30 by 30: 4 down, 2 to go

Wow!  In just two short months I will turn 30!  The last few weeks have proven to be more challenging.  P90X is a huge commitment.  I must be honest in saying that I don't get to do the work out each day.  I don't always have an hour to an hour and a half so some days I can only partially do it and some days it just doesn't fit.  But I'm ok with that.  I still get in at least five days and I'm definitely still doing much more than I was previously and I feel so much better!  

The weight is still coming off.  It's still a slow and steady pace, which is hard cause I wanted it off yesterday, but I know that slow, progressive weight loss is better for keeping it off.  I'm still right on track for reaching my 30 lbs goal.  Let's just hope my week in Thailand next week doesn't completely throw me off.  I still plan to enjoy some yummy western food but I'm hoping I can get in my workouts each day to counteract the calories.  I think it's possible!

Not much else to report.  This busy, busy month has had me indulging in sweet treats in a way that I am not happy about so I told Stan to finish off (or at least hide) all the candy while I'm in Bangkok.  I sure hope he listens.  It's hard to resist things like peanut butter cups and butterfinger bars when they are such a rarity!  

t-minus 3 days, and counting

My mind feels like it's going 500 miles an hour!  Stan left this morning for his usual traveling and I am preparing for my trip to Thailand.  Stan actually does a great job of playing Mr. Mom while I am away, as I learned when I was gone for 10 days back in April, but I still like to get some things in order for him to make it a little easier. Here's a little taste of what's on my To Do list for the remainder of the week...

-I need to get some food stuff prepared: make granola,  make apple sauce, and make a couple of loaves of bread for them for next week.  Also, I forgot to go pick up the milk yesterday that we ordered Monday so that must be done TODAY.
-Dig out some summery clothes for Judah, try them on him and get them washed.  (Let me just note that Judah did NOT enjoy the trying them on part, especially since the poor boy has sore thighs from his immunizations yesterday.)
-Do the same for myself.
-Begin packing...of course there will still be the last minute packing of Saturday morning but the really great thing is that I can pack most of our clothes ahead of time since we aren't currently wearing summery stuff here.
-Email to make sure things are all set for our medical appointments.
-Call to make a hair appointment (I think I'm going short, well at least above my shoulders short.)
-Finalize shopping list

The day that I travel I am always in a tizzy, usually because I procrastinate with packing, so I'm trying to get a good jump on things.  I hate traveling and feeling stressed.  Which is usually the case.  And even though it's just Judah and I, there is so much that goes with traveling with a baby.  Plenty of extra clothes, enough diapers to get through till I can buy some if I need too, all his eating necessities, etc.  Plus since I'm planning to do some shopping, I have to make sure I have some extra bags packed in my suitcase to bring stuff back (just a few small kitchen items and our beloved flavored coffee creamer).  Today, clothes are being washed, and food will begin to be prepared.  Oh and I'm tutoring for two hours this afternoon as well.  I will for sure collapse as soon as the boys are quiet and in bed...which may be just a bit early tonight.  This may be it for a few days.  Pray I can keep focused, stay away from FB and other such distractions and be prepared so that I don't have knots in my stomach when I leave on Saturday.  The good part is, I plan to get an afternoon bus on Saturday, the early morning ones make my tizzy worse, and my flight to Bangkok isn't until Sunday.  I just keep pushing through to get to Sunday where I might enjoy a highly fattening dinner at some such place as Pizza Company or Burger King and a decaf latte once I get checked into my hotel.  For now the question is...what on earth will I make for dinner tonight?

did i ever tell you about...

...how I decided what college to go to?

Really this isn't an exciting story but I'm pretty tired so I'll do something short an sweet and hopefully I can find something more interesting for next week.

Growing up in Charlotte I was pretty much a city girl.  Although I like being in the city I knew a big University wasn't for me.  I wanted to go somewhere small but that was located near all of the 'city' things I was used to.  I have family from the Raleigh area (and I was actually born in Raleigh) so we visited there often.  I knew about Meredith College but never seriously thought about it until my Junior year of high school.  When I went to visit there was so much about it that just felt right.  It had that college 'look', the size was right and I almost instantly knew that was where I wanted to go.  I've always been asked why I chose to go to a women's college, but to be honest that had absolutely nothing to do with my decision.  Well actually if anything that was the one negative part for me.  Of course let's be honest, with NC State just across the street it was never a big concern that there would be a shortage of males around.

