all who made it possible.

About today.

I love my visiting teaching companion and the girls I visit teach. I hosted a brunch for them today and I learn so much from each of them every time we meet. They are all beautiful women.

Stephen ate two plums today. I gave them to him whole and he polished them off. I realized tonight as I was cleaning up the house that I didn't find any ant-covered plum pits lying around, which means that a) I may find them in his diaper tomorrow, and b) I exposed my son to a real choking hazard. That is frightening.

Also during my evening clean-up, I came across a picture that Mei Li drew for me today. It was purple circle scribbles. I was about to throw it away and then I just couldn't. When I asked her what it was, she said, "It says Mei Li!" And she said her name with the emphasis on the "Li" instead of the "Mei," making her sound like a little Chinese girl. It warmed my heart. I guess I've been using the Chinese pronunciation more often because it doesn't sound very Chinese when the emphasis is on the Mei. What in the world am I going to do with the endless scribble drawings if I don't have the heart to throw them away?

Steve came home really late today. I think I'm getting more patient about that. It will only last for 2.5 more weeks. I can absolutely do this.

Buying a house is so stressful. The looking, the offering, the competition, the counter-offering. It's such an emotional roller coaster. I wonder if it will ever pan out for us. It's okay. I can be patient about this too. Our kids are sharing a room beautifully and each night that goes well, I am so so so grateful.

All in all, it was a very good day.

Are you curious?

I never really told you where we went for our six day adventure. We made a last minute trip to upstate New York to visit our friends, Angie, Sydney, and Holden, while Steve and Angie's husband, John, worked terrible hours.

I love upstate New York! It's beautiful in the summertime and it oozes with charm. One of the most charming things about our visit was the carriage competition behind Angie's house.

We saw the commercial carriage competition where the drivers were all dressed up in old costumes to match their product. The "Cracker Jack" driver, if you can imagine, was dressed up just like the guy on the box. It was comical. Then one of the members of team Cracker Jack handed us a box of Cracker Jacks. It was cute.

My favorite thing about upstate New York was seeing all the church history sites. We toured the Smith Farm and made a quick trip to the Hill Cumorah, where Joseph Smith found the golden plates. We visited the Sacred Grove twice. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the Sacred Grove, it is where Heavenly Father and Jesus appeared to Joseph Smith, who was fourteen at the time.


I've taught the children about the First Vision so Mei Li was excited to visit the Sacred Grove in person. There was an older married couple sitting on the bench in the grove studying their scriptures. They started talking to our children. Mei Li told him, "We're in the Sacred Grove." Then the man asked her, "Do you know what happened in the Sacred Grove?" Mei Li replied, "Heavenly Father and Jesus came." I hope that our visit made that truth more real to her.


On Saturday 8/15, Angie and I hired a babysitter so that we could do a session at the Palmyra temple. Each temple is so unique and beautiful, but each is the same as all are houses of the Lord. This temple is special because it has a view of the Sacred Grove, which is so appropriate.


Angie's town has the cutest little village along the canal, where we ate pizza and fed the ducks. I'm pretty convinced that we should move there someday, but I'm sure I wouldn't feel that way if I had visited during the winter time.

Another thing that Angie has in New York that I don't have in DC is a backyard. A backyard is a beautiful thing, you know? We spent many hours watching the kids splash in the pool and play in the play set.



Another notable event was my first sting. Actually, the darn wasp stung me four times on my left leg. I was wearing pajama pants in the backyard and it flew up my pants. I didn't see it so I had no idea what was happening to me. It was kinda crazy.

Angie, thank you for being such a good hostess. We had a great time and we love you.

Visitors from Switzerland: Wednesday, July 8.

My dear friend Alma and her family came to visit us in D.C. on July 8. I've missed that girl. Switzerland is just too far away.

Alma and I met each other my freshman year through our Asian connections.

Steve met Alma their freshman year, and was a home teacher to her neighbors.

We reunited with Alma in our Provo family ward, and Steve was Alma and Tom's home teacher. During this time in Provo, we became close friends. I like to call her a best friend. She is pure goodness.

Also during that period of time, many people in our ward thought that I was Alma. A member of the bishopric once stopped by our house and on his way out said, "goodbye, Alma." Another person asked me, "are you Sister Z. or are you Alma?"

I remember being flattered by the confusion and also a little bewildered. I didn't think Alma and I looked that much alike, but maybe we did.

I'm starting to think that maybe there are a lot of similarities, especially now:

I wished we lived in the same town again. That would add a new dimension of sweetness to my life.

Thank you for coming to visit, Alma and Tom.