Our faculty at the end of teacher orientation.

Going through an extensive process using super heated water then hanging in the sun to 

kill some mites that made into Camden's bedding.

We aren't' able to make the long journey into the city every weekend to attend the branch so sometimes we attend remotely from our home.  It is always a special experience for our family.

Our Sacrament.

We use little medicine cups for our sacrament cups.  The kids can't help but chuckle 

when they are taking the sacrament.

Attending church in bare feet:)

Typhoon Nida

The high winds shredded the school flag but he Chinese and American flags stood strong.

Trees were bending and snapping.

We had been warned for 3 or 4 days that a Typhoon was coming but didn't worry too much about it because the locals didn't seem worried.  The day before it hit we read the weather warning that categorized it as a 4 on a scale of 5 with winds over 100 mph.  This made us nervous.  The warnings said stay away from windows and don't go outside.  We didn't know what to expect and things were fairly quiet with normal winds and rain until it started to get dark.  It seemed as the sun went down the "animal" snuck in.  The winds picked up and the windows started shaking.  We struggled to fall asleep because we were nervous but also I think we wanted to see what a Typhoon looked like.  Eventually we passed out and when we woke up things were fairly quiet.  We actually were a little disappointed not getting to see some massive storm but also grateful to be safe.

We had a baptism in the branch.  They used a temporary pool out on the deck.  It was really cool.  The fathers name was Nick and he is from Australia.  He baptized his 8 year old daughter.  He was baptized less than a year ago so it was a really neat experience to witness.  

We had 2 amazing families from the branch (the Jones and Jacksons) bless us by allowing us to stay with them in a very nice apartment complex that had a pool.  The kids had a blast and we had tthe chance to spend time with other Mormon Americans.  It was wonderful.

This was the view from the apartment they gave us for the night.  AMAZING!

The girls finally got their massive bunk beds.  They love them because 

there is a ladder they have to climb to get to the top.

Guess what little monkey also loves the ladders:)

The kitchen looks fairly nice but the stove doesn't work very well, the oven is all in Chinese and since most people don't use an oven no one can tell us how to use it, the sink is very small so when we wash dishes water gets everywhere and there was no counter space.  I finally went and stole a teacher desk out of a classroom to give Kati a place to prepare meals.  The massive device behind Kati's right shoulder is a stove hood.  Even they know Chinese food stinks:) With all that being said we are grateful for a full size American fridge.

Little Mr. Hollywood!  He's packed up and ready for a trip.

We usually wait to do projects like this until after the kids go to bed but this kid caught wind that Dad was going to be using tools and there was no way he could allow that to happen without him.  He was in the heighth of his glory staying up late to help Dad build these shelves.