So anyway, that is basically it.  I wanted a big(ish) city and a small college and Meredith just seemed to fit.  I enjoyed my years there and have so many great memories and made amazing friends, not to mention I got a pretty good education...whether or not I actually use my degree. :)

wedding

Yesterday we went to the wedding of my Big Sister's younger son (the minority groups can have more than one child).  She lives in a village that is about a 40 minute drive and then a short hike.  They boys were really excited to go to Da Ma's house.  It was definitely a new cultural experience for us.  Because they are a minority group the traditions are even a little bit different from what we have previously experienced.

Our friend M helping the boys hike down to the village.

Judah got there the easy way.

While we were eating one of DaJie's sisters carried Judah around to show him off.

The women in their traditional dress.  Many women, including DaJie, still wear this on a daily basis but they add some special articles for weddings.

Kirby and Bennett were entertained by Veggie Tales since other than eating we basically just sit around.

Here is the Groom with the red flower, who is 20, on his way to his bride's house, she is 15.

Traditionally the groom will bring his new bride to live with his family.  The older brother did this when he got married two years ago.  Because the girl's parents don't have a son they wanted them to live at their house.  Against his parents wishes this is what has been decided.  It has been very hard on DJ and we got to experience the family 'mourning' the lost of the son as he was leaving.  We kept the boys in the room where they had us sit so that they would not see the crying and such that was going on.  DJ was very upset and even her husband was crying.  Even though they will just be living in the next village it was difficult for the family.  It's hard to understand but interesting to experience it all.

On the way out of the village Stan and Kirby were playing.  Stan put Kirby in the bush and he got upset cause he didn't think he could get back to the road.

Judah was worn out.  When I took him out of the carrier it seemed like he couldn't put his legs back down.  He did great all day being passed around and not really getting a great nap.

it's friday...

This has been one of those weeks where it seems like there have constantly been things to get done and not much time to sit down and just be.  Not that I'm complaining but I am looking forward to hopefully a little bit of a restful afternoon and evening.

We've had house guests since Sunday, but since they were single guys they aren't too particular about their accommodations or what they are served to eat.  So as far as house guests go they were quite low maintenance.  They left last night after dinner but I pretty much headed straight to bed.  I still have a few things on my To Do List but I'm going to be laid back about it.

Tomorrow we head to our helpers house in the village to be a part of her youngest sons wedding.  It should be interesting with three boys in tow but we are looking forward to the experience.  We've been to one village wedding before but we didn't know the people very well and I was starting to get pretty sick while pregnant with Judah so we didn't stay very long.  This time we know the family very well.  Of course we still won't be able to stay for the whole event cause these things go on well into the night.  Plus we will be there during nap time so I'm expecting the afternoon to be quite interesting, I'm sure we will head home for an early bed time.  Hopefully I will have some pictures to share.

OK, off to feed the baby, get a few things done and then hopefully also get some rest.

did i ever tell you about...

...the time my friends and I stalked down the Backstreet Boys?

Yes.  I'm serious.  And actually it wasn't just one time...it was two times (or was it three, oh please let it not have been three).  Before I start the story let me first explain that these were not the Senior Women, my high school friends.  I'm sure they appreciate not being associated with this.  My Meredith girls on the other hand have no way to escape the truth.  So Kitty, Tara and Carly...sorry but I'm telling it.  This is my best recollection.  Ladies, if I forget any important parts, please let me know.

So going to a women's college apparently posed a few entertainment issues for us.  Or either we were really bad students.  Whatever the reason we developed an obsession (lets call it what it was ladies) with the BSB.  We watched them on TRL, we had all their music and yes, we had posters in our dorm rooms.  Picture the way many of you felt about The New Kids On the Block in elementary school.  But of course we thought if we ever met them we might actually have a chance since we were adults and not teeny boppers.  (We didn't really think we had a chance, but be honest, all of us at one point have had thoughts of what it would be like for a famous person to fall in love with us.)

So as this obsession starts our Freshman year at Meredith and then grows full blown our Sophomore year we decide we wanted to go to see them in action.  The first round of tours did not come to Raleigh but luckily they were making a stop in Charlotte!  How convenient.  We could even stay with my parents in order to save money for tickets, gas and fabulous outfits...you know for when they spot us up in the nose bleed section of the colosseum and fall madly in love with us.

