Kelly Times Two

Kelly, Lindsey, and Christopher got to spend a week in America (at his parents' home in Colorado) while Hannah and I stayed behind.  For one thing, she doesn't have a visa to enter the US yet, and also, I've already used up my two allotted trips back to the States the Kelly's company agreed to for the year.  It was worth it when I went back to the US to take Lindsey to college in Idaho in September, but it was difficult being here while they were there.  Hannah and I mad the most of it though and had a fun week.  They'll be arriving home tonight and we missed them!

We paid Keith Malette, the lone technician for The Pool Police in Austin, Texas, for one year of service in advance to care for our pool and these are photos taken yesterday of our pool.  It's so bad that the whole Green Giant mess needs to be drained and acid washed. I know, I know...never pay for service until it has been done.  Sometimes it's nice to dream that there are actually people in this world who can be trusted on a business deal like this.  It looks like our sprinklers aren't doing our vegetation any favors either.  This is so depressing. Apparently there's a huge turtle that's made a home in our pool too.  Great. The hot temperatures in Austin aren't helping the situation much either. Thankfully, we'll be back home soon and we've hired someone to fix Keith's mess and it should be sparkling clean for us by then. If you want to see what the pool is supposed to look like, here's a link that I posted a couple years ago of our new p...

Not all the other shirts/girls showed up yet, but those who were here posed with the flag cheesecake. The young women in the Zhubei 2nd ward are awesome!  Each one has an English name, luckily, because their Chinese names are difficult for me to pronounce and impossible to read.  Happy Independence Day to all of my friends that I miss in the United States of America !  I'll be home in about six weeks.  Taiwan has touched my heart, but I'm getting psyched to be back in Texas.

On July 1 and 2, I hosted a youth activity for the teenage girls from our church that began on Friday at 10 am and ended on Saturday at 8 pm with a sleepover at my house while the rest of my family was traveling.  After a recent survey, I determined that this was something they all were extremely eager to do, so I planned it right after they finished school for summer vacation, just prior to the US Independence Day holiday weekend, and tied in a stars and stripes flag theme .  After all, that's where the golden plates laid hidden for hundreds of years.  For fun, I ordered a bunch of t-shirts and shipped them to the hotel when Kelly was on a recent business trip to the States. It was an incredible two days with these righteous, lovely young women.  Their souls delighted in the scriptures.  They really felt an appreciation for the truths they discovered in the pages of The Book of Mormon, as they pondered over these words from paragraph six of its intro...

My mother-in-law shared her incredible banana nut bread recipe with me years ago after my husband and I first got married, and I love it.  I've baked it dozens of times.  I'm constantly adding less sugar to most recipes to suit the preferences of my Taiwanese friends, and have done so on this one as well. This mini muffin version is based on Marlene's fantastic recipe, but with a few minor changes, like adding some oatmeal.  Enjoy! 1 3/4 cups sugar 1 cup butter, softened to room temperature 6 ripe bananas, mashed (about 3 cups) 4 eggs, well beaten 2 cups flour 1/2 cup oatmeal 2 teaspoons baking soda 2 teaspoon baking powder 1 teaspoon salt 1 cup chopped pecans (or walnuts) Mix butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the bananas and eggs until well blended. Sift dry ingredients and add to banana mixture.  Stir in nuts.  Drop by large stainless scoop into silicone mini muffin tray , and bake at 400 degrees Fahrenheit for 15 to 20 minutes.  Po...

We got invited over to dinner last week at my friend's house, and she invited a few others over too.  She went to a lot of work to put out this authentic Chinese feast.  Left to right, Demi, Lindesey's husband, Lindesey (host), my new daughter, Xu Jiemei, Zoey, and Fong Jiemei. There was so much color and variety, and our friend, Lindesey, went out of her way to make sure there were no heads on the fish, just for me.  We enjoyed the evening and were grateful for all that she put into this for us.  Hannah had a fun time playing with Demi's daughter, Zoey. The next morning, we had to meet with a local court appointed social worker to make sure we are fit to be parents in order to adopt our girl, who is now living with us permanently.  We met with our translator friend, Abish, at the Hsinchu County Children Care and Counseling Community Support Center. As we were looking for the room where we were to have our meeting, Abish squealed with excitement and surprise...