Night to Remember

This Tuesday was the long-awaited Night to Remember for our niece, Lexie and the Layton High Lancelles.  They've been at the top of their game this year, and this night was the culmination of it all.  We got to see all their dances from the year, as well as Lexie's solo, the "Daddy Drill Down" and Ryan and Lexie waltzing together.  Senior year is so intense.  While it was fun to watch Ryan and Jennie go through all these emotions, I sat there feeling relieved that we're not doing that this year.  Next year, it will be a different story!  For now, we get to celebrate Lexie, and remember all the tiny costumes and dance shoes that persisted in getting bigger and bigger through the years, culminating in this moment.

Beautiful solo!

There must be a special place in heaven reserved for drill moms.  I don't even know all of what Jennie and the whole family put into this journey, not to mention the hours of toil Lexie and her teammates devoted.  I do know that there were many early mornings and late nights and overnights, even, that Jennie was in line to get a good seat for the competitions.  As parents, I think we underestimate how much character building on our part that it takes to give our children the opportunities it takes to build THEIR character.  You're never quite finished growing and reaching, especially when you're a mom, and ESPECIALLY when you're a drill mom! ;)

Thanks for letting us come along on the journey.  We're proud of you, Lexie!

Ah. Sunday

Ah, Sundays!  I love them.  This last one was especially peaceful, as Scott took the 8-and-older kids to the 9 am session of the Provo Temple dedication.  I took the opportunity to dye Easter eggs with the two kids who were too young for the temple thing.  We had a relaxed, peaceful time, such that is impossible when there are 7 kids dyeing eggs.  Two kids is such a reasonable number.

Later, a long meal at my parents', then I went to the dedication with my dad.  I love my parents' kitchen.  It's gone through many iterations since I was little, and I love each one of them because of the love that's felt there, and the good times we always share.

Rapper Don Carlos with his bling and Freestone looking handsome.  Freestone really gets more handsome every day.

Evening at the school with everyone else in the neighborhood.  Everyone, I mean everyone was outside to enjoy our first 70 degree day.  Of course, it snowed the next day, which is just fine.  We have enough Sunday mojo to get us through winter's last desperate throes.

Coco thought Tizzy was cute sitting like this.

I Love My Family

My mom and her brothers made arrangements to get together to celebrate their sister's birthday.  Pat, my mom's only sister and best friend, died maybe ten years ago.  Her husband Bob passed away a year ago, and we miss both of them.  That hole in our lives can never be filled.  Thank heavens for the knowledge that we'll see them again.  In the meantime, it was wonderful and cathartic to get together and talk about our memories and the legacy Pat and Bob left.

I often think about what it would be like to be in Nana Ruby's stage of life.  She is so limited by physical restraints.  She knows her mind is "playing tricks on her," not allowing her to remember things or organize her thoughts.  The one thing that's not confusing or overwhelming is having her family around her.  Nana had a smile on her face the whole three hours everyone was there.  She must have slept well that night!

I was sitting with Nana at dinner one night several weeks ago, and my dad walked in the front door.  It was like an electric shock went through Nana.  She said, "Now what is he doing here?  I know him!"  I don't know what is going through Nana's mind when so many of her children are gathered around, but I know it made me happy to be there.  Ruby and I were able to talk to Uncle Paul about Holland, and his connection to the family she will be staying with in The Hague.  It's because of Paul that we know the Onsteins, and he gave us some great background on their family.  We also talked to everyone about Hong Kong, and missions, and how Da wants Golda and all of us to drop by Thailand on the way home.  It's so close!

Most importantly, everyone shared stories about Pat and Bob.  We even talked about the week Pat dies, and how sacred it was, and how the veil was so thin.  Until Uncle Jim piped up with, "So just out of curiosity, who's voting for Trump?"  Ha ha ha!  Allison was quick to point out that the question violates Nana's directive that bans talk of politics and sports.  No matter, there was still plenty to talk about on the topic of "Pets that Were Probably a Bad Idea."  On that note, here's a blog post (click) that covers most of the King animals.  
Here's another one about wild animals we tried to turn into pets. Da will have to write one about their new puppy.  My favorite was Paul's joke:  "How do you get a dog to stop peeing on the front lawn?"  "Shoot it."  Har har har.  Maybe that smile on Nana's lips was due to Paul's jokes.

