Holloway Family Adventures

Out With the Old, In With the New

2012-01-02T11:16:00.002+01:00

As I look back to the past year I am humbled by the blessings and trials we have managed to endure. We found ourselves a family of three, instead of five, and in Belgium.

Dave turned 49 and discovering that he's not as young as he used to be. After have a hernia operation, first one since he had his tonsils removed at 3, in July of 2010, he was still having a hard time doing some of his regular activities due to pain. The summer found him making several trips to the doctor, miliatary and civilian, to find an answer, just growing older and slower to recover. After several months of tests, x-rays, ultrasounds, and Priesthood blessings, things are back to normal and no clear answers. Most of the year was spent in turmoil at work due to a co-workers lack of professionalism and her desire to climb the ladder of success with no reguard of other people. After several meetings with supervisors and a trip to EEO with a folder full of evidence of her path of distruction, there were some changes made and Dave now has a new job and co-workers. He is enjoying his job now, sleeping better, and doesn't spend every hour worrying about what he has or hasn't done. He had to take a couple of TDYs, The Hauge and Luxombourg, during the summer and was authorized to take the family. Dave is still the Ward Mission Leader in our ward, a challenging calling to say the least. Our ward is made up of French and English speakers. At least half of our ward is African, about a quarter is American, and the other quarter are Belgians or other Europeans. It makes for an interesting mix of cultures, languages and ideas. Dave has been missing his bicycle since the last time he rode it the brakes fell apart in his hands. He's hoping to buy another one before we leave Belgium, but they are extremely expensive (at least the one he wants). He'll have to save his pennies or wait until we return to the United States. He probably ought to find another hobby too. His goals, hopes and dreams for the new year are many. One of them is to find a job back in the US before the end of the year, but it's in the Lord's hands.

Pam turned 43 and after spending the majority of the year suffering from the affects of fibyromyalgia spends most of her time at home taking care of her family and home. She has been able to complete many cross stitch projects and crochet projects. The stash of baby blankets that were sent for Christmas and throughout the year are completed and ready to sell or give as gifts. Pam received a Kindle for Mother's Day and seems to seen EVERY where with it! She has managed to read over 100 books and loves it. She loves it so much that Kaitlyn and Wendy both received one as gifts this last year. Mysteries seem to be the preferred genre right now. Pam is currently serving as a Relief Society instructor teaching once a month. She finds it a challenge to teach to sisters who don't always understand the concepts that are in the manuels. She only has to teach for 10 minutes since she has to have everything translated for the non-English speakers. Family History seems to have taken a back seat, but we try to make it to the temple at The Hauge once or twice during the year. Her goals for the year are to continue losing weight, regain her good health, finish more cross stitch and crocheting projects, and to continue increasing her spirituality. Just some of her goals.

Aimee turned 22 and spent the year in Cambodia serving the Lord and teaching the Vietnamese people the Gospel of Jesus Christ. She has grown so much in her love of Heavenly Father's children. Her testimony has strengthened. She left us a germaphob, but has learned that while serving the Lord she is protected. We receive weekly emails from her and have seen the incredible growth within her. We have had the privilege to speak with her on two occassions this year, Mother's Day and Christmas. She will be returning from her mission in April of this year!! We have a hard time believeing that 18 months is coming to a close. She has plans to find a job, go to school, and continue serving the Lord as best she can and where she can.

Wendy turned 21 and spent the year in Utah working and attending University. She has been enjoying living with her grandparents and having the freedom to go and do as she pleases. She is always considerate and lets everyone know where she is. She made a couple of trips to Preston, Idaho, to visit friends that we met while living in Italy. Her testimony has grown and she has become a wonderfully beautiful young woman. She was able to get a job with IRS as a seasonal worker, which means she works during the tax season. She made a trip to Belgium for the winter holidays, returning to Utah just a couple of days after Christmas.

Kaitlyn turned 12, started middle school, graduated from Primary, and started Young Women. She is becoming a beautiful young lady, very talkative and loves to spend time with her family. She misses her sisters and would talk for hours on the phone with them if we let her. She loves to draw Disney characters, watching movies, and playing games. She has many friends at school and loves to spend time with them between classes and at lunch. She made the honor roll for the first quarter of school! She has been enjoying her school year and found that she actually enjoys some of the subjects she previously hated. Kaitlyn is having a hard time with Young Women because she is the only English speaker that attends midweek activities. As a family we are working on the Personal Progress program, with the hopes that Pam and Kaitlyn will be able to receive their Young Women's Medallion together.

We are so thankful to the Lord for His watchful eyes upon our family as we have been scattered throughout the world this past year. He has blessed our family in many ways, tried our faith, and is aware of our sacrifices. We, as a family, know that the Lord lives, that He is our Savior, and that He loves each us. We are so grateful for the Atonement of Jesus Christ.

We pray for the health and love of our family and friends throughout the four quarters of the globe. May the Lord bless each of you with the righteous desires of your hearts.

Pictures from our Favorite Sister Missionary

2011-11-09T13:20:00.009+01:00

Our family has been so blessed to have Aimee serving the Lord in Cambodia! We have watched her grow in the Gospel of Jesus Christ and share her incredible testimony of the Atonement of the Savior! We miss her and look forward to seeing her again. Hopefully we will be able to join her in Utah at the end of her mission.

Hello families!!!

*flails around* mom you dont have to worry about us here in Cambodia. The senior couple is having all of the Viet missionaries over to thier house on Wed. to have a big thanksgiving dinner. Elder and Sister Snyder are the BEST! *flails around* i'm so excited for that!

okay i'm finally sending more pictures home.... but only like 3 this time because i filled up my other memory card and i had to buy a new one. i forgot the old one at home.

Pic1- me with Co Anh...a super strong member who helps us all the time. she lives alone and she does nails for her job. but Heavenly Father is blessing her so much because of her sacrifices to help us.

pic2- Em Tha Nat...he's the son of one of our recent converts, chi hang. His birthday was on monday so we had a FHE with them followed by a birthday party. he is sooooo stinkin cute!!

pic 3 this one is from this morning. Co Kim is the branch president...she sells co'm xuong. i love co'm xuong. anyway she sells here and we bought some from her for breakfast this morning. ^-^ pic 4- a random dragon fly tied to a string..... yeah ^-^

So our week was so good! Chi Trinh went on exchanges yesterday so i was with a native cambodian missionary who doesnt know any vietnamese, (and i dont know any cambodian :) ) luckily she knew a ton of english. her name was sister un. she was so nice and sweet. ^-^

I feel like i'm finally hitting the prime of my mission. things are doing so well! we are having a ton of success, even if no one is close to baptism yet. chi trinh and i work so well together and we are happy all the time. :)President Smedley wants us to really focus on finding potential .....Mel..Kes..idic..(*struggles to spell this word...sounds out the word...retypes...gives up*) Higher Priesthood holders. and thier families. last sunday we fasted to find men with potiental and we have been really blessed to have like 8. some we are already working with and others we just contacted monday and tuesday. its so exciting. i hope they make it. Cambodia is in desperate need of worthy men. sometimes i have lost faith in the men here because we see so many unrightous things going on. but i know that if it wasnt possible the Lord would not have opened a mission here. In district meeting on tuesday we talked about faithful fathers. it really made me realize how essential worthy men are. literally. and also why would anyone want to marry a man who is less than a worthy priesthood holder? *rhetorical question*

This week i finished the Book of Mormon. I bought a Book of Mormon Gospel Doctrine teachers manual to study with this next time. and i love it! i'm learning so much from it and i'm just barely studying lesson 1. ^-^ i've also started doing the same thing for the New Testament too. and i'm learning so much more. I'll admit i've struggled alot to understand the bible and the teachings in there. so i'm going to do better at that. :) All in all things are so good.

I can hardly believe the holidays are here because the weather has not really changed at all here in Cambodia...except that it's stopped raining. but the sun is out more...and i've started getting sunburned again...what the heck?

Also it sounds like your mission activity was super successful ^-^ congradulations! *looks over all the spelling mistakes in this letter*...my english is gone... i'm sorry. XD

Anyway i guess i'm going to go. I love you guys so much!!

*loveslovesloves*

Sister Holloway

Sister Missionary Update

2011-10-05T17:21:00.002+02:00

So I know this a long time in coming, but please forgive me...it's not my fault!!! Stupid blogger has been having issues and I just didn't want to fight with it. Any way, here is this week's update from our favorite sister missionary!!

Helloz familiez!

This week was awesome because we managed to avoid all rivers this week! success!Except that we still get wet from the rain that is coming everyday. But thats okay because i have a 5 pound poncho that keeps me nice and somewhat dry ^-^No I havent gotten your package yet, :( sister snyder said last week that a package did come with a paper slip that had my name on it, but when they looked at the box it was addressed to an Elder Miller....in MEXICO! *fail* so i hope that the elder who got my box is smart enough to return it...maybe here in the next few weeks...i hope.On the other hand Wendy's package came it!! I was so happy when i opened the box and i found lots of hearts with messages from people back home! :) i started crying it made me so happy! I have them all taped to my wall above my desk! ^__^ Thank you everyone for the notes of love and encouragement!

Sunday was a really weird day, for some reason i had started remembering all the things i had done wrong in the past and it really got to me. but through that experince I was reminded about the Atonement and how none of us are perfect. and I even found a really good scripture that talked about repentance. D&C 58: 42,43 "Behold, he who has repented of his sins, the same is forgiven, and I the Lord, remember them no more. By this ye may know if a man repenteth of his sins- behold he will confess them and forsake them." I talked to president smedley about it too, and he said that sometimes Satan makes us think that either we have to do more than that, or that we will never be forgiven. I'll admit I have a hard time seeing why or how the Lord could forgive a person such as i...but then I suppose that's where our faith and our actions lead us to a hope of that. This week I am so grateful for the Atonement of Jesus Christ. I am so grateful for His infinite and eternal sacrifice and love. I know right now i cannot fully comprehend all that that encompasses, but i know that He is merciful to those who come to Him with a broken heart and a contrite spirit. And after we repent all we can do is press forward with a smile. :) We will be watching conference this weekend! I'm so excited!

I cant believe it will be my last conference in Cambodia! TT___TT I'm so sad! Everytime i think about going home i get all anxious and nervous...and not in a good way! >__< so i try to not think about it too often...6 Months ack!

Mom. I'm trying to take lots of pictures. I guess i should take more. orz. maybe i'll do better. Today we are going to the National museum...i have no idea what is in there..but i heard they dont allow pictures and they charge 3$ *fail*

As for our investigators right now. They are all moving so slowly. It's so hard to have patience sometimes with everyone here. I guess that would be the reason why i was sent here...to learn patience. Oh well thats an attribute i need for the rest of my life anyway. :) Lets see right now we are teaching Co Hoang and Em Vy. They are good. Em Vy is really good actually. She has been willing to pray and to listen and she understands what we share. Except she hasnt understood what she's been reading in the book of mormon so we need to help her with that. I'm afraid her mom, Co Hoang, might have lost intrest. She doesn't ever want to pray and she doesnt want to meet us if Em Vy isn't there. But she had tons of questions for us at the beginning...I dont know i guess just have patience.Chu Xu'o'ng is an older gentleman we have been meeting for about 3 weeks now. we had invited him to pray but obviously he didnt want to. so we let him get off the hook when he promised to pray at home. we came back but he was sick so he couldnt meet for 3 days. we finally met him yesterday and of course he said he hadn't prayed. we spent a while trying to convince him to pray. (i hate it when it we have to more or less fight them to pray) finally he prayed, but it just wasnt....you know.... what it needed to be... *shakes head* Anh Ca Chinh said that if an investigator wont even pray then odds are they will not progress. but have patience and maybe he will come around.We finally got an investigator to church on sunday too and the other sisters had like 4 investigators and the elders had 12. so many new people at church! our investigator...Co Cam. she was so good. she reads the bible she believes in Christ and so willing to meet us...but then on sunday at church there was an old man who came and shared his testimony. and in his testimony he said that no one here was rightous except for the americans and that this church was not true. I couldn't believe he said that! Of course all the members already knew that this certain old man was kinda crazy so none of them listened..but our investigator..our ONLY investigator at church listened to him!! *cry of frustration*...I dont understand how she would listen to only one man's false testimony and ignore the 7 or 8 other true testimonies (mine included) that was shared that this church is the ONLY true church on the face of the earth. *shakes head* I guess maybe she was only looking for something bad...but still why on that sunday did that only guy have to come! *shakes head* orz...satan....okay well i guess thats all the big news this week!I love you guys so much! i miss you all!

Love Sister Holloway

Stupid Blogger

2011-08-30T07:46:00.001+02:00

I have been trying for a couple of days to load pictures from our Luxembourg trip last week, but it won't let me for whatever stupid reason. So as soon as I get it figured out I will post about our trip and share our pictures.

So Much to Catch Up On!

2011-07-18T12:26:00.041+02:00

Be prepared to enjoy many pictures since I have about four weeks worth and lots to catch up on. Most of the pictures were taken by Kaitlyn, she's turning into a great photographer.

Several weeks ago we received a phone call from a family, the Johnson's, in our ward asking us if we would like to show them where a certain pond was that had turtles. So we got in the car a drove down the street to the African Museum in Tervuren. The complex itself is beautiful on the outside, we haven't yet been on the inside to see all the treasures there. But the outside is beautiful.

I'm sure that when it's up and running in all it's glory the outside is beautiful with all the fountains running and the lights lit. The Tervuren park is very extensive and is probably several kilometers long with a walking path all the way around it. It is also surrounded by woods.

We were able to find a ChiChi's Tex-Mex closer to our home in Waterloo, rather than having to travel all the way downtown in the middle of Brussels. Right outside of the restraunt is a "Pizza'a Box," the most bizzare thing I've ever seen in my life. There is NO ONE inside to make your pizza, it's available 24 hours a day and makes your pizza hot and ready to eat in 3 minutes! Don't know that I would ever be brave enough to try it though.

Happy 12th Birthday to Kaitlyn, July 14!! I can't believe my baby is 12 and will be moving from Primary to Young Women! She has been such a joy in our family. After several years of heartache, trials and sadness, we were blessed with this sweet girl. Three years before she was born we were told we would never have any more children, so we thanked Heavenly Father for the two daughters we had already and promised to be righteous in order to raise the two children He had already called home. I'm sure that Dave's Mom and Dad pleaded with Heavenly Father to bless us with another child, and He saw fit to bless us with our last one. We love her so much and have had to work hard at keeping her here with us.

Kaitlyn has been begging for a year or so to have her hair cut short, but Mommie thought that all little girls should have long hair. On her 12th birthday Mommie gave in and allowed her to get her hair cut into a more big girl style. Of course, Mommie cried to see that her baby truly isn't a baby any more!

Dave had to go TDY for the first time the weekend of Kaitlyn's birthday, so he was able to get it approved for Kaitlyn and Pam to go with him to The Hague in The Netherlands. It's only a 2 hour drive but we were authorized to rent a car and spend the night! What a great way to spend Kaitlyn's birthday weekend!

We stayed at the Carlton Beach hotel in Scheveningen, Holland, The Netherlands. The hotel sits right on the beach of the North Sea!! We arrived to blue skies and a slight cool breeze.

We were unable to check into our room for several hours, so while Dave went to his meeting, Kaitlyn and Pam walked the boardwalk and along the beach.

The beginning of the boardwalk!

It was so quiet and there was no one around until midafternoon, so we walked all along the beach and watched as the vendors and restraunts received their shipments for the day.

When Dave returned from his meeting we went to this Mexican restraunt for dinner. It was so yummy!!! All the restraunts had indoor and outdoor seating, we chose indoor because of all the birds flying around. It's quite common to have the seagulls join you for dinner any where you sit. We saw a couple walking along the boardwalk eating their french fries and there were seagulls RIGHT OVER their heads trying to swoop down to steal them some fries!! It was funny, glad it wasn't me!!

The air was pretty clear, or at least clear enough that you could see the ships out along the shipping lane. We were really surprised about how dirty the water looked, maybe just because it was low tide?

Each hotel has a "beach club" on the beach where you can get a drink, a beach bed, and a snack. This beach club had a cool "sand castle" right on it's floor! When renting a beach bed in the beach club beware that it is clothes optional! We were used to it because we saw topless sunbathers at the beaches in Italy while living there, so really no surprise to us. But Kaitlyn was still grossed out by the topless sunbather.

The Dutch love them McDonald's! It seems like where ever we turned we could see the Golden Arches. For lunch we found one along the beach and shared our meal with the pigeon. I know it's not very sanitary, but what do ya do?! I must say that European McDonald's is 100% better then American McDonald's!!

Here is a view of our hotel from the beach. Very unique design! Our accomidations included breakfast, so we enjoyed a wonderful breakfast on Saturday before we left to go home. We would have loved to stay another night, especially after the wonderful bed we slept in. Maybe next summer we will have to book a long weekend.

This Momma had to rest after spending several hours walking on the beach and boardwalk. We bought our usual souveniors, thimbles, magnets, spoons, and had to get some wooden shoes!!

Here is a view from our balcony on Friday! Doesn't it look so lovely?

Kaitlyn and Dave found this crab that washed up on shore on Saturday. They found some unique seashells for our growing collection. We totally forgot to bring a baggie for sand from the shore, maybe we will remember the next time.

We woke up Saturday morning to this....rain! It rained ALL day as we traveled back toward home.

I love the sound of the sea/ocean as the waves come into the shore. I have several CDs of the sounds of the waves, but nothing sounds better then the real thing in person!!

Going into and out of the resort town of Scheveningen where we stayed for the night, we passed UNDER several buildings!! It was the most bizzare thing I've ever seen! Here we are headed to the temple in Zeometeer.

There are so many bridges where ever you go in the area because so much of the land is surrounded by water! It's a good thing that the car we rented had a GPS because we would NEVER have found the places we wanted and needed to go!

Kaitlyn is now old enough to perform Baptisms for the Dead at the temple, but since she doesn't have her recommend yet we decided to just stop by so that she can see the temple where she will have her first experience in October.

It is a very small temple, but just as beautiful as all the others around the world.

Following a GPS may be good sometimes, but if you are trying to pay attention to the cars in front, behind and at the sides of you while still trying to follow the directions that the mechanical monster gives you, you and still end up lost in Rotterdam, The Netherlands!! We noticed a lot of sailboats on the rivers.

Okay, so when I think of The Netherlands, I picture big huge wooden traditional windmills....we couldn't find any!! Dave found this replica of one a few blocks from the temple, so this was as good as we got.

Do you see the spots hanging in midair from that building? Those are PEOPLE repelling!! CRAZY!!! Dave says he thinks that it's some kind of amusement park in Rotterdam.

Another of the many bridges we crossed.

This was weird. I sure hope that the floor of that building isn't seethrough!!

We were pretty shocked to see so many Muslims in the area and even saw this Mosque!

This is the only windmills we saw in The Netherlands and the only ones we see in Belgium!

We decided to meet up with some friends in Antwerp on our way home. We were not impressed at all with the city.

It was extremely crowded, the streets that we walked down were dirty. Maybe it was because it was raining and Pam was having a hard time walking and Kaitlyn was cold, but we were not impressed at all. So we took some pictures, bought a couple of souveniors....

The carvings in the cathedral was amazing.

visited with friends from our ward, the Nielsens and Rasmussens...

had drinks and then we headed home while the rest went and did more sightseeing. We had a most enjoyable weekend and call it our mini-vacation. We wish we could have stayed longer, but when you have a missionary, a college student, and trying to follow the Prophet's counsel to get out of debt we have to be moderate in all things including our vacations.

Here is Kaitlyn on her first day of Young Women's! She bought this dress while we were on vacation. She was so excited yet scared to be doing something new at church. She's very excited to go back next week and can't wait for September to get here when activities will begin again. All activities are suspended during the summer holiday because so many people leave on vacations, seems weird to us Americans, but that's the way they do things here in Europe.

Missionary Wednesday

2011-06-29T13:36:00.000+02:00

Good afternoon my awesomely awesome parents and awesomely awesome littlest sister!
Ack. no i'm still in the same branch as before. the new sisters wont come until the middle of Augest we found out. so we still have some time :p
Ack our branch has issues. sister sparks and i were trying to do some service for two memebers and the branch president basically told us not to help them because he didnt think they deserved our help. and he's denying one of them a temple recommend because he doesnt like the person. i dunno its a stupid personal reason. sister sparks and i are still going to help her because she is still a faithful member. (plus he cant really tell us who to serve and who not to serve :p)
wow 89 degrees! i would kill for that kind of temperature! i think lately the temp has been about the same here.... a steady 7 billion degrees F. :) it's nice though ^__^
We have just about lost all of our investigators again. >__< We think the Jehovah's Witnesses have been around our area and they told Co Bay some bad things about us. (Its funny we never actually SEE the jehovah's witnesses, but we know they are out there. *cough*satan in disgues *cough*) So Co Bay has been avoiding us. we are thinking we might have to drop her. :(
Chi Lieu and Anh Hu'o'ng have disappeared off the face of the earth. at least through them we were able to meet Em Buoi, Em Phuc and Em Thien...the three cutest most awesome kids on the entire planet!! (none of them are related they just live in the same neighborhood)
Em Buoi is 13 years old. She's studied about Christ before. her faith is so strong and she is so knowlegeable. she loves reading the book of mormon and as soon as she goes to church for 8 times she can be baptised! ^_^
Em Phuc is 11 years old. He loves singing the hymns! We talked to his grandmother yesterday and she agreed to meet with us at 5pm today. hopefully she will start learning with em phuc to and she can be baptised as well.
Em Thien is about 11 or 12 i think. He talks really loud and he loves reading too. He's more of a challenge to teach because he gets bored and interupts alot.
Because of these 3 kids we have made our lessons more fun and more interactive. and literally if i could i would shove them all into my suitcase and take them home with me. ^_^ no joke. that's how weird i've become on my mission. I worry so much after sister sparks and i leave who will be there for them you know? *headdesk* ack..i cant think about that it makes me soooo sad!
the other day when we were teaching them, sister sparks was testifying. Em phuc started to get really really close to her and all of a sudden he wacked her on the forehead. Sister sparks was a little taken back and i couldnt stop laughing. Em Phuc was like "moi" which means 'mosquito' and he wiped it from her face. XDD it was seriously the funniest think i have seen on my mission! Co Nu'o'ng's progress has been amazing too. she participates when we teach her kids Em My Lam and Em Kim Anh. her knowlege is growing so much and she smiles so much more too.
As for using my art talent...orz i try but i dont have much time to draw these days. we've been using the pictures for like sunday school and primary though. usually when i do draw its for other missionaries to like cheer them up and stuff. but there really aren't any sidewalks here in Cambodia to draw on...its like italy where everything is right on the street. and the few sidewalks they do have are in front of government buildings...and i dunno if they would appreciate Joseph Smith's face on their front step. XD ahaha
yeah wendy told me about the mis-hap...goodness gracious. *shakes head* what are we going to do about them? :) I'm sure wendy is taking good care of them though.
Well i should go now. Another week down. one more to go :)
Love
Sister Holloway

PS
I got your package last week!! thank you soooo much! i love the cds! i play them everyday!!
also the dresses were a bit...large for me..so i'll have a sister in our branch tailor them..no problem
Thank you again!! I can't belive i almost forgot to tell you!

Missionary Wednesday

2011-06-22T10:46:00.003+02:00

Good Afternoon Mommy Daddy and Kaity!

Whoo, today we are all so exhasted already...and its only 1215! we hurried up and did our grocery shopping this morning so that we could go to the Russian Market. :) We went to KFC after for lunch.

This week was good. Co Nu'o'ng was confirmed on sunday! now we are teaching her 3 daughters. 2 of which are old enough to be baptised, but her younger granddaughter (who is so stinkin cute!) has to wait til she's 8...she's only 3 or so right now. :) It's been amazing to see the changes in Co Nu'o'ng these past few months. She's more loving toward her children, her understanding is growing, and she smiles so much now! When Chi Thuy and I started teaching her in March/April she hardly smiled and was so sad...but now she's smiling and laughing alot.

