We Made It!

Jet Lag

 Jet Lag

Jet Lag

 Our first week in the country! 

Karlie and Shalie, Twins on Twin duty

This bodasious man turned 29! All he wanted for his birthday was to go flying-so that's what we did!

 It was fun to have Larae along for the ride!

It's been a long time since I went up with Ezra and it was so fun!

Above are pictures of Shoshone Falls and Ezra's family farm.

Ila and Fae have the best Grandma's and Grandpa's two girls could ask for, they had a lovely time bathing in Grandma Roper's sink!

It was weird to pack up and walk out the door with only a bunch of suitcases. Weird to think that I would not becoming back to this place that held so many memories, some of the best and hardest times of my life. I almost felt the need to light off a few fireworks to mark our departure.

As we drove to the airport I looked out the window and I thought about how absolutely strange this place was to me and how I often thought I would only ever be happy to leave it. It was surprisingly bitter sweet.

For the first time I can remember our flight out of Nanning was on time.

They told us we could bring our car seats on board the plane so we figured that there must be some open seats near our assigned ones, but when we got there we realized there was no way that we were going to fit..we sat down with with the car seats on our laps (squeeze) so the rest of the passengers could board.

I started getting a tad hyper "there is no room on this plane, what are we going to do with these car seats, why did they tell us we could bring the on?" finally a flight attendant comes over and says we can move forward into the business class, phew! Ezra takes Fae and moves but I'm clear over by the window with a huge backpack full of baby supply's thinking, “how am I going to do this? “ I was wedged.

                                                                             

I gave the car seat to a helpful New Yorker, and with Ila in one arm and my back pack in the other I started making my way to my new seat. I was almost there when I felt sudden tension and Ila just about popped out of my arms. I looked back to see what we were caught on and to my horror.... I saw that Ila had a chunk of black hair in her pint-sized hand, a very uncomfortable Chinese lady happened to be connected to it.

Here I was baby in one arm, backpack in the other, and the unsuspecting Chinese lady dragging on behind!

 She was obviously in distress. I work quickly to undo Ila’s tiger like grip and the lady was finally able to sit back down.

I saw the inch square patch of hair ila had removed…half of it  was still stuck to her little fingers. The lady was clearly upset, I did my best to apologize.....Dui Bu Qi.I felt soooooo bad.

After it was all over and I was finally able to sit down all I felt like doing was laughing (if you haven’t figured it out by now—humor is how I deal) but I had to hold it in because it would have been way rude. Ezra and I apologized profusely the rest of the flight. Ila seemed pleased with her self, like “look what I got Mom.” I swear that girl has A.D.D.

We stayed overnight in Hong Kong to gear up for our long flights, the evening before we left we decided to try out the hotel buffet, I took first watch of the girls while Ezra went and loaded his plate. Fae started to fuss so I picked her up.

I hadn't really paid much attention the enormous glass of water sitting right in front of me and before I knew it Fae had pulled it over, I was drenched in the perfect spot to look like I peed my pants. I was pretty excited to be eating some good food, but not quite that excited.  Fae had some how managed to dump the entire thing on me, getting none on herself.

When I stood up to assess the damage I started laughing “oh my…it really looks like I just wet myself.”  I flagged down some help to clean up the mess. When I ventured off to get my own food I realized I had left a  wet imprint on my seat, I was also sporting napkin bits. Lovely. 


Note: Napkins are not an appropriate table textile for wiping Jeans.

I pretended not to notice that I was dripping all over the floor and heaped my plate high. By golly I was hungry, it was going to take more than one little accident to keep me from that food.

We started our long journey early the next morning. The guy that sat in front of us gave us more than a few dirty looks but other than that our flights from Hong Kong to Japan and Japan to Portland were extremely long but blessedly uneventful.

When we woke Ila up in the middle of her night to put her on the plane to Salt Lake she had a major fit, she was obviously over tired, except instead of dirty looks we received “she’s such a doll” and “aren’t they precious.” Gotta love those Mormon Mama’s!

