Wandering Browns

More than any place we have lived, I am having a hard time with the people and culture of China. I'm not sure if it's my pregnancy hormones, or Landon's constant inability to listen and his boundless energy, or the setting of our assignment where we are in the middle of a fairly large city, but nevertheless it has been a hard adjustment. Coming off assignments in western countries, and before that very friendly Asian countries in Korea and Indonesia, I guess my expectations for behavior are a little different. What makes it more difficult for me is this is the most cushy assignment we have been on! The hotel is great- Landon has his own room with doors! Breakfast and dinner are provided, and we have more space than we have ever had! It really is the best assignment for us right now and most comfortable for me as I get more pregnant. This is how far Landon is ahead of me... almost always unless we're near a busy road To me, it seems that while the Chinese people w...

Puddle jumping in the parking lot We are all settled in here in the Netherlands and WOW! it is awesome. I am hesitant to start on a bunch of posts about Europe when I still have some thoughts to post about our time in Louisiana, as well as my left-over phone pictures of Landon. In my first impressions post, I think I commented on how people are just a little rough around the edges down here. Looking back, there were all sorts of people in Louisiana, but the ones that stayed at our hotel were mostly staying longer term working construction or at the refineries and plants, so that might be why I thought that at first. Church was amazing, the people here are so generous, loving, and kind. They invited me to their homes, lent Landon some Thomas trains to play with, and even kept me in the loop on park play dates going on during the week. Landon made friends with a little girl and boy that were precious and he talked about them incessantly while we were there. Actually, he still talks...

In my recent post about hotel living , it was clear that hotel life has its ups and downs. Near the beginning of our recent journey to travel for my husband's work, our church, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, had its semi-annual General Conference. In this meeting, the leaders of our church who we believe are called by God and are prophets on the earth today, give talks to help us with our lives. I believe that  President Uchtdorf's conference address  was specifically for me. Pondering it and reading it over and over have helped me to have the perspective needed to be happy and grateful no matter what my living circumstances are. You should check it out using the link above! Muddy at the mud flat beach First, he suggests that no matter what we are going through in life, it will be made better if we are grateful. Not just grateful for what possessions we have, but make being grateful part of our day to day mind set and way of life. As I have tried to ap...