Happy Birthday Jenny!

This Happy Birthday! shout goes to my great friend Jenny!
Running friends are the friends that seriously last the longest!
Here's to all those marathon training days,
and those good ol' college running days.
When you run with someone for HOURS and HOURS, and HOURS in the freezing cold, the wind and the rain, the mud, the gruesome summer heat on all sorts of terrain, and sweat, and train, and work the hardest you've ever physically worked before, and hope, and dream and cry, and laugh, and smile together, somehow through it all you start as running pals and end up as sisters!

I hope your birthday was the best!!!

Even though it's Tuesday...

I am stealing the idea for this post from my great friend April. :-) On her blog each Wednesday she spotlights an amazing woman and describes why she thinks this particular woman is great.

Rachel, my sister-in-law, has been on my mind lately.

Rachel is an awesome mother to her daughter and a wonderful wife to my brother.

Patient and put together describe her very well.

She has her head on straight, so to speak.

She is a balanced person, hard working and is always striving to reach greater heights.

She keeps my brother in balance.

She is extremely courageous and stalwart.

She is calm and collected.

She always has a smile on her face and always has something funny to laugh about and share.

Whenever I talk with her I always end up laughing about something.

She is a beautiful person and extremely photogenic.

I always said the person who marries my brother is a saint.

She is that saint.

She has tamed my untameable brother.

This past month she has dealt with much more than I could ever imagine in my lifetime.

She gave birth to two beautiful twin girls, and in the same month, lost them both.

While her new daughters developed kidney complications in the NICU in one hospital, she developed an infection from her C-section and had a week long stay in the ICU at another hospital.

While in the hospital they brought Katelyn, one of the twins, to Rachel's hospital so Katelyn could pass away in her mother's arms. Little Carly fought hard to live but within a couple more days Carly passed away as well.

During this rough time Rachel has remained in control of herself and brought comfort to my brother.

She inspires me everyday to laugh more, smile more, work harder, and to enjoy the journey more.

You can read her amazing story on her blog at

http://www.alexiabruschandfamily.blogspot.com/

The twins funeral will be in Salt Lake this Thursday at 1:00 PM.

In lieu of flowers she has set up an account at Zions Bank under Rachel Brusch

or online by clicking on this link.

https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=4968467

Thanks to everyone who has been so helpful, supportive and caring to our family during this time.

(Rachel and Lexi)

Rain

I love waking up to the sound of rain.

These three weeks

Here are some things that have happened to us the past three weeks:

-I am now 19 weeks along in my pregnancy and am getting bigger. Sometimes at night I think I can feel the baby move or kick, but I can't be quite sure.

-Taylor joined an expat frisbee league and is tearing up the field. He's getting used to playing frisbee with rules, and it's great because now we know where there's an accessible running track in Shanghai.

-Taylor took a long business trip to India and even met the missionaries undercover due to the current presidential(?) elections. Apparently it can get quite dangerous.

-I took a trip home to the U.S. using my mom's flight benefits and was able to spend lots of time with my wonderful family and beautiful nieces.

- I've finished up the second of three intense Chinese language courses right before I left for America. I'm now able to buy, barter, and get around much more comfortably. However, once I got back from America I feel like I'm starting new again, or atleast a couple steps back. It seems to go easily...

-My brother's beautiful twin babies, Katelyn and Carly, were born on his birthday, April 3rd, and sadly developed kidney complications. It was such a blessing to be in the U.S. at this time so I could meet them and be with my brother and sister-in-law. Complications became greater and they were switched to Primary Childrens Hospital for better care. Despite the great care Katelyn received, her small body couldn't handle the stress and she passed away just yesterday. Although her small body couldn't bear the stress and wasn't able to recover, I believe her spirit was strong and smart and that she knew more things than we can understand, fresh from heaven. I believe she knew her purpose on Earth, that she knew her family, and that her parents loved her immensely, and was peaceful with the fact that she had gained a body and now can rest peacefully and perfect in joy. Though I still do not fully understand why she had to leave so early, I believe one day we will understand. I believe God has an eternal perspective and vision, and of course, with our earthly vision, we simply can't comprehend. I do know that he is mindful of all his children, knows us individually, and has a plan for all of us. I greatly admire the strength of my brother and sister-in-law.

-Carly is quite the fighter and we are praying and hoping that she will be able to heal well enough and develop strong enough to be released from the hospital and return home with her family.

-It was a blessing to be with their 2 year old sister, Lexi this past week and get to know more of her wonderful personality. She loved to hold my hand and talk with me, and I can't wait to spend more time with her in the summer.

