Easter Festivities

Before we had Rachel, Andrew and I did not really celebrate holidays. It wasn't because we were Scrooges, it was that it seemed stupid to go all out for two adults. But now that we have a baby who, frankly, doesn't really care, we celebrate holidays.

We celebrated Easter by participating in the Easter basket deal with Rachel. How pagan of us. We also celebrated the Christian part of Easter by going to Church and watching the Bible Videos about Christ's last week. But those aren't as fun to post pictures of on the internet.

Coloring Eggs

Even though I love spelling, I cannot ever figure out the gerund of "to dye" eggs. It looks wrong no matter how I spell it. "Dyeing," I believe, is the correct way, but it looks horrible to have those two vowels next to each other. And then "dying" is not right, although we do boil the eggs so it does kill anything that may have been alive inside them. Anyway, moving on. So we colored the eggs. Maybe we coloured them, UK style. However it is, we did it with our friends.

A pile of eggs.

Claire making yellow dye.

Ric photobombing in a fabulous manner.

Rachel enjoying this tradition.

Kendra and Dallon coloring on their eggs before they dye/colour them.

Ric's Superman egg.

Andrew was there, too. He seems to have evaded the camera.

The Ward Easter Partay

Rachel in an Easter basket.

Andrew did not evade the camera this time! But his eyes are closed.

Going outside for the egg hunt.

Our friends, Sarah and Olivia

Rachel got an egg!

Good job, my child.

Love them.

Easter Styling Outfits

Everyone knows that little girls need Easter dresses for Easter.

