Prayer Request

The first day my daughter Noe was in the hospital for encephalitis was hell basically. My friend Laura was there to cry with me and to give me her strength, support, and love. Now more than anything I wish I was back in Canada to be with Laura to cry with her and give her my strength, support, and love.

Laura is the mother of 3 beautiful girls that are aged 13, 12, and almost 11. Last week her middle daughter, Tori was diagnosed with Stage 4 Germ-cell Cancer. It started on her ovary and has metastasized into a large tumor in her abdominal cavity and she has spots on her lungs.

Tori is the sweetest girl. She has autism, epilepsy, and a heart murmur, but she doesn't let that stop her. She can do many amazing things. When Laura asked her if she understood what it meant that she has cancer, she said, "Yes, I'm going to look like Caillou and I won't feel so well." That pretty much sums it up, but I was amazed at her bravery. The Children's Wish foundation will also be in touch with her, so Laura asked her if she could do anything in the world, what would she want to do? Tori's first response was, "Nothing. I've already done everything I've wanted to." She's so content in the present and happy whatever her circumstances, those are lessons I'm still working on myself. Laura asked her again, and this time Tori said, "Well there is one thing I'd like to do. I'd like to meet the prophet." Again, I was humbled by this sweet girl. Where most would want to go to Disneyworld, she wants to meet President Monson. I think he'd want to meet her too!

This past Tuesday she began round 1 of chemotherapy. If all goes well, she'll be in the hospital for 5 days of treatment and then get to go home for 2 weeks. After that cycle it will begin again for 3 rounds. They're hoping that at the end of the 3 rounds, the spots on her lungs will be gone and her tumor will have shrunk to an operable size. The next step would then be to remove the tumor and do any possible reconstructive surgery to her organs that the tumor may have damaged. They will finish up with 3 more rounds of chemo, and hopefully in 6 months it will all be a memory. The one nice thing about germ-cell cancer is that once it's gone the doctor's say you are cured from it, not in remission from it, and I hope Tori will be cured from it soon.

I've cried so hard for my friend and her family, but I do have faith in God that he is aware of Tori and loves her. I also have a firm testimony of prayer and that through it miracles happen. My request is that you would please pray for Tori, that the Lord's Spirit will be with her, her family, and all of her doctors and nurses that they will all be guided and directed to do what is best for her. I've learned that faith is not a noun, it is not something you have, instead faith is a verb, it is something you do. I know through our faith, miracles will happen!

These Boots were made for Walkin'

Noe came home from ballet class and put on her rain boots. She was so cute struttin' around and posing that I had to take some pictures.

Fresh Bag of Candy For...

...Amanda Buhler! Congrats! Len went to the AIT (A Plus In Taste) Bakery today (not to be confused with the American Institute in Taiwan) and picked up 2 bags of fresh peanut candy. We've already dug in to ours, and I'll get yours to you ASAP Amanda. Thanks to all who participated!

Blog Anniversary Give Away

Yep, today is my one year anniversary to entering the blogging world. In commemoration of the event, I'll have a little give away. Since it's Halloween time, that means candy time! So I'll send you a bag of this yummy Taiwanese peanut nougat candy that I really like! I don't have a picture of it (the above picture is just to get your attention). Anyway, leave me a comment and you'll be entered to win. I'll draw the winner a week from now. Good luck and don't be shy!

Which Vampire Are You?

Take the Quiz and Share Your Results!

You are thoughtful and care very deeply for your family. A loving home is of great
importance to you and you always try to make people feel welcome. Although you have a great capacity to love, you also have a great capacity to hurt, so at times you can be
sensitive. You're firm when you need to be, but people trust your judgment and
appreciate the kind way you always handle things.

Happy News!

Saturday night, my sister Amanda and her sweetheart Coleman got engaged! Coincidentally, that day was the 5th anniversary of their first date when they went to Homecoming together as Seniors. I am SOOOO happy for them! It looks like they're shootin' for January 10th for their wedding day. I'm so excited, I just LOVE weddings!