The lesson yesterday with Em Kim Anh and Em My Lam (Co Nu'o'ng's daughters) we came up with an awesome object lesson. We gave everyone an oreo and explained that an Oreo has three parts: 2 cookies and a cream filling. the two cookies represent Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ because they have bodies. the cream filling is the Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost doesnt have a body so he can be inside of us. :) it was super creative i think. and at least we got oreos after the lesson :P

Chi Lieu and Em Bui and Em Phuc all have a baptismal date now! Chi Lieu, and Em Phuc will be baptised the end of july. Em Bui has to wait until she goes to church 8 times in a row because she's under 18 and we arent teaching her parents. we also have to ask her parents for permission to teach/baptise her. We pray that her mom's heart will be softened so that she can at least learn with us still.

Yesterday at district meeting Anh Ca Hung complimented me on how well my vietnamese is progressing....ack! *blush* its nothing really... moving on..

Friday was kind of a hard day. I suddenly started feeling anxious and worried about nothing! I havent had that problem since i've been here, then suddenly it just came up again! However i tried to focus my thoughts on other things and it went away when we met with Chi Hu'o'ng and we shared a scripture and tesified to her.

Monday we went and visited a member Chi Linh. You know those kind of members that are really good, but they kind of have thier hands in everything going on in the ward? yeah she's one of those. and she spend 1 1/2 hr talking about all the dirty secrets in our branch. awesome. well i've already faced the fact that branch 10 will never be my home ward in utah, so i just cant let what she says about other people bother me.

In my personal studies in the morning, i finished the book of mormon already and now i'm going through and reading all the footnotes. its been like 1 week and i'm still in 1 Nephi 2. :) It's been pretty fun doing that. i spent the whole 30 mins sometimes on one verse. ^-^

On sunday we didnt have any investigators at church. we were kinda bummed, but these past few days we've been trying to use the Book of Mormon to resolve thier concerns...which is kinda difficult sometimes. Like yesterday with Co Bay, she was worried because she didnt want to throw away her parents (give up being Buddist basically) so we shared about how families are so important in God's plan and how we can live forever with them if we live rightously. She went from wanting to be met every day to only 2 times a week...thats not a good sign. but who knows maybe she will change?

As of yesterday i havent gotten your package yet. we are going to the mission home again today, hopefully its there! I'm so excited for it!!

Wow i almost forgot Kaitlyn will be 12 next month! holy cow! so old already! :P

Sometimes i wake up and i still cant believe i'm actually in Cambodia...living away from my family...and surviving! its amazing the things you can do with the Lord's help! The other night at dinner the other sisters were talking about thier older brothers and how when they got home from thier missions they cried so much. I know i cry inside sometimes because i know my time here is almost over. *sigh* also i wonder what it will be like having a native companion. they actually wont come unil the middle of Aug now. dang. but until then i'm working as hard as i can on the language so i wont struggle as much when they get here. (of course it will still be a struggle, i just hope i'm strong enough to handle it.) :)

okay well it think that's enough rambling for this week. all in all i'm doing great. I'm loving the person i'm becoming and none of this would be happening if you and dad hadn't talked me into it ;) i love my Savior Jesus Christ very much. I know he lives and he loves all of us. I know the Atonement is real and through that sacrifice we can be healed from our mistakes, sorrows, and disappointments. I love you all very much! and I will continue to kien tri den cung! (endure to the end!)

Love
Sister Holloway

missionary update

2011-05-18T06:53:00.003+02:00

cam o'n rat nhieu cho tat ca dieu ma cha va me da giup da con vo'i. con co thay thay ma Cha Thien Thu'o'ng da ban phu'o'c gia dinh cua con rat nhieu! Con rat cam o'n Ngay moi ngay cho co hoi de chia se Phuc Am cua Chua Gie Su Ky To moi ngay. Mat du ho khong muon nghe doi khi, con biet ma Giao Hoi cac Thanh Hu'u Ngay Sau cua Chua Gie Su Ky To co le that, va Sach Mac Mon that su la cac lo'i cua 'Thu'o'ng De.

okay that whole think will not make sense if you put it into a translator so i'll just tell you what i said
thank you very much for all the things you and mom helped me with. i can see that Heavenly Father has blessed my family so much! I thank Him for the oppurtunity i have to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ every day. Although they dont listen sometimes, I know that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is true, and the Book of Mormon is the words of God.

Aimee is doing very well!! The first couple of paragraphs are excerpts from her latest email to her Daddy. She is an amazing woman!! We are so very proud of her, miss her tons, and love her so much!!

Today is our Wendy girl's 21st birthday!! I can't believe it!! It seems like just yesterday that we were holding in our arms for the very first time! She is an amazing woman! She has been such a great help to our family! She had to learn to be responsible at a very young age due to my health and she has never once showed any resentment toward us or our situations. Now she lives so far away from us with her Grandparents. She works and attends University. We miss her so much! We really didn't realize how much she does for our family until she left in November, but it's okay. She had to leave the nest sometime. She has so much love and patience to share with others. She is studying to be a kindergarten teacher, she loves children! She has been a great friend to those around her, she's helpful, caring, loving, understanding, and full of life. She is always happy and always smiling! She brings sunshine to the lives of everyone she touches.

We love you Wendy!! Hope you have an AWESOME day!!

Missionary Update and Happy Mother's Day

2011-05-09T12:26:00.002+02:00

Happy Mother's Day to all the mothers and mothers yet to be!!

What a great day it was for us!! We had the two of the three sets of missionaries over for dinner and let them all call their Mommies! It was great to hear these young men and women talk to their families. Made me want to talk to my missionary, but I had to wait one more day.

Monday morning began for Dave at 3am! He couldn't sleep so he came downstairs to flip through movies and catch up on the world news. Five am arrived and our Skype began ringing....it was our Aimee girl!!! He came upstairs to wake me and Kaitlyn while Aimee bought more time for her phone call. It was so great to hear her voice!! She sounds so happy and so excited about being in Cambodia. She has been learning a lot about the culture, people and a simpler way of life! She has also been teaching these beautiful people the Gospel of Jesus Christ!! She has grown to love rice and fish since arriving in country. As with any other mission, they are going through a dry-spell right now. They have had a few baptisms since January and those members are doing great. The sisters of the church in Cambodia are faithful and try to do their best, the brothern are slow in converting. She has had a few experiences with mice, cockroaches and monkeys. Our germaphobic daughter is learning that the things of nature aren't going to kill her and give her diseases just by existing. ;0) She rides a bicycle everywhere she goes and thank goodness hasn't had any accidents except maybe a hip bump or two by the "crazy" drivers. Two of the sisters with her are from Utah and one is from Hanoi, Vietnam. There are several senior couples called to serve in the mission as well and Aimee has had to do quite a bit of translation for them. She is slowly becoming more proficient in the language and I'm sure the more she practices the better she will be and by the time she is ready to come home she will be very good. I can't wait to hear her bare her testimony in Vietnamese!! The American missionaries are unable at this time to get Visas to travel to Vietnam so their teaching pool and area is quite small (consisting of a small area in the capital city of Phnom Phen). The Church is so very new to the people that the Elders are teaching the Branch President how to give priesthood blessings and perform baptisms. An amazing experience for all of them.

The Church has relaxed the dress code for the sisters since Aimee entered the MTC. When she entered the dress code was more business attire and now they are encouraged to wear brighter colors but still stay modest. They have been trying to find some modest clothing at the street markets that would fit American women, but have had no luck, so we have to send her some new dresses in the next month or so. We try to send a box to her every three months or so with different things that she might enjoy, she was extremely happy to get the Crystal Light mixes that we sent to her for her birthday and Christmas. So I guess we will be sending her some more. I can't believe how happy she is!!

She has asked us if we will be able to meet her in Cambodia a few days before she is sent home next year, but we had to tell her no. :0( But we will meet her in Utah when she arrives there!! ;0) We are planning to be on vacation when she comes home. We are sad that we weren't there when she was set apart for her mission so we WILL be there when she is released!!

Missionary Update

2011-04-28T09:42:00.007+02:00

Thank you everyone for your support, kind words and understand for our decision.

Aimee is doing very well. She had two baptisms last week and both sisters were confirmed members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints!

Aimee was able to send some pictures this week, so I thought I would share them with everyone.

We haven't been doing much of anything this past week. Easter weekend was spent with our little family, watching the Harry Potter movies, cleaning, feeding the missionaries, grocery shopping, and soaking up the sunshine.

We've enjoyed the sunshine for the past couple of weeks, but now the cloudy skies and rain are back. I suppose it could be much worse. After watching some of the news clips on the internet and have seen some of the devistation caused by the severe weather in the US. We continue to pray for the people who have been affected by the weather.

Missionary Wednesday?!

2011-04-21T13:00:00.002+02:00

Well, I've been trying to figure out how to write this and be "politically correct," but I don't think I can so I'm just gonna write it and let the chips fall where they may.

I will no longer be forwarding Aimee's emails to everyone that requested or that she requested for them to be sent. My reason is simply to help her be more focused on what she is suppose to be doing...serving the Vietnamese people, the Lord, and share the Gospel of Jesus Christ with those who are ready to hear the word. When I have forwarded the emails to everyone, she has gotten a few replies that are not encouraging. Quite frankly, they are judgemental, harsh, critical and sometimes down right mean to her. I won't stand for it any longer!! I realize that she is going to come up against critisism and harsh times, but she shouldn't be hearing it from people who have professed to be her friends and family. I will, however, post updates here on our blog, but not post her emails.

Being on a mission is tough, hard, and challenging. You hear all kinds of things from non-believers, doors slammed in your face, told you are going to Hell, and sometimes even spit at. Sometimes you don't get along with your companion, you might argue with the other missionaries, there are different personalities place in very small places. Every missionary that has ever served or will ever serve can say that they have had the perfect companion EVERY time or gotten along with EVERY companion/missionary that they have encountered...if they profess that they are lying. Not even married people get along ALL of the time, there are going to be differing opinions!

So with that all being said, I'm sorry that it has had to come to this, but something HAD to be said about it.

On a good note. Aimee is doing well, she has been training a new sister the past couple of weeks, had a couple of baptisms, planned a wedding, and become a senior companion. She is loving her mission because she has met wonderful people who do the best they can with what they have, seen some beautiful things, taught the Gospel of Jesus Christ to those who are ready to hear, had a few disappointments, grown tramendously, and has had her testimony strengthened.

It's hard to believe that she is 1/3 of the way done with her mission, just one more year!!! We are so proud of her! She is a great example to her family, especially her sisters. We love her and miss her greatly!!!

Missionary Wednseday!!!

2011-04-13T18:23:00.000+02:00

Whew i'm glad we didnt decide to go email first thing this morning then cuz i would have missed your email! that would have been sad! okay so this week has been pretty awesome. I think this week i'll tell you about some of our investigators Bac Ut was baptised on sunday...except she has to be baptised again because the elders did it with thier left hand and they didnt think it mattered but i double checked and surprise! it does matter! who would have thought? *eye roll* oi cac anh ca.... so anyway we had to go back and explain why she had to be baptised again, luckily shes got alot of faith and she wasnt like 'well this church isnt true. see ya.' Chi Hu'o'ng is doing well. she is being baptised for the first time on sunday! yay! we were going to visit her on monday, but she called and cancelled. the only thing i could understand (because she speaks in the northern vietnamese accent its so difficult for me to understand) was that she couldnt meet monday but tuesday she could. so we went back yesterday and she was sad. she said something about her baby and being sick. Sister sparks was like "i think she is sick like morning sickness kinda" i was like "no i think its something else..." so in my super simple vietnamese i asked "Chi Hu'o'ng da co bao phai khong? Nhu'ng bay gio khong co bao phai khong?" (You were pregnent, but right now you're not right?) She nodded then suddenly I understood that she had a miscarrage and that was what she was trying to tell me over the phone on Monday, but i hadnt understood. Sister sparks and i were so sad for her, i felt especially bad because i had no idea. we tried our best to comfort her and we retaught the plan of salvation. I think that was the most spiritual lesson we have had because all we could do was share our pure testimony about Christ comforting us in our trials and the Plan of Salvation. We both agree though that Chi Hu'o'ng will make it though because she understands the gospel alot more than others. and she wasnt angry at all toward God like some people would be. President Smedley said one time that the investigators who go through trials of faith while they are learning are the ones who grow the strongest. So if she overcomes this trial correctly, she can be so strong still. :) Em Nhung is such a cute girl. shes 14 and her father was a member but he died along time ago. Em Nhung lives with her aunt, Chi Lang, and they sew shirts all day long (anywhere between 60 and 80 shirts a day) She hasnt come to church because the sewing takes up so much time, but she promised that after the Khamae new year she would have more time to go. I hope she does because she is so sweet and the Gospel would help her so much in her life. Chi Thu works in a tailor shop (I think Anh Kiet, and maybe Chi Hu'o'ng, knew her because she has one of those pictures with Anh Kiet's name and address on it on her desk, and a bunch of other old elders too) She is such a cute lady! She is so smart and she always asks us questions! She says she feels so happy when we visit her and she's always so excited to learn with us! We decided we would make her more of a priority, even if she claims she cant go to church because who would watch her tailor shop? :) we will just have to work on building her faith that if she goes to church she wont need to worry about that. All in all the work is going good. :) I think the biggest learning experience for this transfer has been and is about the Atonement. I know how they say He will take our burdens and make them light, I never really understood that until now. Truely understood.Like I know i should feel overwhelmed by the responsibilities of being a trainer, senior companion and for all the souls Heavenly Father has entrusted us with at this time, but i dont feel the burden, as long as i'm keeping positive and opptimistic. The moment i begin to doubt or feel afraid is when everything like weighs down again. So everyday i try and stay as postive as possible. Also i just realized that on this day 7 months ago is when i entered the MTC! Holy cow! i've been on my mission 7 months already! Its crazy! :D but so much fun! I love it! This morning during personal study i read Alma 42 when he is talking to his son corianton about the plan of salvation and the fall and the whole justice and mercy thing. I finally understand how it works! (hurray for line upon line precept upon precept!) Mercy is for those who repent and truely follow Jesus Christ. Justice is for those who have not repented and do not follow, they become subject to the punishment because they did not obey the laws. okay that short explination did not do my discovery justice, i appologize. :) Okay well i'm sure i've taken up so much time already. I love you all and i miss you all so much! *loveslovesloves* Sister Holloway Chi ca Tam ^_^ v

Missionary Wednesday

2011-04-06T08:48:00.000+02:00

This awesome email is being typed just for you by: Sister Holloway, the awesome wedding planner :P So this week has just flown right on by! I cant believe its April already and so many things have happened this week i dunno where to begin...@_@ okay so lets start off with the new companion sister sparks. she's so good, so much more outgoing than i am really, and i'm so impressed with her vietnamese! ^-^ Chi ca ay gio'i qua!! Together we are doing the best we can every day. :) Sunday was really awesome, Bac Ut got baptised! finally! after 3 long months! but it was all worth it. She's such a sweet old lady, all through the teaching process she kept saying "I wouldnt invite you here if i didnt believe it!" :) haha she's funny. Monday we had a wedding schedualed for one of our investigators, Chi Hu'o'ng. We prayed extra hard that she would come, her husband would come, that the elders could make it so they could witness ect...but the one thing we didn't pray for that we probably should have, was that the branch president would remember and come prepared!! *headdesk* luckily we got it reschedualed for tuesday evening and everything worked out. :3 she should be ready to be baptised by the 17th of this month! yay! ^-^ One thing that the mission president is having us do is to read the book of mormon and mark refrences to Christ, his attributes (Christ's not the mission presidents XD), principles of the gospel and other things. My book of mormon is so colorful now! man, i never really realized how much awesome things are there in the book of mormon. I've been trying to apply the things i learn there from like Alma and Amulek and Ammon. especially Ammon because Ammon was such a joyful guy it seems like. :D Ah! I saw the pics you sent! thank you so much! i cant believe how grown up Kaitlyn looks! daaaaang! TT___TT orz i miss you kaity! Ack! wait, you all are moving?! I'm thinking New Mexico...if you are then i totally called it when you said you had a prompting to learn spanish!...oh speaking of how is the spanish going?? and does this mean you'll be at the airport when i get home?...oh yeah i've been meaning to ask, what are the odds you and daddy will come visit me right before I end my mission? :P Yeah being extra friendly really helps on a mission, even if its just smiling at everyone as you bike past them. ^-^ Man the language is going so good now, sometimes i'll be talking or listening and suddenly i'll think "Man, i know vietnamese! yay!"....and then i'm instantly humbled. XD hahaha oh well. Ack, faith promoting stories....ummm lets see i know i have some, i just cant think of any right now. *fail* this my friends is why we keep a journal.... hmmm...well i guess the biggest faith building thing right now is that the Lord truely doesnt give us anything we cant handle. and even when the trails seem tough, through the Atonement we can feel our burdens become light. like seriously, i dont think i've felt the heavy burden of training, but i know thats only because of Jesus Christ. Seriously, if it wasnt for him i wouldn't be able to function here i dont thing. and every day we must always try a little harder to do a little bit more better...(sorry vietnamese grammar there i think) Well i'm glad everyone is doing well! and i will pray that things get taken care of quickly! I love you all so much! Love Sister Holloway, Chi ca Tam

SHOWTIME 2011

2011-04-02T10:25:00.015+02:00

Sleeping Beauty

Brussels American School

Brussels, Belgium

1 April 2011

Kaitlyn the night before her debut performance!

Hair and Make-up. This girl has the longest eyelashes I have ever seen in my life! Even longer then Wendy's!!

Okay, so I know it's weird to have pictures of the bathroom but it was too good to pass up! The restrooms in the main hall of the school were taken from typical drab school bathroom to the chic upscale restroom of a typical Opera House! They even smelled snooty! ;0)

Please enjoy some of the pictures of this cute play that some of the elementary students put on for one night only.

Mrs. Allen welcoming everyone to this "theater in the round" production of SLEEPING BEAUTY.

We were reminded to turn off our cellphones, pagers and other devices by the "Wizard from DownUnder."

Megan and Kaitlyn as part of the "Royal Court"

Flower Fairies

"Morgana" and her "Ghouls"

"Aurora" pricked her finger and fell down dead

"Prince Ferdindad" and "Princess Aurora"

The cast

Mrs. Allen with some of the girls

This experience has been great for Kaitlyn. She has shown wonderful talent with her natural ability to be a drama queen. She has made friends and had a wonderful time! A great memory for our time in Brussels, Belgium and at BAS.

Brandon

2011-03-31T22:00:00.004+02:00

I carried you under my heart for a very short 18 weeks. I felt you move like the flutter of butterfly wings deep in my womb. I looked forward to the day when I would hold you in my arms and welcome you to our family. You had two loving big sisters that were so excited to have a little brother to take care of and a Daddy that was looking forward to teaching you the steps of a Scout. We all looked forward to your first smile, your first tooth, your first step, and your first day of school. We had plans of teaching you the Gospel of Jesus Christ so that maybe you would want to go out into the world and share it with others. We were so heartbroken and sad when Heavenly Father called you home so soon. All our dreams seemed to be dashed in a matter of seconds. Even now, 19 years later, the tears come to my eyes as I think of all those dreams gone in a heartbeat. But thank goodness for the Gospel and the Plan of Happiness!! I know where you are, what you are doing, and who you are serving with. I miss you my sweet baby boy who looks so much like your Daddy, I look forward to the day when I will be able to hold you in my arms. I pray that I will be able to live a life that you and your sisters are proud of, that you all will be happy to call me Momma. I love you my sweet boy!

MISSIONARY WEDNESDAY

2011-03-30T11:57:00.000+02:00

Dear Mommy, Daddy, Kaity, and everyone else ^-^ Sounds like you all are having so much fun! thats a good sign! Man i miss BBQs so much! when i get back i want to have a HUGE BBQ! hmmm with Potato Salad! ^-^ I cant wait to see the pics of Kaity's play! that sounds so much fun! Wow yeah general confrence. we see it a week late actually..but its going to be good cuz we watch it in english together with the elders. So some crazy things have happened this week. first off we got an AWESOME referral! her name is Co Le and her 16 year old daughter Em Kieu. They are sooo cute! Co Le was saying how since she's been here in Cambodia she hasn't been able to find a church or anything to go to. and shes been praying (she was christian before) praying for someone to help her find the truth the very next day she met Co Thuy who lives right near her. Co Thuy is such a good member and Co Thuy referred her to us. Co Le was crying in the first lesson out of joy...i think...i hope... ^-^' anyway she is so good! Bac Ut is getting baptised on sunday! her interview is on friday and she is so nervous! its kinda funny...she wrote all the 10 commandments down in Khamae so she could memorize them. we tried to explain to her that she doesnt need to memorize them, just follow them. Training has been good i guess. sister harlen is still here until friday so shes been helping alot. i dunno if its a good or bad thing. i dunno these past few days i've felt really ....bac boi...orz sorry i mean kinda like i dunno uneasy and sad alot. Sister vo has come back into the viet program and so shes training sister bales while i'm training sister sparks. they both are so good and so cute and sweet. dang they know more viet than i did when i came here...oh well. :) i dunno why but i always feel irritated and annoyed when sister vo is around, probably because her personality is so aggressive it rubs me the wrong way you know? but its only for 6 weeks. sometimes i feel like we are all competing for each other's attention now, but i dont like to do that. i still feel like if they wanted to talk to me they would...i dunno..sorry i'm just rambling i guess about things that dont really matter. the other day i had a dream that i came home from my mission and everyone was so shocked to see me...i didnt know why. i think since then is when i started feeling sad alot. ugh i hate having dreams about coming home, now this year is going to seem so long. oh well. whatever. um lets see on the plus side i've noticed i'm understand ALOT more than i did a week ago! Hurray for the Gift of Tongues! some of the members were saying about how when sister harlen leaves we will be in trouble because i dont speak clearly yet or understand alot yet...i was like..um i understand you now..XD they dont mean anything by it, its just funny when suddenly i can understand when they say that i dont understand or speak well yet :P AAAHH! the other day we had an awesome service opportunity! Chi Hue was moving her house when we randomly stopped by, so we decided to help her. and in her little tiny tiny house she had an entertainment center, just a medium sized simple one, and we moved it out of the corner and all these mice came running out! every single one of us screamed and we were like standing in the middle of the room while these mice where running beside the wall trying to find a place to hide! it was so funny! oh crap! Thank you so much for the package! man i loved it so much! ^-^ the scarff is really good too for when i'm studying and the temp gets down to 75F and i'm freezing! XD ahahaha yeah isnt that crazy! im so use to hot weather i freeze at night! i had to buy a blanket to keep me warm at night! :3 Well i guess now there isnt much to say. except thank you and i love you all and i miss you all so much!!! *big hugs and kisses* Sister Holloway

Finally Finished!

2011-03-22T15:20:00.004+01:00

I finally finished Zoe Kay's blessing gown and booties!

Zoe is the daughter of Dave's niece, Virginia.

We are so excited to have this little bundle in our extended family!

I haven't seen her yet, but the pictures of her show that she is adorable!

I'm sure the pictures don't do her justice!!

This will be put in the mail this week.

And aren't these matching booties just the sweetest thing?

I sure hope that baby Zoe will still be small enough for this blessing gown this summer.

MISSIONARY WEDNESDAY!!!

2011-03-16T07:42:00.010+01:00

Wow! I can't believe it, Aimee has been gone for five months now! She is AMAZING!! We love her so much and are so very happy that she is finding joy and happiness in serving the Lord on this amazing mission! We are so grateful to the Lord for all the blessings that he has poured out upon us as family and friends have given support in helping her serve Him! Thank you so much to everyone!! We love you all very much!!

