Busy weekend....

On Saturday, Sam took the girls shopping at a toy store because Annie said that she would like to find something for her little brother.  They were gone quite a long time, but they had fun.  Then, later that afternoon, our friends the Jorgensens came over for dinner.  Dru Jorgensen is a student here, studying Mandarin, so he was excited to get to try his Chinese out with some native speakers.  The girls told me that he speaks Chinese pretty well!

So, I decided that it would be appropriate to make something Chinese for dinner.  Not that I know how to make very many Chinese dishes, but I do make very good potstickers (Jiaozi).  I don't know how authentically Chinese they are, but they are a family favorite.  When Ryan was leaving to serve as a missionary, he asked me to make them before he left.  He ate about 50 of them!  Yesterday we made 140 potstickers for nine people, and we ate them ALL.  I don't have any pictures, but Selena was so amazed that I was making something Chinese, that she took a lot of pictures of the process.

Today is Sunday, and the day that we gather with our close friends and have dinner together.  After cleaning up the potsticker mess from last night, I didn't really want to cook and the girls love hot dogs, so we cooked hotdogs on the grill. It gets a little crazy around here when everyone is here, but they all just fit right in.

After dinner, our friend David and his son Duncan gave the kids all an archery lesson.  We have hay bales set up as targets behind out house.  Sam told me that all three of our Chinese students did very well once they got the hang of it.  They must have really enjoyed it, because they were out there for a couple of hours.

Adventures in Miniature Golf

It's been a busy week.  Mostly we've done a LOT of shopping.  These girls are marathon shoppers!  Meghan is loving it, because I'm not much of shopper and now she's had friends to go shopping with.  But, not much to take pictures of, although I guess I could have sat at the mall with my camera.

But, on Friday, we went to a Black Light Miniature Golf Course in Pacific Grove.  I have a lovely friend across the country in Connecticut that thought the girls were so cute, she wanted to do something nice for them.  So she sent us money to take them out one night.  After shopping (of course) we went and ate pizza at California Pizza Kitchen, then to the Oceans 18 Mini-golf course. The course is indoors and painted to look like the bottom of the ocean. We had a great time, all of them did pretty well for a first time. We didn't get great pictures, because Sam didn't want to carry his big camera, so these are all iPhone pics.  I think Selena's Samsung takes better pictures, I'm starting to have phone envy, lol.  Anyway, THANK YOU, JOANNE-UNNI for the fun night out!

Our latest adventures...

The student exchange group that brought our students here took them for a four day weekend in Los Angeles last weekend.  It was too quiet when they were gone, and I think we are going to miss them a lot when they leave.

Today the school took them on a boat in the Bay.  Apparently, Annie's stomach was not a fan of the boat ride.  The poor girl got really sick.  But, after she had some dinner and got her land legs back, she was fine.  After dinner we took them down the street to Phil's Fish Market.  We didn't want to eat there, because it's kind of expensive, but we love listening to the bluegrass music there.  We have some friends who play there on Tuesday evenings, so we took the girls to hear REAL American music.  I wasn't sure how much they would enjoy it, but they seemed to really love it.  We visited with the band afterwards for a bit, and took some photos.

We talked about what else the girls want to do before they have to go on Monday.  Unfortunately, there are too many things to do and probably not enough time to do them all.  But, we will give it our best shot.  They still want to do more shopping, we are planning to take them to a minigolf course, Sam told them he would take them to a big parking lot we know so that they can try their hand at driving, we are still planning a beach BBQ.  I'm afraid a couple of things might have to remain undone, but we will see.

Quiet week so far...

