Emma's Baptism

I started a post a few days ago, but I was, too, tired to finish. This one will be short.  I am tired once again.
The kids were really excited to go to the baptism an 8 year old girl in our branch, Emma or Emos in Lithuanian. She is a sweet little girl. We left almost 2 hours early.  They were biting at the bits to get there.  I am glad we left early because apparently there are two buses that are labeled Bus 10.  Well Let me correct that statement.

There is a Trolly Bus 10.

There is a Bus 10.

One of these goes to the church and the other goes somewhere else.  

Once I realized that we were going the wrong way.  I tried to get off the bus, but the driver already started to go.  I was at the door any everything trying to get out.  That is the way it is.  I am glad that I am resourceful and did not panic.  We got off at the next stop.  Waited for another bus to drive us back a stop to walk to the right bus.  I just hoped the bus we had gotten on would go in the direction I had hoped.  It did.  It was a bit of a walk to the bus we needed.  There the right bus drove by.  On the weekends the bus is less frequent, but the 10 comes more often than most.  The kids did get restless waiting.  This is a small challenge only because there are three of them and one of me plus a busy road.  For the most part the older two listened, but the smallest of them all has an agenda of her own.  

We finally got on the right bus.  We made it to the church.  I am always so happy to see the church.  It is a home and a refuge to me.  Even if I cannot understand anything, I can feel the Spirit.  I guess that is why I am willing to take the long trip to go there.  That is why I have gone the last two days.  It is the closest as I can come to the temple.  I know they are buildings of different purposes, but the Spirit is strong in both. Before the ceremony began I found Emma. I gave her a white flower and some hair ties.  She loved her flower.  I thought it was really sweet to see her smile.  Her mom was touched as well.

Her mother is the Relief Society President.  She has been very helpful with the children.  They are a handful.  Side note:  I bought these magnetic board cases at a store here. I got them thinking of a way to help my children stay quiet at church.  I brought them with me today and they WORKED!

I love success.  

I loved seeing the love of the two people who gave talks.  They were short and very much tailored to her.  One of the speakers, the girl who got married yesterday, gave Emma a contract.  I was this little yellow paper that said she was making a promise and a covenant today.  She had Emma sign it and told her to keep it always as a reminder.  It was a sweet gesture.  I do not think that would go int he US, but it worked here.

When Emma was baptized I felt a rush of the Spirit cover the room. It was a sweet, familiar, loving feeling.  I know that our Spirit was present.  I was so nice to witness it.  The Elders are teaching a man with a baptismal date next weekend.  He was there today.  He seemed really touched and a bit excited for his own baptism.  It is nice to see someone grow in the gospel.

After the little girl's baptism, the Russian branch had a baptism as well.  It was a grown woman.  I am not sure of the details.  I did not stay for that one.  

The kids and I went to the grocery store next door and got some lunch.  As we left the store I bus drove by, again.  It was ok because now we had 15 minutes to eat. The only down fall was the sky was getting darker.  We had no rain gear, except on umbrella, and I had my suede material shoes on.  Luckily most of the rain hit while we were already on the bus.  I just kept praying in my head the rain would not follow us as we switched bus and than walked up our hill.

Guess what?  The rain stopped moments after we got off the bus.  For the most part we stayed dry.  We were a little wet.  Nothing like we may have been.  I like to think Heavenly Father was watching out for us.  He has been and always will be.  I know it.  

The rest of the day we just played, tried to relax, and Skyped with family.  That was a great part of the day.  I made us dinner.  It was homemade Mac and cheese.  The kids ate it.  They even got seconds, but could not finish because they got so full.  I am so proud I made something they like.  We will be having that for lunch tomorrow. 

BTW, tomorrow we are planning on going to Rita's and Rimante's house.  They are Adam's cousins. Elizabeth is really excited to see Rimante. Elizabeth is almost beside herself.  It is really cute how much she likes her.  BTW, Bebe said she wants to go to Mak's house to play.