Hello mommy and daddy and kaity! Happy Birthday Mommy and Grandma and Grandma C! And Grandpa and Daddy!

its okay, instead of a letter last week i got pictures so it made me happy! ^-^ Yay! i'm glad Kaity is doing better in school! you know theres a girl here who reminds me so much of Kaitlyn, it makes me sad sometimes.. I missah you Kaity!! *hugs*

yeah last week was kinda weird. but um i think you misunderstood what a mission tour is. we ourselves arent leaving the area, its Elder Watson who is touring the mission not us :P oh well. our musical number rocked though!...spiritually speaking of course, nothing like 9 elders and 2 sisters with no musical talent to brighten everyones day ;) Elder watsons talks were so good, he talked alot about having the Holy Ghost with us all the time especially when teaching. Sister Watson and Sister Smedely came with sister harlen and i to teach an investigator. it was so nerve wracking, but i was able to translate for them! yay!

okay i'm sending some pictures...finally!

pic#1 the elders i was with in the MTC

Pic#2 a random sign here in cambodia (send that one to wendy please, she'll understand why its so awesome XD)
Pic3 Anh Tai, 'he's actually in branch 6 but he comes to branch 3 sometimes, he's always saying he will stowaway on a boat to get to a country with a temple. hes deaf and mute and very awesome ^-^
Pic4 Sister Harlen and I this morning before we left the house. ^-^
Pic #5 Chi Nhanh 10~branch 10!
pic#6 Monkies eating the food from an alter across the street.

okay i hope youre able to view those, i'll try to send more next time!

So For grandma's birthday last week, sister harlen and i met a guy from new zealand named charlie. (maybe i told you about him before i dunno) but hes ex girlfriend is vietnamese and we were teaching her the first lesson when he wandered in and sat down. we finished the lesson in vietnamese then we figured since we were there we would ask him if he read the pamphet we gave him ect. and well the conversation turned into him telling us that we did not know these things, we only believed them. sister harlen did an awesome job of testifying, but every time she said "i know..." he would interupt and say 'you dont know, you believe, strongly" so then i pulled out (thank heavens for my english scriptures) 3 Nephi 11, and i read the verse where Jesus Christ appears. and I said 'because of these few verses, I KNOW Jesus Christ lives. I KNOW He is our Redeemer."He tried to interupt, like he opened his mouth but then he didnt say anything and i continued. "We KNOW these things are true."
He kept saying he had an open mind about religion, but i'm pretty sure he was one of the most close-minded people i have ever met. Anyway he ended up just saying that he doesnt believe Jesus Christ is the Messiah and he doesnt care about what happens after he dies. What a sad sad man. well at anyrate that experience alone has strengthened my testimony so much. (at the end of the day i wrote in my journal 'ha ha satan you didnt bring me down that time!')
Ah! Chi Hu'o'ng we commited to baptism! she is so good! she understands and she keeps her commitments! I'll get a picture with her next time we meet her and send it to you!
okay well i think thats about it for this week. we have been really busy with our investigators. its amazing though, we stopped meeting ones who werént ready, then all of a sudden we got more good people! Heavenly Father truely knows which ones of His children are ready. and I know, even though my language isnt fluent yet, even if i mess up, the people who are ready for the gospel wont be detiered by my mistakes. even if thats true i'm still doing my best every day. I decided i wanted to be like Ammon at the end of his mission, where he rejoices in all that the Lord blessed him with. He realized the Lord gave him and his companions success, even through the hard times, but at the end he was so happy. I want to be like that. ^_^ so i just try my best every day that way 1 year from now i can look back with a rejoicing heart and a greatful soul for all that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ helped me with!

okay well i'm going to read other emails now!
I love you all!
Sister Holloway

Second Email for March 16, 2011

man sorry i should have read this email first before the other one! *epic fail*
okay well i had no idea about the earthquakes or anything...maybe thats why i havent slept well this week? i dunno...but of course i will pray for them too!
Jeeze! an apperantly for yours and kaitys safty as well! well i'm glad that you all are okay though, take it easy though.

tell daddy good luck!..or i'll just tell him when i read his email after this...
and i'm sure you'll be a fine RS teacher, man speaking of service, sister harlen and i got a load of service opportunities this week. helping Em Lu'o'ng wash her clothes, then another member Em Danh came and saw us and she started helping too! I really want the members to learn to serve each other!!
but anyway i know you'll do fine! remember that if you search and study the scriptures then the Spirit will put into your mind the things you need to say. Just use the scriptures! thats what they always tell us, always use the Book of Mormon! :)
I'll start training the new sisters the 24th i think is when they get here. i'm so nervous but so excited. Sister Harlen was telling me what a great experince it will be and how much i will change and become a leader from it. :) man i hope so.

okay well i'm going to read the other emails now!
Love you all! be careful!!
Sister Holloway

Sometimes she just blows me away with her testimony! I'm so thankful for her and the example she is to me and to our family!

GRAVITY IS OUR ENEMY!!

2011-03-13T20:39:00.013+01:00

Okay, there are lots of pictures this week! This past week has been a trial, but we made it though without too many breakdowns.

First of all, the dresses that I finished and sent to friends that had babies the last few months (I stole their pictures from their moms' Facebook pages).

Here is little Miss Makena Ardis in pink! Isn't she adorable?! I think the pink looks gorgeous on her, especially with her complexion!

And here is little Miss Avalina Wadsworth in her blue ensamble! Her Mommy said that she kept kicking off the booties. ;0) She's a darling!!

Kaitlyn is going to be in a play, Sleeping Beauty!! She is a member of the "Royal Court" and has a few lines. They have been practicing for many weeks and they have a couple more weeks before SHOWTIME!! Showtime will be on April 1, 2011. She has been so excited about this new challenge and has made many friends. The Drama Club is for third through sixth graders at the elementary school. She so desperately wanted to do something because her sisters aren't here and she wants to try her talents at different things. I don't know that we will do it next year, but it certainly has been an experience! An experience that she will treasure for her whole life I think. It seems like this has gone on forever and we will all be glad when it's over.

Kaitlyn is the third from the right on the back row standing holding a stuffed kitty.

Last week really was a bad week for us as far as gravity was concerned!

Wednesday as I was trying to get the dishes loaded into the dishwasher I noticed a sticky spot on the floor, so I got a rag and cleaned it up. I thought the floor had dried enough for me to walk on it, but I was wrong! My right foot went one direction, my left foot the other and the rest of me fell onto the open dishwasher door!! I am finding bruises just about every where, the only one I could get a picture of was the one on my left arm.

This bruise is four days old and is shaped like the plate that was standing in the dishwasher!

As I sat on the floor to catch my breath and try to move to a better sitting position, Kaitlyn came in to see what happened. It was all I could do not to cry in front of her, because she was already crying and scared because I was trying to breath normally and having a hard time of it. She turned brave, finished loading the dishwasher, tried to call her daddy at work, brought her homework into the kitchen to sit with me until daddy got home from work. Once I was able to calm myself and get up off the floor, I started dinner. While I was fixing dinner I heard the garage door open and Dave coming up the stairs, as he reached the top of the stairs and opened the door I hear a scream and crying!! My hands covered in flour and walking gingerly into the living room, Kaitlyn is in tears again!!

Kaitlyn ran through the living room, tripped and ended up spraining her foot!! We were afraid she may have broken it, but it turned out to be just a sprain. We were finally able to get her to see the doctor on Friday, x-rays were taken, half-cast put on, crutches and rest prescribed. She did pretty good over the weekend, keeping her foot up and icing it. Monday morning came around and she had to once again return to school. She is so afraid she is gonna get trampled by the kids at school, but I'm sure she will be fine and things will go great. As far as the play is concerned, she will continue and won't be on the crutches come show time.

Since I spent Thursday resting from my fall I was able to start a cross stitch project (January Snowman)...

finish a cross stitch project (January Doorway), and worked on my crocheting.

Sunday came and boy were we glad for the day of recharging our Spiritual batteries!! I had to teach Relief Society to ALL the sisters (French and English speaking). I was extremely nervous and afraid that I might offend someone (because we all know that I am good at that)! But thanks to Beth Passey who took me aside in the hall gave me a great pep talk and prayed with me to have confidence in the things that we talked about and what the Lord had planned for me to teach, Service! I made it through the lesson, with a few emotional tears. Beth teaches the Gospel Doctrine class for the English speaking members and that too was a little emotional for me. Sacrament meeting was on temples. Oh, how I love the Temples!!!

After church we came home and Dave cooked the meat for our final dinner with our current missionaries! Dave is the Ward Mission Leader and so we feed the missionaries assigned to our ward twice a month so that they can also have a correlation meeting. Well, five of these six missionaries are being transferred to other areas in the mission.

From left to right we have Elders Garcia, Bjerga, Dykstra, Canonica, Sisters Thompson and Jorgensen. These missionaries are so good! They have sacrificed 18-months (for the sisters) and 24-months (for the elders) of their lives, putting off educations, careers, and relationships to serve the Lord. They have dedicated this time to teach those people who are seeking the true Gospel of Jesus Christ! Their families are sacrificing as well, and we salute them all. We understand those sacrifices they are making because we are making those same sacrifices while our missionary is out. We wish all those that are being transferred great success and pray for them continually. WE LOVE OUR MISSIONARIES!!!

Missionary Update

2011-03-10T06:58:00.003+01:00

At the end of her letter she wrote something in Vietnamese, but I have no idea what it says.

Hello mommy!

so we get to email today because tomorrow (on our pday) we are having a mission tour.
elder watson from the 70 is coming to speak to us. and all of us vietnamese missionaries have to give the musical number! @_@ yikes!

so this week sister harlen and i were able to make our goal of 20 lessons with a member present and 15 lessons to recent converts and less actives! yay! ^^ and remember the crazy lady i told you about? co Va? the one that tried to kill her husband? well she gave us a really awesome referral! like her of all people..who would have thought! XD the referral her name is chi hu'o'ng. her and her husband ahn chung just moved here from vietnam. shes pregnant and just moved into the building next to co va. shes so nice and so pretty! ^-^ and she understands alot! she even has that light about her you know?

sister harlen had to spend some time in the mission home for training meeting, so sister vo came back from the cambodian program to serve with me. we have made some changes in the vietnamese program so i decided to take charge. and you know i was really comfortable making the plans and setting the goals and things that i will have to be doing when i train at the end of the month. im sure sister vo was all upset though that i took charge, but whatever. :)

thank you so much for sending me pictures! i know i was going to print some of mine to send to you this week, but we didnt know our pday was going to be today and we've already made appointments and time is really short today! orz the life of a missionary....

so i hope you all are doing well! you all looked so good in the pictures! (sister harlen is like 'woah your mom is sooo pretty!' i was like yeah i know :) ) and kaitlyn's hair is so long! daaang! dad's homemade shovel is so awesome!

so the other day we went to lucky burger....and the people there are so friendly and so overly ..over the top. XD people in fast food places in america should take happy lessons from the lucky burger people! but hey i got a free cup! ^-^

so now i would just like to add some vietnamese randomly in this email
Co Hu'o'ng, Anh Tuan, Anh Kiet oi! (toi hy vong co va hai anh co thay hieu viet thu' nay ^-^)
Khoe khong? toi moun noi ma toi rat biet o'n ve tat ca su giup cua co va hai anh khi toi o' MTC. Co va hai Anh la thay giao rat tot! va toi nha co va hai anh, nhu'ng toi luon luon co giang nha ma neu co va hai anh co thay phuc vu vo'i nhu'ng ngu'o'i viet nam, thi toi co thay phu vu cung! bay gio tieng viet rat la kho hieu, nhu'ng toi biet rang Cha Thien Thu'o'ng se luon luon giup do toi. ^-^ Toi hy vong Co va hai anh co hanh phuc! toi se co gaing het su'c hu'o'ng dan hai chi ca moi! :) ~chi ca Tam

okay well i'd better go, we still have shopping to do today.

I love you all very very much!! and i miss you all!
Love
Sister Holloway

2011-03-09T08:05:00.005+01:00

There is so much going through my head right now I don't know where to begin or what to even write about! I know it's Missionary Wednesday, but I'm gonna postpone it for a day.

Last week was a rather difficult week for me as I strained my back and ended up on the couch

on my back for three days. Dave had to take two of those days off to take care of me. Isn't he amazing? I had a difficult time walking again and had to revert to the use of my cane for most of the week. Since then I have had a more difficult time getting around again and still have to spend a great deal of time laying down to relieve some of the pain in my hips and back. Some days I wish I could trade in my body for a new one, but then I'm just thankful to be alive and breathing! Today I woke up with half of my face being numb! It is so weird to only feel half your face!!!

In spite of the fact that I have been in so much pain I have been able to do a lot of cross stitch and crocheting. It is amazing what handcrafts can do to help relieve the pain that I am in. I always tell people that the fast I crochet is reflective of how much pain I am in, the faster I crochet the less pain I am in. I read an article once that said that crocheting was a relaxing hobby and helped with pain management and I can testify that it is true!!

Last Friday the local British Elementary School had a Mardi Gras parade down our street. They were so stinkin' cute!!

A Giveaway on Another Blog

2011-03-04T07:03:00.001+01:00

I like to follow other blogs and enter their giveaways. Here's another fellow blogger that is giving away free stuff, so check her out!

http://crazymotheringchick.blogspot.com/2011/02/giveaway.html

Missionary Wednesday!!

2011-03-02T07:20:00.003+01:00

I thought I would just say that we are so very proud of our Missionary, Sister Holloway.

She has been able to escape her comfort zone and try new things.

She has traveled far, experienced new foods, met new people, and amazed us with her willingness to serve the Lord!

I just discovered that she is in the Hong Kong China Temple district.

Isn't it a beautiful temple?

Hey Mommy Daddy and Kaitlyn!

Wow these weeks go by so fast! it seems like only yesterday i was here in the Diamond Web internet cafe writing that super long whiny email (i apologize for my whine-y...ness)
So the Assistants have really been pushing us to reach our goals, and everyday we have to try and get 10 new contacts. yesterday sister harlen and i were so pumped! we worked really hard to get 10, i even stepped out of my comfort zone *finally* and talked to a woman. at 545 we started home and we were so depressed because we thought we would end the day with 9/10 contacts. we got home and sister harlen was really upset because even though we make goals we rarely ever meet them all. so we prayed to start companion planning and we prayed so hard. we planned and i tried to help her feel better, yes goals are important, but even though we dont achieve them, we did all that we could during the day. and then right in the middle of my sentance the phone rang. it was chi thuy, she had called to give us a referral! we got her number and we called the girl, whose name is chi diem..yiem.....orz i wish i could figure out how to spell vietnamese correctly! ...anyway, we met with her this morning (yes even though its p-day) and we taught her the first lesson. She is really good i can tell. ^-^ she even prayed correctly the first time! of course it was a little awkward teaching her too because the two members that helped us teach are fighting and they hate each other, but Chi Yiem is a mutual friend. so the whole lesson the two members Chi Linh and Chi Thuy were talking over each other....orz ...but anyway the big overarching lesson from that is that even after we do all we can do, it is still the Lord who gives us success, and if we try our best in all aspects of our lives he will be there to make up the rest. :)

So yesterday at District meeting, i had to give the closing prayer. man that was intimidating! there are a few...well okay only one elder who is getting the language like really quick and he memorizes 60 words a week. orz...anyway he speaks really well and i was kinda nervous, but after i prayed they all were like 'woah! that was so good!' :3 Not that i'm seeking the approval of men or anything....but it made me feel good that even he was impressed.

speaking of which I've been thinking alot about service here. every time we offer do so some service the members tell us "khong sao! khong sao!" we ask why and they reply "so' toi!" ...pretty much the members here are afraid of sin. like they think its a sin if we help them or something.......*cough*stupid*cough* like that. so at district meeting we were talking about how we could get the members excited for missionary work. and i suggested also getting the members to serve each other. We are commanded to serve. It is part of the baptisimal commitment. so i was like "what do we do? do we fear man and not serve them because they are afraid of sin (when in reality its not a sin at all but totally the opposite) or do we fear God more and serve them anyway'?
I feel like the members dont even care about each other, thats why visiting teaching isnt successful. when we told Co Oanh that there was an inactive member just down her street she acted so uninterested. it made me kinda upset. >_< i have already decided that when i get home, i'm gonna care more about the people in my ward, not have that selfish indifference like she does.........okay maybe that was a little harsh...... well at least i'm not an elder...(you probably shouldnt read this part aloud but you can send it on anyway cuz its pretty funny) apperantly one of the members told elder thanh and elder hung (in plain english) that he hasnt had sex with his wife in six years. XD hahahaha! poor elders having to hear all that stuff.... So i'm trying to figure out how to use my drawing ability to help people understand...but i always chicken out because i dunno if it would be...i dunno sacreligious or something to draw Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ you know? oi...but i feel like it would help so much! oh by the way before i forget..whose birthday is on the 9th? also when is gmpa and gma's birthdays? i forget..*badgranddaugher* sorry! okay well i need to go email my Mission president now. :) i hope you all are doing so well! I miss you all so much...sorry i cant email pictures. :( did you get the email with sister smedley's blog? Love you all so much! keep up with the spanish! *lovelovelove* Sister Tam

Sorry It's Been Awhile

2011-02-27T16:18:00.006+01:00

This is me!

I was able to get several new outfits for church in the last couple of months and I decided that today I looked really good so I had to have a picture taken.

It helped that I had several compliments at church.

Several people said how happy and fun I looked.

Happy and Fun?

But okay, it helped me to feel good about myself, so I thought I would share. ;0)

I have so much natural curl that I usually try to straighten it or wear it so it's not so wild looking.

But when I gel and scrunch it this is the result.

I've kinda been afraid of my gray and try not to make it obvious exactly how gray I really am, but I decided that I love my gray hair and it can be just as fun as all the curls.

I love my Kaitlyn, she's not too sure if she loves her Mommie though.

This week has been a bit of a challenge.
We've had a few days of sunny blue skies, and then the rest of the week has been VERY cold!
Those cold days and lack of a good night's sleep have been really bad on my joints.
Since I love to spend my time working on my handcrafts the cold can be especially hard on my hands.
I haven't been able to work as much as I usually do, so some of these projects have sat in idleness and been looking pretty sad.
After a particularly bad day, I huddled under the blanket, turned up the heat and started get some work done.
It felt so good after just wishing I could be working on them.

This piece I found through a fellow blogger.
There are twelve of these Doorways and I can't wait to get them all done.
I'm working them on 18ct Aida with two strands of floss.
Yes, it makes for a strain on my eyes, but I love them.

This little blessing gown has been a bugger!!
I've had to undo it at least 6 times and I've wanted to give up on it several times, but I know I can't since I promised to have it done and mailed before Zoe Kay is blessed in August.
It will definately be worth it!!

Missionary Wednesday

2011-02-23T07:02:00.002+01:00

Mommyz! and Daddyz! and Kaityz!!

okay i found out something that i wish they would have told us sooner...Sister Smedley, the mission presidents wife, has a blog that she keeps updated with all the mission stuff on blogspot.
http://calledtoserveincambodia.blogspot.com/

I'm so glad you're all doing well and having alot of sunshine! (heaven knows i get enough :P ) How is kaitlyn doing in school? is dad tolerating work better?":) What the-? Spanish? in Belgium? XD well i guess that's not as random as Vietnamese. Let me know how that all works out! :) Hey! i can tell you how i do my language study...do you think that would help? I set a goal for febuary that i would read better. Sister harlen and i read together a little bit in the Book of Mormon in Viet, so we decided that we would finish Moroni and all the one chapter books in the Book of Mormon before she leaves next month. so we pray in viet, we sing in viet, and then we read in viet. after that, I usually study a principle that we will be teaching the next day, or memorize some words from lessons. one thing though i've learned is that you have to study at least 30 mins to 1 hr every day, and no matter how tempted you are to use english (because maybe the investigator understands english) Dont do it! ...man that was a hard lesson to learn.

I've been learning alot of hard lessons lately. Suddenly out of nowhere i'll start to feel really down and yesterday i uttered the most vile words ever..."i can't do it." I regret that so much. We were meeting a referral from the elders, and as i was sitting there listening to sister harlen i was just overcome with this huge desire to give up and go home, i really wanted to cry right then. and sister harlen turns to me and i tried to speak, but i couldnt think at all, all i could manage was 'i cant do it.' it was the worst feeling ever. and i still feel really bad when i think about that. How did dad manage to go through his mission? How do you overcome feelings like that? I mean its not hard really, being a missionary, but at the same time you just get these really high highs..then really low lows and its trying to climb back up to the high thats really difficult. But then as i was pondering on this during personal study this morning I was reading in Mosiah 7:33...i think it was. where he says something like turning to the Lord with all your mind and serving him diligently til the end. After reading that i knew what i had to do. Turn again to the Lord. This is his work, even if i make mistakes the work still goes on. if i mess up when i'm speaking, if the person is truely ready for the gospel my mistakes wont deter them.

I dont remember if i told you before, but i will be training the two new sisters who are coming next month. I feel so inadequate...how do you train with only 3 months experience?? I've been working so hard and i know i'm not perfect, i just worry that i'll do something wrong you know? I think though...just a random thought just now...i need to have more happiness and enthusiasm for the work. Sometimes i worry that i'm loosing my enthusiasm because sometimes i want to go home so much. but i've already decided that i'm not going home, i'm going to stay the whole time, because i'm sure the guilt and the regret will be way more than i can handle....Just make today better than yesterday, that's all I can do. and serve the Lord with more diligent efforts.

So okay enough with the pity party, lets get on with the good stories from this week :)
So Sunday's are always interesting. We dont have time for our studies in the morning so every sunday i pray that i can feel some sort of good sprit in church. yes and my prayer was answered (kinda) by an older woman named Co Va. Co Va was baptised less than a year ago, she was Sister Harlen and Sister Vo's investigator. Co Va is... well...er... an interesting daughter of God. In sunday school we were talking about how we dont follow the law of moses anymore, we follow the higher law of Jesus Christ. and we got onto the topic of eye for an eye and tooth for a tooth. Co Va decided that that was the perfect time to admit to everyone that her husband was abusive (not uncommon here in Cambodia i'm told) and she tried to kill him 3 times with rat poison. (He eventually died of HIV instead). Co Va then nudges sister curtis (one of the senior couples) and points to Laviticus 11:39-40-something then exclaims 'hay qua! hay qua!" "So good! so good!"....yeah she's an interesting one alright...

Before church we went and picked up an investigator named Ba Hai. Ba Hai was a referral from Co Ba and we had taught her once before, but then she disappeared. Co Ba said she moved but then one day when sister harlen and i ran out of plans we prayed for guidence and we were led to where she lived and she was sitting outside crying. She shared a scripture with her and invited her to church the next day. I was so glad that she did in fact come to church! ^-^

We also had another mouse in our kitchen. We are out of mouse traps and we forgot to buy more. the little bugger was hiding under the stove, and we devised this ingenious idea to get it. I lit the stove, which scared it and it ran under the microwave. Sister harlen got ready with two shoes (one to throw and hopefully hit and stun it, the other to..i guess beat it to death with). I stood on the left side of the microwave, and we planned that if i shook the left side, the mouse would naturally run out the right side right? So i gave the microwave a shake and lo and behold the mouse must have read our minds because instead of going out to the right, or maybe even to the left...it came out right at me!! I gave a shriek of fear..no wait it was surprise...jumped back and the mouse came running down the side of the counter. sister harlen was just a split second too late with the shoe and the mouse got away!! curse the clever creature!

Okay i promise next week i'll send pictures via snail mail because the computer is retarded (i'm sure wendy has told you already) so i will print them and send them.
also isnt reading the Book of Mormon great! I'm learning so much more than i ever have before! Personal Study time is my favorite time right now ^-^

Hurray! a care package!! i will def let you know when i get it!
Okay i should go now.
I love you all and i miss you all so much! I pray for you all the time!
*lovelovelove*
Sister Holloway

Another Missionary Wednesday!!

2011-02-16T06:49:00.003+01:00

Mommyz!!

Yay! i'm so happy to hear that you all are healthy again! ^-^ That totally makes my day!

