Vietnam District

Here is everyone who attended the district conference in Hanoi yesterday. We are standing in front of our pink, 4-story church building and in front of our blue, newly authorized and "Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saint" sign.

We had a WONDERFUL, SPIRITUAL and HISTORIC district conference yesterday! Elder and Sister Watson came from the Area Presidency in Hong Kong, our mission President and Sister Smedley came from Cambodia and other leaders came from Ho Chi Minh City. A Vietnam district was created, as well as a third branch which covers the greater Vietnam area. Apparently there are more than a thousand members scattered throughout Vietnam that now belong to this third branch. Once they establish contact with these members, they can start meeting together each Sunday using internet technology...amazing! Christian was also called to be second counselor in the district presidency - what a blessing it is for him to serve with such wonderful people.

Jennie had the opportunity to take the Watsons, Smedleys and Talbots around on a rainy Saturday morning to see some of the sites of Hanoi. Here we are at the Temple of Literature, the very first university in Vietnam. The Watsons left Beijing about the time we arrived. It was fun to reminisce about China.

Balancing on the tortoise backs are stellae, which are in essence the doctoral dissertations of the 82 students who passed their exams. Each is different in design and writing style, which indicates that this took place over hundreds of years - pretty neat.

Halloween 2010

Here's a belated Halloween post.

We carved watermelons at our church party instead of pumpkins because pumpkin skins are so tough here! The effect was great : )

This is our friend Quang from church.

A halloween party before trick or treating.

Emma was Princess Leia and Xander was Spiderman.

Anneliese the ballerina with our housekeeper Huong.

Embassy Halloween party at the American Club. Emma wanted to wear this dress and we turned her into Pippi Longstocking.

Xander decided to be a Chinese emperor at the Embassy party.

Comical Happenings...

Ever make a paper towel diaper? We were desperate at church yesterday when Anneliese had a messy diaper that HAD to get changed. Both Christian and I were out of diapers (kind of funny with me mouthing the words to him while he is sitting up front "do you have a diaper?") Anyway, we had paper towels out in the car, so I changed Anneliese's diaper and then put about one inch of paper towels in her little underpants (diaper cover up) that matched her dress - thankfully she had that on!

As soon as I got back from changing Anneliese out at the car, Xander informed me that he needed to go potty. Okay, so I sent him upstairs to the toilet, gave Annliese to Christian on the stand and followed Xander upstairs. I couldn't help but laugh when I discovered that his underpants were soaked through - little accident. So I took those off and rinsed them out before heading back downstairs with wet, blue dinosaur underpants in my my hand.

I love my kids and am glad that we made it through church in one piece yesterday!

To Market...To Market

This morning I went to the market three times to make sure I got the one thing I really needed. Crazy things happened all three times I went...The photos are of vendors in our alley market, but were taken earlier this year.

The first time, a smiling butcher played a little game with Anneliese's hands and he handled a toy she brought along (one she often puts in her mouth). FYI, he handles raw meat all day and is responsible for grinding meat in the little hand crank grinder, and he doesn't wash his hands. I try to always give exact change to the butcher. If I do get change, it usually has little meat chunks on it and I am quite hesitant to put THAT in my wallet. We went right home and washed and sprayed with anti-bacterial spray. I needed to grab something from home anyway.

The second time, Anneliese had a VERY near miss with a lugie that a man spit out of his mouth as he walked across the street - apparently he didn't see our big red stroller. I stopped the stroller JUST in time and it landed too close for comfort. He said 'sorry' and I said 'ew!' with a shocked expression on my face.

The third time, I thought we were home free, but then as I was buying green beans from the last stall, I looked down and Anneliese had been given a cumquat (small sour orange) and she had eaten half of it, peel and all, and had the whole thing in her mouth. Nobody asked my permission! So there you have another good start to a typical day in Hanoi : )

Christmas Tree Hallelujah

Sunday night we put up the Christmas tree and decorated it. It was magic as we played Christmas music and laid out the nativity sets we've collected. So much fun! Afterward we turned out the lights and drank hot chocolate with candy canes as the kids danced to the Hallelujah chorus.

2010 Walk-A-Thon

Emma did a great job this year on the Walk-A-Thon fundraising for Blue Dragon and East Meets West Foundation. These organizations provide food and shelter for poor children, and heart surgeries for needy children in Vietnam.

Because of Veterans Day, Christian was able to go and cheer Emma on. He marked laps on the kids arms as they ran past.

Emma's class was broken into small groups to make it easier to mark laps on their arms.

Emma completed 11 laps around the track and ran or jogged the whole way! This year Emma was able to raise $163 with her results. We are so proud of you Emma!

Super Kids

On Saturday morning, I heard little feet tip toeing down the hall. I looked up from my bed and was surprised to see two super heroes on a special spying mission. They were hush-hush and wanted to surprise daddy.