South Asian Market

Golda got a taste of what her future holds when she was invited to Xanthe's Chinese playgroup.  Their activity this month was going to a big Asian market in Salt Lake and taking a tour.  Two of the immersion teachers from Heritage Elementary showed us around.  One led the immersion girls in Chinese and the other led the English-language tour.  What a great night!

We started at the Greys' house for bubble tea before driving 3 carloads of the cutest, rowdiest girls you've ever met, to the grocery.  Golda's enthusiasm for Hong Kong wasn't even slightly tarnished by pig's blood, chicken feet or live sea cucumbers.  On the contrary, it was almost surreal to peruse the aisles of exotic foods and imagine Golda becoming accustomed to them.  In two years, she'll be back here, wandering the aisles of the Asian market with longing, reminiscing about her mission and the good old days of fruits and vegetable that don't have names in English, frozen balls that magically turn into food in a hot pot, and sea creatures that squirm on your plate.

There is noplace in the world like Hong Kong, with its unique history and confluence of cultures.  Golda's eyes are about to be opened as wide as the fishes' in the market tanks.

Faith, Ellie, Shaoli, Hazel, Emi, Xanthe, Emi Grey, KaiLi and Claire.

Chinese must be much more poetic than English, judging by the translations.  Anyone for a big plate of cold cloud ear?  How about seconds of Cold you cannot?

Playing Hooky

I find it impossible to get anything done after school.  I'm either teaching or driving kids to stuff, so sometimes I have to steal some time from the school day with these adorable faces.  Truly, I wish I had them around more often.  I don't like that the school has them for so many hours, and then they have to come home and do homework.  I need more time with my kids!  A couple weeks ago, Xanthe and Araceli needed new ballet shoes.  After they were outfitted (for $150), we got day-old cookies, across the street from the ballet store at the Bun Basket.

Reluctantly, I took them back to school after our morning off.  When I told Freestone what we had done, he said, "My tights have holes in them.  Why didn't you take me!?"  Looks like another sluff day is called for.  If only it weren't so expensive to hang out with these kids. Boy tights are 50 bucks!  But think how much we save by getting day-old pastries.

Old Faves

Again, I give you my favorite St. Patrick's Day story of all time. :)click here 

Parenting in 20 Seconds

See Ptolemy standing on the corner?

Ruby's seminary teacher wants a 20 to 40 second video from each parent about "the joys of parenthood."  His request cracked me up all day long yesterday. Parenthood in 40 seconds? Where would I begin? I tried to do a video, but for one thing, and I don't know if any of you have noticed this, because I certainly hadn't, but I am wizened. Is that a word? On video, I looked like I'd just spent a year in a North Korean labor camp.  If that's not a testament to parenthood, I don't know what is.  However, I'm sure that's not the side of parenthood the seminary teacher is trying to magnify.

Everyone knows I love parenthood, and I love having seven children, but that doesn't change the fact, the empirically proven fact, that seven kids is way too many!  With seven kids, you're going to be loading a thousand books into your car to ship to Swaziland when suddenly your first grader shows up.  He threw up in class, your phone was on silent and your mom had to go get the poor kid.  His first words are, "I'm not sick.  I want to go to the dollar store."

Scott just happened to be across the street when I pulled over at a stop sign because Ptolemy was white as paste and there was nothing to use as a bucket in the brand-new car.  Tiny little thing stood on the corner while I dumped out my purse and ran around the car to help him.  I hope everyone driving by appreciated my mime demonstration on How to Throw Up in You Mom's Purse.