I haven't posted anything this week because there isn't much to tell.  The girls go to classes at 7 in the morning and don't come home until about 7 at night, which doesn't leave us much time to do much.  And we aren't with them, so no photos.  :0(

On Monday, the school took the students to the beach somewhere, from their description, I think it was Carmel River State Beach .  They had a good time, but a big wave soaked Annie and got her iPhone wet.  When she came home she was very distressed because it was not working.  I had heard that if you bury your wet phone in dry, uncooked rice, that it helps it to dry out.  My niece had tried it when her son dropped her phone into a tub of water, and it worked.  So I got a bowl, filled it with rice and told her to bury her phone in there.  She looked at me like she thought I was crazy, but I told her that if it didn't work I would take her to the Apple store.  So, they went up to go to bed, all pretty solemn and thinking that this was really a crazy plan.

Then next morning, they all ran downtairs, very excited because IT WORKED.  The phone was working perfectly.  Yay!  I wish I could remember who told me that trick, because I would thank them, they made my very anxious Chinese daughter so happy!

Last night, we had some friends stop by to meet the girls.  This family has traveled extensively in China, and their daughter just returned home after spending a year teaching English in a University there somewhere (I can't remember where).  All three girls seemed excited to speak to someone who spoke Chinese, even though she only speaks a little.  They were very polite and gracious to our friends, as they always are.

Today they are supposed to spend the day in Santa Cruz at the Boardwalk .  They were excited, and this time I gave them plastic bags to keep their phones in so they don't get wet.  I'm sure they will have a great time.  On Friday, they are leaving to go to Los Angeles for a few days.  They are excited about Disneyland and Hollywood.  Should be a fun (though long) trip for them.

Sunday at our house.

Our Sundays are very quiet.  Because of our religious beliefs we do not shop or do tourist things on Sunday.  We go to church in the mornings, and then we have a dinner with our best friends in the afternoon.  They have four children, ages 5 to 14, and we play games after dinner...sometimes all together, sometimes the adults will play our card game, and the kids play their own games.

The girls said they were interested in going to church with us, but when we woke them up this morning, they said they were too tired and wanted to sleep longer.  So we left breakfast for them, and left them here to sleep while we went to church.  I think that they have not fully recovered from the trip over, and sleeping is good.

 After dinner, they played several games.  They tried a word game, but that turned out to be difficult enough that it wasn't really fun for them.  So, they went back to Sardines and Tag, both children's games that are easy to understand.  They have to work hard during the weekdays, I wanted them to have fun on the weekend.  They had fun and there was a lot of laughing and giggling and shouting in two languages  (7 girls, altogether, can be very noisy).  Sam didn't take any photos this time, so no pics today.

Visiting the giant redwood trees...

Today, we had a couple of adventures.  In the morning, I took them to go shopping at Target. They loved it and we wandered around there for a couple of hours.  They were very amazed and amused, however, to find out that nearly everything said "made in China" on it.   Unfortunately, Sam the Photographer was not with us, so that adventure is undocumented.  :0)

This afternoon we drove about 45 minutes to Santa Cruz, to the Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park .  It is much warmer up in Santa Cruz than it is here, and I think more humid.  We took the easy Redwood Loop trail, which is only .8 mile (1.3 km), but by the time we all took photos every few steps, it took us about an hour and a half, and we were all hot and tired.  We saw some really big trees, a few wild turkeys, some deer and a lot of tourists. Busy day at the Redwoods...

Here, they are actually posing inside of a trunk of a redwood tree.

Good friends, Annie and Mary!

Selina

The gang, at the base of a BIG tree.

Afterwards, we went into Santa Cruz to get pizza for dinner. We were going to go to the beach, also, but we decided we were too tired and we will do that on another day.

Friday night party time...

Today, the kids went to "school" for most of the day.  I guess they have three hours of instruction daily, then they have an activity.  Over the course of their time here they will take them to a shopping mall, to the Monterey Aquarium, Point Lobos State Park, Great America amusement park....etc .  We drop them off at the bus very early, 7:20am and then we pick them back up at 6:40 pm.  A long day for them.