Okay this week was a harder week physically. Since we are only serving in branch 10 now we have to spread out alot. It's been crazy. But we have been blessed with more investigators to make up for the ones we lost in branch 3. (and i've slimmed down even more...hurray! :)
But we've had some awesome miracles happen as well...for example
my bike tire... stupid thing keeps going flat. i've had it changed 2 now and still it goes flat. so on monday we were in a mad rush to get across the city to meet the elders so they could show us a referral. and my tire went flat. so we stopped at the first tire fixer person we saw and attempted to ask how much it would be. (he wanted 10$) luckily there was a woman there who knew vietnamese and she translated for us. but somehow in the translation there was a mix up and the kamai guy fixing my tire started cutting the inner tube!! Sister harlen and i were like OoO OoO "NO!" ...but alas it was too late my bike tire was gone. ... *moment of silence* meah i was starting to hate that thing anyway.... so anyway as we were watching him replace my tire we contacted the viet woman whose name is Bat Sao. She seems really good and we gave her a pamphlet and explained some things (she doesnt know how to read). then a khamai girland man came up and they wanted a pamphlet (luckily i randomly had 3 pamphlets in khamai). and the guy doing my bike tire lowered the price to only 5$...which is still way expensive. i got ripped off i know it. but still. tender mercies.
so anyway we went and met the elders, met the referrals they had for us. a family of 4 girls and just now the elders called and said that family wants to learn everyday. O_O woah right! they are so good though, we taught Em Vi and Em Thuy yesterday. they met us at the church and we taught them about Heavenly Father and prayer. As they were sitting there they had this like light in there eyes. They also want to learn english really bad, they said we could teach some of the lesson in english...which was a huge mistake because when i tried that i forgot all my vietnamese and when i tried to teach in english i was way more uncomfortable...so now i know i'm supposed to share only in vietnamese.
I've also figured out that i'm pretty sure everyone has a huge lesson they have to learn while on thier mission. i dunno what everyone else has to learn, but mine is overcoming fear i'm sure. and the way to overcome fear is in Moroni 8:16. it says something like Love overcometh fear or something such as that. (sorry bad scripture quoter!) So that's my goal for my entire mission. Overcome fear though faith in the Lord and love for his children...even if they are crazy drivers :)

Okay well i guess i should go now. We have shopping to do still. hurray for bayon! and for Lucky Burger for lunch! ^-^
Love
Sister Holloway

Stitchin' 'n' Crochetin' Away the Day

2011-02-10T06:57:00.005+01:00

This was my day yesterday....

My Dear Husband informed me yesterday that he needs two baby boy gifts for women at work, so I went down to my stash to see what I have. Only three more baby boy patterned blanket sets. So I guess I'll be workin' on those the rest of the week.

I finished the blanket and burp cloth that Wendy asked me to send for her friend. It turned out really cute!

I have been crochetin' the same pattern for those cute baby dresses for four years now, so I decided to try another pattern out. So far I like it. We'll see how good it looks when I'm done with it.

I had to start December Santa Bear over again!!

I was stitchin' along for a couple of days while watchin' movies thinkin' I was doin' pretty good! Then I realized I had made a HORRIBLE mistake in counting!! I was about half-way done and there was NO way I was gonna unstitch HALF of what I had completed. So I had to start over. I got two rows done and put it away. Maybe I'll get back to it next week.

Missionary Wednesday!!

2011-02-09T06:45:00.002+01:00

Still no pictures, sorry!

Xin chao mommy! and everyone else who will read this!!

I'm glad to hear the sun is finally out for you guys. Sometimes i wish the sun would just burn out here haha XD jk the humidity is rising so its getting hotter. the sunsets are so pretty! so purple and pink! Ack! i took pictures but i forgot to buy a usb plug thing to email them to you! *epic fail* sorry! next week i promise! (oh btw i've lost 2.2 lbs...maybe more since the last time i weighed ^-^) i'm excited to hear how the play goes! Yes yes please send me pictures! :)
The food here is so good. its spicy!! XD the first few weeks i couldnt eat the spicy food much because i was so used to the bland MTC food, but now that i'm used to flavor again i love it! Pho' is so good! we've only had it once, but i still really liked it! and theres this egg dish that Sister Harlen makes with rice that is just soooo yummy! ah! and in the vietnamese food they use fish sauce (you know how much i dont like fish, or the smell) but its gotten to where when i smell the fish sauce my mouth waters XD hahaha

*Que epic Star Wars theme song*
Soo 6 weeks is up and yesterday we found out about transfers!! ^-^ So i'm pretty sure i forgot to mention that i was serving in Branch 3 and Branch 10 before. (Branch 3 takes up the north part of phnom penh, Branch 10 takes up the central part, and branch 6 is the southern part.) So starting on Friday Sister Harlen and I will be serving just in the Branch 10 area. :) we are kinda sad about that because most of the people we are teaching and are getting baptised are in branch 3. dang, but i guess the Lord needs us to concentrate on Branch 10. So we will be serving with Elder Nhan and Elder Vu there.

Ah! in Branch 10 we do have 2 progressing investigators: Bat Ut and Co Hai. They are neighbors and Bat Ut's grandaughter Em Thu is already a member. On Monday we gave Bat Ut a Book of Mormon in Cambodian (She cant read vietnamese) and she said that her son gave her some of his salary and she's going to use the money to buy some really nice reading glasses so that she can read it :)

Oh! on sunday there was a member from Branch 6 at the branch 3 meeting, his name is Anh Tai. he's deaf and he is mute, but his testimony is so strong i can tell. He was telling elder Chinh about how he was going to stowaway on a boat to a country with a temple. He brought a map and was asking us which countries had temples. Elder Hung was like 'yeah he's been saying this for months, but we always see him the next week." XD Still I really admire Anh Tai for his faith. so in Sunday School, usually the elders translate for Anh Tai, by writting down whats being said and showing him the scriptures (Anh Tai can read) but the elders had to teach sunday school for the teens, ans sister harlen translated for the senior couple, so i had the AWESOME opportunity to translate for Anh Tai. I couldnt really understand what was being said, but i showed him scriptures and drew pictures to help him understand words. ^__^ that was so awesome! Everyone could use some faith like him, and like dispite not being able to hear or speak he doesnt let it get him down. He does what he has to, and i could even understand him when he signed. :D

The people here are really good, the Cambodians and the Vietnamese. the other day my chain fell off my bike and this nice cambodian woman helped us put it back on and she got water and soap so we could wash the grease from our hands. :) if only we were taught Cambodian too we could have shared with her. dang it.

So later today we are going to go bowling with the elders, one last hooray before they split us up into 2 districts. yeah thats right! The vietnamese zone is being split into 2 districts. branch 6 and 10 are now one district and branch 3 is its own district! i'm sure the returned missionaries from cambodia are excited to hear that...at least i hope they are...i dunno is this something to be excited about? ...anyway....

So I hope everything is going well for everyone! I miss you all a ton!
The church is true and Jesus Christ is our Savior, never forget that! :)
Love
Sister Holloway

Soon?

2011-02-08T07:24:00.003+01:00

What a morning!

We walked outside at about 715 to catch the school bus when we see this...

the light blue sky!

It has been forever it seems since we saw that beautiful color!

Isn't it gorgeous?!

Oh how I miss the sunny days of Spring!

But it's just around the corner, or so they say.

I long for the longer days, the sunny skies, the cheerful bird's song, and the happy feelings in my heart because of those simple things.

I know it'll come, because it does every year, but I wish it would show up sooner rather than later this year.

I feel like I have been stuck in a dark cloud for six months!

I suffer from seasonal depression and so the cloudy skies and rainy weather isn't my favorite kind of way to spend my days.

Sometimes I feel like there is no end in sight, but the Lord saw fit to show me the light at the end of a long tunnel this morning.

We've decided after only six months in Belgium that we SO NEED to be in the warm, sunny climate of the desert.

Now if the right job will come along for that to happen!

Manic Monday

2011-02-07T16:12:00.008+01:00

Here is my cute Kaitlyn during a calm moment last week. She has been extremely emotional lately! It has to be the age!

I have been so bored today! I have flitted from one craft to another because nothing is holding my attention today!

Dave's neice, Virginia, had her first baby in December! I have been so bad because I haven't gotten the baby gift sent off yet. I have it finished, or at least part way finished. I made her, baby Zoe, a purple dress and booties with a matching blanket and burp cloth. But I also am making a blessing gown for sweet little Zoe. I better get it done and sent off since they will be blessing her in July when her Grandpa goes to visit! Sorry Virginia for being so slow!!

Wendy asked me a couple of weeks ago if I could send a blanket and burp cloth to her for a baby gift for a friend of hers. Her friend is having a boy so I went to my stash that my Grandma, Mom, and Sister-in-Law (Angela) has stocked for me to see if I had one finished. I can't believe I didn't have a boy one available! So I pulled out this really cute dinosaur patterned blanket that Angela and Grandma picked out, Grandma hemstitched for me, Mom sent to me for Christmas a couple of years ago to add to my stash. Any way, you get the idea. I decided that I better get it done so I could get it sent off in the next week or so.
I have to tell you about my amazing Grandma! She is my Daddy's mother, she has been sewing most of her life. She has tried to teach all of us grand-daughters, there are eight of us, how to sew. I don't know about my cousins, but this girl can't sew a straight line to save her life! Any way, Grandma has been hemstitching blankets and burp cloths for years and then she crochets around them. Well, Grandma can crochet!!! She does beautiful work and has retaught me how to crochet. I remember learning the basics when I was about 10 or 11 years old, but I just couldn't get the hang of it. Grandma tried to teach me again when I was in my 20s, again I couldn't get it. I still knew the basics...a chain stitch. But in 2006 when we were getting ready to move to Italy and we were staying with Grandma for our last 3 or 4 weeks, she insisted that I try to crochet the baby dresses that she does. I was so scared that once again I would disappoint her and fail at this talent she was trying to pass on to me. With her gentle encouragement and my determination to succeed I did it. I have been non-stop since then. I have very fond memories of my Grandma, actually both Grandmas, working wonders with fabric, thread, yarn, and those amazing needles! Grandma Crook (Daddy's Mom) was very seldom seen without her hands working some kind of magic! Now Grandma is teaching my daughter, Wendy, how to sew, once again with gentle encouragement and lots of patience. I am so grateful for Grandma Crook and the talent of handwork that she has passed on to me. That talent saves me every day from the constant pain that I live with because it forces me to focus on something else besides the pain. And I have beautiful, even if I do say so myself, work to show for it! Like Grandma, I'm very rarely seen without my handwork with me and my hands moving right along. I hope some day to relearn the quilting talent that my Mom's Mom passed on to me.

And I did a bit of cross stitchin'!

I did manage to finish my November Bears.

I collect bears and I found this book that has hundreds of bears in different costumes. I love it! I turned them into magnets! Aren't they just the cutest?

This is the Week...

2011-02-04T06:29:00.008+01:00

This is the week of finishes!

I was so happy to finally finish the cross stitch that I've been trying to finish for a couple of years.

Never mind the fact that we've moved a few times during that time.

My crocheting is so much easier to carry along with me where ever I go, so that's what gets taken with me.

So Thursday I was determined to work on it and finish it, so an hour at a time I alternated between projects.

I spent the day doing laundry, up and down those stupid stairs every hour to change loads.

Between changing loads I worked for 10 hours on finishing up those projects.

Here are the results of my efforts!

Here is the finished "Hanging the Quilts" on Thursday.

It took me FOREVER!

Two panels down, one more to go.

Since I finally finished the "Hanging the Quilts" panel, I decided I better do the final panel.

This one is called "Tending the Garden."

I'll start on it on Friday or Saturday.

I can't wait to get the whole set done!

I've only been trying to get the set done since 1990 something!

Wendy asked me if I would send a baby blanket and burp cloths for one of the ladies she visit teachers.

So I looked in my stash and found a cute dinosaur patterned set that I haven't crocheted on.

Isn't it cute?

I'm having a hard time decideing which color to do the edges.

I finished the crocheting on this dress for some lucky baby girl on Thursday.

It is little green, varigated green, and shades of green.

The pattern is one that I've been using for a long time, but I altered a little by adding layers so that it looks like it has ruffles.

I can't wait to get some ribbon, buttons, and ribbon roses on it!

I am working on the booties that go with it, I can't decide if I want to do the bonnet as well.

The lighting isn't very good in this picture, so when I get it COMPLETELY done I'll take a better picture.

(Kaitlyn, Elder Jackson, and Elder Watson)

We have the missionaries over for dinner about twice a month.

These young men, Elder Jackson and Elder Watson, have been in our area since about October and they are being transfered to new areas this week.

Elder Jackson has been so much fun for Kaitlyn since he plays "Guess that Movie" with Kaitlyn.

Elder Watson is very quiet and doesn't say much, but he's been fun too.

We still have two more missionaries in our area so we will be seeing them for a bit longer.

Good luck Elders in your new areas!!

One Of Those Weeks?

2011-02-03T08:22:00.002+01:00

Have you ever had one of those weeks that you wonder what in the world you're doing? Did we really make the right decision? What are we gonna do to keep everyone happy? Well, this has been one of those weeks. Kaitlyn has been feeling the affects of being away from her sisters, she's had a cold, not been able to sleep, and cries at the drop of a hat. Every night she has cried because she misses her sisters so much, then she can't sleep because her head hurts from crying. I wish I could make the hurt go away, but I also know that she has to learn how to miss people and not dwell on it. Life is too short to be sad all the time. We've had four nights since last Friday that we haven't been able to get her to sleep until well after midnight. She's missed two days of school this week, mainly because she has that cold and was feverish. Her Daddy has given her several Priesthood Blessings to help comfort her in her time of sadness and it helps for a day or two. Sometimes I just don't know what do for her.

Another Weekly Missionary Update

2011-02-02T13:17:00.002+01:00

Just to let everyone know, our little Brussels Family is doing well this week.

We have been fighting the winter blues, colds, migraines and boredom, but we are all here and waiting anxiously for Spring to arrive.

I can't believe it's been another week already!

Aimee is doing well and we are so happy for her.

Thu'a Cha and Mom!
(Dear dad and mom...sorry i cant type the word for mom right because i have no idea how to do vietnamese tones on the keyboard....*epic fail*)

Happy Chinese New Year! (yeah they celebrate that here big time :) ) ack! i'm sorry you're all sick :( thats no fun. Sister Harlen has been fighting a migrane and fever since sunday, but thankfully she's doing better now. because of that we havent been doing alot of work. Sister Smedley told us to go home and rest, so we did. Man it was so boring! *headdesk*
Man i wish we could use skype. but alas that might create some problems..
So with the chinese new year, alot of vietnamese go home to vietnam for a while, or they are too busy and they dont want to study, so i'm guessing we will be doing alot of finding these next few days until everyone returns.
Sorry that i dont have anything really exciting to write this week...agh..oh! i did find out that you can email me pics and i can print them out :3 also i will try and email pictures..if not then i will print them and send them to you.
ACH! i keep forgetting to ask you to add Liz to the email list! i feel really bad that i havent been writting her, please please please add her!
WAH! I've been here for exactly 1 month now!! Ack! only 14 months left for my mission! oh my gosh! it's going by so fast! I dont even remember what happened in January...except that i cried alot and gave a talk in sacrament meeting...AH! did i ever tell you that?! my 2nd week here Sister Harlen volunteered me to give a talk in sacrament! in vietnamese! orz! it was so nerve wracking...but i did it! :3 i'm so grateful to have an awesome companion like her!
So i just wanted to thank you and dad for always putting money in my account, and for all those people who are contributing to my mission fund. i was thinking about it last night and i dont think i've said thank you enough. and i'm sure the Lord is blessing you and all those people who are helping every day. :) so Thank you mom and dad and everyone else, plus i love hearing from everyone in emails even though i cant write back all the time.
So I love you all! and I pray for you all every day!! *bigbigbighugs and kisses*
Love,
Sister Holloway

I Finished it - my first CAL!

2011-01-30T11:46:00.003+01:00

I finished it!

This is my Rising Sun doily.

Thanks to Gloria and her encouragement not to give up!

And thanks for hosting this Crochet A-Long!

It was fun, especially seeing all the other pieces of art that the other participants created.

Weekly Sister Missionary Update

2011-01-26T06:58:00.003+01:00

Well, we have another weekly report from our favorite sister missionary in Cambodia!

I love waking up on Wednesday mornings to finding a wonderful letter from Aimee.

This week is sounds like she is finally settling in and doing the work she's been called to do there among God's children!

Still no pictures from her.

I hope you enjoy hearing from her as much as we do.

Deariest Mommyz!

I'm so happy to hear you all are doing so well, even if it is freezing there, i've totally forgotten what being cold feels like hahaha. Tell Kaitlyn that boys are icky and she shouldnt let them be a distraction! (funny side story about that: we went to pick up some papers from one of the senior couples, and a cambodian guy walks in. Apperently the Cambodian guy works there with the senior couple. So Elder Curtis is like 'I would like to point out that he is single and looking for a wife." and Sister Harlen and I are like "uhhhh...well we are missionaries....." Talk about awkward right?!)
Anyway, will you guys be back in the states before me? orz i dont even know anymore. and I cant believe how fast January flew by!! Its crazy!
My vietnamese is progressing, sometimes i still forget words, but I have been able to understand more in lessons and follow along. :) i just need to open my mouth more and not be embarassed.

Okay so now for exciting news:
Sister Harlen have been teaching two older women, Bat Út and Co Hai. They are such sweet old ladies. I love them so much. We have taught most of the first lesson, but then on sunday the elders had a baptism and we thought 'hey, lets teach them about baptism this week!' so we taught them about it ! it was so exciting! I heard Sister Harlen give the baptism commitment and while she was saying it i was thinking 'please please please let them accept!!'and my heart was pounding so fast! they accepted with eagerness! thier date is set for 6 march, but we think if we can meet them more often then they can be baptized sooner.

Speaking of baptism... on sunday we had the baptism after church. and i was so disappointed with the irreverance. it made me think about italy and how disappointed dad was with how they would turn it into like a party. but its not a party, its a sacred ordience. How do you teach and stress the importance of that?

So another miracle for this week. We have been teaching Co Tha for about 2 months. shes 42....ish..and her and her husband make these beautiful baskets to sell for money. anyway Chu Hai, Co Tha's husband, hasnt been interested, but we have commited him to read the Book of Mormon to his wife since she cant read. Usually he doesnt sit or participate when we teach, but the past two times he has! and yesterday we asked if they had read the Book of Mormon and where, and they are already in 2 Nephi 32! they are past me already!! XD I asked how he felt as he read and he gave the most unexpected but the best answer ever!! He said that he knows the Book of Mormon is the word of God! but he is scared because it talks about perfect people...we explained that none of us are perfect all he has to do is try and turn his life around. Next lesson we are gonna teach about the Atonement and the life of Jesus Christ.

Wow I'm so happy to have witnessed these things. We also are working on strengthening the branches. they have a lot of progressing to do, but i know this year i really want to help them progress and become better members! if we can do that, and help them feel the spirit more in meetings, then i'm positive we can get our investigators to come and stay at church. :)

Well I'd better get going, we have to hit the market next and buy food....ah! last week it didnt seem like we bought much, but somehow we had a ton of food! XD hahah i was like 'someone must be praying that we dont starve.'

I love you all very much! *Loveslovesloves*
Sister Holloway

Godiva Chocolates?

2011-01-24T15:36:00.004+01:00

So after a pretty emotionally stressful couple of weeks we got out of the house on Saturday.

We drove into Lueven to the market and to do some overdue shopping.

I have been crocheting away and ran out of a particular color thread, so we went to a wonderful shop, Twolwinkeltje.

This shop is tiny, but they carry TONS of the things that I need...thread, floss, fabric, hooks, needles, kits, and patterns.

Of course, the patterns are in Dutch!

But that's okay because I had to find some thread so I could finish a project I'm working on.

The prices are a bit more than what I want to pay, but when I'm in a bind I know where I can go!

Once we got done there, we went to lunch at McDonald's.

I have to say that I do NOT like McDonald's in the states, I don't know why, I just don't.

Any way, I LOVE McDonald's in Europe!!

After looking around the market, we were walking to our car and stumbled upon the Godiva Chocolate shop!

I have heard that Godiva Chocolates are THE BEST chocolates.

I've heard the same about Swiss chocolates, but when we lived in Italy, I wasn't impressed.

I liked chocolate before moving to Europe, but while living in Italy I found that European chocolate was way to bitter for my tastes, so I quit eating it.

We moved back to the states for a short time and I still couldn't eat my favorite chocolate, Peanut M&Ms!

We move here to Belgium, and once again we hear that Belgian chocolate is the best!

I seriously have my doubts, but I'll give it the good ol' college try.

We walked into the Godiva shop and were amazed about how pretty everything looked.

We decided to get a little sample box.

The man that helped us was so kind.

He put on a WHITE knit glove to put our selections into the box.

REALLY?

Then he proceeded to treat the box as if it were made of gold, wrapped it all pretty, and wished us a good day.

Kaitlyn wanted the ribbon to wear in her hair.

So we let her have it.

Don't those look to good to eat?

Okay, so the first layer of chocolates were so good they didn't last the day!!

We discovered that we do like Godiva Chocolates!

Cross Stitch Progress

2011-01-21T13:29:00.005+01:00

Here is the progress I've made this last week on this piece.

I've got all the stitchin' done, now I'm just adding in the details.

This panel is called "Hangin' the Quilts."

This one makes me really want to start piece quilting, but I don't know if I really have the patience to do it.

I'll be so glad when this set is done!

I finally found the center panel for this Collector's Series "Amid Amish Life."

It's from a cross stitch magazine that I used to get, but I don't remember the name of it.

Any way this panel is called "Visiting the Neighbors."

Chicken Taco Soup

2011-01-21T08:54:00.003+01:00

Many of my Facebook friends have asked for my Chicken Taco Soup, I've renamed it.

It's now called...

Chicken Fajita Soup

Ingredients:

1 package Chicken Tenderloins

1 Bell Pepper, diced

1 large onion, diced

1 package Hidden Valley Ranch, unmixed

1 package Taco Seasoning, unmixed

1 can Rotel Tomatoes

1 can Mexican Style Diced Tomatoes

1 can Diced Green Chilis

1 can Pinto Bean

1 can Dark Red Kidney Beans

1 can corn

2 1/2 cups water

Thaw Chicken Tenderloins.

Cook Tenderloins in Picante Olive Oil in frying pan, you can add Cilantro or Crushed Red Peppers, depending on how hot you want it.

In a large pot add all the ingredients and the cooked chicken, let simmer for 1 hour.

While the soup is simmering, slice into thin strips the corn tortillas and fry them in about an inch of vegetable oil until crispy.

Once the soup is done you can serve it topped with shredded cheese, sliced green onions, sour cream, olives, or the tortilla strips.

Or you can use all the toppings!

Taco Soup is made the same way, except with 2 pounds of hamburger.

We have decided that we LOVE these two soups and we serve it at least once every two weeks.

I hope that you enjoy it as much as we do.

Sister Missionary Update

2011-01-19T08:11:00.002+01:00

So here is our weekly update from our favorite sister missionary.

I know that she writes to others in the family, but this is what she sends to me, so if there is anything anyone wants to share with us from her just let me know.

We really miss our girls, but are glad that they both are doing what they feel the Lord wants them to be doing.

We all have to follow the path that we feel the Lord has laid out for us.