Concert time arrives and we make the drive to Charlotte.  The night before the show we thought it would be fun to go look and see if we could find the hotel where they were staying. (WARNING:  total insanity to follow!)  I know Charlotte so I know where the nice hotels are and the possibilities of the current location of the BSB.  We drive around a little and head to South Park Suits (it could quite possibly have a different name now) and as we round the corner to a rear parking lot we irrupt in the high pitched squeals of our inner teeny bopper as the TOUR BUSSES come into view.  Oh, how wonderful.  We get out of the car and take pictures with the busses and then start to debate our next move.  At this point we decide to sneak into the hotel and do our best to blend in (cause, you know, a LOT of hotel guests roam the halls and ride the elevator up and down).  We come across some other girls, yes they were also around our age, that had the same bright idea.  After roaming a while we thought it would be smart to sit in one of the lounge areas (again, did we actually think one of the group members would just come walking by?).  We see a couple of trendy dressed young adults walking around and do our best to 'act cool'--yes, I get the irony in that--and strike up a conversation with one of the guys.  They were headed out to a night club and we find out that they were the BSB's back up dancers.  Since we had been on our mission for quite a while Tara had to go to the bathroom at was at the point of desperation.  So we asked the guy if she could use the bathroom in his room.  He was fine with that and knowing that sending your friend off to a random guy's hotel room alone is not so smart I said I would go with her.  While Tara was doing her business this wonderfully creepy back up dancer asked me to stay with him for the night.  Ummm, no thank you, make up wearing sleazy dancer man.  I'll pass on that.  And all I can wonder is does him being a BSB backup dancer work for getting him girls?  It was getting late and upon finding out that only the dancers and crew were staying at that hotel we decided to call it a night.  With promises of Dancer Man to give us a call and do his best to get us back stage.  We didn't hold our breath.

Despite not getting to meet a member of the BSB we could not believe how close we came.  We did not get a call from our new friend but we did enjoy the show!

Unfortunately this does not end our attempts to befriend the BSB.  Since the tour was such a huge hit they ended up extending the tour dates.  They were coming back to NC and performing in both Charlotte and Raleigh.  We got tickets to both shows.  Yes, tickets to two nights of the same show we had already seen once before.  And this time our moms were joining us for the Raleigh show.  No they did not participate in any stalking.

This time during our time in Charlotte we starting thinking ahead of time.  We figured out where they were staying and we made reservations for the same place.  As actual guests in the hotel our chances of meeting them were certainly greater.  We didn't go for any crazy hall walking, I mean this is a really nice place and we didn't want to risk getting kicked out.  So while we were walking in the parking lot (I think maybe on the way back from dinner???) we noticed a blond lady letting her two little dogs use the bathroom in a grassy area.  And who should it be but Leighanne Wallace, future wife of BSB member Brian Littrell.  We said hello to her and she asked us to give her a minute and she would come over to us.  Once her little puppies finished their business she came over and chatted with us for a few minutes and we took pictures with her.  She was super nice and we of course were happy to congratulate her on her engagement and ogle her enormous diamond ring.

So there it is.  Confessions of a former boy band stalker.  You will be happy to know not even a year later we were totally convicted by the fact that if we put as much time and energy into worshipping the Lord as we did into following every detail of the BSB, we would know the Lord in an unimaginable way.  Thus ended our BSB days.  We had fun while it lasted and now can only laugh at ourselves in the craziness that it was.

Now it's your turn.  Anyone else got a crazy stalker story to share?  Or just a story about something crazy you did that now when you think about it all you can do is hide your face in shame.  It can't be worse that mine, so please share!

our weekend

This weekend was pretty great.  Stan made it home on Friday just after the boys went down for their nap so we had a little time to hang out before the bombardment of the boys on daddy that followed nap time.  Friday night was pizza and movie night.  We watched Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs.  Well the boys all got to watch it as I cooked pizza and then attended to Judah, but that's normal for our pizza and movie nights.

Saturday we were the Pittmans that don't do anything.  It was a nice lazy day.  Although I did do a few things like make a loaf of bread...well the bread machine made it...washed some dishes and cleaned a little to prepare for everyone coming over Sunday morning.  Oh and it was Kempo X day.  We did do our workout.

Sunday morning was at our house, followed by lunch and a restful(ish) afternoon.  Tomorrow is a busy day.  Actually I think this week will over all be busy.  No class for Stan but we have a lot to do around here.