Since their bus parks near our friends' houses, we went directly afterwards for dinner and some games.  Two of our friends live next door to each other, so the adults went to one house to play our card game, and the the kids stayed at the other house.  They tried a couple of Wii games, but the girls didn't seem very interested, so Meghan taught them to play sardines.  If you don't know, it is a hide and seek game where one person hides, and then when the next person finds them, they hide with them.  Eventually, everyone is squeezing into the same hiding place, and the last person to find them hides the next time.  They had a great time playing that, and then they taught our kids some fun games.  When the adults finished our game, we found them all laughing and have a great time!  We only got photos of the last game they played, one that the students taught our children.

Other than being a little surprised that there were so many children in only two families, I think they had a lot of fun.  

They are here!

We picked up our Chinese exchange students this evening!  They are very sweet, very cute and I think they will be fun guests.  They aren't very excited about the early hours they have to keep, though.  I'm supposed to have them at the bus at 7:20 am.  They brought us lovely gifts and they seem very polite and respectful.  We just picked up KFC on the way home for dinner tonight, as we weren't certain what time we would get here.

We had dinner, then they ran out to say hello to our emus, which they thought were pretty cool.  But,  they've had a long trip to get here and have to be up very early in the morning, so they headed up to bed early.

Their English names are (from left) Mary, Selina and Annie. 

They were excited to see Meghan's wall of photos of Korean singer Kim Hyun Joong, he's apparently popular in China, too.

I'm baaaaaack.....for a bit, anyway.

Pretty sorry that the first post in 2013 is in JULY, but whatever.  Last November, I was doing great with my daily "thankful" thing, but then I got sick and didn't really shake that until like March.     So I was dragging around, barely functioning for all that time.  Ick.

There is a reason for picking it back up now.  We are hosting three Chinese students for three weeks, who are coming to improve their English skills and learn about our culture and lifestyles.  They are girls, pretty young...12 and 13, and their introduction letters to us were adorable.  They seem like happy, fun kids and we are very excited to get to know them.  They are all friends, from the city of Hohhot in China  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hohhot .  Anyway, in my email to their parents, I told them that I would try to update the blog with stories and pictures.  

As for what's going on in our family....Sam is still working contract jobs for an East Coast design house.  Nice, because they let him work mostly at home.  Not so nice in that we have no benefits, and when they don't have work for him, we don't get paid.  We're getting enough to get by, but not really enough to replenish our dwindling savings accounts.  It's been almost a year since we got laid off.  No health insurance, as the COBRA was just astronomically expensive.  I'll be SO happy (hear the sarcasm there) when I am forced to pay for something through Obamacare in January. 

Meg will be starting her junior year in High School, if you can believe that.  She's still taking some classes at the local college, swimming on the swim team (we hope....having a shoulder problem at the moment) and right now, getting excited about girls camp.

At church, I'm still the organist.  Not likely to change, since there is NO one else to do it in our ward.  Sam is teaching religion classes at Soledad Prison on Wednesday nights, which has been a bit of an adventure.  He was not excited initially, but I think he kind of likes it now.  He's glad that it's on Wednesday, because if he couldn't do his time in the nursery on Sundays, he'd go through withdrawals.  His little buddies would miss him, too, I think.  Some adult in the nursery said one Sunday,  "say thank you to Brother Bailey for helping out", to which the kids replied "that's, not Brother Bailey, that's Sammy!".  

Ryan and Susan are in Olympia, Washington where he is doing a law internship,then they will return to Utah to finish his last year of law school.  It was weird not having him here for the 4th of July, he and Sue have been here every year for the last ten years.  We are all praying that he can get a job quickly when he's done. 

So, I will post pictures and adventures with our new Chinese friends as I get time.  The sponsoring group has them all day, so we only get them in the evening and on weekends.  Also, in the middle of that three weeks, they take them to Los Angeles to go to Disneyland, etc, so we won't have them then. 

That's about it for now....