Pink in all this gray

A few months ago I started preparing for our trip to Lithuania.  I bought every warm thing possible. Snow boots, jackets, snow pants, gloves, hats, etc.  I am a warm weather girl.  Give me summer any day!

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This will be me, minus the smile, in a few months.  Remember I live on a hill.

*FYI skiing was a form of transportation before it became a sport.

While at Khol's with my wonderful mother-in-law and sisters-in-law I found a coat that was affordable.

I, actually, found two coats that were like $20 bucks each (I love off season stuff).

One gray and one PINK.

Which one did I end up getting?

PINK, duh?

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My coat looks a little like the one show, ok a lot.

I got this coat because to me winter can get so blah and sad. You end up wearing the same top everyday.

No one ever sees what you have under your jacket.  It is, too, cold to take off any of your clothes*.

*personal opinion, I have mine and you have yours.

So now that the back story is all set up for you here is the front story, or whatever it is called.

Today was a rainy day.

I do not like rain.

It means you stay inside all day and do quiet things.  We live on the second floor.

We have wood floors. A few days ago we tried having a dance party (I play music and the kids dance, stomp, hip hop, spin, and do various forms of break dancing) and it was so loud I thought the neighbor downstairs was going to call the police.  The kids rocking out to 1D can get rowdy.

SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

It was raining and my coat can work as a raincoat.  It is water repellent.  I put it on and my fancy striped rain boots (a special woman got me these for my birthday a few years ago), and off I went to the grocery store.  I am trying to shop once a month and get the extras as needed (milk, fruit, etc), we shall see how it goes.

I needed to finish before Mr. Right went off an adventure.  I do not want to brave the hill alone with the stroller and kids unless I am going to church. Seriously, that hill is a beast to climb.

I quickly realized no one really wears rain boots or rain coats. No one really wears bazam PINK, either.  I felt a little like Elle Woods (Legally Blonde) at Harvard.  Her in her pink suit with her pink laptop.  I already stick out with my dark hair, dark eyes, and dark skin.  Everyone in the neighborhood will know that weird American family who has, too, many kids with the lady in her pink coat.  People stare at us all the time.

No one who is walking or riding the bus has a double stroller.  Most people have one kid, MAYBE, two.  I have seen two families with more than 2 kids.  One had twins plus a kid and the other was like ours.  I think it is because people with more than one kid have a car.  By that point they decide a car might be an easier form of transportation.  We are getting very good at getting off and on the bus.  No one has been left behind.

So far I have enjoyed it here.  My cooking is getting better. I made, edible, from scratch french fries and hamburgers.  Best part was EVERYONE ate all their food. I was surprised.  James wanted more, but there were no leftovers.  I owe it all to the internet (Thank you, Al Gore*family joke) and Imim (store, I think that is how you spell it).  This store is AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I say that because it is huge.  No stores here are huge.  The local grocery stores are the size of convenient stores.  I bet the local QT is bigger than some of the local grocery stores.  This store was at a mall called Panorama.  I want to go back.  I found spices of every kind, popcorn, tortillas, good muesli, sliced lunch meat, millions of breads (gooooooood), cheap clothes, makers, and tons of fruits and veggie choices.

I think I am in love with this place.  It is the Costso of Vilnius (more like Walmart, but in this city it is a Costco).  I want to go back and see what they have.  I will go with no children and buy everything.

Only bad thing is it is a bus ride away and than the hill.

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This is the outside of the building.  It is a nice place.  Built in the 80s.  We are like around the same age.  

FUN FACT:

The Lithuanian government decides when it will turn on the heat for the city.  It is usually when there are 3 days of 0 below in a row.

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Fun!!!!  Am I looking forward to this?  About as excited as I am to cut my finger on a two edged knife.

BTW, who invented a two edged knife?

Here I was cutting meat (it was frozen, I was thawing it, I have no microwave, enough said) and the knife I was using was double bladed.  It looked like a normal bread knife.  When I use a knife I tend to put one finger on top of the back of the knife for support.  The knife supported a slice into my finger.  I was not happy.  It hurt.  Flesh wounds always hurt the worst.  Boooo on double sided knives.