So that's parenthood.  And that's not an isolated incident, that's every day.  Funny, I never had time to finish that 20-second video.  At this same time, Freestone was at the dentist and Ruby was at the UPS store waiting for the Swaziland books.  Araceli was still at the jr. high waiting for a ride.  Tizzy was with Ro at Coco's because Esmae was at the doctor getting a chest x-ray.  Xanthe was bringing home school pictures that I never ordered, which is fantastic because I needed more errands to run.  I'll just take those back to the school on my way to the dollar store with whichever kid happens to be throwing up.  This time, I'll bring a bucket.

"This is the best day ever!"  Tizzy says it all the time, and it's true every single day.

Golda's Mission Call!

All of Ptolemy's waiting finally paid off, and he had the time of his life at Josh D's Reptile Birthday Party.

Also, Golda got her mission call!  She had submitted her papers to serve an 18-month mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on February 28, wrapping up weeks of preparation on Golda's part to gather all the forms and information, and to prayerfully consider what she would write on the application.  She felt peaceful about everything she wrote and included, and about how the interviews went with her bishop and stake president.  She had a strong desire to go French-speaking, and included that information in her papers.  She had also included a sentence about having a Chinese sister and feeling a connection to her culture, but she took that part out.  I was disappointed that she hadn't included it, but Golda said, "Mom, it doesn't matter.  I'll go where I'm supposed to go."  She was willing to go anywhere, from Wyoming to Madagascar, but she secretly hoped for the opportunity to perfect her French.  She thought the fact that her bishop spoke French and that his wife is Swiss, was a good omen for French-speaking.  It's proof that, as sound and worthy as our plans are, the Lord's plans are much bigger.

Last Sunday, Golda's bishop let her know that her call's status was "Ready to be Assigned."  Tuesday, my friend's son got word that his call had been assigned.  Her son submitted his papers the day after Golda, so Golda asked her bishop and he said that, indeed, Golda's call had been assigned that Tuesday!  The die was cast!  It was thrilling.  By pestering our mail carrier, I learned that most calls have been arriving in our neighborhood on Fridays or Saturdays.  Naturally, I was anxious on Thursday, thinking maybe the call would be an overachiever, like Golda, and arrive early.  No call.

We had a plan in place for Friday, and I set up my lawn chair in view of the mailbox to wait.  I got word from my friend Eloina that her son's call hadn't come, so we thought Golda's probably wouldn't either, but we still couldn't help but hope.  By the time the mail truck came into view, Scott, Ruby and I were standing out on the street.  The mail woman shouted, "I don't have it!  I don't have it!"  Darn!  So much for our Friday night opening party.  We immediately set our sights on Saturday and invited everyone over at 2 o'clock to see where and when Golda would go.  I was pretty confident that the call would come on Saturday, even though the mail carrier said she'd seen "stragglers" arrive on Monday.  I couldn't go there mentally, so we all crossed our fingers and held our breath that it would arrive.

Saturday morning, I was driving down Crestwood Road to pick up Xanthe from dance when I saw our mail lady driving up toward our neighborhood.  I had a feeling she would go to our house first.  I envisioned Ptolemy opening the door, grabbing the envelope and ripping it open.  I pictured us picking up pieces of the letter and taping it together to see where Golda was going.  I cringed.  Fortunately, it didn't go down like that, but sure enough, the mail lady was on her way to our house when I saw her.  Ruby sent a voice note 5 minutes later.  "I HAVE GOLDA'S MISSION CALL IN MY HANDS!!  AAAAAAAHHHHHHAAAA!"  Later, our wonderful mail carrier told me that she wished I'd been there, or Golda, so she could hand it to us, but I think it was perfect that Ruby got to be the one to accept it.

At this time, Golda just happened to be stuck in traffic behind an accident, coming home from Orem.  And, she had her roommate's costume in her car that Gentry had forgotten and needed for a competition.  Gentry was calling and texting, and the rest of us were calling and texting, and Golda couldn't do a thing about it!  Finally, the traffic came to a complete standstill and Golda called me.  I said, "Your mission call is here!"  Silence.

Then, "OK, I can't even think about that right now!"  At last, she pulled into the driveway, handed off the competition pants to Gentry's parents, and went inside.  She wouldn't look at our touch her mission call.  I said, "Go make friends with your call!  Hold it!"  She was so nervous!