November 19.......BIG Families

Sam and I both come from large families;  he has eight siblings and I have five.  He has 39 nieces and nephews, I have 21.  About 3/4 of his are married, a few of mine are married.  I have six "greats", he has close to eighty.  And one of our great-nieces is expecting our first GREAT GREAT granddaughter.  How cool is that?

We are spread all over the place, from California to North Carolina, and even overseas.  But, with Facebook, email and phone calls we stay it touch with most of them.  And, I love them all.  I wish we could see them more often.  But, really, there are so many of them, so spread out, that we'd have to be independently wealthy, because they're be no time for work.

The Baileys used to have family reunions until the family got so big that it became difficult to find a venue.  And, we had a couple of weddings a year for awhile.  But, now Sam's sibs try and get together every couple of years for a trip;  the last two were cruises.  It's so much fun, and we were sold on the cruise thing.  But, later when Sam and I were talking about it, I'm not sure we'd have as much fun by ourselves.  We enjoy hanging out together in the evenings and swapping stories of the days adventures.  And playing cards, of course.  The Baileys like to play cards.

My family gets together at weddings and every other Christmas.  Christmas Eve for over fifty years now, is a Mexican food buffet at Mom's with all of my Fuller cousins.  We have a little Christmas program and a big White Elephant party.  I look forward to it when we're there, to catch up with my cousins that I only see then.

I dont' know what I'd do without either family, we love them all so much. I'm glad Ry and Meg, who don't have much in the way of siblings have so many cousins that they love to be with.   Doesn't mean there isn't a minor altercation here and there, but overall, they are all so willing to laugh with us in the good times, and pray with us during the bad times.  I'm grateful the Lord gave us SO MANY of them!

A gang of Baileys....about half of them.

A gang of Elsberrys at my parents 50th anniversary.

And, a gaggle of Bailey nieces, just because they're cute.

November 18......Tender Mercies

My sister, Julie, has four delightful kids: three giant boys, and a daughter the same age as my Meg. This is a story about two of her boys, one of them going through some tough times due to some bad choices.  As these events were unfolding, I was amazed at her faith that eventually all would be well.  That didn't mean we didn't cry a lot. We're Elsberrys after all, we cry...."emotional incontinence" my friend calls it.  There's a scripture in Nephi that says “I… will show unto you that the tender mercies of the Lord are over all those whom he hath chosen, because of their faith…”  Something for which I am very grateful.

I was going to try and tell it, but she was invited to tell this story at church, and sent me a copy of it.  So this is in her words.  

This story seems to be about missionary work, but to me, it is a story of the tender mercies of a loving Savior that spanned two continents and brought the miracles of healing to two families.
In the winter of 2011, two young men left their families to serve missions. Both were going to a foreign country where they would learn a new language and be thousands of miles from their homes. Both were willing and excited to serve, both left families and siblings that were struggling with various trials, but knew the Lord would bless their families for their willingness to serve in the mission field. They even had the same sandy brown hair, pale eyes, and an infectious smile with a dimple on one side. Neither of them could have had even an inkling of what the Lord had in store. It took a tremendous amount of preparation work, and several different people following spiritual promptings, to bring about the miracles that were about to follow.

Our son, Elder Trevor Larson reported to the Argentina Cordoba mission in July of 2011. He had left behind his family, including a younger brother, Jacob, who he knew he wouldn’t see for almost 4 years, due to their missions overlapping. Jacob was struggling under heavy trials, and Trevor prayed for him daily. While in the Mission Training Center, a Bishop felt prompted to tell Trevor that his brother would be alright. About that same time, I received a very distinct impression that our Savior, Jesus Christ, was stepping in to take the wheel.