Hope you are ready for a great 'did i ever tell you' tomorrow.  It may forever change your opinion of me.

oooops...

I may have just eaten about 20 Reese's peanut butter cup miniatures.  I'm pretty sure that completely makes my Shoulders and Arms and Ab Ripper X workouts null and void.  Usually when I am on a diet I wouldn't keep such things in my home, but they can not be bought here and they were set to us in a Christmas package.  I mean to get rid of them would just be wasteful.  And today was a long day so right now I don't care.  Tomorrow is a new day.

I will get up early and do Yoga X which is that good sweat that comes with relaxing stretch.  I never thought I would like yoga.  Ever.  But I have to say that is one day I really look forward to.

Now that I have made my chocolate and peanut butter confession and my load of laundry has finished in the dryer I am headed upstairs, sans laptop.  After I fold the three loads of laundry that are patiently waiting in the 'clean' basket, I may attempt to read for a few minutes but I guarantee those pages will have to be reread another time cause I doubt I will comprehend them.  Good night...well day for most of you.

p90x update

We have now completed two weeks of p90x and are on day two of week three.  So far I don't want to curl up in the fetal position and cry (ok maybe I did want to the first couple of days but I'm over it now).  To be honest for me the hardest part is getting out of bed so early, into the coldness of our unheated home and that initial motivation to get it done.  I enjoy the challenge of the workouts and usually feel great when I finish.  We have been totally consistent other than me skipping day 3 to give my back a rest (one day got me over the initial aggravation intense workout can sometimes lead to and I was able to pick right back up with YogaX on day four) and then I had to take off last Monday as I was getting over food poisoning and hadn't eaten in a good two days and really wanted to build my strength, and milk supply, back up before jumping back in.  I'm hopping I can get through this whole week without any necessary breaks.

So here are my thoughts on the first two weeks:

-No matter how much I like to sleep, I always feel better the rest of the day if I suck it up, get out of bed and just do the workout.

-It is a lot less intimidating than I had convinced myself.  I still can't keep up with the number of reps they do but I can do every move they do (except the Dreya Roll, but it will happen).

-It's definitely just as much a time commitment as it is a physical commitment.

-If I don't get up in the morning to do it, it won't get done.

-I refuse to let myself get discouraged if I have a set back one day.  I will jump back in even if I have to miss a workout.

-Still trying to figure out how to take it on the road with me to Bangkok in a few weeks.  But I'm not going to take that week off.

-Weight it still coming off, a little at the time.  That's the way I want to lose although it would be great to magically be thin again.  I am determined by this time next year I will be at my lowest weight since I got married.

did i ever tell you about...

...how we picked the names of our children?

Kirby Isaiah:  Kirby is a family name from my side of the family.  It's my maternal grandmother's maiden name. If I had been born a boy my name would have been Kirby, but since I was born a girl my name is (well was) Rachel Kirby Whitesell.  In all honesty when I was little I hated that my middle name was Kirby.  I wanted my middle name to be Elizabeth, Marie or Nicole like all of my friends.  But suddenly when I reached middle school I finally figured out that being a little different was ok and all of the sudden I loved the name.  So from that point on I always wanted to name my son Kirby.  When Stan and I found out Kirby was a boy--which in my heart I knew from the moment I saw the positive pregnancy results--and he nixed naming our son after himself to be the third (which, for the record, I was in favor of) we agreed it would be Kirby.  Isaiah is Stan's favorite book in the Old Testament, maybe in the whole Bible, so that was what we went with for his middle name.

Bennett Elijah:  Bennett is also a family name.  It's Stan's mother's maiden name.  Seriously I can remember when Stan and I were talking about family names while we were dating and finding out that Bennett was his mother's maiden name and I thought to myself 'Oh I hope I marry him so I can use that as a boy's name and it won't be weird'.  I just loved it so much.  I'm not saying I married Stan only to be able to name my child that but it might have been one of the reasons. ;)  We went with Elijah as his middle name to stick with the major prophet theme and because we both also really like that name.

So basically Kirby and Bennett both had their names picked out before Stan and I were even married.