I guess I have shared enough randomness, but I think I will share one last thing before I go.

I have the coolest kids and the best Heavenly Father ever.  My husband is off for a few days.  I started to cry when he left.  How would you feel if he was your only source of communication (other than google translate, this does not always work.  I asked the lady at the craft store if she had any elastic and I think I asked if she had any condoms, yeah?!?).  So I was crying and my son woke up.  He came over and asked what was wrong.  I said I was sad.  He told me he was the man of the house and he would help me.  He gave me some hugs (this is where Heavenly Father came in to work) and than James began telling me jokes.  Jokes he made up on the spot.  Ones that make you laugh because you have nothing else to do.

Knock, knock. 

Who's there? 

Banana. 

Banana, who?

Banana Hotwheel.

Knock, Knock.

Who's there?

Orange.

Orange, who?

Orange brains.

We had a good laugh.  Then we went into the kitchen and had some juice and a cookie.  We got to talking about making potions.  He told me all about them.  I asked him how he knew about that.  He smiled and said, "It is all in my head."  That made me smile.  I asked him about love potions and what they did. 

 "If one person drinks it and than the other they fall in love."

So smart.  I than told him about how his dad asked me to marry him and where we were married.  His faced lite up as I told him all the details.  It meant a lot for me to share with him.  It made me love his dad even more. I still miss him, but my face is full of smiles.  I am glad that my children can be my friends.  Even when no one else is around that can talk to me they can.  I can share important stuff about me with them.

I would have never had this opportunity if I had not been willing to spend a few minutes to talk with him with no one else around.  It is a memory I will always cherish.  I hope he does, too.  I am not alone.  God shows me that all the time.  I am glad to be reminded of it to.  I get lost in the everyday that it is nice to slow down and just be sometimes.  Live in the moment, own it, and love it.

 

Travelling

Pictures are to come. PROMISE!

Having said that I must also say, "I am exhausted!"

My body hurts. My eyes want to go back to sleep.

Next time I travel a long distance with kids no one will have carry on.

Maybe one small bag or roll luggage, but that is all.

Carrying a million (5) heavy bags.

Heavy if two people are carrying them all.

Now that I complained let the story telling begin.

So it all started out well.  Leaving our loved ones and trying NOT to cry.  good-byes are never fun nor easy.  BTW, my kids have no idea that we cannot go back to Grandmom's/Granpop's house anytime we want.

Once we were safety through the security gate, which was not, too, bad (we only had to do it like 5 more times, but we became pros).  The first plane ride was a breeze.  It was a small airplane. James sat alone in the other row next to me, Nora sat next to me, and  Elizabeth and Adam sat behind us.  Nora was so excited.  She held my hand as we gained altitude.  James kept looking out the window and saying, "Look at the tiny people.  They look like ants."  Elizabeth was a little apprehensive.  She may have started to cry, but it was a nervous cry.  There was some turbulence (as to be expected on a small plane).  BTW, we sat in the back by the toilet.  This can be good, which it was because everyone ended up going to the bathroom on our "long plane ride" of 2 hours.  Let's get back to the turbulence or should I say roller-coaster ride.  I only say this because Nora was saying. "Weeeeeeehhhhhh."  I put my hands over my eyes and held my insides in.  The best part, besides the weeeeehhhhhs, was opening my eyes to Nora covering her eyes and laughing.  She was a great person to sit next to during this part.

Before landing I kept looking for when we would see NYC.  Then there is it was. The skyline, Empire state, and the lady herself , The Statue of Liberty.  She was open to the public on the 4th of July, FYI.  It was so exciting.  We got other passengers excited as ME (and the kids) we giggling and oooooing with excitement at the prospects of visiting the big apple.

Once on the ground again we took our stuff to a safety hold.  I wish we would have left everything!  If you ever go to a city that is not handicap friendly or stroller friendly carry nothing.  Just a little FYI OR find every elevator in the city before going.  