Elder Juan Manuel Gomez left his home in Argentina to serve here in the Arizona, Mesa mission. He had an older sister back home, who lived in Cordoba, several hours away from her family. She was also suffering with heavy trials, including the loss of a child, and had the added burden of not having the Gospel in her life for strength and comfort. He sent his emails to his family and to his sister, hoping that something he said could help mend her broken heart. One day, after much prayer, Elder Gomez was prompted to write a handwritten letter to his sister. While writing it, he was inspired to write a paragraph in English. He thought it was a strange prompting, as she knew no English, but he followed the prompting, adding that she should find a Mormon missionary to translate it for her. In his heart, he hoped she would find a companionship where one Elder was American, to translate, and the other was a native, so she would trust their message.

In Cordoba, Elder Larson had been serving in the same area for several transfers. The mission president felt inspired to transfer him, but rather than moving him out of the ward where he had been serving, he only transferred him to the other bed in the same apartment. This meant he would be serving in the same area, but with a new companion-- a native of Buenos Aires. Within just two days of that change, Elder Gomez’ sister received her brother’s letter. She put it in her purse, thinking that as she worked in town she might see some Elders. On the way to work she spotted two missionaries. She mustered her courage to approach them and explained that she had a letter she needed them to translate. One of the Elders opened the letter and read it silently to himself. What he read made him smile:

“Hi Elder, I’m Elder Gomez and I’m serving as a missionary in the Arizona Mesa Mission. This person in front of you is my sister. She’s going through a hard time in her life. Her daughter passed away years ago and she would like to know if she will see her again. So if you can, please come by and teach her the Plan of Salvation. I would really appreciate it. Thanks so much, Have a great day”—Elder Gomez 

The Elders made an appointment to come visit Natalia to discuss what her brother had written. Trevor and his companion taught her. As she listened to their message the Spirit was so strong it could not be denied. Natalia recognized something in Elder Larson that reminded her of her brother, so far away in America. When Trevor wrote home that week, he told us of Natalia and gave me the mandate to “Find Elder Gomez!” I wondered, “How am I supposed to do that?” The very next day, we received a phone call. The man on the other end said, “Sister Larson, you don’t know me, but I have an Elder Gomez at my house for dinner who would like to meet you”. He was only a mile away from our home. I jumped in the car and sped over. As soon as I met him, I felt I was talking with my son Trevor. We took a quick picture, he thanked me for raising my son, and left with his companion for an appointment. I knew then, that Elder Gomez was going to be the answer to Trevor’s prayers, just as Trevor had been the answer to his. I felt he needed to come and meet Jacob and take him on some missionary splits. This was in November of last year. I began praying that he would be transferred to our Stake.

Three months later, Trevor baptized Natalia. Her parents were able to travel to Cordoba to attend. Elder Gomez said “My sister was able to rely on and trust in Elder Larson because we had something in common. She said that he and I are very similar and that she felt like her ‘little brother’ was teaching her. Because of that, and because of his natural love for people, she trusted him. I’m grateful that our Heavenly Father placed at the right time and at the right place, the missionary that my sister needed to meet” Natalia wrote: “I know my Heavenly Father lives and that he hears my prayers. I know that the book of Mormon is true. It gave me the answers that I needed to know. I am grateful for Jesus Christ and for the Plan of Salvation. I look forward to going to the Temple someday and being sealed with my children here on earth and my daughter in heaven. Families can be together forever. I know it. I’m happy.” Shortly after the baptism, Elder Larson was transferred out of Cordoba.

Elder Gomez had been transferred too, but to Scottsdale! I decided to be patient and wait on the Lord. One day, a full nine months after this miracle began, we learned that Elder Gomez had been called to be the Zone Leader over our Stake, and would be able to do splits with Jacob at least once a month. This was just as our eldest son, Taylor, was getting married and starting Law school, leaving him less time to spend with our family. The Chaffee’s in our ward, had previously felt impressed to take in the Elders, and Elder Gomez and his companion moved into their home, only two blocks from ours. As soon as Jacob met him, he had an instant connection with him. Since then they have been able to teach together on several occasions. Elder Gomez has filled the empty gap that Jacob has felt since Trevor left. As Trevor was able to stand in for Elder Gomez at Natalia’s baptism, Elder Gomez stood in for Trevor when Jake was ordained an Elder and again when Jacob opened his mission call. These things would not have happened had he been transferred to our Stake back when I wanted him to be. The Lord’s timing was, as usual, perfect.

