The Long Lost Blog....

 Hello all!

I have had a few queries about the quiet blog.  We have had one computer down for much of the last few months which means the person not in online school gives hers up (me).  Thus my time on the computer has been severely limited.  But here is a little update:

I have added another Chinese class (+homework)--which means I have 3 Chinese teachers, I have two English clubs this year and I often try to get people into our home for dinner.  With my limited capacity kitchen, it takes way more work feeding more mouths.  My Primary calling also keeps me busy.

Tessa is in a Kung Fu class, guitar class, has weekly voice lessons, and was in dance class for a while.  She is also doing extra classes through BYU.  She is also into wax sealing and will crochet on occasion.

Greta is doing well.  Her life highlight is talking to her friends once a week.  She currently has 100% in each of her classes.  She is so diligent and works very hard on her grades.  She also keeps a couple of art projects going at all times. She has really been into BYU sports and watches and reads many feeds about the Cougars.  We recently bought a pass to a rock climbing gym so we try to do that once a week (Tessa as well).

Tom is busy at work.  He works hard to learn the ins and outs of Chinese business culture--which is extraordinarily foreign to Western ways of business.  It is continually puzzling (and frustrating), but he is very even tempered about it, which is a wonderful blessing to all of us because it could cause a great amount of stress.

So all in all, we are very busy, but happy and doing well.

We do have one piece of new news.  We are now in an in-person branch!  This is great news, but it definitely took some mental adjustment.  Online church is just so convenient and while difficult, Tom and I got so we really enjoyed it.  We now travel to Suzhou every week--about 50 miles away.  We take multiple venues of public transit for one and a half hours each way.  It costs us $50 each week to attend.  Currently we meet in a small apartment of one of the members so the second hour is very challenging.  There are 25 people in the branch of which there are 2 Primary children and 4 youth.  It is a very interesting experience, but we are thankful for the opportunity to partake of the sacrament at whatever the cost or inconvenience.