Judah Wallace:  Judah was the boy name that we never thought we would have to use.  Since Stan and I were both completely convinced that baby #3 would be a girl we struggled and struggled to agree on a girl name (which we had never been able to do with the previous two pregnancies).  Judah was actually the name of the baby in a family we met while at training in Richmond.  They weren't in training with us but came through for another reason.  They had a sweet baby boy with them who was at the time about 6 weeks old.  They are such a sweet family and that baby was just precious (and I'm sure he is a precious  toddler now).  After hearing the name Judah I turned to Stan and said 'if we have another boy I want to name him Judah.'  I even told baby Judah's mother that there was a good chance if we had another son we would steal that name.  She didn't care, of course.  Stan liked it too but we were sure we would never  use it.  Silly us.  When we found out Judah was boy #3, and got over our shock, I still loved the name Judah but had doubts as to whether I really wanted to use it.  It wasn't until April when I was sent to Bangkok with the pre-term labor issues that God confirmed it in my heart that Judah was this precious baby's name.  God continually brought Genesis 49:8-12 to me during that time.  I knew this baby was a strong little lion's cub and needed to be named Judah.  We chose Wallace since it's Stan's first name and obviously a family name...we like family names. :)

So there you go.  Each boy has a family name and a Biblical name.  Next week... something a little wacky.  I promise.

interest

Well it seems that at least a few of you are interested in the 'did I ever tell you about...' idea.  I hope I'm not going to be the only one to do this.  I would love to have some of my friends take part so I can read about random things from their life.  Also, since the first few comments have asked about things from the past and present I will mix it up and do both.  I'm thinking I will aim to do these posts on Mondays.  For now at least.  So if you are going to do it as well you can copy my idea (or do one that you come up with on your own).  Of course I won't get to read yours till Tuesday if you are doing the same day but that's fine by me.  Keep leaving comments if you think of stuff you would like to do yourself or that you would just like me to share.  Since we are in a sensitive area there may be things about the present that I can't be TOO detailed on but I should certainly be able to share just some day to day things.  I can't decide if I will start with something silly like the Backstreet boys story (which I feel I have been given full permission to share since Kathleen--aka Kitty--said I should share it) or something more along the lines of family or daily life.  Let's see what mood I'm in when I sit down to write.  Anyway, I like the suggestions I got and if I miss something you really want to know comment again on it.  And I think on days when it's a kinda short thing to answer, I'll probably squeeze in two.

I hope some of you will join me!  I love learning new things about friends and I'm hoping to get some additional ideas from some of you. :)

mmmm...yummy

I haven't been able to find many photos to keep doing a Wordless Wednesday, not to mention that I almost never have my camera handy when something WW worthy is in site.  But this to me is just funny and slightly crude.  It's called farfalloni but if you look carefully it doesn't look like that...

Oh so appetizing, huh?

did i ever tell you about...

This is a new thing I have come up with for the new year.  I thought it would be fun for anyone who reads to suggest a life story they would like to read about me.  I may only have like 5 readers but there has got to be something those 5 people have wanted to ask me but never have.  I can't say that I will publicly answer everything but I may privately reply.  Anyway, I may do this each week, each moth or just whenever.  It will mostly depend on the kind of response I get.  If no one is interested I'll just move on, but I thought it could be fun.  And my hope is once I write on something some other of my blogger friends will steal the idea and do the same.  I think this will especially be fun for those of us who feel less than creative when writing blogs or often get stuck for blogging ideas.  So who's in?  A few ideas I had for blogs are:

Did I ever tell you about...

-how I met my husband?

-how Jesus changed my life?  (Meaning how I got to the point of knowing I needed Him.)

-the time my friends and I tried to stalk down the Backstreet Boys? (sad, but true)

-how and when I knew I would live in China?

-the time I did the gallon challenge at a youth camp?

-how I chose my children's names?

So many more ideas but I want someone else to come up with them.  My two main readers (well the only two that ever leave comments, my Mom and Kitty) probably know most of these stories but there are maybe other readers out there that don't.  I think this could be really fun to hear stories from those I didn't know as children or those that I've reconnected with after many years.  So if you want to participate of even just want to hear about something random you come up with leave me a comment.  If several of you want to do it we can organize (my favorite thing) a certain day and topic to all do together.  I'm willing to share...are you?

the new year

Starting a new year is always exciting to me.  This year was no different.  Despite the fact that on day one of 2010 I had a less than stellar beginning with some stomach bug that included a fever--can not remember the last time I had a fever--and it took me a good 48 hours to feel better and another day to be able to eat and build strength back up, I am still hopeful this will be an excellent year.  Most people make resolutions or, my preferable name for it, goals.  I am going to be no different.  So here we are on the 5th and I am going to catch up for what I would have posted last Friday and over the weekend.