In 1 Cor 2:9 we read…”eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.” The tender mercies of the Lord are all around us. The amount of miracles that took place here and in Argentina, including the inspiration of two mission presidents, Bishops, the Chaffees, and the Elders themselves, all the way down to the single-dimpled smiles of these two missionaries, show that this was no coincidence. This was planned from the beginning. Elder Gomez said, “I know that I needed to come to Arizona from Argentina and that Elder Larson needed to go to Argentina from Arizona. God knows everything, but we need to exercise faith and do all that we can to expect and facilitate miracles.”

I’m grateful for this amazing young man, Elder Gomez, and his love for my son Jacob. They are truly ‘brothers from different mothers’! Because of these events, we will always feel a love and connection with him and his family in Argentina.

November 17th ......My Grandmas

The 70's was a scary time for fashion.  Everyone talks about the 80's now, but really, they were a vast improvement over the 70's.  Of course, that's what we think in retrospect, at the time, it was all just so cool.  Polyester was relatively new, and polyester double knit the wonder fabric.  My mother LOVED polyester double knit because it was indestructible.  She made my baby brother's little overalls out of it, because he couldn't crawl the knees out of them.  A google search today showed that they still make polyester doubleknit, but it appears to be a vastly more comfortable and nice looking fabric than the heavy stuff of the 70's.

Just before I moved to Utah in 1984, my Grandma F gave me about 5 yards of red polyester doubleknit with instructions to make myself a suit out of it.  It was soooooo far out of fashion that there was NO WAY, but I didn't tell her that. She was a penny pincher, there was no such thing as a useless anything.  She wrote poems on the backs of the envelopes that came in the mail.  I thanked her and put it in my stash of fabric.  Several years later I was making a camping quilt...simple, just big blocks of fabric cut from old clothes mostly.  I was short on cash, but needed something to back it with and while going through my stash, I found the doubleknit.  It made a great quilt back.

SO great, that now, 20 years later, I still have that quilt.  The back looks nearly brand new.  The top has been patched and repatched.  Last week as I was wrestling the heavy thing through the sewing machine, patching it once again, I considered throwing it out.  But, I think because of the connection to that ultra-frugal grandma,  I can't do it.  Patching it is cheaper than making another one, and probably takes less time.  So, I patch it and think of Grandma F.

I was taught to knit by both grandmothers. I don't know if different knitting styles had names, but each grandma had her own way of knitting.  And, both of them were convinced that the other was ruining me by teaching me the wrong way.  It didn't help that they didn't like each other much.  But, between them, I learned to knit.  I'm not a frequent knitter, or even a great knitter, but I do OK.  My style is probably a weird mesh of Grandma F and Grammie E's different styles.  

Grammie E was prolific and the fastest knitter I have ever seen, she could knit a little person sweater in a couple of days.  I remember as a little kid being fascinated watching her flashing needles.  She did a lot of different kinds of handwork and always encouraged me when I was embroidering or crocheting or knitting or whatever.  She knit us sweaters and dresses and doll clothes.  When she died, Mom and Dad decided that since I still knit, I could have her vast collection of knitting needles, patterns, etc.  Every once in awhile I get a wild hair to knit something, maybe just to keep from forgetting how.  And when I do, I go to the drawer with all the knitting needles, and gauges and crochet hooks and yarn needles and I think of Grammie E.  

My grandmothers never did learn to get along.  Grandma F was a staunch member of the Church, who went to the temple nearly every day and made us sing "Love At Home" when we argued.  Grammie E was agnostic, and loved watching golf and football on TV on Sundays, knitting needles going full-speed ahead, seemingly on their own.  I loved them both, and look forward to when I can see them again someday and thank them for all they taught me.