Here they come in their Easter clothes! They are about to hunt for the basket.

~~~Why is Easter so much about hunting? An egg hunt, hunting for your basket? It is funny that a bunny hides these, but we don't hunt for bunnies in this holiday.

Golly gee! The Easter bunny brought her teething rings! And Green Eggs and Ham.

Our family Easter picture. :)

Happy Easter a month and a half late!

Farewell Grandparents!

Not my grandparents, but Andrew's. They are going on a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and they are going the Alpine Mission, which is Austria, Switzerland, and Germany, and they will be working with young adults. Sounds like a fun mission to me. You can read about their adventures at their blog, which they haven't posted on yet.

All ten of the kids were there, so they had to get a family picture. Here is the chaos of such an event:

So many people....

 And I played with my boyfriend, Micheal. He is Andrew's cousins and he remembered me from Thanksgiving. He kept snuggling up with me. What a sweetheart!

The people not in the picture--also known as the in-laws and the grandchildren.

Walking with Micheal. It was like 57 degrees F outside. I could not believe this January weather!

Cousin time! Little Micheal with little Lydia. They were both wearing purple and so matching. How precious. 

Elise is going to become a nurse and needed to practice taking fifty people's blood pressures. Good thing she went to this party where there were fifty people. Oh man. And here, Wesley is dying since he is getting his blood pressure taken.

Family gathering pictures... Uncle Hans with his daughter Lydia, Andrew, and Uncle Eric's tummy.

Heidi, my mother-in-law with Lydia. Cute!

Micheal with Grandma. You know, leis are really amazing things.

All the cousins loved Lydia. She is a novelty since she came all the way from Virginia!

And Hans had this cool hat. So of course, we had to try it out. I think I'll try to crochet one...

"I'm a lumberjack and I'm OK. I sleep all night and I work all day!"

And then Elise had to practice shaving people. But I wondered, do CNAs usually shave people's faces or do they shave people's butts?

It was a crazy and loud day with a ton of people, but I had a good time. It was nice to see so many people, especially the aunt and uncles that live far away!

Spirit Daughter

Yesterday in my Institute class, we read parts from a talk by Elder Jeffrey R. Holland. It was really powerful to me, and although he targeted his remarks to teenage women, I felt some of the parts really spoke to me. I thought I would share them with you.

"First of all, I want you to be proud you are a woman. I want you to feel the reality of what that means, to know who you truly are. You are literally a spirit daughter of heavenly parents with a divine nature and an eternal destiny. ¹ That surpassing truth should be fixed deep in your soul and be fundamental to every decision you make as you grow into mature womanhood. There could never be a greater authentication of your dignity, your worth, your privileges, and your promise. Your Father in Heaven knows your name and knows your circumstance. He hears your prayers. He knows your hopes and dreams, including your fears and frustrations. And He knows what you can become through faith in Him. Because of this divine heritage you, along with all of your spiritual sisters and brothers, have full equality in His sight and are empowered through obedience to become a rightful heir in His eternal kingdom, an “[heir] of God, and joint-[heir] with Christ.” ² Seek to comprehend the significance of these doctrines. Everything Christ taught He taught to women as well as men. Indeed, in the restored light of the gospel of Jesus Christ, a woman, including a young woman, occupies a majesty all her own in the divine design of the Creator. You are, as Elder James E. Talmage once phrased it, “a sanctified investiture which none shall dare profane.” ³ "

"I plead with you young women to please be more accepting of yourselves, including your body shape and style, with a little less longing to look like someone else. We are all different. Some are tall, and some are short. Some are round, and some are thin. And almost everyone at some time or other wants to be something they are not! But as one adviser to teenage girls said: “You can’t live your life worrying that the world is staring at you. When you let people’s opinions make you self-conscious you give away your power. … The key to feeling [confident] is to always listen to your inner self—[the real you.]” ⁸ And in the kingdom of God, the real you is “more precious than rubies.” ⁹ Every young woman is a child of destiny and every adult woman a powerful force for good. I mention adult women because, sisters, you are our greatest examples and resource for these young women. And if you are obsessing over being a size 2, you won’t be very surprised when your daughter or the Mia Maid in your class does the same and makes herself physically ill trying to accomplish it. We should all be as fit as we can be—that’s good Word of Wisdom doctrine. That means eating right and exercising and helping our bodies function at their optimum strength. We could probably all do better in that regard. But I speak here of optimum health; there is no universal optimum size."

 ---Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, "To Young Women," Ensign, November 2005.

I have been working hard to be more healthy and to lose weight this semester. It has been hard, and I don't know how much progress I have made--but I feel better. I know that our bodies are precious gifts from our Heavenly Father, and I am very grateful for my body. By taking care of my body through exercise, eating healthy foods, and having good hygiene, I am showing appreciation for my body. We need our bodies to gain eternal life, which is possible through Jesus Christ. Heavenly Father loves his daughters in a very special way. Sometimes people say that women in the Church aren't respected or that the Church is stifling to women. It is not so. If people would read the words of the modern-day prophets and apostles, they would see how much Church leaders love and care for the women of the Church. And their love and concern is only a sampling of the love of our Heavenly Father. I have felt Heavenly Father's love for me, and I know that I am truly His spirit daughter---and that is amazing! He loves me and wants to give me so many blessings. He loves all His children, and wants them to be happy and to have eternal life with Him.

I am proud and grateful to be a woman in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints!

Happy Choir!

I've been the ward choir director for a year, and I have the hardest time getting people to come consistently. I never know how many people with sing in sacrament meeting. It is frustrating.

We sang yesterday in Church. Even though we had an 8:30 a.m. throw-it-together-in-an-hour rehearsal, we had a full choir! Five basses, three tenors, four altos, and five sopranos (and me, conducting and singing what was needed). I was so happy. We sounded good and our sound filled up the chapel.

We sang "How Great Thou Art" and I got chills. It was beautiful and I am so grateful that all these people came to sing!

Moments that Matter Most

This Mormon Message made me cry today. It was beautiful. I am grateful for the people in my life that make it so meaningful to me. I hope that each day I take time to recognize them and they other gifts that God has given me.

Hong Kong Day 8 (Saturday)

This was our last day in Hong Kong, and it sure started with a bang.

I got to go to the hospital! Yay!

Here I am, at 2-3 a.m., in pain. It was awesome. I had a corneal abrasion and it was awesome. Let me tell you, going to the hospital that early is so great cuz no one is there. Andrew thought I was a baby, but it really hurt.

In the train, we saw this awesome sign:

Makes you want to get a hair transplant, doesn't it?


These are the MTR trains. I really liked riding the train.

We rode out to Yuen Long. It is a "rural" part of Hong Kong and where Andrew spent a good deal of time.

We had breakfast with these great people. Andrew, me, Joyce, the Filipina helper's friend who kept saying I have an amazing life because I live in America, and Angela (in the wheelchair). Angela was so sweet and loves missionaries. She spoke really good English. She told us not to come back until we have a baby to show her.

And then we went to the end of the MTR line to Tuen Muen and walked around a bit. I think it was Andrew's first area.

This is the Church.

I told Andrew that if we lived in Hong Kong, I would want to live out here. I liked that it wasn't as busy and I thought the countryside was beautiful. He reminded me that even fewer people speak English here. I guess if we moved to Hong Kong I would have to learn Cantonese.

See--rural.


Those buildings in the distance are in mainland China.

That evening, the Bishop Lee of the Sha Tin ward invited us to a dinner party.
I can't name everyone, but I came to love them a lot. I would also live in Sha Tin.