Eight is Enough!

This year has been pretty crazy, fast and furious. In March I lost my job in St.George and soon decided to see if there was an opening at my previous job in Salt Lake. There wasn't right at the moment, but about a week later my supervisor called and said she had to let the temp go and wanted to know how soon I could get there. It took me until the first part of May to get things squared away so I could start moving back. I stayed with Shane and Tiffaney until I could get my own place in September. I did a little commuting back and forth to make sure things were okay in St. George and also to rehearse with the choir so I could make the China trip.

I was fortunate enough to find a place back in the ward I left from and the ward that Austin would be returning to, and moved in during September. I barely got settled in and it was time for the China trip in October. That was a great experience! I hope to return some day. The air was so thick you could cut it with a knife, but what a great time. The choir performed three concerts and a couple of songs at the opening ceremony of the International Music Festival which was our first concert. The Chinese people were very gracious and welcoming at our concerts. The rest of the time we were usually on a bus watching the interesting sights from the window. The varied methods of transportation there was quite interesting. From bikes to three-wheeled trikes to three-wheeled cars to buses to trucks to funny-looking taxi's. The buildings were very interesting too.

We were able to visit some neat historic places. We went to Tienanmen Square, The Museum of the Terra Cotta Warriors, the Forbidden City and the last day we got to walk the Great Wall. I thoroughly enjoyed myself and wished I could find a job there painting vases so I could stay longer. However, I'm sure it would have only paid about $3 and hour, and then of course, I couldn't leave my family for very long.

I had been back for a month when I took off again for my next adventure. I went to England, by myself no less, to pick up my missionary son. Wow! That was intense the first day. I debated about renting a GPS. They gave me a good discount so I did, and I guess even though it got us lost as much as it got us found, it was a good thing we had it. Birmingham is the biggest city in England which is where we stayed. There are lots of roundabouts to confuse things. Getting out of the airport was the biggest challenge. The rental car, besides having the steering wheel on the wrong side and having to drive on the wrong side of the road in a strange country, they gave me a stick shift to complicate matters....and the gear shift was on the left side of me so I had to operate it with my left hand. Then there were lots of one-way roads and roundabouts and dead-ends in the airport too. I was unable to turn around or back up because there was a car behind me leaving the rental car lot and I was on a one-way street so I just sat there. I rolled down my window and tried to ask two women that were standing nearby how to get out of the airport. I could tell that one of them was going to respond until the other one shook her head "no" and looked on as if she didn't see me. Luckily I saw a maintenance man not too far away that helped me out. After I picked up Austin the next day I let him do all of the driving. Even though he never served in Birmingham, he did know how to work the GPS which I was really having trouble with, but it was still a piece of junk for the most part.

Then returning a week later and getting Austin settled in was a busy time and Christmas came right on top of that. Sounds like a kind of whirl wind year. That's how you stay busy so the time goes by quickly while waiting for a missionary to return. Things still haven't slowed down much. I won't say too much about all the commuting back and forth to St. George during all this, and getting there one weekend to find the basement flooded and moldy - backed up sewer. Yuck! Luckily all my furniture was out, but still had some damage to some books and little stuff. Still trying to get that all sorted out so I can file a final claim on my things. Hopefully the new year will take a new direction. I'm not exactly sure what that is right now, but I'll figure it out. Right now I'm just tired and hungry so.....good night!