It’s been SO great to be back! 

Man I love milk.

Zài jiàn Nanning

Ezra was concerned for their safety so he fashioned these diaper helmets. Ha Ha

TWINFORMATION: Fae has learned to clap and it is the cutest thing ever, she likes to clap every time she wakes up. She gets so excited and it’s just adorable!

Ila is crawling now—I cannot keep up with that girl she is already into everything. Fae doesn’t even army crawl—she just rolls everwhere—so funny!

Our tile floors are the perfect surface for the girls to cruise around in their “cars” (as Ezra calls them). Ila is a little maniac—that girl can turn on a dime and man is she fast. Its hilarious to see her zooming around. When Ezra gets home from work they both zip on over to greet him at the door.

Ila and Fae have  started to fight, usually Ezra and I just let em duke it out because it is soooo funny. They squeal and scream at each other and usually end up wrestling over the coveted toy.  I know we wont always think this is funny- but right now it certainly is.

Here’s the news: We are leaving Nanning in 1 week,  me for good and Ezra for about a month. Ezra will have to come back to Nanning to finish up some work projects and then………….well we haven’t gotten that far yet. 

Ezra and I don’t really feel like China is done with us, so who knows. I’m still hoping for a tamer option in the future, I’m not gonna lie, ANYWHERE in the United States would be just about a dream come true at this point. But I’m not going to hold my breath.

The first long flight I made to Nanning was really really bad, I had morning sickness and felt incoherently nauseous the entire time. When we where getting ready to come this time I kept telling everyone “there’s no way it could be worse than last time”…....and…..it was. I have definitely learned my lesson about saying things like that. HA

Even still, we’re feeling much more confident about our 1, 5, 11, and 4 hour flights this go around.  And let’s face it I am so incredibly happy to be coming to America, that I don’t care if they cry the entire way……..I shouldn’t have said that.

I am quite happy to be headed home....okay...really...I'm thrilled! However there are a few things I am going to miss……in no particular order….

1. The curiously shocked expression on the face of just about everyone we encounter

2. Being able to have any sort of conversation—anywhere because no one can understand us.  (Ezra and I have fun with this.)

3. Attending "virtual" church—Our little group here in Nanning, sitting on the couch together---You should hear us sing, can you say tone deaf?! HA

4. Heather- you are seriously the best! Love the Shaw Family!

5. All the cute friends that tried so hard to speak English

6. The girls that work for AgFeed, you guys are awesome!

7. My pizza hut friends, Thank you for always taking care of us and giving us your employee discount

8. Mrs. Whu and Mr. Lu—thank you for letting us live in your apt and being so ready to lend a hand when we needed it

9. Dave and Bonnie thanks for taking Ezra to the Dr. that one time

10. Ashley-you better come visit, I would love nothing more than to give you a tour of Salt Lake City and take you to temple square and the conference center!

There is not so much about this place itself I am going to miss—it’s mostly just the people, so many kind and good people. I just wish I could take them all home with me.

Nanning—what a place. As hard as it has been to take care of twins living in a foreign country and as homesick as I sometimes get, I am so glad that I have been able to have this experience. It’s been a good thing for me. I am learning to appreciate my blessings more fully.

I have truly been given so much:

I am a member of the only true church on the face of the Earth

I am sealed to my family and get to be with them forever

I have purpose and meaning in my life

I have knowledge that I am a child of God that he loves me and watches over me

Wow!

I don’t ever want these blessing to become “ordinary” to me. These are not “ordinary” blessings, they are AMAZING! Sometimes it can be just too easy to “count up the coal” in life and forget that there is always so much to be grateful for. I hope that whatever happens in my life I will always remember these most important blessings and be happy and grateful for what I have.

So thank you Nanning, thanks for the laughs, thanks for the adventures, thanks for the friends. We will miss you!

P.S. In preparation for Easter I compiled a bunch of movies and activities on pinterest, plus I found a family home evening Easter program--go check it out!