Sorry i dont have a lot of time to write today. we have to go to the hospital because sister harlen has an ingrown toe nail...and the hospital is pretty much the only place that's safe enough to go to for something this small. XD but i'm printing out all the emails for this week so i can read them. :)

so things are going alot better. i'm sure now the inital shock has worn off and now i'm getting more focused on the work.
yesterday in district meeting, elder ly had us write down something we could be more diligent in doing, and i decided that this week i would be more diligent in focusing my thoughts on the work...sometimes i get hung up on thinking about what i'm going to do after my mission and i know i shouldnt be thinking that right now. ^_^' oops.

so i told sister harlen about the missionary plan of action we used in Aviano, and this next fast sunday we are going to do that fast, but until then we are praying every night for new investigators.
sometimes sister harlen worries that we arent doing enough because the elders are having tons of investigators, but i keep telling her that numbers dont matter, and i shared...um...oh shoot i forget the scripture...alma..uh..um..36? ish...i think... any way its about how the Lord gives us success. The Lord blesses us with success in his own time, so for now we can just work as hard as we can and eventually it will pay off.

i hope this week isnt so boring for you! :) it makes me happy that kaitlyn wants to go on a mission too! yay! :3 i miss you all so much! and I love you all! give everyone a huge hug and kiss for me!!
Sister Holloway

Crochet and Cross Stitch Progress

2011-01-18T07:43:00.003+01:00

The Rising Sun Doily is coming along great!

I look forward to each posting from my crochet along leader, Gloria, to see if we are adding more rows to this beautiful doily.

I could work ahead and get it all done in a matter of a couple of days, but it's been fun to work along with others in the group.

I might just join another crochet along when I find one.

And my cross stitch project is coming along as well.
I'm almost ready to put the detail in.
I'll actually probably work on this today while working on getting the laundry done.
I have to work on this one during daylight hours because my eyes have been giving me so many problems and I've been fighting migraines for the last two weeks.
All the lightbulbs in my house have decided to blowout at an incredible rate!
Before much longer we will be doing everything by candlelight!
Just kidding!

First Doily EVERY and A Crochet Along

2011-01-14T09:01:00.006+01:00

My first completed doily EVER! It took me two days to complete. The pattern is called Blue Pineapples.

For my very first Crochet Along I chose to use some pretty 100% cotton Perle 8 mauve varigated thread made in Italy, that I bought in Italy while we lived there. I'm using a size 9 steel crochet hook.

The pattern is called The Rising Sun. The group I'm crochet with is found here, http://glor-crochetgalore.blogspot.com/. Here is the first four rows of the doily. I think this will be fun to do.

Crochet Along, Cross Stitch Progress and Kaitlyn

2011-01-13T07:01:00.012+01:00

Please forgive my yammering on today. I'm feeling a bit chatty! I know surprise, right? I'm kinda shy until I get to know people and then ya can't shut me up!!

Kaitlyn is so dang cute!!! I love this little girl!!! She's not such a "little" girl any more though. Each morning it's the same thing...get up, get dressed, brush her teeth (when she's done she bangs the heck out of it on the edge of the sink), come downstairs, sit on the couch and try to decide for 15 minutes what to have for breakfast. Once she's had her breakfast, brushed her hair, and maybe watched an episode of her favorite show on youtube, she gets up announces to the room that she must use the bathroom!! She bundles up in one of her sisters' hand-me-down coats, and hauls her 12-ton backpack onto the back of the couch and then struggles to get it on her back. Every day, all the way to the bus stop, she tells me jokes (that I don't get), her dreams, her day at school, her fears, her wishes, and how much she loves her family. I love this girl so much, and each day as she steps on that bus to head off to another day of learning I think, ah peace and quiet. That lasts long enough for me to walk to the corner where I turn toward the bus as it drives away and blow a kiss and wave good-bye to my sweet little girl and think, I hope she has a good day and I sure miss her.

I've decided that this is the year, a NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTION, that I am going to finish all those projects that I've started over the years. I'm tired of the unfinished things in my baskets and craft drawers. I have a TON that are done, but haven't framed them or done anything with them. I think I might start having giveaways here on my blog just to get rid of some of them. I'm really starting to want to quilt too and I have some cross stitch projects that would look REALLY cute in a quilt, or two.

I began this project probably two years ago when we were living in Italy. It's a three panel series from a magazine (I don't remember which one) and I've completed the center panel (if I could just find it).

Monday when I pulled this project back out of the basket I noticed that I'm nearly done! So I decided to stitch of a couple of days and see what I could get done.

At the end of my cross stitching session on Wednesday afternoon I had completed quite a bit of it.

I get bored easily. So after cross stitching for a couple of hours I switch to crocheting.

I've made some new friends in "blogsville," crocheting friends. And some of them do Crochet Alongs, where everyone crochets the same pattern and post pictures and their progress. Well, this blog, http://glor-crochetgalore.blogspot.com/ , is doing a doily, The Rising Sun. And I think I might try to do a Crochet Along.

I've never made a doily before, so yesterday I thought I would see if it would be possible to make one. I found a pattern in my stash to try, Blue Pineapples, is the one I chose to try. It looks simple enough. I began crocheting at about 2pm with a varigated blue and a number 7 steel crochet hook. I got pretty far and realized that I CAN do this!

I think it's gonna turn out kinda pretty. Kaitlyn announced to me this morning before leaving for school that she wants me to make her some doilies for her bedroom. Quess I know what I'll be crocheting for awhile. ;0)

Letter from our Sister Missionary!!

2011-01-12T07:27:00.003+01:00

No pictures from Aimee this week, so here are a couple that I pulled off the internet. If you can write to Aimee and give her words of encouragement I'm sure she would love to hear from her family and friends. The dearelder reference is to a website dearelder.com that we use to send her carepackages filled with goodies! So if you have a missionary out there serving the Lord and you want to send a care package, or even a letter, without having to put it together yourself give this company a try. They are awesome! We've used it a couple of times and have been very impressed with them.

snail mail address:

Sister Aimee Holloway

Cambodia Phnom Penh Mission

POB 30150

Salt Lake City, UT 84130-0150

must be single sheet, 20# paper, folded in thirds taped at the top, NO ENVELOPES

also email:

aimee.holloway@myldsmail.net

Mommyz! Happy Birthday Daddy!!!

i'm sorry you're sick! maybe by now you've gotten better i hope! take lots of pics so you can send them to me!!
(oh btw DearElder works here, but it takes like 10 days to get here..just FYI)

orz i hope that last email didn't freak you guys out so much...also i hope that i didnt come off as a complainer...orz i'm actually begining to get use to things here.
okay so this last week was kinda stressful. I'm so thankful for sister harlen! (not that i wasnt before) but after this last week i'm glad we are able to laugh together. We had a 3 day compantion transfer. sister harlen had to go to the mission home for leadership training so her old compainion, sister vo, and i were comps. sister vo is vietamese and she grew up here in phom penh. she speaks really fast vietnamese, cambodian, and english, so she's pretty much un-understandable in three languages. ;) her personality came off as agressive and for the first time in 4 months i cried. *eye roll* it was so hard to teach with her, but i guess from that hard experience i learned that Heavenly Father truely doesnt give us anything we cant handle. :) but i was feeling really unhappy and not like my usual happy self, so i asked for a priesthood blessing and after that i have been so much better! i'm so thankful that the elders are worthy and willing to help. :)

so our teaching appointments have fallen through again. but yesterday we traveled by..a la mot?...la mont? its like a...oh how do i describe this?? its like a row boat with wooden planks set across for seating. its pulled by a moto bike. sometimes they are covered but the one we were on yesterday wasnt. so we traveled for 45 mins to get to Co My Chau's house to teach her three daughters: Em Hang, Em Tieng, and Em Ngung (i think thats how you spell them ^^') we taught the first lesson about God is our Heavenly Father and about prayer. They seemed really receptive! but pres smedley might not want us to teach them anymore because they are so far away :(
ugh! we had this awesome family! Co Hong and Em Bao! they were so awesome and i always had a good feeling about them...but then anh ca ly and anh ca thanh decided to take them back!! orz! so we dont really have any investigators right now. :(

so awesome miracle for this week.... we had a mouse in our house...which freaked me out of course. so we put down some sticky mouse traps and hoped...two days went by and nothing..so during companion prayer i was just like 'heavenly father, please help us to catch the mouse..' and guess what? the next day the mouse was caught! yay! Tender mercy!

so funny things for this week:
1. i ran over somebody's foot by accident...orz i feel so bad...but it was so funny? *has a sick sense of humor apperantly...
2. so when we were teaching about enduring to the end (kien tri den cung) i accidentally said 'Kien tri den khung' which translates to endure until we are crazy XDD

so overall i guess this week my testimony has grown about the priesthood and about blessings. i'm so grateful that Heavenly Father cares enough about His children that He would allow men on earth to have a portion of His power to help others.
Every day i ask myself, 'why am i doing this?' and always the answer is 'because i love Jesus Christ' Every day i study the Book of Mormon, and my love for it grows. it's like i'm getting more indepth when i read it, and i am able to apply it to me...and soon the investigators, as soon as i can. ^^
I know this gospel is true and i know the Lord blesses us when we follow his commandments.

I loves you all!!
Chi Ca Holloway

Happy Birthday, Honey!

2011-01-10T11:58:00.016+01:00

Wow, another year older. Definately another year wiser!

Happy Birthday, to my wonderful husband!

He is so amazing!

He was born the youngest boy of a family of six boys and one girl.

He was raised in a humble family with righteous parents, and siblings that all love him.

His father, Harry, set a wonderful example of how to be a good father, a wonderful husband, and a good provider.

His mother, Renee, raised him to be faithful, caring, and creative.

(brother Lawrence)

(brother, Mike)

(brother, Bert)

(brother, Brent)

(brother, Rod)

His brothers all taught him how to be adventurous, courageous, and a little naughty.

(little sister, Yvonne)

His little sister taught him to be gentle and loving.

Each of the people in his family taught him something wonderful and I am so grateful for them.

I am especially grateful to his parents, for whom I am eternally thankful for letting me be a part of their lives as well as the wife to their baby boy.

Dave has taught me so much about so many things!
He has taught me to be forgiving, especially of myself.

He's taught me to be more loving.

He's taught me to be faithful, even when questioning.

He's taught me how to be a missionary, especially when I am scared.

He's taught me to love the outdoors, even when I'd rather be inside.

He's taught me to fish, even though he has to bait my hooks.

He has loved me during times of health and in times of serious illness.

He has taught me that it's okay to cry when I'm sad, laugh when I'm happy, and serious when need be.

I really have no idea where I would be if he wasn't part of my life.

He has given me three beautiful girls to raise in this life, and two more beautiful children to raise in the next.

He has given me wonderful adventures all over the world.

He shares his testimony of the Gospel of Jesus Christ with me all the time.

He shares his love of the Scriptures every day.

He is a righteous Priesthood holder who we can count on at all times for blessings we may need.

I hope I have been able to give him just as much as he has given me.

I LOVE YOU, HONEY!!!

I have to give a special thank you to brother, Brent, for the pictures which he posted on Facebook of the family when they were all younger. Thanks big brother!

A Fire, A Meltdown, and A Needle

2011-01-06T15:54:00.006+01:00

Monday was kind of a scarey day. We had a bus fire right around the corner from our home!! Kaitlyn had been home all of about 15 minutes when I noticed a stranger man standing in the driveway across the street. I watched him for about 15 minutes to see what he was looking at, I thought he was watching us in the living room window! So I went to the other living room window and noticed HUGE black smoke billowing into the air. At first I thought maybe the corner neighbor's yard was on fire, but it was actually a CITY BUS! The flames were huge!! Thank goodness everyone that was on the bus made it out safely.

Of course, I missed getting pictures of that, but I did get a few of the smoke. There were a total of six fire trucks, two police cars, and one ambulance on the scene. The entire village of Vossem must of brought their children to watch the fire and the firemen at work. I think it was the most excitement they had had in 50 years!!!

If you look really close in the middle window there is a little boy watching the scene below of the fire and the firemen do their thing! He sat in that window the entire time watching. His brother, Mom and Dad joined him throughout the ordeal.

The flames were so hot that they melted the rolling blinds on the window of the apartment across the street. The next morning when we went to the bus stop for Kaitlyn to catch the school bus we saw more heat damage to the covered bus stop, the speed monitoring sign, and of course the black scorch marks on the sidewalk and street.

Tuesday was our meltdown night. Kaitlyn came home upset because she had gotten a "D" on a math assignment! We proceeded to work for THREE HOURS on her math assignment, 8 of 32 problems!! She was so upset because she wasn't getting it and I had to sit down with her and RETEACH her how to do the division problems. Sometimes I wonder how much teaching the teachers actually do. Any way, I know there are good teachers out there, but why does it seem that Kaitlyn has had the WORST teachers in the system? It is so frustrating. At 730 we finally said enough and told her that I would write a note to the teacher explaining that the assignment didn't get done and why. She still had other assignments she needed to complete. Wednesday morning arrived and as we were walking to the bus Kaitlyn burst into tears and couldn't stop crying! We decided she needed a mental health day and she stayed home with me and we worked on her math assignment and studied for her math test which was going to be on Thursday.

Each day this week I have been working on my Teddy Bear Cross Stitch Magnets. I have the set almost complete! They are so darn cute!! We also got the rest of our Christmas presents that hadn't arrived in the mail before Christmas break. A new dress for me, two seasons of The Pretender, one season of Happy Days, one season of Little House on the Prairie, and a Tinkerbell movie. I think we have received everything now.

First Email from Cambodia

2011-01-05T08:14:00.010+01:00

Okay, the best way to wake up in the middle of the week is to an email from our favorite Sister Missionary!! She is obviously doing well dispite the anxiety, but she'll get over that. I've included some pictures of her time at the MTC. I hope y'all enjoy. Please forgive her spelling and lack of proper punctuation, remember she is learning and speaking in a foreign language. ;0)

hey mommy!
good news i can take as long as i want to email!

Okay so Cambodia is not at all what i expected it to be! orz its so hot! we are constantly sweating! okay so pretty much everything here is dirty and gross. there is trash everywhere and i'm in constant fear for my health... everyone says they love this country, but i guess i havent found that love yet. i pray everyday that i will though and that the worry and anxiety will go away. the only time i dont feel worried or afraid is when we are teaching or at home or at church.
so my new companion is sister harlen. she is from mapleton, UT and is an amazing missionary! we get along very well and she is helping me so much and encouraging me to teach alot.
there are only 7 viet speaking elders here.
Elder Ly is from vietnam. he is so funny! i cant understand him yet, but he is always smiling!
Elder Sing is from australia. hes 25ish and his accent is awesome! hes the Zone Leader so he has to call us every night to make sure we got in okay.
Elder Frank, Elder Wright, and Elder Sanford are all from northern utah. they have been here for like 6 months. so i'll most likely be going home with them.
Elder Suku (i think i spelled that right) is half south american. Orz i cant wait to get to know them better. its hard being the noob. *headdesk*
Elder Humphreys is doing well too. he's serving with the Zone leader.
*glances at her hands* great i have 2 mosquito bites already...i probably have malaria now....
orz no they said we dont need malaria pills here in the city. so i hope they are right...anyhooo....
we leave in a 4 story house. the bottom floor has the kitchen and a bathroom and a large living area. its all marble and tile in our house. we occupy the 3rd floor. the 2nd floor just has 2 small rooms and a bathroom. the 3rd floor where we sleep has a large bedroom an open area for our washer (which is tiny like the one in italy) and a bathroom...ah the bathrooms here are bizzare! there are no tubs! we stand between the sink and the toilet and there is a hose where the water comes out and we wash in that. O_o
we dont have blankets we just sleep under 1 sheet. we have an air conditioner in our room too. and we each have a desk to study at.

the vietnamese people we have met at taught so far are so amazing! i just love Chi Thúy! she is a member who comes and helps us teach. she's so happy and just so adorable!
Em Anh is also a member. shes 21 and hopes to go on a mission soon. if she does we hope to be companions! :3 shes so adorable!
Em My Hoa is 21 also, her mother Co Kim is the Relief Society president. they were the very first ones i met. It scared me so much because they live in a tiny tiny shack. and i wasnt use to how cambodia is. so i was sitting there freaking out about the cats and germs running around...but now i think i'll be okay when i go over there because i've gotten to know them some and like it doesnt matter how these people live, because God loves them anyway. its not like i was judging them or anything, but there is just no reason for me to be afraid. Heavenly Father didn't send me here to get sick, He sent me here to share the gospel with these people. *determined face*
Co Cuc was recently baptised so we have been teaching her the review lessons. its been awesome to talk with her...even though i couldnt understand her..yet.
we lost an investigator this week too.
Co Lang...she claims she is too busy and cant take time to learn. it was kind of a culture shock to be sitting there on the floor with her while shes feeding her baby...not that its nothing i havent seen before but you just learn to ignore it and go on. her husband seemed interested when we were teaching, but he was the one that told us that they were too busy to study.
Co Tha lives at the very top of a building with her husband. they make baskets to sell for money. she doesnt know how to read, so we commited her husband to read to her the Book of Mormon. I hope he does so that she can learn to.
oh the Elders refered us to a woman and her son! Co Hong (pronounced 'Go Home) and Em Bao (Eh-m Bow)". Co Hong cant read, and Em Bao is 16. there is another younger lady in the house, i'm not sure of her name, but she had twins that were so cute! they cried when they saw us..oh well..but anyway, they came to the FHE activity on monday and the elders took us to her house to meet and begin teaching her. we taught them to pray, and we even had Em Bao pray afterward. I had such a good feeling after the lesson, i hope they keep thier commitments and become baptised!
so everyone has been saying how clearly i speak. and like they can all understand me when i talk. now if i could just understand them. ^-^' they have all said that i speak better than sister harlen when she first came. XD ha ha ha...ah well..
so yeah i have some more emails for you to forward this to they are just my elders from the MTC. just kinda let them know how i'm doing...they probably cant email you back, but i just want to stay in contact with them all. :)

okay i hope these are all right XD if not let me know ^-^and please just especially let elder lam and elder hammond know how i'm doing. i miss them all so much!

okay well i'm going to go now. i'm going to double check on who i can for sure write and then i'll let you know.
so yeah, i love you all and i miss you all so much!! (ps i had a dream wendy was dating brad peterson!...tell wendy to email me! i can email family for sure so i will email gma and gmpa too next week!)
so i love you all! give each other a hug and a kiss for me!!
Sister Holloway

Our Sister Missionary has arrived

2010-12-30T16:41:00.007+01:00

Aimee's mission takes in two countries, Vietnam and Cambodia. She will be serving in Cambodia but teaching in Vietnamese because she is an American and from our understanding only native Vietnamese are able to serve in Vietnam.

Each week when I update everyone on Aimee's mission here on my blog I will try to include a few pictures of this obviously beautiful country. Some of those pictures will be some that I downloaded from the internet and some, hopefully, will be pictures that she sends to us.

One of the things that she has to have while there is native costume... I think that is so cool!! Here is a picture of the Vietnamese traditional clothing, I think it's pretty. Won't Aimee look beautiful in something like this? I think so!!

Here is a picture of the Cambodia Royal Palace.
And finally, here are the emails we received from our beautiful sister missionary this week.

Sent on December 28, 2010

Hey mommy!! I'll be calling today!! i know it will be so late when i call you guys, so i hope you all dont mind!
I dunno why they didnt let anyone call on Christmas, probably cuz the lines would be too long.Urg, it was so hard saying goodbye to my elders yesterday, but i know they are going to be awesome!
so it hasnt failed yet, sister erekson and i got locked out again. and we both lost our card keys...what the heck? XD
i sure hope that i havent wasted my time here, surely i havent. overall i feel so good about my mtc experince...granted i dont want to repeat it ever again but still.
Ack! i miss playing Volleyball with the Japanese and Thai missionaries! they were so much fun! :3 not to be boastful or anything but i haz mad volleyball skillz now ;)
I think i learned a valuble lesson last week. Christmas day elder nelson came and spoke to us..right after our huge christmas dinner..(okay who set that one up? shouldnt they know we would be drowsy after such a huge and delicious meal??) Needless to say i dozed off and missed a ton of good information. I felt so sad and upset with myself that night that i decided never to fall asleep in a meeting again.
So on sunday i was attentive as sister nelson spoke in relief society, and i learned so much! hopefully the things i learned in that meeting will carry over to my mission! XD
orz i think the stress is getting to me again though, my jaw is giving me problems again. I've decided though that it probably is just the stress and there really wont be anything i can do about it so i'll just live with it till i get home. ah! and i didnt gain any weight until the first package came with treats (Elder Humphreys' mom sent him one the first of December and we all pretty much have been pigging out since then XD) but Thay Kiet said that the weight just falls off you in Cambodia so i'm not really concerned about it. :)
I'm so thankful for the elders that i was with here in the mtc. i dunno what i'm gonna do without them. they've all become my 1 older brother and 5 younger brothers. XD I was with Elder Lam and Elder Hammond the longest, and i broke my heart to watch them go. but somehow we said our good byes now we have to go on and do the work!
oh i cant wait to call you all today! i sure hope you read this before hand so you're aware of my calling late today!
I dunno what else to say aside from I'm so happy to be serving the Lord! These past 12 weeks have gone by super fast and i'm sure the next 15 months will go even faster! I love you all and thank you so much for all of your support and prayers and letters and packages!! *hugs and loves*
well sister erekson and i have to go clean our room now! i will talk to you all in just a few hours hopefully!! and i'll tell you how my name is pronounced! :D yay!
*loveslovesloves*
Chi Ca Holloway

Sent on December 30, 2010

whoo! i made it to Cambodia!! I cant believe i'm here! okay so the flight from SLC to LAX wasnt so bad, it was rather short compared to the flight over the pacific ocean! orz i thought i was gonna die!! i slept off and on for like 10 mins at a time the entire flight. then we stopped for four hours in Taipei Taiwan. we all got ice cream and oh! i forgot in the slc airport there was a random seemingly Muslim woman who walked by as we were taking one group pic before we boarded, she did a double take then asked to get a picture with us. turns out she was a member. she was kinda weird, but harmless. then in Taiwan sister erekson and i ran into another woman who was a memeber and she was so excited for us. she even gave us a hug! nothing like a hug from a random asian to make your day!so we landed in phnom penh and the heat and humidity are like BAM! we started sweating the moment we stepped off the plane and we havent stopped since. although the mission home is air conditioned, which is so nice. and our houses too all have at least an air conditioner in the bedrooms. we have been going through orientation since after lunch and i am so flippin tired right now!oh while we were at the LAX i overheard a vietnamese man on his phone, and i realized i had no idea what he was saying XDthe mission president is super nice and his wife is so kind as well! we had interviews with them already, and he is so nice. tomorrow i get to meet my companion finally and begin teaching! i hope i'm rested enough for that! oooh traffic here is super crazy!! but sister smedley has shared some amazing stories with us how the missionaries are protected. so i dont have to worry about that. did i mention it was hot here? okay well i'm only allowed to email parents and mission president now...so all other corrispondence has to be through letters. :( bummer. oh well.so i hope things are still going well! I love you all and thank you so much for your support!I still hope that my going on a mission will somehow influence makie and koby to come back to church...but after wendy told me the drama of what happened it's kinda made me lose hope... at any rate i'm not going to let that slow me down! *determined face**loveslovesloves* i miss you all! oh and P-days are on wednsdays!!Love,

Sister Holloway

December 2010

2010-12-27T18:30:00.013+01:00

This was the second time Dave had to clear the driveway this month! We have gotten about 3 FEET of snow since the first of December! We have been told that there hasn't been this much snow since 1964. If you follow the crazy weather on the news you probably know that airlines, trains, public transportation of every kind have been shut down several days throughout this month. We have had about five days where Kaitlyn has had a two-hour delay start at school. Dave's work has even been closed a couple of days! It's been crazy!!!

We have looked EVERY where for a snow shovel and haven't been able to find one! So Dave had to make one. He used duct tape, a broom, and a plastic lid from one of my broken storage bins! He's so creative!! I guess that's what happens when you grow up in a house full of creativity! Good job Honey!!

Kaitlyn trying to help Dave shovel the driveway with his homemade snow shovel.

Snowman Holloway 2010!!! Isn't it cute? Kaitlyn and Dave spent a couple of hours outside making this snowman in our backyard! The first attempt didn't last the night because it wasn't balanced and the wind managed to blow it over. The second attempt was a much better success.

