Closed doors and opened windows

I was just watching "The Sound of Music" with my girls and I have always loved the line, "When God closes a door, somewhere he opens a window". I have seen throughout my life when I have had to go through hard trials that the Lord, in his tender mercy, quickly blesses me with some of my greatest blessings.
The last 5 months have been extra difficult for our family. We recently miscarried a pregnancy. After months of difficult morning sickness, at my 15 week prenatal doctor's appointment to see what the sex of our baby we were having was (they do it earlier here), we found that there was no heartbeat and that I would have to check into the hospital to deliver the baby the next day. Miscarriages are hard. This is my fourth. The first was the hardest; it was also in Taiwan. This one was also very difficult because it was late (all the others were before 9 weeks) and so I was already showing and so we had to tell everyone (really, everyone in our whole city almost) what had happened. Also, it was difficult because it was a very sad end to being nearly bed-ridden with sickness for 3 months (I was still throwing up even the night before checking into the hospital). It is difficult for me to share this story on my blog, or with anyone really. Part of the reason two of the other miscarriages were easier to deal with were because no one really knew about them. But, I decided to share because when it happened I thought a lot of a friend who went through a similar miscarriage and remembering her story on her blog really helped me through my own experience.
I, and my family, are doing much better now. We have had about 6 weeks to recover and in the meantime we have been busy carrying through with a decision we had already made to go back to America. That is the "open window".
We also just got the good news that we will finally (it has been a crazy process since we actually aren't there!) be closing on a house this week in Layton, UT, right near all of Scott's family. I and the kids will be moving back by the end of April, but Scott will most likely have to stay through the end of June. We don't have a job yet, but have put in some applications. We are also trying to start a Chinese Immersion school at our house, with a native speaker and everything! It's all been kind of a whirlwind, but we are really excited and feel really blessed at how many answers to prayers and miracles we have seen in just a short time.
We really appreciate how much support and love we always get from family and friends! We have been blessed to be surrounded by people who are truly amazing! Thank you!

Trying to pass the time...

We are waiting to hear word on some important news (more on that later). So I am dying to just pass the time, yet I am glued to the computer to watch for some important emails. So, I am finally getting on to blog while my children run around like crazy monkeys. I am just going to post some random photo highlights from the last couple of months:

We haven't had too much of a cockroach problem, but one got in during December and evidently laid eggs because we suddenly had tons of baby cockroaches everywhere! During the week where we were working on making our home cockroach free, we found this guy on our floor. Ick! So we taped over our kitchen drain to make sure no more found their way in(we have all tile floors and there are drains on the floors to help in the mopping). As for the small cockroaches, one day I killed almost 20! But after some hotels, cleaning, and taping up possible entry-ways, we haven't seen one since!

Some people have requested more pictures of us on our scooters, so here they are. We are so used to this so now it doesn't faze us, but I know some of you are going to have heart attacks. The set-up is this: one of the scooters is usually Sophie and I (this is all the stuff we needed for the Christmas party at our church).

And the other scooter has Euan, Meili, and Scott. Euan is too small for a helmet, but notice the lovely chair and head cushion so he doesn't hit the scooter's panel in front of him. He looks pretty squished in this picture, but it's usually not so bad. I think they were still getting adjusted and ready for the ride when I took the pic.
You would be amazed at what you can do if you have to! At least we have been :)

After getting Euan his milk before naptime (we have to use powdered milk because dairy products are astronomically expensive here), something caught my eye on the powdered milk bag. I looked and looked and finally saw it! A huge gecko! Yes, geckos are common house "pests" here, but most people like them because one of their favorite snacks are cockroaches :). I'd rather have a gecko crawling up and down my walls, and powdered milk bags, than have to ever see a cockroach again!

Earthquake

Last Thursday was definitely a crazy day for us. Just after 8:00 am, we had a 6.4 earthquake that was centered about 30-40 miles from us, which just happens to be where Typhoon Morakot hit the hardest as well. We are used to tremblers here because Taiwan has small earthquakes nearly daily (though we have only felt 5-6 since we've been back). But soon after it started, I could tell this one was different. The ground shook so hard that it bounced me out of my chair (especially when added to my adrenaline), and I ran to get the kids and took them to the safest part of our house. I heard some things falling off of shelves and I watched our ceiling fan shake so hard that I was sure it would fall. I was trying to decide if I should leave the building when Scott called and he said that the school was all evacuating so I should too. By the end of the conversation, the shaking had ended, but when you live in Taiwan you know that one is surely followed by more. And as I descended down our 12 flights of stairs with my 3 children and the couple of items that they had decided to save (Meili's Teddy and Sophie's current comfort item of choice, a towel), I rethought our beautiful view and thought we should have opted for a lower level.
After about 30 minutes of playing downstairs in our play area, we decided to come back upstairs. I watched the earthquake report come in throughout the day and there were over 20 more aftershocks! We felt 4 or 5, especially one around 4:00 in the afternoon that was a 5.7. When that one came around, sweet little Sophie said, "Momma, we are shaking like pudding!" Needless to say, I checked our 72-hour kit that day and I had nightmares about earthquakes that night.
The ward called to check on us and one of our friends who is from around here told us that it was the strongest she had ever felt. Most earthquakes in Taiwan are in the North/East. The news reported it was the worst in southern Taiwan in over a century! So between this earthquake and the typhoon, Taiwan is giving us a real show!
Oh, and I should mention that as far as I have read there were no deaths, just 60+ injuries. And though our power didn't go out, strangely enough Taipei's did (which is way in the north of the country). There were some buildings that collapsed (old and dilapidated probably), and others received damage, but Taiwan's buildings are built for earthquakes so we didn't really have any damage. Oh, that is except the girls' jewelry box which is one of the things that fell.

