Lots has happened!

 Crazy that it's mid-December! We have had a big month since I last posted, most notably because Adam's mom passed away November 12 (my birthday). The Department of State paid for Adam to go home for the funeral so he did a super quick trip to Utah, being there less than 24 hours. We're grateful to family and friends who supported us and helped us feel very loved. Adam stayed at my parents' house and found gifts and treats waiting for him from my siblings to bring back to China, which we appreciated so much. The funeral itself went well. Adam spoke first, reading thoughts from his dad then sharing his own thoughts. All of his siblings were there and some relatives from Texas. Despite some conflict in Adam's family right now, things went well and we were grateful he could go. We will miss Carol yet are grateful that she is in a place where she is freed from physical constraints and limitations as she had been dealing with heart, kidney, and dementia issues for years. She is a truly Christlike person and we look forward to seeing her again someday. 

The kids and I watched the funeral, which started at 1 am our time. 

The weekend after the funeral was Thanksgiving weekend and we went to Hong Kong. We had such a great trip! The main purpose of the trip was to go to the temple. We stayed in temple housing for two nights which was much appreciated and also very small--basically a dorm room with twin size bunks and queen size bunks plus a toilet room and shower room that all shared air space. Despite the close quarters we were appreciative to be there, loved being across the street from the temple, and loved associating with other members staying at temple housing. Adam and I did an endowment session Friday evening. sealing Saturday morning, then I did intiatories while he went back to the room to get checked out. After we checked out he did baptisms with Mini, Emmy, and Liv while Eve and I hung out. Being in the temple was wonderful. After our session Adam and I stayed in the Celestial room for quite a while. I got tearful as it came time to leave. I miss the temple and association other members so much in China. As I was contemplating all this, the Spirit gently whispered to me that Jesus Christ knows what it is to leave Heavenly Father's presence and go to a place where you aren't understood or comfortable, where a lot is asked of you and you aren't always sure how to navigate situations you're in, where people often don't see you for who you are. I felt peaceful knowing the Savior is there for me and understands. It was a beautiful moment for me as then my tears turned to tears of gratitude for Him. 

We had fun seeing other parts of Hong Kong. It was so fun for Adam and me to be back in Hong Kong where we lived for a short period while Adam did an externship (unpaid internship) for the Church's legal counsel in 2008. We went back to some of our favorite spots, plus found some new spots. We stayed in Kowloon in temple housing the first two nights then at a hotel in Wan Chai the last night. We went to the Temple of Ten Thousand Buddhas...

and Big Buddha on Lantau Island (we took a cable car over the jungle island to Ngong Ping, the small town by Big Buddha and the nearby monastery)

and Lamma Island. We have a magical moment there...we were planning on doing a 3 mile hike across the island. We took a ferry from HK Island to one side of the island and started hiking. After about a half mile we came to a beautiful beach right at sunset. The kids were so excited about playing that we ditched the hike idea and just enjoyed a relaxing, beautiful, impromptu hour at the beach. There is something therapeutic about the beach and we felt so peaceful there. 

On Sunday we went to church (which happened to be district conference) at the Wan Chai building where Adam, Mini, and I attended in 2008. It was so rejuvenating and filling to pray, sing, and hear from other members. It is a special place because there is Sacrament Meeting every day of the week except for Monday for the Indonesian and Philippine nannies. We also learned in district conference that the temple president approved the opening of the temple on Sundays for these nannies that need. We chatted with members for a couple hours after the meeting. They were so welcoming and interested in us, offering to do youth activities when/if we come in town again. We just felt so loved and bolstered! 

Other highlights: Adam was excited about the buildings featured in "The Dark Knight."

Watching the laser show across the harbor. 

Christmas decorations and music! There is very little of that in mainland China but it was all over HK. 

Thanksgiving dinner at a Thai restaurant in a night market

Now that we are in December, the kids are ramping up for finals week, which feels a little more like college than high school, at least for the oldest three. Emmy has started basketball season, getting quite a bit of playing time in both of their games so far, including making two baskets in the first game! 

We also had a visit from my nephew, Matt. He travels a ton for work and was in China for work so tacked on a weekend in Wuhan to visit us. It was awesome to have family here--there's nothing like the familiarity and comfort of family. He brought us lots of yummy Christmas treats which we made quick work of. We garnered even more stares by adding a 6'3" white guy to our group. On Saturday we went to Guishan Mountain ("mountain" to us Utah snobs) that is close to the confluence of the Han and Yangtze Rivers and looks across the Yangtze to the Yellow Crane Tower. So many people were interested in us and people with kids asked a couple times for pictures with Liv and Eve. One woman (probably 55-60) pointed to Adam's beard/face and said "handsome." He smiled and thanked her. Later we saw that same group and a man in the group told Adam that that woman had been talking about him and thought he was very handsome. Adam said he wants to grow his hair out so people will think he's Chris Hemsworth :) Another good moment was when a group of people on some sort of city tour starting talking to us, asking questions. Matt was standing a few feet behind us and snapped a pic of the moment. 

We had fun introducing Matt into re gan mian (hot dried noodles), a breakfast food that Wuhan is famous for. We eat it for lunch and dinner--it's kind of like spaghetti noodles in a sesame sauce. 

And we took him to one of our two favorite local food shops. 

So fun to have a visitor! 

Other random pics: 

The school photographer caught a cute moment of Mini in AP statistics. 

Liv and Eve playing--what could go wrong? 

The Chinese exercise equipment, which I am actually loving using! It's fun enough to use that I'm actually exercising my arms and back instead of just running. 

We got some of our stuff (finally!) and Liv and Eve found uses for the big boxes.