Kaitlyn and her first snowman!

We looked out the kitchen window a couple of days later and saw this cute little bird perched on the snowman's arm. When he flew off he was "bathing" himself in the snow!! It was so cool, I wish I could have gotten a picture of that!
Our pretty Christmas tree! A lot of our tree ornaments were crushed by the movers! UGH!! So now I think I will have to buy some new ones and then make some pretty new ornaments. I think that will be my goal for the new year, make new Christmas ornaments for my Christmas tree. We bought this tree two years ago when we were living in Italy. I love it! It's a pre-lit tree and this year we discovered that HALF the lights wouldn't work unles we plug that section into it's own plug!!!

Kaitlyn and her haul! Two movies, two books, crayons, hair things, hat and gloves, jacket, two pair of jeans, four tops, pajamas, and stickers. Hey Wendy, Kaitlyn got MONKEY pajamas!!! She wants to rub it in that she got something that has monkeys on it!! ;0)

Here is Kaitlyn in one of the outfits that she got from Grandma and Grandpa Crook. She's trying to be a fashionista! She's been reading 'Diary of a Wimpy Kid' series and watching the movie so she wants to be like one of the characters in her fashion style.

I started this "tablecloth" on August 1, 2009. I realized about half way through that it was gonna be too big for my dining room table and even my mom's dining room table so I thought maybe it would work for a bedspread on my king-size bed that we gave to my brother. I finished it December 27, 2010 laid it on my queen-size bed and it is a perfect fit! Now I need to make a dark blue quilt back for it and I'll be putting it on my bed! I can't believe I actually finished it! I wanted to give it up so many times, but my family kept encouraging me to finish it! Thank you all so much for all of your encouragement!

Aimee is leaving the MTC and heading to Cambodia on Tuesday, December 28, 2010!! I can't believe she has been on her mission for 2 1/2 months already! She has grown so much and done amazing in learning the Vietnamese language! She is so excited to be leaving.

Wendy is doing great in Utah and at university! She finally got her driver's license!! She is doing great.

What a week!

2010-12-12T19:47:00.002+01:00

Dave had a rough beginning this week at work, but after receiving a priesthood blessing from our home teacher he was able to end the week on a great note. He is much calmer and is able to leave work at work, which he has always tried to do. The missionary effort is going slowly right now since it is the holidays. He keeps informed with the missionaries and tries to go with them to teaching appointments each week. He is anxious to get on his bicycle so that he can explore the area more, but it's dark when he leaves for work and it's dark when he gets home!!

Aimee is doing amazing at the MTC! She has learned so much and grown so much in her testimony. We hear from her each week and can feel the love that she has for her companions and for her Savior!! I can't believe how the time has flown by, she has two and a half weeks left before she heads to Cambodia!! The blessings that we as a family have received because of her willingness to serve the Lord is overwhelming! Our own love of the Savior and our own testimonies have grown so much since she has entered the MTC.

We received a couple of messages from Wendy this week that were surprises! The first was that she ended up in the ER because she had had an allergic reaction to some dogs. It's really strange because she hasn't ever had a problem with animals before and now all of a sudden. The homes that she had been at are friends that we have had for many many years and they have always had pets! Both friends have felt so bad, but Wendy has been so gracious and let them know that they shouldn't feel bad! I wish that I had been there to be with her, I understand how hard it is to have to go through that treatment! But her grandparents were there with her and Grandma took great care of her!! Thanks Momma!!

The other surprising news came as a generous donation to Aimee's mission fund. We have had to humble ourselves and ask family for help in supporting her on the Lord's errand. The generosity and kindness of extended family and friends has been overwhelming! The amount of gratitude we feel toward those family and friends is something that we can never repay. We know that the Lord will bless each one of them in their efforts to support Aimee. We received this news this morning before we left for church, so we went with the right spirit to our meetings today and felt an outpouring of love from our Savior!!

Kaitlyn and I have been reading some great books this year, I keep a list of our reads on the side bar. I love that time we have together at the end of each day. It's the time that we take to read scriptures and a book. I've tried to read to her every day since the day she was born! It's been great. I did the same with Aimee and Wendy, but once they could read comfortably on their own they didn't want me to read to them any more. I've read to Kaitlyn the longest! I love it! Maybe it's because it's the only thing that I can do with her that doesn't cause me to be in pain, it's very relaxing for me and calming for her. I also take that time to let her read to me, it helps her with her reading skills and I can assess where she needs help. I ask a lot of questions at the end of each chapter to see if she is able to understand what is happening in the story. I started to do that when she started school. The only trouble with me reading to her each night is that she doesn't think she has to read on her own. This next year I'm gonna try harder to get her to read for her 20 minutes every day as part of her homework. Wish me luck!!

I was able to finish several projects this week and pull out a few more that I've been trying to finish. I get so excited when I start a new project, but then after a while I get bored with it and put it away. Like the crochet tablecloth that I started in August of 2009 while we were living in Italy. Well, it turns out that it is WAY too big for a normal dining room table, so maybe I'll make it into a bedspread for our KING size bed! When I get that finished I'll be sure to post pictures. I was hoping to also work on some other Christmas cross stitch projects, but it seems that my stocking pattern book has disappeared!! I guess I might have to just start emptying my craft boxes to find it.

I started this cross stitch project in 1990!! I try to work on it every December and I FINALLY finished it this week. I love these beautiful scenes of Christmas. This particular piece was very difficult for me to do because the detail is so fine. I'm glad I finished it though. I have two other pieces that are from a collection of "plates." Each of the others that I've done I have put in round plastic wood looking hoops. And each Christmas they come out to replace every day pictures in the living room or in this house they are hung in the entry way. Now I just need to find a hoop to put this one in. I sure hope I can find the other patterns for the rest of the collection. My goal was to do one for each year of our marriage, don't know if that is going to work out or not.

This is 3 to 6 month baby dress with short sleeves and booties in purple.

This is 3 to 6 month old baby dress with cap sleeves and booties in blue.

This is a 45" blanket and large burpcloth double layer of brushed flannel with crocheted plain trim.

This is a 36" blanket and small burpclothes double layer of brushed flannel crocheted with plain trim.

Meatloaf and Scalloped Potatoes

2010-12-10T19:55:00.011+01:00

I am always trying to be a better wife and mother, as I'm sure we all are, and this week seems to be the week that I started enjoying cooking again. For the past several years Wendy has done most of our cooking, and got pretty possessive of the kitchen. It was all fine with me, but now that she's gone back to Utah to live with my parents I've found that if I don't want to starve my the remaining members of my family, I have to cook. I forgot how much I enjoy cooking! If you are on my friends list on Facebook, you know that I've been cooking all week. So since I've decided I want to be Betty Crocker this week, I decided I could share some of these yummy meals.

We'll start tonight's dinner - Meatloaf and Scalloped Potatoes.

Meatloaf

1 pound ground beef

1 medium onion, diced

1 medium green pepper, diced

1 egg

1/2 cup milk

1 or 2 slices of bread, torn into small pieces

Preheat oven 400 degrees Fahrenheit or 200 degrees Celsius. Mix all ingredients together. (I like to use my hands, it gives it a more homey taste - but make sure you wash your hands!) Place in a greased loaf pan. Bake for 1 hour. Serve and enjoy!

Scalloped Potatoes

6 medium potatoes, peeled and shredded

1/4 green pepper, diced

1/2 cup sour cream

1 can cream of mushroom soup or cream of chicken

1 onion, diced or 1 package Lipton Onion Soup mix

1 package shredded Colby/Jack cheese

1/2 cup French's French Fried Onions

Preheat oven at 400 degrees Fahrenheit/200 degrees Celsius. After peeling and shredding potatoes, mix with sour cream, green pepper, onion or soup mix, cream of mushroom/chicken soup, and half bag of shredded cheese. I like to use my hands to mix ingredients, it just gives it that homey taste. ;0) (Please make sure your hands are clean!) Put in 9x13 inch lightly greased pan, sprinkle remaining cheese on top, cover with foil, and bake for 1 hour and 45 minutes. Uncover and sprinkle French's French Fried Onions on top and bake for another 5 minutes. Serve and enjoy!

I served these amazing dishes with green beans and fresh bread from the local bakery. It was very good!

I follow a blog http://theamericanhomemaker.blogspot.com/ , the lady that writes it is Angie. She is amazing! You should go over and check out her blog! She blogs about EVERYTHING, cooking, raising her three children on her own, work, friends, church, crafts! And she does it all with an apron on!! Did I mention she's amazing?! She has inspired me to make my dinner table look nice for my family. This is what I came up with for tonight. Doesn't it LOOK good? I think it turned out rather nice myself.

SNOW, Harry Potter, and a Crochet Hook

2010-12-05T08:23:00.000+01:00

This week started cold and wet. The weather report for the week was snow! We had a little tiny bit, a trace really on Monday morning. Tuesday morning we had about 1/2 inch of the white stuff. I don't know what was so weird about Monday, but I had a hard time emotionally. I had a couple of anxiety attacks and cried several times throughout the morning. I decided to watch all the Harry Potter movies we have, so The Sorcerer's Stone and Chamber of Secrets were the movies of the day. I also spent the day crocheting, trying to get a baby gift done for a wonderful friend.

This week I managed to watch all of the Harry Potter movies 1-6. The bug is still with me, I love Harry Potter and it was a perfect week to watch them all because it was so stinkin' cold out and it snowed just about all week.

Thursday and Friday were two hour delay days for Kaitlyn at school. If you follow me on Facebook you know what lesson I learned! I felt so silly standing outside for 1/2 hour waiting with Kaitlyn for the school bus that was gonna be two hours late! I now call the MP hotline for weather and school delay information and updates BEFORE we walk out the door.

I worked on several projects this week, crocheting, cross stitching, family history and reading. I have been working on cross stitched bear magnets, here are six that I finished this week. As you can tell they are monthly bears! We've gotten January, February, March, April, May and June here. I'm working on July through December next week.

I am so happy I got the baby gift all done for baby Makena Ardis who was born a couple of weeks ago. Here is a picture, but don't tell Maria! ;0) The blanket is 45" square double layer of brushed flannel, nice and warm for snuggling baby. The burpclothes are extra large hopefully to keep whoever is snuggling baby from wearing whatever baby just ate! The bib is for later! ;0) I hope y'all enjoy!

The Rest of Our Home and Thanksgiving

2010-11-28T15:29:00.015+01:00

I finished cleaning our home and getting pictures set up on Wednesday! I was so proud of myself. I tried not to overdo it, but I had to get it done! We can't hang the pictures on the walls by ourselves. We have to call the Embassy to place a work order for maintenance to come hang the pictures up for us. I don't think I want to bother since we will only be here for another 32 months.

Our entry hall. The open door leads to the basement. I didn't take any pictures of that area, there is only the garage, food storage room, and my craft room. There's also a "water closet" off of this entry hall. The stairs to the bedroom area are also off this hall.

Looking into the living room from the entry hall. Our television isn't watched much, but it keeps us entertained in the evenings.

Looking from the fireplace and piano into the main living room area.

The living room is "L" shaped. This is looking from the Office/crochet/reading alcove.

I love having a fireplace! This one sits in the corner of the living room. We don't plan on using it since our home is nicely insulated and stays comfortable, unlike our drafty Italian home.

The piano in the living room. We are waiting for the first of the year and things to kind of settle down before we find a piano teacher for Kaitlyn. I hope we can find one that is reasonablly priced.

Office/reading/crochet alcove of the living room. Aren't the doors to the dining room cute!!

The "office" in the living room alcove. We finally got the internet hookup so we don't have to "piggyback" off the neighbors wireless. I keep our family history books here so that I can work on them whenever the mood strikes me.

My crochet/reading corner! I love it! The cabinet holds extra blankets.

Sneak peak from the office/reading/crochet alcove into the dining room. I love these doors! We can completely shut off each room on this floor to keep them warm!

Looking from the living room area side into the dining room. The glass door going to the big backyard. The back patio has a retractable awning!

Looking into the dining room from the kitchen. I LOVE the china hutch! A small painting by Aimee.

Dining room looking from the glass doors to the back door. Those are some of my souveniours from Italy. The painting is one that Aimee did of Cinque Terre, Italy.

Here is our kitchen. The stove, like our in our Italian home, is "Barbie" size, it barely fits one 9x13 pan.

This is our European frig. It is barely six feet tall, the freezer has three drawers in it and is on the bottom half. The top half is barely big enough to hold a weeks worth of groceries. It's a good thing we have another one exactly like it downstairs.

This is the door from the kitchen to the entry hall. The white cabinet hides a microwave.

So this year we had two sets of missionaries that are assigned to our ward over for Thanksgiving dinner. One set had to go to France for a meeting or something and they didn't get back to Brussels until about 630 pm, so we didn't eat until 730! It was great! We really missed having or family with us, but we made do.

I really enjoyed cooking this year! I know that's a shocker, but I did! We have relied on Wendy to do all the cooking and stuff, because that is what she loves to do, for so long that I forgot how much I enjoy cooking. I realize that some of what I made wasn't "homemade," but why put myself in more pain than necessary? If it comes in a box and is good tasting, I'm okay with that. Dave helped me with a lot of the cooking, so that I could enjoy it as well as everyone else.

Oh thank goodness for pumpkin bread in a box! It made the house smell so yummy! And it was delicious!!

Thank you "Mrs. Smith" for the delicious pumpkin and apple pies!

Our Thanksgiving Dinner 2010. We had ham, real mashed potatoes, grean bean casserole, stuffing, Belgian rolls, crackers with hot spinach dip, vegetable tray with dip. It was so yummy! And the best part, NO leftovers! ALL the leftovers went home with the missionaries! We hope that your family had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

The Rest of the Week

2010-11-20T16:46:00.009+01:00

Okay, so bare with me here. I put a ton of pictures and tried to organize this post in chronilogical order, but it didn't work that way. So I did the best I could, I hope you can understand it. Enjoy it any way! ;0)

I did so good and got half the house cleaned this week, a major feat if you know me well. LOL Dave was so sweet and helped get the last couple of things done, like make Kaitlyn's bed and take laundry downstairs to the laundry room, boxes that needed to go to the trash out, and boxes that needed to go to the garage or storage room space under the stairs in the basement. He had been at ward leadership meetings all morning and decided that since he knew that I had been trying to get the house clean for the holidays he would bring home a yummy treat for us. PASTRIES and BREAD!! There is a bakkerij (bakery in Dutch) or broodverkoop (breadstore in Dutch) in Moosel on his way home from the church that has REALLY good baked goods.

This building above is the city hall! It is huge, built in the 1400's. There are carvings ALL over this building that are depicting scenes from the Bible, Belgian Kings, the city's Chiefs (equivilant to a Mayor I think). In the basement of this building was statues with the clothes of the times from about 1930 to current day and yearly pictures of their "city council" since 1890!

These pictures are of the church, Saint Peter's, across the square from "City Hall." It too is huge! (Hey Mom! The sky is blue today!!) We went inside the church and immediately could tell we were in a VERY OLD building because of the musty smell, most older buildings smell the same here.

I have no idea what this is, but it is solid wood and has carvings all over it. Inside the church it appears that they televise mass because there were industrial lighting and teleprompters near the alter.

This is looking from one end of the building to the other. It was so weird to see people (teenagers) RUNNING through the church. We didn't ever see that in Italy or in our church buildings in the United States.

We are going to have to check out the churches in the area next month to see if they have Nativity scenes set up like the churches in Italy did. Just as Dave was making that comment we turned around and there was this Nativity behind glass. I am so glad this picture turned out!!

Once I got cleaned up Dave took us into Leuven. There is a yarn, quilt, cross stitch store that I have been wanting to check out. I think I'm in love!! It had yarn, fabric, floss, and everything I could possibly want for my hand crafts! Of course, being in Europe the prices are not what I'm used to and it is a little bit more expensive. So I will only be going there when I'm in desperate need and won't be building up my "stash." The store is in the middle of the city, just off the city square, and we just happen to have my camera with us and it was "market" day. We were a little bit later then normal for the market, but we were able to walk around a little until we found the shop I was looking for. Here are some pictures of downtown Leuven.

The center of cities and towns all over Europe look like this on "Market" day. I love going to the market! There are vendors selling everything you can think of, food, clothes, crafts, shoes, junk, antiques, and everything inbetween. We see kids in uniforms, school or scouts, of some kind running all over the place, playing games, chasing their friends, and just being kids! It's great, but at the same time it's crazy because their are no parents with them. These kids are as young as 5 or 6!! We can also see street performers, musicians, artists, and gypsies!

Here are pictures of our upstairs, bedroom area, that I just spent the last two days cleaning. I feel so good about getting at least half the house done. Next week I get to get the rest of the house done before Thanksgiving. There's nothing like having a clean beautiful home for the holidays. Now I just wish we had more family around. Oh well, the missionaries will have to do for the day.

These are pictures of Kaitlyn's room.

These are pictures of Aimee's room.

These are pictures of Wendy's room.

These are pictures of the our bedroom.

I believe this was actually taken on Monday morning.

It was such a beautiful day today! The sun was out ALL day! It made me so happy and I was able to get so much done!

Amazing week

2010-11-18T20:34:00.002+01:00

This week has been fun.

Monday we got our internet hooked up!! We have been piggybacking off the neighbors network, they were so kind in letting us do that. Now we don't have to!!

Tuesday was Kaitlyn's Drama Club. That is moving along, well as well as can be expected since it's a group of third, fourth, fifth and sixth grades. Forty-five students in all. The play they will be doing is Sleeping Beauty. Kaitlyn is a member of royalty!! She is so excited. Because there are so many children and the advisor wants all of the children to have a speaking part, there have been some rewrites. Since I can't do much I volunteered to do any typing that needs to be done, so I will be working on typing up the rewrites!! I think I can handle that. The parents all decided that each family is responsible for their child's costumes. Now how in the world do I come up with a costume for a member of royalty?

Today was Parent/Teacher conferences. Kaitlyn got all A's and B's!!! Her teacher says she is a great student and he loves having her in his class. Did I ever mention that there is only one fifth grade class with only 23 students? Well, there is. She is learning Dutch this semester in Host Nation class. She's constantly correcting our pronounciation of words. Maybe by the time we leave she will be able to speak Dutch and French? We'll see.

After we were done at the school we decided to drive up to Schinnen Air Base in the Netherlands! That was SSSOOO much easier to find and return from then Chievers Air Base. It was still an hour away, but it was so much less stress!! Groceries were a little bit cheaper, which is always a nice bonus. The base is really small, but AAFES and the commissary were much bigger and there were so much more facilities than here. We were able to get a couple of things for Christmas for Kaitlyn.

Once we got home we sat down and watched TOY STORY 3. Oh my heck, it is so stinkin' funny!!! I loved it! We all laughed so much.

The rest of the week will probably be boring since we need to clean for the holidays.

November 7 thru 14, 2010

2010-11-14T18:48:00.002+01:00

This last week has been a week of sickness! Poor Kaitlyn, I don't think she actually completely recovered from her last illness because she came home Tuesday from school really sick. We spent the rest of the week sleeping and in bed or on the couch! I felt so bad for her. I think next year if the school requires the flu vaccine, I'm going to listen to my instinct and sign the waiver so she doesn't have to get it. It might mean she will have to spend a week or two at home because everyone else is getting the flu, but at least I won't have to deal with her being sick!!

We heard from Aimee on Tuesday which is her P-day and she is doing well. We sent her a care package through dearelder.com and she LOVED it! Her and her companion had a wonderful meal of nachos and some wonderful goodies! She is learning a lot and trying to grasp the Vietnamese language. She will get it with the Lord's help.

We also talked with Wendy on Thursday to check on her and she seems to be doing really well. She is applying for work and working on getting her schooling done. She was also able to get the Driver's Learner's Permit!!! So Grandpa is teaching her how to drive. I hope she does better than I did when my Daddy was teaching me!!! Remember that Daddy?

I taught my first Relief Society lesson today! I wasn't a bit nervous or antsy. I guess that's the advantage of actually being called to the position and being set apart for the job. I have missed my girls, but haven't shed too many tears. I guess it just must be time for them to be out of our house. Of course, it probably helps knowing that they are where they are supposed to be and doing what the Lord wants them to be doing.

Dave took this last week off from work to get some things done that needed to done, like getting Wendy's things scheduled to be shipped. We weren't able do what we really wanted to because Kaitlyn was home sick the whole time as well. Oh well, we will have two weeks at Christmas.

October pictures and the 1st Week of November 2010

2010-11-06T18:07:00.015+01:00

As soon as we got out of the car, Wendy took a bag of popcorn and as soon as she walked across the path, the geese wanted to be feed! It was so funny. It was like the geese knew instinctively that that was what Wendy was there for, to feed them a treat. Kaitlyn was a little scared and it took a little coaxing to get her to feed them too. Now we know what to take to the park with us.

Wendy and Kaitlyn feeding the birds popcorn at the the park the first weekend in October.

General Conference weekend, the first weekend in October, we went to the park. We spent a couple of hours walking, resting, reading, and enjoying the sunshine!! The leaves were just starting to change. The colors are amazing!! I hope I am able to get some pictures this next week before they have all fallen.

Happy Halloween!! Kaitlyn went as a sorceress this year. Isn't she cute? Wendy spent two hours curling Kaitlyn's hair...it lasted an hour.

Trunk or Treat at the Garrison in Brussels, Belgium. There were some really cute cars all decked out. There were about 35 cars to "trick or treat" at. Kaitlyn was so excited to go, so we spent Friday the 29th at the Garrison. There was food, a haunted house, and trunk or treating.

On October 27 Kaitlyn had to have a mandatory flu shot for school!! Personally, I think it's stupid to make it mandatory, but who am I. They say you can't get the flu from the shot or even the nasal mist, which is what she actually got. Well, Kaitlyn ended up getting the flu and spent last weekend doing exactly this, sleeping! Poor thing, she was miserable and wanted to cuddled and loved on all the time.

Wendy spent the week excited and getting ready to leave home. We only brought four suitcases with us when we moved over here and she took two of them. I guess that means we have to buy a new set of luggage before we go back to the states. I don't know how many times she pack and repacked to make sure she got as much in her bags as she could. Her orders didn't get processed until Thursday so we thought she would have to postpone her leaving, but they were printed and ready to go.

Friday Wendy spent all day with Kaitlyn. Doing fun things like watching movies, tv shows, playing games, coloring, reading, painting each others fingernails. It was so good to see them spend so much time together and really bond and make some good memories.

Saturday started way too early!! Pam barely fell asleep about 2 am, Kaitlyn woke up at 3 am from a bad dream, Wendy got up at 4 am to get ready for her long flight, Dave got up at 5 am to get ready for the day. We left for the airport at 6 because Wendy had to be there by 715 to catch her flight to Atlanta at 915. We had time before leaving for Dave to give Wendy a father's blessing, such sweet words and a few tears. We made it to the airport in plenty of time, got Wendy checked in, checked her bags and get her to security. We hugged her good-bye, told her we love her and sent her on her way. We waited for her to get through security and waited for her to turn and wave. She walked through security and didn't see her after that. I think she was afraid she would start crying (she has to be brave ya know) if she waved good-bye to us. That was a very hard thing for us to do, sending her on her way to live her life. She is very excited about going to live with Grandpa and Grandma.

We are so grateful for loving parents who are so willing to let the girls live with them, when they can't move around the world with us. We love them so much and can never repay the generosity they have shown toward us and our family.

After leaving the airport we went home so we could take naps. At lunchtime we took off for our journey to the commissary in Chievres. The drive down is beautiful and long. We actually managed to make it back home without haveing to go ALL the way AROUND Brussels like we have in the past. Thank goodness for a map, we were finally able to get one yesterday. Traveling is so much better with a map!!!

During dinner we got a phone call from the missionaries letting Dave know what time their appointment was tonight with a new member. He totally forgot that he was gonna do that tonight!!! It's okay though, it's keeping him busy so he doesn't cry all night.