Counting 1-20

This morning I was in the shower when it slowed to a tiny trickle. This would be ok if our apartment was 85 degrees (like it was last week), but this week it is closer to 60 degrees. I enrolled Sophie to go ask her Daddy if he could hold off on doing the dishes (the assumed culprit of my trickle). She ran to ask and then came back to tell me what he said. Unfortunately, I couldn't hear her through the crack in the door and so I kept asking her to repeat it since the trickle wasn't picking up any. I say that this is unfortunate because when I finally got out of her that Daddy said he would stop after she counted to 20 that I was actually keeping her from starting to count and thus prolonging my freezing condition. After I understood her, I said, "Start counting!"
She began. One to ten is a no-brainer, but in English the teens are just difficult. If she were counting in Chinese she would have been to 20 in no time. She was so flustered by the pressure that she stopped after 12 and announced that she was done. I heard Meili and Scott help her realize she wasn't done and try to pick up where she left off.
I am still trying to warm up in the lukewarm trickle.
"Thirteen, fourteen, sixteen".
Oh that darn 15, both Meili and Sophie skip that one in English. I hear Scott helping her start again at thirteen.
"Thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, sixteen, seventeen, eighteen, nineteen, twenty!"
Hallelujah. The hot water starts to pick up and I can finally get on with my shower. I hope Scott got a lot of dishes done in those "20 seconds".

Good News!

We have decided we are coming home to America! It's good news for us, but Scott's bosses are wringing their hands and his neck. We are finishing up our contract here which ends at the end of June and then we are going back to Utah.
So what is our next step? We wish we knew exactly, but we feel like we should go home and be closer to family so with some faith and prayers, we are sure that the rest will work out great. Things are already falling into place; miracles that help us know we are doing the right thing.

Christmas in March :(

I know nobody really wants to know about Christmas in March (which is why I cheated and changed the posting date), but here are the highlights:

Our tree was small, but we were happy to have some sign that it was Christmastime since this country only slightly understands the commercial part.

Our ward Christmas Party. Sophie was Mary and Meili was an Angel. And Santa was

Chinese this year! (He must have just been Santa's helper)

I taught the Relief Society (church women's organization) how to make pies. The one on the right everyone calls Momma Goose because she is like the momma of the whole ward. I must say that those pies were pretty awesome. I tweaked an apple pie recipe and I hate to toot my own horn, but "toot, toot" it was yum-o.

Us enjoying our AWESOME Christmas, which included SWEET packages from America. Anyone who has lived so far from home understands how amazing packages can be to lift one's spirits.

I take it back...

In an earlier post, I wrote about a meeting that I was attending where a little boy, less than two, I observed without a diaper and later peed all over the floor where we were sitting and our other children were playing. Well, I need to update it. I realized, almost after I wrote it, that the only reason I was really "horrified" was because I was struggling to get along with the mother. Whatever social gathering she is in, she takes charge. And I usually disagree with her. But, really, it is just an example of a cultural difference because in meetings or social gatherings here, the Chinese always revert to the teacher-pupil relationships. And here, the teacher talks and the students listen and agree. And if I don't agree with the "teacher", I have a hard time not speaking up with my opinion, or at least other alternatives. This is one part of the Chinese culture that sometimes gets my goat and I have a hard time biting my tongue. I am, after all, an American. And we are known to have a hard time with authority. I mean, isn't that why the pilgrims came to America in the first place? Our ability to think for ourselves and to sometimes question authority is good, but like all things, can be taken too far and can lead to pride. So, I am trying to learn humility from the Taiwanese. And after a lot of prayer and biting my tongue, I am not as bothered by this mother anymore.
So, truthfully, I think it isn't that weird to be potty training your child that young (have I been here too long?). In another meeting yesterday with some other mothers who have children about the same age as Euan, I asked them about potty training in Taiwan. One said that they usually start by 18 months and are potty trained by 2. (I read a book in America about potty training by the age of 2 and I tried it and failed.) One told me that if you talk to all of the A-mah's (grandmas), they think that you should start at 6 months. And the other mother confirmed this by telling me that her 4 month-old can poop when she sits him on the toilet. I guess it would be the same story if we asked our own mothers or grandmothers who used cloth diapers and potty trained earlier than we do now.
I have to admit that potty training early is easier here, though, because the environment and culture is set up for it. They have only tile floors (much better than chasing around your child with carpet cleaner), and it is perfectly acceptable for kids to pee outside, no matter where they are-even the playground (especially boys).
Now I am even thinking about giving it a go with Euan. I might actually be forced to, since he is already in the largest size diapers that you can buy here. I'm not sure about helping him stand and go pee into the gutters in front of people-especially since we already draw crowds with cell-phone cameras clicking. So I might try my own version: train at home, but still wear a diaper when we go out and about because I still think a group of small kids playing in one child's pee-puddle is pretty disgusting :)