Little by Little...

I realize not all readers of this blog are members of the LDS faith and might not find this post very interesting. But the blog is also a form of a family journal for us and I wanted to record some experiences that have happend lately. I'm sure Jen will soon put up more entertaining posts with pictures soon.

Even though Jen and I think it is a great opportunity to come and work in China we have often felt like the job wasn't the real reason we came here. Hopefully during the years that we are here we will be able to find out why exactly we did move here. Lately there have been some neat experiences though. Some of you may have met big Corey from Shanghai while he was in Utah last June. During that time he visited Temple Square and attended church meetings. He was given a Book of Mormon which he started to read, a lot. It was interesting because while in the US I was able to answer any questions he might have. But once I moved to China I was no longer able to discuss religion with him due to the local laws. He continued to study on his own. A week or so ago we were in Taiwan for a trade show. During that time he arranged for himself to get baptized. The Taipei mission president conducted his interview and spoke at his baptismal service. I was also able to attend. It was a great experience. It's amazing that the gospel is being spread even in places without missionaries. (there are alwasy rumors, but there are no missionaries in China)

There have also been a few other neat things happen lately. A young man that one of my mission companions baptized just completed his mission. He used to come on exchanges with me a few times a week. He has no parents but he was still willing to give of himself to go out and serve. He finished his mission two weeks ago and contacted me. It was great to speak with him again.

When I returned from my mission I spoke about three people in return- talk at church. Some of you may remember. This morning I was in contact with two of them. Roger, who many of you have met, has turned in his mission papers and will be leaving to serve a full-time mission this summer. The other was No-No, yes this is his real name. I lost contact with him for a couple of years but found him this morning. Come to find out he is also living in Shanghai! We are going to get together this week for dinner.

One final experience. Two years ago when I was in Shanghai I met a young man from Taiwan. We met while running on the treadmills at the gym. Because he was from Taiwan the local laws do permit us to discuss religion. He started to come to church with me. After I moved back to the US I lost contact with him and shortley there after he stopped going to church. When Jen and I moved back I hoped to find him again but in a city of 20+ million people it is difficult to 'run into' someone. Jen and I hoped and prayed we would be able to get in contact with him again. Shortley there after I did 'run' into him! He has been attending church with us ever since.

It is neat to see the little bit of good we can do. Affecting 1 or 2 people's lives doesn't seem like a big deal when you look at the total population, unless of course you are that one person.

Our new Sunday walk

Guam

Because Taylor took a business trip this week, I decided to take a trip as well! Since my good friend and college running teammate, Nellie and her cute family, live in warm sunny Guam, only a couple hours flight from the Philippines, and her husband was gone for training, I decided to take this opportunity to visit her and Guam. If you all can remember my favorite ultimate fighter, Justin Cruz, lives in Guam. I hoped to see him on this trip but he was probably somewhere else winning fights;) It was so wonderful to see the sun again. For the last month the sun was struggling to find Shanghai. It was also wonderful to see Nellie again. She is a great friend and an even greater mother and I learned a lot from her about mothering. I learned all about nutrition for children, singing to children, playing with your children, discipline, and love. I also learned a lot of essential other things like new healthy recipes, running while pregnant, things that help ease pregnant nausea and so much more. I had so much fun as they showed me their favorite spots: Ratidian Beach, Haputo Beach-we had to take an awesome hike to get to this wonderful secret of the Earth beach, Inarajan Falls, Chamorro Village on Wednesday evening where I was able to try food from Guam, and Timon Bay. We even ran a few times in the morning. I loved being outside running in the warmth. I am having so much fun with Nellie and her beautiful daughters, and I have one more day to experience Guam. It's more beautiful than I could ever have imagined. The warmth is awesome!!!

Thanks Nellie for showing me around your new home! It's been a great week!

Fresh coconut from Umatac Bay.

Me and Analia in a small local village called Gef Pago.

The wonderful secret of the Earth Haputo Bay. I loved this secluded beach!

One of the most amazing sights I've ever before laid eyes on. The immensity of the ocean is just astounding!

Fresh bananas from Umatac Bay. The nice guy introduced himself as Big Johnny. He let us eat these bananas and cut us open some coconut and let us drink the juice. He let us feed his water buffalo Bessie, and even let Analia ride her. He pointed out to us the village cemetery below and joked that people were dying to get there...Funny guy.

I think Maya thought this was just as interesting as I did. I've never fed a water buffalo before!

On one of our hikes.

Thanks again Nellie for a wonderful week. I really have enjoyed my time exploring the island. We hope to see you in Shanghai this summer!!!