Kaitlyn and I are watching a movie and spending quality time together. I don't think Wendy being gone has really hit us yet. Yeah, we are sad, but we haven't broke down and shed any serious tears yet. It might be Monday morning when I actually take Kaitlyn to the bus stop for school and then be alone all day.

News from our Missionary

2010-11-02T17:29:00.002+01:00

okay so the highlights for this week.
last tues elder scott came and spoke to us in the tues night fireside. ugh i'm in such a rush i cant remember what he spoke on, but i did take notes!
then during laundry time sister erekson almost took an elder's clothes. XD we joke that laundry time is the worst time because everything usually goes wrong then...and well its true.
we got 4 new sisters in our room, they are all english speaking going to kirtland. they are pretty quite but we are slowly getting to know them.
ack! yeah i would carry my room key with me all the time except the smart person who invented skirts didnt think to add pockets! *dead*
Uwah! something really sad happened on saturday. one of the elders in our district went home. :( it felt like i was losing a brother, but somehow we all managed to pull ourselves together and press on.
my favorite part about being in the mtc is gym time. Sister erekson and i are together during that time and we usually play volleyball with the elders going to thailand/japan or we play lighting with the elders in our own districts. and we usually kick thier butts ;P
*headdesk* i forgot my journal in the other room and i had so many things to tell you....
ah!!! before i forget could you please send me pics of the family? i miss seeing you all and i want to show everyone my awesome fam! :3
*flails around* tomorrow anh ca jones va anh ca hoopes va toi will be teaching our first lesson in vietnamese.... i feel so unprepared. T_T i feel like i cant keep up with them in the language. :(
at the very least i can listen carefully and bear my testimony i guess...
um lets see what else can i tell you about?
ah!! if wendy decides to get her endowments before i leave she should just happen to come to the provo temple....on a tuesday...around 3 ish....i'm just sayin...
man i miss you all so very very very much! the other day they served funeral potatoes and i was thinking of you mom the whole time!! *cries*
dad, i wish you could be here to teach us. you've always been the best teacher because you make it so personal and understandable.
wendys! i miss you so much! there are random times when i want to hold sister erekson's hand because she is walkin next to me and i forget that she's not you. T_T *cries*
Kaitlyn!! ack! sister erekson has a little sis named kaitlyn too! i miss you so much! i hope school is going well for you! how is the play coming along???
*noms feet* i'm starving but there is still 3 hrs til lunch!
okay well i'd better write gma and gmpa now!
i love you all!! SOOOOOOO FLIPPIN MUCH!!
thank you so much for everything and all the support!
*hugs and loves*
Chi ca Holloway

2010-10-31T17:18:00.002+01:00

This last week has been full of stuff.

Each morning we wake up to dark and take Kaitlyn to the bus stop in the dark. The sun doesn't come up over the hills until nine o'clock in the morning!! The sky has been cloudy every day this last week. The weather has changed to mostly chilly, the leaves are changing colors. The rainy weather hasn't cooperated with us so that we can take pictures so far. I hope it will cooperate this week!

Tuesdays are crazy at our house. Kaitlyn has joined Drama Club and so she has play practice every Tuesday. Since she is too young to ride the after school activity bus, I get to ride the public bus to the school. It's not so bad, but on my bad day it's difficult to walk to the bus stop. Kaitlyn even has a part in the play!!! She is very excited!!

Thursday I needed to go to the doctor so that my prescriptions could be refilled. The new doctor I will be seeing is very kind. She decided that it was past time for me to have my first mammogram!! UGH!!! I got lucky and there was an appointment available for Friday. Our medical clinic here is extremely small, so most tests and major illnesses are contracted out to the local hospital in Leuven.

Because I had doctor appointments on those two days, Dave got a long weekend!! He had plenty of time to prepare his lesson for Sunday. Sundays are turning out to be very long days at church. Dave has meetings beginning at 830, church begins at 10, and then he has a meeting after church. We leave or house at 8am and don't get home til 2 or 3 in the afternoon.

News from our Missionary

2010-10-27T10:47:00.003+02:00

Well, we have had our missionary in the MTC for two weeks today. We've heard from her each week on her P-days which are Tuesday. She gets 25 minutes to write emails, so she has a short time to write to everyone. She is learning and growing. Her testimony is growing stronger each day. She is taking tons of pictures, but we haven't received any yet. Her and her roommate keep getting locked out of their room. She is the only Sister that is learning Vietnamese, so she is a companioned with six Elders who are also learning Vietnamese. Those Elders have turned into her little brothers.

President Monson Breaks Ground for Rome Italy Temple

2010-10-24T08:14:00.001+02:00

I was so excited this morning when I woke up to see this amazing news item on the website for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints!! We were living in Italy when the announcement was made and we hoped that we would be able to attend the dedication or at least one session at the Rome Italy Temple in our lifetime. Now that the construction has began we pray that it will be completed before we leave Europe again. We pray that we will be able to have an opportunity to go to Rome for this spacific reason to atten the Lord's house and perform sacred ordinances for our kindred dead!

President Monson Breaks Ground for Rome Italy Temple

A Husband's Support

2010-10-22T20:05:00.000+02:00

It's like I always say: I didn't bring the guy that CARES! So get over it World!

Read the warning of voice of one of the Lord's servant: "What the world really needs is courageous parenting from mothers and fathers who are not afraid to speak up and take a stand....May I express my personal warning about a practice that is common in many cultures. I am referring to sleepovers, or spending the night at the home of a friend. As a bishop I discovered that too many youth violated the Word of Wisdom or the law of chastity for the first time as part of a sleepover. Too often their first exposure to pornography and even their first encounter with the police occurred when they were spending the night away from home". (Elder Larry R. Lawrence)

...Parents are you listening???? Enough said.

Oh by the way I support my wife and I support the Lord's chosen servants.

Oops! I did it again!

2010-10-22T10:25:00.002+02:00

Yup, I once again opened my pie hole and said something that upset a LOT of people. I thought that maybe I had passed that point in my life where I had to check my opinion at the door whenever I walk into a room, literally and figuratively. I feel that everyone is entitled to their opinion on ANY matter in life. I also realize that I get my feelings hurt when someone says something that bothers me, but I try not to pull everyone else into it and work it out on my own. Once I've worked it out on my own and with whomever I need to, I'm good. Because I have upset so many people, I have grounded myself from commenting or updating on Facebook. My children have the same issue with opening their mouths and expressing how they feel and sometimes think. This flaw in our characters has caused many problems in our extended family. I apologize to those who have been offended by our opinions.

101 Things--Just for fun

2010-10-19T18:14:00.002+02:00

So I came across his fun trivial game on a friends site and thought it would be fun to do! I am going to hilight in bold type the things I have done. Then in return, anyone who reads this has to repost and show everyone what you have, or have not, done! Enjoy!

1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Been to Canada
11. Bungee jumped
12. Worked at an Amusement Park
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee
100. Seen Mount Rushmore in person
101. Learned to play an instrument

2010-09-30T12:49:00.002+02:00

I can't believe it has been two weeks since I posted anything. There hasn't been anything going on here to report about, nothing exciting any way.

We have all been sick with colds. Kaitlyn came down with it first and was only sick for a day with a fever. She stayed home one day from school, but returned after one day of rest. She spent the day on the couch watching Scooby-Doo movies and napping. Dave came down with it next. He came home from work with a fever and spent the next day resting. He still has a stuffy nose, but returned to work after one day of rest. Pam came down with it on Saturday, the worse case so far. She has run a fever and spent several days sleeping off and on. The cold has settled in her chest and she now has a cough that will be with her for awhile, she sounds like she's been smoking a pack a day for the past twenty years. Wendy came down with the cold next and last, she is resting and seems to not have had a fever.

Kaitlyn has joined the Drama Club after school. She is so excited about being in a play. The play will be "Sleeping Beauty" and will be put on the first of April. She will find out in two weeks what part she will be playing. She has been such a drama queen the past couple of years so this will be good for her. Maybe it will be an outlet for all of her energy! She is so cute!!

We did receive our household goods two weeks ago!! We were so excited to finally have all of our things so that we won't be so bored. We were disappointed to see that some of our souveniours from Italy had been damaged, but most everthing else was intact. Wendy has been amazing by helping, doing most of the unpacking. It seemed like Christmas in September. We have been getting some things ready to ship back to the US. Wendy will be returning to the US and all of her things and Aimee's (since she won't be able to join us after her mission) will be shipped back to the US.

Not much this week

2010-09-14T06:27:00.002+02:00

This last week was pretty boring. We did venture down to Chievers Air Base to the commissary. Did I ever mention that it's an hour away from our home? Well, it is. It makes for a very long day. But we managed to follow our neighbor down so that we could stock up on American products and the food we love. Wendy and Kaitlyn went with us this time and were able to see that when we said it was a long drive we weren't kidding!!! We did some shopping in the PX, I needed to get a 220 volt crock pot for dinner on Sunday. Then lunch, yummy Kababs that we loved in Italy, didn't taste the same but the concept was. It was still yummy!! The commissary is pretty small, but it supplies us with our much needed favorite foods and our comfort foods. The family that we followed down left during lunch because we told them we could find our way home. The commissary has six, that's 6, registers, two of which are the self check registers. We watched the baggers while we waited in line and decided that we would bag our own. The cashier was suprised by my skill and quickness, I bagged groceries at our commissary at Holloman Air Force Base for several years as a teenager. I have skills!!! We had all our groceries bagged and on the cart before the kid could even get back from his last take out!!! Yes, I am that good!!! Any way, we left the commissary and proceeded to head for home. We live on the East side of Brussels. We ended up on the WEST side!!!! How we missed a turn is beyond me. I was so frustrated and agitated that when we got home and the groceries put away, I needed a nap!! My idea was that we should level Belgium, rebuild the roads on a grid pattern and then tell the people that they could put their buildings where ever they wanted as long as it was on the grid lines!!! Dave didn't think that was such a good idea since Belgium was here before we were. ;0)

Sunday was an interesting day as well. Church usually starts at 10am, but today was different, we started at 1pm because the other stake had stake conference and our building is said to be the largest in the Belgium. The building is actually a meeting house, not a converted house like in Italy. When we arrived at church, a half hour before beginning, there were still people from the other stake milling around visiting. It had rained all night and was still raining. The trees are starting to change colors a little and the leaves are falling in some areas, so there were leaves all over the church floor. Dave found a broom and proceeded to sweep up the leaves and vaccuum the chapel before our meetings were to begin. I had to teach Relief Society and I was extremely nervous since I have not taught adults ever in church!!! I guess I did alright, but I don't think they will be asking me again, which is okay with me.

School for Kaitlyn has been good. She is doing well and looking forward to next week when Drama Club begins after school on Tuesdays.

August 31 to September 5, 2010

2010-09-06T10:49:00.004+02:00

Me and my honey!!

geese and ducks every where we looked

My girls, Wendy and Kaitlyn

the day was kind of smoggy, so the colors weren't as vivid as usual.

Another week has come and gone. I don't know that anyone is reading about our adventures, but it's okay because I am journaling more for our children now then for anyone else. This last week was pretty uneventful for the most part.

Last Monday was Kaitlyn's first day of school and the week went pretty quickly for her. She has a small class of 22 students. She has made a few friends and loves going to school. She is very excited about art and host nation classes. Host nation class is about the nation in which we live, she will be learning French and Dutch during this class. She is very excited about that. PE is on Mondays so I suspect Mondays will be a hard day to get her to go to school because she doesn't care for PE. But then again maybe this teacher is better than the teachers she has had in the past.

Thursday we were able to navigate our way to the Army Garrison where the clinic is so that we could get Kaitlyn's shots and allergy paperwork signed by the doctor. The clinic is extremely small and it took us three hours to get done with everything that should've only taken an hour at most. Oh well, it's done and she's good for a few years. She is a big baby! She cried and made herself sick. I don't remember the other girls being that over wrought about getting shots.

Saturday brought a lazy day for us. We went to the HUGE park in Tervuren. There are birds EVERY where. The lake I believe is man-made and full of ducks, geese, and some demon bird that we can't figure out. People walk and bicycle around the lake. It is a beautiful park, full of shade and lots of grass. Of course, close to the lake where all the birds hang out is full of "bird poop."

While we were driving around getting to different places this week we discovered something odd...there are NO stop signs!!! There are stop lights, but no stop SIGNS. You must always yield to the right no matter what. We thought Italian drivers were crazy, the Belgians are ten times worse!!

Sunday was another interesting day in church....everything was in FRENCH!! I don't understand a word, it's a good thing we have translators.

Today, Monday, Labor Day is a day off for the Americans, but all the stores in town are open. It's awesome. Dave is home from work, Kaitlyn is home from school and we get to do a little sightseeing maybe. I think we are going to go to the park this afternoon, just because we can.

The geese were going nuts about something, so we tried to get a video of them squackin'.

FAMILY A Proclomation to the World

2010-09-03T10:40:00.000+02:00

I came across this blog, http://chocolateonmycranium.blogspot.com/ , and they are celebrating Family in September. What a GREAT idea!!! So I thought I would blog about family, my family, during the month of September. It's based on THE FAMILY A PROCLAMATION TO THE WORLD published for the world in 1995 by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It's an amazing document!! I love it!! Our family has tried to live by its precepts and ideas the whole time we have been married, 23 years. The things that I write during this month are my feelings, opinions, and thoughts.

"Mothers are primarily responsible for the nurture of their children."

When we were talking about getting married we discussed how we were raised. We decided that once children started arriving in our family I would stay home to take care of them and give them the love and attention that they deserved. We had a few years where I went to work and our family fell apart. It was a disaster!! When I stay home and am there for the girls when they leave and get home from school, work, or out with friends, I feel happy and satisfied. Our family works that way. I'm there to help with homework, when they aren't smarter than me, teach them homemaking skills that I learned from my Mom and Grandmas. Now that the girls are getting older and starting to leave home, I hope that we have taught them well. I hope I have taught them to love being a Mom, a stay at home Mom.

Being a Stay At Home Mom, SAHM, seems to be a job that is looked down upon in society today. That bothers me. I see children who are left to there own devices each day, have everything they want without having to work for it themselves. I see families that are split apart, Mom lives in one house with the children and Dad gets weekend visits. Moms that work hard and are too tired to be Moms. Children having children because they are craving the love and attention that they themselves never received.

I LOVE being a SAHM. I got to teach my children to walk, talk, cook, clean, play. I didn't miss their first steps, first words, first tooth, first day of school. I saw the first real smile, got to feed them each meal, cuddle to read a good book. I got to go to each Parent Teacher Conference, volunteer at their school, help with homework, kiss the boo-boos away. I got to hear about their fears, joys, sorrows, heartbreaks, first dates.

Don't get me wrong, I understand that sometimes Moms have to work outside their homes because of divorce, disabilities, or because of a death of their spouse. But is it always necessary? Is it because the family wants more toys to occupy their time? Is it to pay off those overextended credit cards? We've managed fine on one income, a lot of families we know manage on one income so that Mom can stay at home. I've seen a lot of families ruined because of too much 'stuff' because Mom went to work.

I'm so thankful that I have a husband who works hard, sometimes long hours, and sometimes two jobs, to support our family. I've also seen him passed over for promotions because the boss has to fill a quota because a woman applied for the job. I've seen him discouraged because the other person had a better figure when he had more experience and education and seniority. My husband is a wonderful provider, he takes care of us, provides the needs of our family, and supports us all in the things that we do. He appreciates us as much as we appreciate him.

2010-08-30T08:02:00.010+02:00

Bicycle Race Day, August 29, 2010, Vossem, Belgium, the race went right in front of our house!!

The officials to the far right and the lead car!! Here they come!!

A moped in the race too? Isn't that cheating?

Here they are!!!

There they go!!! I wonder who will win? Apparently the race was THREE HOURS long, I don't know how many times they went by our house. Wendy counted at least 8 times! We didn't make it to the "festival" in the village square because it was so drizzly and cold!!

This picture was taken from the master bedroom on the second floor through the screen on a cloudy, rainy evening. The pumpkins are in the garden of the neighbor across the street. The colors here are AMAZING!!!

The cows across the street enjoying their breakfast, while we wait for the school bus in the rain!!

Kaitlyn and Wendy getting Kaitlyn's school supplies ready for her first day of school!! "Mom, I'm scared to go to school. What if no one likes me?" We have this conversation EVERY year. She ALWAYS finds a friend!!

Kaitlyn's first day of school. Waiting for the bus, in the rain. Girl, where is your umbrella? Oh yeah, we haven't bought one yet!! Have a great day!!! We love you!!!

So this last week was a bit frustrating.

We discovered last week that we are on a different pay cycle and wouldn't get paid for another week!! No one bothered to tell us that. It's a good thing all of our bills had been paid before we left the states and we were able to buy enough food to last three weeks.

We had the water softener system serviced this last week and that was interesting. The system is fairly new so it shouldn't have to be filled as often as most of the softeners in the area. Five 25 kilo bags should do for 6 months he says. We will see. The water here is extremely harsh and so everything has to be serviced a certain way. The dishwasher, coffee makers, irons all have to have salt added to them so that they work properly. What a treat! The guy that came to service the softener was very friendly.

We have been trying to decide whether to send for our Lincoln Town Car or buy one here in Belgium. After realizing how narrow most of the streets are here we decided that it wouldn't be a good idea to send for our car. There was a lady at Dave's work that is PCSing this week and wouldn't be able to take her car with her, so she offered it to us for 1000 Euro, which roughly translate to $1300. It's a 1996 Honda four door, teal colored and runs pretty well. Because we don't have our Belgian ID cards yet we can't take possession of the car "legally" and register it in our name. But she was kind enough to let us take possession of it on Saturday night. It is nice to have the mobility and freedom to go where we want and not have to rely on others.

We have wonderful neighbors who where willing to take us to the commissary on Saturday. It is an hour drive each way, so it made a for a long day. The local grocery store is really good and has a lot of American products, or at least products that we are used to. We try to buy fresh fruits and veggies, milk and eggs, and fresh bread, all locally just because it is usually fresher.

(on the way to school)

Last Wednesday was back to school night at Brussels American School (BAS) and BBQ. The school has been under construction this summer, they have added new state-of-the-art music/art building, new gym/auditorium, and some other out buildings. The school is extremely small as far as enrollment is concerned, about 400 students from K-12. There is one class for each grade K-5. It is a good thing that we went because they had Kaitlyn enrolled in the 6th grade!! We got that fixed. We also found out that poor Kaitlyn has to have 4 shots by the end of September. She catches the bus right on the corner from our house. She starts school on Monday, August 30.

Friday we had to go to NATO to get our pictures taken for all the IDs we have to have over here. We had to be escorted EVERY where we went!! It was rediculous! Once we passed through security there are places, such as the library, bank, cafateria, gift shop, and gym, that we are allowed to use once we get our IDs, but not without our official IDs. Someone over at the Embassy had lost or deleted our pictures for our Belgian IDs, so we had to have those taken again as well!! The Belgian IDs must be approved by the Belgian government and it takes between six weeks and three months to have that done!!! UGH!!! Now we are two weeks delayed. (We have to have Belgian IDs in order "own" a vehicle.)

Wendy has decided that since the Beglian government won't allow her to stay as a dependent with us without enrolling and attending a government "approved" college she will be returning to the states in about two months. She will go back to Utah and live with her grandparents. That means we will be losing two children in a six month period. It makes us sad but at the same time we know that our children have to spread there wings eventually.

2010-08-25T11:10:00.008+02:00

This is a park near our home, there are ducks, geese, cranes, and lots of trees!! Wendy took this picture on one of her walks.

This was taken in the village of Vossem where we live.
This is the village square on festival day. Lots of Beer tents!!

This is our home in Vossem, Tervuren, Belgium. The address is Hertstraat 3.

This is the street sign for the house we live.

Wow!! School starts in FIVE days!! I am so excited!! Kaitlyn might not be excited, but I am!! She will be in the Fifth Grade. I can't believe it! She is growing up so fast. She has seen parts of the world in her short 11 years then I ever did at her age. The school where she will be attending is very small, someone said it has only 400 students K-12. The school is so small that the graduating class last year was a whole 27 students!! I sure hope she gets a good education and is able to catch up quickly. When she advanced to the fourth grade she was a little bit behind, but that was because her teacher was getting ready to retire and failed to teach everything that they were suppose to have learned. So when we moved back to Utah in December she was even further behind. She had caught up enough by the end of the school year that she was able to pass to the Fifth Grade. She will have to work a little bit harder this year so that she can understand everything, but that's where Wendy and I come in.

I have tried to homeschool all the girls each year to help them through the year. Making sure that they learn what they are suppose to, but also making sure that they understand each concept. It helps me learn as well. This summer I haven't been able to do much homeschooling with Kaitlyn because of the move and all the uphevel we have had in our family. We also try to teach Gospel principles with these lessons. I think this year we will be working really hard.

We are all so bored right now because we don't have any of our things here with us. We have the clothes, iPods, laptops, a few toys, and a couple of books we brought with us in our suitcases. We are so used to having everything we want or need within our reach that this sitting around with nothing to do is driving us insane!! School will at least give us something to do, or at least Kaitlyn will have something to do each night, homework!! I just looked at the email that tells us when our household goods will be delivered by, October 4. What is that, five more weeks? UGH!!!

We miss our Aimee so much!! We have talked to her a couple of times on the phone and chat with her on Facebook and Instant Messanger almost daily. My parents say she is doing a lot better than we all thought she would as far as missing us goes. She is maturing and blossoming right before their eyes, they love it. I'm so glad that she is getting to have that one on one time with them. It's good for her too because she is learning to serve, something that she will be doing a lot of while she is on her mission. She is getting very excited about going to the MTC, learning a new language, and getting out there to teach the Gospel!! I hope she treasures the memories that she is creating with her grandparents, cousins, and aunts and uncles that she is spending so much time with. She was so excited because she went to the grocery store by herself, cooked by herself, and is learning all those homemaking skills that she let Wendy or I do for her. She never had the patience or desire to do those simple things, now she HAS to do them. I knew she could do it!!! Thank you Mom and Dad for supporting her and helping her during this time!!!!

Wendy is so ready to be doing something!! She starts school again next month, so hopefully that will keep her busy, but she wants to be doing other things. I hope that she is able to find those things to do that helps her to be happy. She has said a couple of times that she wants to paint, but everything is not here yet!! It also looks like she will have to return to the US in a year unless she switches schools and enrolls at a college that the Belgian government recognizes. She wants to stay with us until we return to the states, but is okay with having to return if she has to. We just want her to be happy. She wants to be involved with the Single Adults here, so hopefully she will be able to do that.

We will be getting a car this weekend for our use until we get our Belgian IDs. Every person that lives in Belgium must have an ID, in order to DO anything. We can't purchase a car until we have those IDs!!! It takes any where from 1 to 3 months to get those IDs!! We got our pictures taken for those IDs two weeks ago, but the lady that was processing the paperwork LOST those pictures, so we have to go do that AGAIN on Friday!!

The country is beautiful!! We love all the green!!! We haven't been able to see a whole lot because it is quite expensive to ride the public transportation, so we are waiting to get a car so we can go explore. Dave and I have been trying to take a walk every other night after dinner. This last weekend was the village festival. I have no idea what the festival was for, but we do know that it is help once a year in the village square for two days and three nights. We walked into the village on Saturday afternoon and again on Sunday afternoon. It seemed to us that the reason for the festival was for BEER. There are a LOT of beer festivals, breweries, and bars here.

The next three years we will try to keep everyone informed of our doings, trips, outings, and experiences by updating our blog regularly. I'm aiming for once a week, some weeks may be filled with lots of things and others may be filled with very little. In any event I hope our family will enjoy "seeing" Belgium through our thoughts, words, pictures and experiences. We will also try to keep Aimee's mission experiences here as well. Those of our family that read our blog please share with family members that don't have internet. If there are any special requests just email me... pam_crazy4xstitch@msn.com

Our Family -- Seperated

2010-08-20T15:53:00.002+02:00

Well, it's been a little over a month since we last updated everyone, so I guess it's time to do so again.