Lovin' Natasha's Tunes

Last May I was driving the kids home from school when "Pocketful of Sunshine" by Natasha Bedingfield came on the radio. All 3 of my kids started rocking out, and I thought it was so cute. When we flew to the States in June, one of our very first stops was to Target so we could buy the CD. We listened to it all week in our rental van, and our whole family fell in love with every track. Before our vacation was over we decided to buy her first CD "Unwritten" too and we found an import CD "N.B." Well, Thursday night was our monthly haul to Costco. Since it's a 45+ minute drive both ways we get to listen to a lot of music. Of course we were listening to Natasha. I just wanted to share my favorite song of hers right now, "I wanna have your babies" (click on song title to hear it). It might be my favorite because I'm pregnant, or it might be my favorite because my cute husband sings it to me. Whose tunes are you lovin' right now?

Baby Boss City

Kaleb, Noe, and Gavin got to go to the most amazing birthday party for their friends Minji, Katrina, and Berkeley. Not only was the magician fun, and the cakes yummy, but the venue was awesome!

The party was held at Baby Boss City where the kids get to "try on" different professions. For the above firefighting scene they had "training" first. They were lectured on what a fireman does, changed into the appropriate attire, climbed aboard the fire engine to drive to the scene, and then proceeded to put the blazes out. After each job they earned certification and "baby bucks" that they got to spend in the gift shop afterwards.

Some other careers they got to try were:

Milking cows at a dairy farm

Going on test drives at a car lot

Creating fashions at a design studio

Taking care of babies at a hospital nursery

Doing safety demonstrations as flight attendants aboard a real airplane

And there were lots more still to do another time!

Reminiscing

Today I saw a commercial with the Golden Gate Bridge of San Francisco in it. I thought if I ever live there, I'd love to have a nice picture like that. That led me to think of all the places Len and I have lived since we've been married and that led to an internet search for all of these fun pictures. Enjoy!

Taipei, Taiwan (Republic of China)



Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

Boise/Eagle, Idaho, USA

Las Vegas/Henderson, Nevada, USA

Canterbury, Kent, United Kingdom

(both of these pictures were literally a block away from our flat in England)

Provo, Utah, USA

I wonder where we'll live next?

Always hard to say goodbye

My parents and little brother are heading to the airport now to go back home to Vegas. I've had to say goodbye too many times in my life and it never gets easy. I miss them already, but am so glad for the time we had together. Now I look forward to the next time we say hello.

I'm so grateful for my own little family and for the joy they bring me. I'm so glad I'm not alone and that I have such wonderful family and friends to love!

A few sights

Len had to go back to work, and Kaleb & Noe had to go back to school, so Gavin & I played tour guide to Mom, Papa, & Kris. We took them to see the Taipei 101, the Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall, and of course to our little Temple Square. The Taipei LDS Temple is right next door to our church building, it's so great to see it each week!

School Pictures

There was no school on Monday, because it was a typhoon day. Tuesday was scheduled to be Noe's class picture day. I got her up even earlier than usual to spend 45 minutes spiral curling her hair. Half-way through, she tells me she doesn't want me to finish curling her hair because she's bored. Sorry Charlie! You can't go to school with only half of your head curly. I remind her that school picture day is only once a year, and she can tough it out. Later that afternoon I get an e-mail from her teacher. Because of the typhoon their class pictures are re-scheduled for the following day. Ugh! She also sent me a second e-mail apologizing knowing that I'd have to re-curl her hair all over again the next day. I didn't mind curling her hair again (Noe didn't complain too much either, but so much for once a year), but I was embarrassed to send her to school two days in a row wearing the same outfit. Oh well!


Kaleb wanted fancy hair too, so he got a little hawk.


I know they're mine, but I think they're cute. I hope all parents feel that way about their children.

I did Gavin's hair in a little hawk too. Oh, I just love all of my babies!