We (me) were all wide eyed and bushy tailed.  We had to get help on buying our ticket to the city.  The "map" was a blob of lines.  I was not about to get lost somewhere I had never been.  Our first ride was a tram where we meet pierced guy.  He was really friendly and helped get us to the right platform.  He hung out with us on the train when we got on it.  It was great until this guy, who later told us he/she was a girl.  This person started talking to us.  Adam and I were  making that face where you don't want to be rude nor acknowledge their existence.  Little did we know this person would try to force him/herself on us as our personal tour guide.  It was really uncomfortable.  I cannot express how scared I became.  The person wanted us to walk and not take the Subway and became really rude.  Scary than said it is two blacks why have them take the subway and waste our money.  WASTE $5 to ride a subway that I can ride for 2 hours I would have done, but I will get back to that in a minute.  All I remember doing, after scary started getting verbally weird, was kneeling next to the stroller, as to look inside it, and I prayed the person would go away.  Scary did.  I am so grateful for the power of prayer.  

Once Scary was gone we said good-bye to pierced nice man.  Off we walked towards Time Square.  I asked James, "Do you know where we are?"

James, "No."

Me, "NYC"

James, "What!!! I always wanted to go here."

This is true.  Every time Grandpop goes he asks why he didn't take him.

His fascination with the city started back with The Wiggles.

They have a song about NYC.

The excitement of the city would soon come to an end.  We found Time Square, but THE Time Square from the movies.  We walked and walked and walked in the heat.  There is a heat way in the NE, FYI.  We swat and everyone just wanted to cool off.  Us and a gazillion of other people.  

My impression of NY was weirdos, millions of roads, stickiness (piles of garbage on the road), and every person in the wold is there.  I am sure I would have loved it if we would have stuck to our plan.  We had two hours.  We wanted to see Time Square, Central Park, and Rockefeller Center.  All super close to each other.  If we would have rode the Subway this would have been done.  We also wanted to eat pizza.  Never got to do.  Everyone was, too, hot and tired.  We wanted to get of the city.  We took the Subway back to Madison Square Gardens (where we started).  I will say the Subway was the best part, besides the super good expensive cupcakes we ate.  I loved the Subway, even though it is not handicap friendly.  Best part ever!!!!!! Hands down.  Once we got back to where we wanted to go we got on the wrong train to the airport, but good thing all the trains are connected in a strange way.  We got to help this lady with her luggage.  SO it all worked out for everyone.  Back at the airport we went to our terminal only to find two food choices.  A pub and a Mediterranean grill.  I do not know about your kids, but mine eat hot dogs, chicken nuggets, and mac and cheese.  I did find some chicken fingers and fries.  Ordered them separately and spent another million dollars, but it was sooooo good (I was soooooo hungry).

After dinner we let our kids run, and run, and run, and run, and run.  I kept saying every one on the plane will thank us.  We ran them ragged and gave them Benadryl. Yes, they slept on the plane.  I kept waking up to their every movement.  I picked up blankets and pillows a million times, but they slept the whole way! 

They woke up to eat breakfast.  It was all good. 

We got off the airplane to find that our stroller was taken to the luggage pick up. Not cool Copenhagen.  We had to figure out how to get out of the terminal.  The entrance and the exit were the same.  Once we found the luggage claim we waited and waited for the luggage to come out.  Our stroller never came.  We waited by the over sized luggage.  It never came.  We waited a long time and it still never came.  I went up to an agent to find that our stroller had been sent to Lithuania.  Yes, I lost it!!!!! How were two little girls going to get around.  We decided to put our luggage in storage and we would go see the city.  We found the storage lockers.  Took several minutes to figure out how they worked.  Had everything secure.  Than we realized that we had no idea how to get to the city.  The tickets for the buses and trains and whatever were inside. We also remembered a huge line by terminal 3.  Where we needed to go.  It was 4 pm.  We were afraid we would not be able to get back to our gate in time to fly out at 8:30 pm.  Bummed we went back to get our luggage out of the storage locker.  That took about 30 minutes.  Our stuff was stuck.  We had to find someone to help us.  That was a pain.  We ate food at the 7 eleven in the airport.  Everything was pork so I had a nasty tuna sandwich that cost about $10.  I threw half of it away.  