This last month has been full of goings-on, hellos and good-byes. In July we spent much of the time getting ready for our move to Belgium, getting as much done as we could for Aimee's mission, and Dave's surgery.

Dave was suppose to leave for Belgium on the 18th of July, but the people at Hill AFB wouldn't release him until the first of August. That ended up being a good thing because he had to have a hernia repaired before we could travel. He did very well with the surgery, no complications and he was given the go ahead to leave on the 3rd of August (we were leaving on the 6th). The week following his surgery we had the movers coming to pack us out and ship everything. Did he fully recover before we left? NO!! He is still trying to do so a month later, but is slowly recovering. We weren't able to ship our car over because we couldn't get it to a port on the west coast.

Aimee was anxious to get as much done as she could before we left since she was staying with Grandpa and Grandma. She has surprised us all by doing so much of her shopping and getting ready to go to the MTC on her own or with the help and guidance of her Grandparents. She is anxious to get to the MTC and start intense learning and language training. She has spent much needed quality time with her grandparents, and I suppose she has been enjoying her tv time too. We were able to go to the temple with her for the first time, something we were afraid we weren't going to be able to do. What a wonderful experience!!

We left for the airport bright and early on the 6th, with many tears and hugs at the curb. I must say that it was a lot easier than I thought it would be for me. Dave on the other hand had a very difficult time leaving his little girl behind. The flight over the pond wasn't as long as when we went to Italy, but still long (8 hours from Atlanta to Brussels). We arrived in Brussels on the morning of the 7th and our sponser, Edwina, was waiting for us. She drove us to our new home which is beautiful and about a half hour from the airport. Once we got our bags put away, showered and cleaned up, we went off to the commissary. The commissary is an HOUR away from our home. We were able to get some groceries and then headed home. It was about 6pm when we finally got home and we ate, then headed to bed.

We met the neighbors on Sunday and they were able to give us the name and number of our new bishop, because their daughter babysits for them. What a wonderful surprise. We were able to get a hold of the bishop on that Monday. He came over that night with his wife and give Dave a priesthood blessing and helped to give me one. We also found out that the people that lived in this house before us were also LDS!! What a wonderful coincidence!!

Last Sunday we went to our new ward which is about half American/English speaking and half French speaking. We get to use the translator headphones for sacrament meeting!! The other meetings are seperated into English and French speaking classes. Wonder how that will work for the unity of the ward?

Dave has been in-processing since we arrived. We have to in-process the American Embassy, the State Department, the Army Garrison, and NATO! Very interesting!! So far the girls and I have only done our in-processing through the American Embassy. Next week will be everything else. We discovered last night, because today should have been payday, that we are now on a different pay cycle and won't be getting paid until next week. The Lord has truly blessed us because we only bought 2 weeks worth of groceries and we still have a week's worth left. Guess it pays to pay your tithing!!

Dave is learning the publis transportation system really well. He rides the bus to the Metro (Subway) to the Tram to the bus to NATO where he works. One system is run by the French and one is used by the Flemish/Dutch and one ticket won't work for the other. Makes for getting to work a bit expensive. All our American neighbors work at NATO and if they have to be to work at the same time, they carpool. I'm not too keen on the idea of riding all those places, but we have to do what we have to do until we can get a car. We have been looking for a car because our big Lincoln Town Car will NEVER fit on these roads, they are much more narrow than the roads in Italy!! Dave has found a car and hopefully the gal will work with us for making payments each month for about three months.

We have found out that Wendy will probably have to leave us the fall after she turns 21. The Belgian government has some stupid rule about foreigners being here as a dependent. She could possibly stay if she were to enroll in a college that the Belgian government recognizes, so we will have to wait and see. We hope she can stay, but if not, hopefully her grandparents will take pity on her and let her stay with them until we return to the states.

Kaitlyn will be going to the Brussels American School at the Army Garrison. She will be in the 5th grade. The school is so small that there is only one class per grade!! The graduating senior class for 2010 was a whole 27 students!! I hope she will get a good education!!

MISSION CALL

2010-07-15T20:10:00.004+02:00

Aimee received her call yesterday!! She had intentions of opening that big white envelope on Thursday, because she didn't want to take away from Kaitlyn's birthday. But she couldn't do it!! It was driving her crazy! She did ask Kaitlyn if it was okay if she opened the envelope and Kaitlyn gave her permission.

Aimee has been called to serve for 18 months, beginning on October 13 when she enters the MTC, in the Cambodia Phnom Penh Mission of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. She will serve the Lord and teach His Gospel in the Vietnamese language!! We had no clue that she would leave the United States, but to Cambodia and Vietnam? WOW!! And learn Vietnamese!! Wow, the Lord has everything under control. He knows where she is needed and she will serve Him faithfully.

The mission takes in all of Vietnam and all of Cambodia. Only 2% of the population is Christian, the majority is Buddist.

AMAZING

2010-07-15T19:21:00.003+02:00

My beautiful baby girl, Kaitlyn, turned 11 years old yesterday!!! I can't believe that it's been 11 years since I held that tiny baby in my arms!! She was so tiny, I was always afraid I was gonna squish her.

If you haven't heard our story about how we were blessed with her, here ya go.

We lost two babies after Wendy was born in 1990. The babies were almost half way here. We named both babies, Brandon Jay who died inutero at about 17 weeks in 1992, Peyton Nicole who died inutero at about 15 weeks in 1996. We went through a slew of tests in '96 and were told that we probably would never be able to conceive and carry to term another baby. Of course, we were very sad, but accepted the Lord's will. In 1998, Dave quit his job with Davis County Sheriff's Department and moved our family to Alamosa, Colorado. We settled into our new life in Dave's hometown and continued on with our lives. In the October I started feeling ill (morning sickness) and suspected that I might be expecting. I immediately made an appointment and it was confirmed that I indeed was expecting. We were shocked and excited all at once. At about 16 weeks we had an ultrasound and were told we were having a boy!!! We were so very excited. At about 18 weeks I went into labor, dilated to 2cm, and was scared to death that we would lose yet another precious baby. In order to save this precious one I was ordered to bed for the duration of the pregnancy, that's six months. I spent a lot of time at home, in the hospital and said a lot of prayers. At about 30 weeks we had another ultrasound and we were told it was a girl!! Holy Cow, which is it?! We didn't know what to plan for now!!! I had to receive steroid shots in order to mature her lungs in case Kaitlyn decided to come into the world before July 1. I had lost 50 lbs during my pregnancy, was on a very strict diabetic diet due to gestational diabetes. I had regular doctor appointments every 3 weeks from 18 weeks on. On July 3 I was released from bed rest and we proceeded to walk every night to move things along. We had a friend, Terry, who lived in our ward, Dave was also their home teacher, who was a nurse in the OB ward. She told us what day she worked and her schedule, she wanted to be there when Kaitlyn was born. On the morning of July 14, I started active labor and started bleeding. We called the doctor and the OB ward to let them know we were on our way. We arrived, got settled into our room, the doctor checked and sure enough we were having a baby today!! Terry, came in and said "okay guys we gotta do this by noon because that's when I go home." The IV was hooked up to me and the 'pit' was started at about 9 am. At 1130 my water broke, that was weird!! I have not had my water break on it's own with a full-term baby. Things moved right along and Kaitlyn Renee entered the world at 1235 pm on July 14!! She weighed in at 5 lbs and 1 oz. and was a tiny 17 1/2 inches long!!! My smallest full term baby. She was so tiny and perfect. Terry had even done a little service that day. She clocked out at noon but stayed with me and Dave for the duration. It was awesome!! She was even the first to hold Kaitlyn, and even gave her her nickname "Peanut". The nurses fell in love with our little miracle baby. Her apgar scores were great!! The following day, I went into surgery to have my tubes tied. After my surgery we were told that her billirubin was very high, 16. At 20 they do a blood transfusion. She spent the next 24 hours under the lights. Dave gave her a priesthood blessing and the next day (she was two days old) the billirubin dropped to 6. Most of the nurses were shocked. We were not.

We were so excited about bringing this precious little miracle angel into our family. We had worked so hard and been through so much to get her here. She was greeted with hugs and kisses by two older sisters, Aimee (10 years old) and Wendy (9 years old), grandparents, great grandparents, aunts, uncles and a few cousins. We were all so happy to have her here!!!

Nine days passed with lots of visitors and many gifts. In the early hours of our tenth day Kaitlyn aspirated and had a second degree seizure. The paramedics were called and the 911 operator instructed us to do CPR and resuscitate her, Dave literally saved her life. We were taken to the ER in Alamosa where the doctors and nurses did everything they could to keep her alive and tried to find out what was wrong with this tiny baby. We spent three days in the hospital hooked up to IVs and monitors. We discovered that she had sleep apnea and were sent home with a monitor. After two weeks of the monitor going off every 30 minutes whether she was sleeping or not we decided to try our own monitoring. Kaitlyn slept on my chest for the following year and each time she stopped breathing all I had to do was touch her and she started breathing again.

Kaitlyn has been such a blessing to our family!! She has so much faith and hope that she keeps our family on the straight and narrow. She brought light, happiness and laughter back into our family. She was a gift from our Father in Heaven for all that we had been through over several years. She has so many people that love her and are grateful that she is a part of our family.

Kaitlyn loves her sisters and family more than anything in the world. She has a strong testimony of Jesus Christ and His Gospel. She reminds us constantly to have family prayer, scripture study, and family home evening. She reminds us to be good, not to swear, be nice to everyone, and to go to church. She loves to sing, dance, draw, read, play games with her sisters. She loves to learn and wants to learn to play the piano.

We love you, Kaitlyn!!! We are so happy that you are a part of our family!!

It seems that when it rains it pours

2010-07-12T19:03:00.003+02:00

Everything was going according to plan, with only a few bumps. When Dave let his supervisor know that he had accepted a new job in Belgium and that they wanted him there on the 18th of July, the guy had a fit. Supervisor told Dave that he "needed" him until the first of August. Okay....we can deal with that. Then Dave started having pain in his groin area last week, We were hoping that it was just a pulled muscle, but today we found out that it is an Inguinal Hernia. Which means surgery before we can move to Europe!! We have an appointment with the surgeon on Friday.

What a busy weekend

2010-06-29T21:40:00.002+02:00

We started packing our house last Wednesday and did the final clean today. What a busy week! I pushed and pushed myself to the point of severe pain just so I could get done everything I needed to get done. The last two days have been really bad pain-wise. Dave is an amazing man! He got everything moved out of the house and into storage, with the help of some amazing men in our neighborhood. Thanks everyone!!

We are still waiting for our orders. I had to fill out some paperwork because of my medical condition and get that sent back to Belgium. There is a medical clinic at the embassy with limited care, so I had to have my doctor fill out the paperwork saying that my prognosis was good and that as long as I continue with preventative measures I should be fine to live overseas for the next three years. Our moving date may be moved two weeks later, so it could be the first of August before we can all leave.

Aimee had her interview with the Bishop Sunday morning for her mission and tonight is her interview with the Stake President. Hopefully, that will be it so that her papers can be turned in tomorrow. It takes about eleven days for missionaries to receive their calls, so hopefully in the next two weeks we will know where Aimee will be serving the Lord!!

AMAZING!!!

2010-06-21T20:00:00.002+02:00

It is amazing how the LORD works!!!

We have been waiting for notification on a job. Dave interviewed for a position overseas back in March and we were just notified officially today that he got it!!! We will be moving to BRUSSELS, BELGIUM the middle of JULY!!! How exciting is that?! Well, everyone but Aimee is going.

Aimee is still waiting to turn in her papers for her mission. She has everything done!! We are waiting for the final interviews and the Bishop to get his part done. I sure hope he hurries.

It appears though that Kaitlyn and I will stay here in the states until we get Aimee into the MTC and then we will join Dave and Wendy in Brussels. We are all excited about the changes going on in our family right now. There have been a LOT of them, I know!! But we have always said that we would go where ever the LORD wanted us and it's obvious HE doesn't want us here in Utah.

I'm Done!!

2010-06-07T21:54:00.004+02:00

I am so discouraged and fed up with this ward!!! We went to the bishop for help for Aimee for her mission because we can't do it all financially and he won't help us!! All we would need is a little bit of help for about six months until we get back on our feet, but because we aren't paying contributions directly to the ward, he won't help. We have family members that are willing help us support Aimee, it's not a lot that we are asking for. I won't ever be stepping into this ward again! Dave is going in to see him Tuesday night to show him our budget and what exactly we live on each month, I really don't think it will alter his decision. He is even considering taking our recommends away!!! Who is supposed to go to the temple with Aimee her first time? We want to!!!! So it looks like we will be giving up the only 'luxury' we have...our home. We will be living with my parents for the next few months, so that we can support Aimee. That's how important her mission is to us and our family!!!

Will I let this affect my testimony as far as the Gospel is concerned? No!! I have a very strong testimony of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the restoration, the priesthood, genealogy, and all that goes with it!!!

We have always helped and given when we could, to our family, friends, and even strangers. I don't understand why we don't get the help we need when we need it? All we can do is do our best!!! Some how this will all work out for our benefit and good.

Monday night we went to my parents for dinner and talked to them about everything that has been going on, cried a lot, and humbly asked if we could move into their trailer for the summer. With open arms they have embraced us and allowed us to move into their home. We will actually be moving into their home at the end of the month. It seems to be the answer of supporting Aimee on her mission.

Tuesday night Dave went to talk to our bishop and told him our plans. The bishop backtracked everything he had told us on Sunday. Now he says that our temple recommends were never in jeapordy, that, of course, the ward will pay for Aimee's mission. What can the ward to help us so that we would stay in the ward....too little too late.

I have NEVER had anyone make me feel so worthless, unworthy, and like such a failure, as this bishop has made us feel since moving into his ward. I haven't cried so many tears!

I do thank my Father in Heaven every day for the blessings HE has genereously given to our family. Sometimes I wonder if He is listening to my heartfelt pleas, and the He blesses me with what I truly need. I know our family will be blessed when Aimee goes out on her mission. I know that we have to show the Lord what we will do and sacrifice in order for her to go, and we are doing it!

I will not be bitter over what has happened or how we were treated in this ward. My testimony has been strengthened by this experience. I have learned how to be more loving, kind, genereous, and giving. I have learned again the power of the priesthood. I have once again learned just how much my family loves me and wants us to be happy.

Forgive me for my ramblings, I needed somewhere to write this experience down.

Not such a good month

2010-05-04T18:57:00.002+02:00

Geez, Aimee decides to go on a mission and all hell breaks lose on the Holloway family!!! On the 16th, our 23rd anniversary, I ended up in the ER with an accute allergic reaction to something I ate. I still have no idea what it was, but suspect the peanut butter no-bake cookies (my brother is severely allergic to peanuts). The next week Dave ended up home with a sinus infection. I ended up having a bad reaction to the meds the ER doctor had me on for the allergy reaction, that ended up causing my fibromyalgia to kick into high gear. That next weekend I ended up so sick I couldn't get out of bed but to visit the toilet! Now this week Dave is sick again, I think it's food poisoning from something he ate over the weekend. Can we ever catch a break?

Dave did have a job interview the week he was home sick. We are praying like crazy that he gets this job, so far we haven't heard anything. The job is in Belgium, yes back in Europe!! We REALLY want to go back!! His job here is a joke, a co-worker treats him like crap and the supervisor does NOTHING about it!! He comes home EVERY night and complains, stresses, loses sleep and dreads the next day. I sure hope he gets another job!!

Aimee is still working on getting her stuff done for turning in her papers for her mission. We were hoping she would be able to go into the MTC in June, but it looks like it will be a bit longer than that. She has to have three wisdom teeth pulled!!! She is amazing!! Her whole attitude has changed, she is so much more calm and patient!!

When and Where Will She Go?

2010-04-13T20:32:00.002+02:00

Our beloved Aimee has decided that she wants to serve the Lord by serving an 18 month mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints!! We are so happy that she has made this decision. She spoke with her Bishop last Sunday and he is in the process of gathering the paperwork and will meet with her again on Sunday. She will have to complete the Temple Prep class and then whatever else has to be done. We are hoping that we can get everything done quickly.

Aimee had enrolled at Eagle Gate College and was planning on attending beginning next week, but the Lord had other plans for her. She was under so much stress trying to figure out where she was going to come up with the money for school. She had gotten financial aid and grants to attend, but not ALL of it was covered. She hasn't been able to find employment, so she was really struggling and trying to figure out what to do.

Aimee is so much more calm and relaxed. We haven't seen her like this for a very long time. Now it's all just a waiting game and going to be very busy at our house for awhile.

WOW!!

2010-03-26T18:12:00.002+01:00

Did anyone, besides me, notice how FAT I am? This last family picture is just throwing me for a loop! I realize that with life and age comes some issues, but I didn't realize just how much weight comes with mine. I keep telling myself that I need to lose some of the this weight so that I can better enjoy my life and my future grandchildren, but haven't really been motivated. I know I can lose it if I really want to, but I just need some help with motivation and of course sticking to it!! I remember when I was pregnant with Kaitlyn, eleven years ago, that I was on a very strict diabetic diet and I managed to lose 50 pounds while pregnant! I felt so good when she was born, but life took over and stress became my enemy. I gained almost, about 49, all of it back. While we lived in Italy I was able to lose about 20, but since moving back to Utah, I've gained it back!!! UGH!!! Would any of my blogging friends like to help me out, or help each other out losing that unwanted baggage?

Family Photos 2010

2010-03-14T05:41:00.003+01:00

We took family pictures on Friday before Brian and Angela left to go back to Nebraska. Steve didn't have his children in time before the sun went down so we will be taking his family pictures in a couple of weeks. Here are some of the pictures.

It's Been a Crazy Week

2010-03-11T02:37:00.002+01:00

Actually it's been a crazy 10 days. I did a little complaining in my last post about needing a friend and who shows up the very next day but my baby brother and his wonderful family!!! I guess the Lord was listening to my prayers after all, plus I had wonderful comments from some wonderful friends. I'm not the only one that seems to be having a difficult time with this last move, I have other friends that have gone through it as well. It feels so nice to know that I'm not the only one in the world who is going through this right now.

Any way, Brian and Angela and their 5 adorable children showed up on Saturday at 530 in the morning. I was actually expecting them on Monday or Tuesday, but they surprised even me this time. They live in Nebraska where Brian is stationed with Air Force. They decided to take their vacation now to get away from the snow instead of during the summer when it's blistering hot!! It has been great!! They stayed with us for two days and then went to stay with my Grandma. We were wall-to-wall people, but it was great!!

Last Saturday Brian baptised his second son, Pearce. It was such an awesome experience to be able to see my brother perform this sacred ordinance!!! It was awesome to see because I have been a part of their lives since Pearce was born. I was there when he was born because Brian was overseas somewhere. I was even there when their third boy, Britton, was born. Again Brian was overseas. I was even privileged to hold Britton when the boys were sealed to their parents. What an awesome experience that was!!!

After the baptism we all gathered at my home and had a BBQ!! It was so fun!!! We laughed so much!! The food was great. The first of Dad's steaks since we left for Italy. Oh man I missed those wonderful steaks!!!

Brian's children have taken a great liking to me!! The younger two children, Weston and Amaia, can't figure out if I'm Grandma or Aunt Pam!! They both keep calling me Grandma. It's so funny! It doesn't bother me at all, I see it as a privilege!!! They even give me lots of hugs and kisses!! The oldest boy is Tommy and he is 9 years old!! He is one awesome, smart boy!!

I LOVE THEM ALL!!!

With all this activity and excitement I have been dealing with the pain of the fibromyalgia. Today was especially bad since I was woken up at 2am from the pain. I haven't talked about the fibro here in my blog, but maybe I should. I deal with pain at verying degrees at different times of the day, every day. Sometimes the pain is so bad I have to take pain medication, today is one of those days. I've been laying on the sofa all day and catnapping. Sometimes I wish I could crawl into a hole a die, today is one of those days, but tomorrow will be different.

I did manage to finish two books today. When I'm in this much pain and all I can do is lay there, I read. I read a lot!! If you've been to my home you know how much I love books. I've read just about every book in my home and most of the books in my Mom's home. The books I finished today were "Setting Sail" by Grace Elliott and "Fearless Fourteen" by Janet Evanovich. "Fearless Fourteen" is a Stephanie Plum mystery, she is absolutely hilarious!!!! "Setting Sail" is an historical fiction about the Saints in England who migrated to New Zealand, very good story!

Bummed!!

2010-02-27T02:17:00.002+01:00

I am truly bummed!! What is it with me this week? I feel homesick for Italy!! Why? Probably because I actually had friends there. You see, I may have moved back to an area that is considered our family home, but I don't have any friends here that I can just call and say come over and visit with me. It's just sad!! I love my home and my family, but sometimes ya just need more. I don't like feeling like I'm a burden to others, so I won't call someone out of the blue that I don't know very well and ask them to come over and visit with me. I have prayed every night for a friend, but alas none have showed up on my doorstep. Am I being too selfish? I don't know. I feel like I have given so much of myself to others and those around me but nothing is being replaced. I know that probably sounds like depression and believe me I know. I have suffered from depression for MANY years. I have been feeling really well and have been able to cope fairly well, but this week has just been in the crapper. We have been in our new ward for two months and we've yet to see hometeachers or visiting teachers. What's up with that? I've been trying to fill my own bucket with trips to the temple, church on Sunday, fulfilling my callings as wife, mother, VT supervisor, visiting teacher, daughter, crafter, and gamer, but it doesn't seem to be enough. I really need someone that I can talk to, someone who really cares and will actually listen to me (no judging please), maybe someone that would let me cry on their shoulder. Boy, I sure don't want much do I?

Amazing Series

2010-01-17T08:59:00.002+01:00

For Christmas Kaitlyn received a box set of a book series called Believe and You're There. I just finished reading the fourth and final book to her tonight (Saturday) and I was amazed. The series is written by Alice W. Johnson & Allison H. Warner. The characters, Katie, Matthew and Peter, siblings who go to Grandma's house to hear stories from the Bible and to have an 'adventure' in a painting that Grandma has done of the stories that she reads to them. Each story takes the children to a new time frame of Jesus' life and they experience everything that is happening in the story. I was so touched by the Spirit as I read each story to Kaitlyn!! Each night as I read to her I would get emotional and Kaitlyn would say, "Okay Mom, you can stop reading for tonight, you're getting too emotional." But I just couldn't stop reading to her. Each book is about 10 short chapters and we read about 5 a night. Tonight she even asked me to read to her, which she usually does any way, but for some reason it was even more special because I knew that tonight would be the last night for this series.

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All the girls have been able to spend time with their cousin, MaKayla and Koby, each weekend that they get to spend with their Dad, Steve. It has been great for them to spend that time with family, especially since we have been away for so long and now that everyone is a bit older. They seem to get along great and love spending time together, playing games, shopping, watching tv, drawing, and just hangin' out. It's also great because everyone is at Grandma and Grandpa's house so they get to spend time with them as well.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

2010-01-11T04:13:00.002+01:00

Today is my Honey's 47th birthday! He is an amazing man! I am so grateful for him and for all that he does for me and our family. I would be completely lost without him in my life. He has been by my side for 23 years now, through good times and bad. I love him with all my heart.

Kaitlyn has gotten settled into school and has made new friends. She worked really hard this week, Tuesday and Wednesday, for a class spelling bee. She came home on Thursday and was upset because she didn't win. Then she said that if the two people before her couldn't make it for the school spelling bee then she would be able to participate!!! SHE GOT THIRD PLACE IN HER CLASS!! We are so proud of her!!

Aimee and Wendy are still looking for work and trying to get paper work done for school.

Dave received a calling at church this week, First Counselor in the Sunday School Presidency. I received one also, Relief Society Visiting Teaching Supervisor. We didn't sit idle for very long!!