March 1st, was our HS choir concert. John and James sing with the before school men’s choir.
Mia’s finger is healing so nicely. It really is a miracle!
March 10-12th several ladies in our branch attended the Asia Area Women’s Conference in Hong Kong. We spent the first afternoon at Hong Kong Disney. Kirsten Morgan’s husband works for Disney so got us all in for about $15 each. It was cloudy and chilly which made the park empty. Zero lines! What fun! That night we checked into our hotel and the two day conference began.
Heidi Miller, Lisa Peterson, Laurel, Kirsten Morgan and Linsee Christensen
My favorite breakout session from the conference was John’s mission president and his wife. Their class was called “Serving as LDS pioneers in China: Opportunities and Blessings.” Saturday two sisters from our branch went through the temple for the first time, Victoria Zungunde and Shenyi Mattey. It was so nice to do two back to back sessions. These are great ladies and our branch has been working with them for a while.
Walking out of one of the conference classes I had this strong impression that I should start making homemade wheat bread. I actually laughed out loud - and the class I had just come from was on the Atonement not about cooking. That night when my roommate and good friend, Linsee Christensen, and I were sharing our notes from the conference with each other I told her my "take away" from the conference was that I was going to go home and make bread. I didn’t know this about her but she makes 4 loafs of whole wheat bread every Monday morning. She shared her recipe with me and that Monday I went over to her house to see some of her baking tips. It has been six weeks since the conference and I’ve made bread five of those weeks. My family (with the exception of James) really loves it.
James (above) was inducted into the National Honor Society and Emma (below) was given her Honor Society tassels for graduation.
Tessa, Mia and Emma after the Honor Societies induction ceremony.
After church on Easter Sunday we had the Millers, Johnsons and Sterris over for a ham dinner. Everyone brought food and we had a feast! Then we had a small egg hunt at our neighborhood park. The Hershey’s store in Shanghai is closed for renovation so I was glad I got Easter candy while I was in Hong Kong.
Cara, Eliza, Mia, Tessa and Mallory
This was Mia’s first Easter Egg hunt. Cara gave her this dog basket, which she had outgrown. Mia came home and sorted all her candy.
Laurel, Heidi, Camilla and Cheryl
We stayed here in Shanghai for spring break. Lauren Cook (a junior in our branch) stayed with us all week while the rest of her family went to UT. She had to stay home for an ACT prep course. Emma and Lauren had fun hanging out each evening. Monday and Tuesday we had interviews and a home inspection with our adoption social worker. The first day took about five hours and the second day took two hours. The paperwork almost seems to be coming to an end. Friday night we all picked up John from work and went to Vapiano’s for dinner. Luke Miller came with us as well to entertain James. It was a great week of catching up and having the kids home.
Mia makes the silliest faces. Eliza is always taking care of her! While I was in Hong Kong for Women’s Conference John had Mia pretty much potty trained. I was so happy and grateful for John’s patience with her. But this week she lapsed again and is constantly pooping her pants. The school recommended that we keep her in pull ups. There is so much about cerebral palsy that we don’t understand. We don’t know if she really can’t regulate her bowel movements or if she is just being lazy and stubborn.
Eliza spent that Saturday afternoon modeling for a clothing company that makes school uniforms. She made $300 in 2.5 hours. Most of the jobs for her age fall on Sundays now so she was excited this one was on a Saturday.
On April 6th Kirsten, Linsee and I went on an all day tour to Hangzhou. We took the subway for an hour, a train for 1.5 hours, and a bus. The tour had 15 women and we learned all about tea leaves. It was funny that we three LDS girls were on the tour not drinking the tea but it was so fun to learn about and great to see a new part of China. It was such a beautiful and fun day!
Over spring break Nick Abouchedid texted James and asked if it would be “cool” for him to ask Emma to prom. James said yes, and something like it would “make her year.” The next day James, Luke and John Serbent helped Nick make a video that Nick would use to ask Emma to prom. Nick is a junior and a super great kid. He runs track and cross country, is on the student council and is in Emma’s choir class. He also founded a club for the youth at our school that don’t want to drink but still have fun on weekends. He isn’t in the musical because he is trying to get a track college scholarship so he couldn’t do both - but he has a great voice and we all wish he could have been in it.
Friday, April 8th Emma and James had musical rehearsal in the band room. It was the first rehearsal where the actors and the orchestra came together. The rehearsal was four hours and I didn’t need to be there since it was just singing. After that rehearsal Nick had the director start the video. Everyone thought it was something to do with the "The Addam’s family." Emma was shocked that it was a prom-prosal for her. She said, “Yes!” If you haven’t seen it, go to my Facebook page. It really is the sweetest thing ever!
This is a picture of Mia and Tessa watching the video on my Facebook page for the 12th time.
