Sunday Thoughts

It is the end of the weekend, y'all. This weekend didn't exactly follow our usual routine. (That routine being that everybody who lives in this house piles into the car and runs all the errands, and practices being HAPPY while doing it. That routine.)

This weekend found us all over the place. Saturday morning, I was woken up at 7am by Lo Gung. "Honey, did you spend $40 in iTunes yesterday?!" First, I panicked. Because that is my initial reaction to being woken out of a dead sleep. Then I realized that the baby was still asleep, and I was..not. And that SJ had gone into one of my games and bought me 1,000,000 bubbles. Yes, really. And then I was just mad. Apparently, it is possible to get 1 million bubbles for $40 with just two errant clicks on the iPad
. Thanks, dude. (Also? Apple customer service just got major brownie points from me - they reversed not only that charge, but the $10 that came in the next day as well because somehow his three transactions got broken up and came through on two separate days.) (PSA - Did you know you can disable in-app purchases on iPads and iPhones? You can. It's in settings, under general. You're welcome.)

Eventually, baby woke up, had her breakfast, and settled down for her morning nap just as it was time for the two big kids to leave for swim lessons. Lo Gung took care of that while I chilled on the couch with my snoozing baby. When they got home, I helped get the kids through their showers. As I'm shampooing Ming Wai's hair, the phone rings. It's my sister, who is just leaving the gym with her own little swimmers. "Hey, E wants to know if Ming Wai can come over to play?" They will be driving past our house in 4 minutes, so they kind of need to know...now. A quick conference with the powers that be, and we agree. I quickly finish washing Ming Wai's hair, towel her off, and instruct her to get dressed. Siu Jeun is appeased when he finds out he gets a Dude Date with daddy while his sister is off playing with her cousins.

Saturday afternoon, the dudes went out and did some Dude Stuff (I think it involved a trip to Nordstrom Rack to return some stuff...and possibly a trip to Target and the local Asian market to buy some stuff. We know how to party around here!) I got to spend the afternoon with some girlfriends from high school, noshing on shrimp and flour-less chocolate torte...and playing with the most adorable little Corgi puppy on the planet. (Ever met a puppy who could deal with a 9 month old playing 'gotcher nose'? No? Neither had I. BEST. PUPPY. EVER.)

On Saturday night, we had the good fortune to go out on a double date. I don't think Lo Gung and I have EVER gone on a double date. Out with a group, yes. Never just group of four at a table though. We had so much fun, my resident introvert came up with a list of other couples we could go out with, and asked me to try to set some dates up. It was just so relaxing to hang out with other adults, with no work to get done or projects to complete, sans kiddos, and just chat. I highly recommend it.

Sunday went a little more normally. Lo Gung slept through a 7 am meeting (oopsie! hehe), and we got to church on time for the 9am Sacrament meeting. Church was lovely. In the first hour, when we are all together to take the sacrament, we got to hear from the area Mission President. He and his wife are in charge of all of the 19-23 year old missionaries serving in our area. They came all the way from Korea, and she (the mission president's wife) was simply a sweetheart. It took me back to my mission days, serving in a foreign country. She was very honest about English being her second language, but she bore testimony and she taught us. Somehow, when you know what each word costs a person, their words become that much more precious. You could see that she was carefully composing each sentence in her head, and it was beautiful.

I had a chat with a friend afterwards, about serving missions and speaking foreign languages. Both of us came to the same conclusion - for us, and for those we knew who went "foreign speaking", it was a MAJORLY humbling experience. I am pretty sure I (read: I definitely did) set out on my mission with a huge dose of pride on my head. However, spending 3 months in a foreign country, unable to carry on a conversation...it is incredibly humbling, let me tell you. After the initial 3 months, I was able to understand a good portion of what was going on around me. Another 3 months, and I could respond with fair regularity. (There were a few slip ups that were quite notable - like the time I went to the market and told my partner I would like to buy a grave, when all I really needed was a bath towel. Fun times.) That was 6 months when all I could say was "Pray. Read your scriptures. Jesus loves you." My "testimony" was stripped down to its barest parts, and slowly rebuilt as I learned it, word for word. And it became more precious as I was able to share new parts of it.

Anyhow. Those are the thoughts of the day. Also? Everyone is awesome. Man, woman, kids...whatever. We all have something we are good at, and that's cool.

Goodnight. Peace out.