We were all set up for the big reveal.  We passed the next three hours pacing, taking pictures, picking up kids and buying balloons.  Scott got home from orchestra and paced with us.  He'd been at the store buying more cake for the party.  We were all just trying to stay busy.  And then suddenly it was time!!  I picked up Araceli and Emma from ballet and came home to a house full of expectant people.  The air of anticipation was wonderful and overwhelming.

Everyone's guesses were displayed on the map.  I had guessed Congo, because I really wanted her to go there, and Perth, Australia, just for fun.  Scott guessed Scotland/Ireland.  Freestone was firm on Texas.  He just was sure she was going there!

This look of Golda's is exactly like my mom and Aunt Pat.  They both used to smile at me all the time, just like this.  I can still picture Aunt Pat doing this.  I miss her.

This is the magic wand that we joked was the reason Golda's call finally came.

Lauren, Becca and Jess, Dance Company friends

Luke, representing the wardies, and Emily Major from Dance Company

Shelter Michelle and her giant son, Matthew!

Beautiful Mic and beautiful Coco

Taylor, Ruby's friend

Tricia and Jim

Michelle and Nikki, Grandma and Grandpa.

Ok, as I said, it was FINALLY TIME!  In the most unbelievable act of foreshadowing, Golda asked Xanthe, our beautiful link to China, to sing a song for everyone right before she opened the call.  Xanthe has been practicing for a play audition, and she wanted a little sliver of the spotlight.  Here she is!  (click)  Isn't she adorable with that British accent?  Even the British accent was foreshadowing for Hong Kong, which was a British colony for 99 years.  

And then Golda opened the envelope and read the sacred words, "Dear Sister Dopp."  Those three words carried a wind of divinity, as if they brought upon us the full weight of Golda's calling and responsibility for the next year and a half.  Those three words ushered in the whole thing.  It began.

 HERE IS THE VIDEO!

And then she continued reading, "You are hereby called to serve as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints."  As she said the word "saints," she saw where she was going.  Her breath caught, and she took a step back before continuing, "You are assigned to labor in the China Hong Kong Mission."  A roar went up from the crowd.  After all the waiting and speculating, the hoping and praying, the conjecturing, this is the call that we all knew was perfect beyond our understanding.

She leaves June 29, the first possible day she could leave, after her availability date.  She is going to learn Cantonese.  Cantonese!  It has nine tones!  I can scarcely believe that Golda will be able to understand and speak such a difficult language.  It's said to be second only to Navajo in difficulty.  I know Golda can do it.  If anyone can, it's Golda.  I'm overwhelmed by her faith and humility, and grateful beyond measure for the example she sets for all of us, especially her younger siblings.  I can't imagine anything more faith-promoting than to be in the room for the feeling of a call like this.  Thank you, Golda, for bringing this happiness into our lives.  We are so proud of you, you can't even imagine.  

We just sat around for the rest of the day, basking, just basking in the spirit that pervaded our home, and the light and joy that we felt, the wonder at the reality of Golda moving to Hong Kong!

Nikki, Scott's sister, had guessed correctly.  I still remember it, too.  I asked her what her guess was and she said, "China.  Are there missionaries in China?"  I said, "Yes, in Hong Kong and Taiwan."  She said that that's what her guess would be, then.  Nikki, you must be the most in-tune one of us!  ;)

Emily Abel is the best friend ever.  She was driving home from southern Utah when we opened the call.  Her sister Amy was at our house for the party, even, and she made her swear not to tell.  She uninstalled Instagram so she wouldn't be tempted to check!  She came over at 7 that night and had Golda read the call to her, so that she could be surprised and celebrate with Golda.  That's true friendship.

Mission president Lan and his wife!

Hong Kong has to be the most exhilarating place in all the world.  Whenever we talk about what we'd do if we won the lottery, my first answer is always, "Go back to Hong Kong.  Take all the kids." (We were there in 2006.) Now this unique and remarkable place has entered our lives in a big way, and we couldn't be more grateful or overjoyed.