--Get more organized and head off coming chaos--

Since moving here I have felt that no matter what I tried to do I couldn't get rid of the minor areas of chaos in my life.  All of the many little areas that were disorganized were jumbled together and created mass disorder for me.  This does not make for a happy Rachel.  So a few weeks ago I was going through some magazines that were sent to me a year ago.  Many of those were 2008 issues, but when they are new to you they are still quite enjoyable to read (yes, if you want to send me something I will take your old magazines).  I found the January issue of what I believe was a Better Homes and Gardens and it was all about getting organized.  Oh, it was better reading than a best selling novel.  So I was greatly inspired and started immediately tackling a few small things.  I went around town and found little baskets, small shelving things and such and got busy (it made me long for a label maker in the worst way).  I've worked on the bathroom cabinets, my spice drawer (oh it was shameful) and a couple of other areas.  Two big areas that needed work were the office/school room/laundry room and the back outside storage named by Stan 'the man cave'.  The office will always be a tad difficult to keep spotless but I can handle it much better and with a good clean sweep every couple of days it's kept under control.  Seeing my neatly organized spice drawer just makes me smile.

--Take more 'me' time--

I think many of us women, especially those with small children at home, often find that we aren't getting the breaks we need to keep mentally, physically and emotionally strong.  We don't give our batteries a chance to recharge...especially since an uninterrupted night of sleep comes and goes with the seasons of life.  So I am determined to have a few moments each day where I'm not trying to get anything accomplished.  I will make no lists.  I will fold no clothes.  I will NOT answer the phone and I will just be.  I will spend it in prayer or listening to music or wondering random shops (cause that's the only kind we have) but I will not be productive.  Maybe I should make a goal of three times a week to start off with...

--Get unplugged--

Of course not totally.  I mean the internet is my main avenue of keeping in contact with family and friends.  But what I hope to do is cut down on wasted time spend on the internet.  I will not spend as much time browsing through FB or blogs.  Not that it's bad, but I spend a lot of time peering into the lives of people I haven't talked to in 10 years or more.  As I think about it, it's just kinda creepy.  I still want to keep up with those that I love but cut out the 'extra' time I spend.  And I will absolutely keep reading the blogs of friends and family that mean so much to me as well as keep up with mine, because I enjoy it, but not come back to check mid-day to see if there are new blog updates.  Because 9.5 times out of 10, there aren't.  Most of you are sleeping while I'm awake....duh!  Also, I want to watch less TV.  Which really consists totally of movies and TV shows on DVD since I don't watch local TV (please ask me sometime to tell you about Chinese Soap Operas...hilarious!) but still takes up time that I should be playing Candy Land and other fun things with the sweetest little boys you've ever met.  Plus doing more reading, knitting and other such things that relax me go along with the whole 'me' time thing.

--Continue making healthy changes--

Since losing weight is always on my list I might as well not end that trend.  Fortunately for me, I started some goals months ago so this is just a bonus.  Once I reach my 30 by 30 goal I don't plan to stop.  I hope that I'm always striving to find ways to be healthier in all areas of my life.  Most certainly I want to always be striving for growth in my walk with Christ and ultimately any changes I make in my physical life are to honor him and better myself to be the best servant of HIM I can be.  I don't think I will ever be in the 'Health Nut' category cause I enjoy chocolate and pizza WAY too much but I am striving to find freedom in that area of my life and to no longer be controlled by food.  Not to mention there is absolutely no artificial high that can compare to the natural one you get from a great workout.

--Learn to cook Chinese food--

Umm, yes.  I've lived in China for a year and a half and have yet to learn how to cook authentic Chinese food.  Shame. on. me.  Several family members enthusiastically reminded me over the weekend that we will go back to the States next year, of which I enthusiastically replied 'You're right!'  I would love to be able to cook each of you a chinese meal, in my home--where ever that may be--and spend time with you.  We will arrive in the States in September 2011 and spend at least 6 months there in various places and I should be able to host many of my loved ones and treat you to something delicious.  I better get on it.

OK, many more things but these are my main ones.  I've gone on too long so this is it for now.