We raced to where the huge line of people were to find out that line was not for security check in, but for luggage check in.  I mean this line was ginormous.  It looked like black Friday line at Wal-Mart.  GOt out of that line to go through security hoping that we were going to the right terminal since our flight had no terminal or gate next to it.  Found out we were in the right place.  This terminal was a fancy mall.  I mean fancy.  Gucci, Prada, etc.  It was like in a Vegas casino.  I don't know if you have ever been there, but on the main strip the hotels are connected by a huge mall that goes on forever, this was the terminal.  We sat and waited for the longest three and a half hours of my life.  We waited and waited.  Around 7:30 we went looking for food.  Our plane still did not have a gate next to it.  We did not eat because we freaked out thinking we missed our plane.  A few minutes later we found out our plane had been cancelled and were asked to go to a place to get more information. 

If you know me this freaked me out.  I wanted to cry, but I held it in.

When we got to the designated place there were tons of people.  We went to the end of the line where we were told since we had kids to go to the front. YIPPIE!!!! This was a sigh of relief.  These kids (and I) had had enough for one day.  We were given a voucher to stay at the only 5 star hotel in Copenhagen.  They also gave each of us an over night kit.  It included everything we would need and a t-shirt to sleep in.  I am glad that I am a prepared girl (well kind of) that I packed each of us a change of clothes including underwear and socks in our carry on.  We took a Taxi to the hotel and ate this buffet dinner.  It was good, but 5 star food and children do not mix.  They were happy to have Sprite.  I ate for the first time Cordon Bleu. I thought it was a something.  I realized 3/4 of the way done what it was.  Yes, I finished it.  It was so good! Will I continue to eat pork, probably not.  The other pork stuff was kind of yuck. 

In our fancy room we showered.  It was the best shower ever.  I stunk.  The girls also showered.  They seemed to enjoy being clean, for once.  We than said our prayers, read our scriptures, and were out like a light. That was the most comfortable bed (next to the ones at Nina's house) I had ever slept in.  When the alarm went off at 5:30 am, to catch the bus, I hated my alarm.  I wanted to stay in the bed forever.

Off to the bus we went.  We got to the airport a little before 7.  Our plane was to leave at 8 am.  So we had about an hour to get our breakfast vouchers, get through security, find our gate, and get some food.  This was all done. I won't give all the details.  There were moments of panic, like it being 7:45 and not knowing the gate we were supposed to be at.  Adam and I split up.  I got food while he figured out our gate number.  It all worked out and we got on the plane.  I do not remember much of the flight to Lithuania because I fell asleep until we landed.  

We made it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We were excited to find our luggage and stroller had made it safely here.  We didn't even have to go through customs or anything.  We just walked through a door where we found our family and landlord rather quickly.  This was a great moment.  I was so happy, but than realized I had nothing to say to them.  I could not speak language.  They mustard up all their English and I called Adam's Cousin Aunt's Brother, Brother the whole time. Ughhhh! They were so nice.  They took us to the grocery store to help us get the right things.  It was great!  The grocery store is down the street.  Plus!!!!

After everyone left I took a nap.  Woke up and realized I was really here. We than went for a walk to the playground.  It is a playground, but really old.  It had a teeter totter.  The kids loved it.  Than we went for a walk in the woods by our house.  It has several paths.  I wonder if it is a part of a parks and rec or something.  It was pretty and look forward to more walks through it.

Our dinner last night was supposed to be spaghetti, but the sauce tasted like ketchup mixed with Campbell's soup.  The kids did not it very much of it.  We threw the rest out.  Yeah.  This morning for breakfast we ate Cinnamon Toast Crunch.  It tasted different in our very creamy milk.  There are a few things that will take some getting used to, but we will love it.  It is different.  I understand a few words (like 10-15), but we will get there.  It is weird to think we are finally here.  We have been talking about coming here for about 2 and half years.  I think we like it here. 

One quick thing before I go.  Our apartment is huge! Bigger than our little fancy house (the name our kids gave our old place).  James loves having his own room.