Update Time - By David

So, update time. Following an interesting train of events, Ashley and I have moved to Utah. A number of things were shifting so that our reasons for staying were evaporating, and our reasons for going were becoming more compelling. The moment of decision came when Ashley got the police involved in a case of domestic violence across the street from us, and we realized that it was time to move, and it made the most sense to move where family was. Most of all, we felt like, with my admission into Texas A&M, we'd finished our work in GA. In the three weeks since we've been here, my brother's daughter (Carley Joy) was born (C-section, just 2 weeks early); and I was able to get Grandpa Nance, who hasn't been to Church in decades, to come with us to General Conference. We feel like we got here at the right time to be here for our family. At the same time, we've been sad for missing opportunities to spend more time with our friends out East. We had wanted to come up and spend some time with you before we left, but now that's going to take a little more advanced planning-- probably around the time of our high school reunion would be next really good opportunity. In the meanwhile, we can use all the prayers we can get: although there is more churn here than in Georgia, I've been struggling to find a job, since no one wants to train me given my short time between now and the Fall semester. Ashley and I have been feeling these pesky entrepreneurial sentiments to go do something terrifying and novel outside of the corporate infrastructure. Fun fun. I'm trying to wrestle my priority list back under control so that I can dedicate more time to things like writing letters. We'll see how that goes. Thanks for keeping track of us; your example of friendship has helped us be better friends, too.

Family Picture

 Aren't We Beautiful!

A Must-Read for All Women (especially single ones)

This link is a blog from a Mom like me who's been there and survived her single-woman days.

I want everyone to read it, but mostly I want everyone to BELIEVE it and then act ohttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifn what they know. Sigh. So I commend this to you. If you like it, I hope you will share generously with your friends.

Happy Christmas :)

I had a very good April 6! I began the day by giving Malachi some water around 4:45AM and then he went right back to sleep. Then I called Karen Liu Wang - a Mom I taught and saw baptized on my mission five years ago today. She has four children now, two boys and two girls, and all are doing great. So exciting!
And then it snowed! The biggest snowfall I've seen since we moved to Georgia! And it's April!

Malachi helped me build this handsome snowman and was awesome to pose for me before coming in to warm up.
This is the same snow man just before dinner time the same day:

Add some shenanigans from my awesome children:

"Spiderman!" You can thank David for the idea, but it didn't take much coercion :) We had him singing the song and everything. So cute!
And Charlotte:

She will eat peas and green beans without batting an eye, but if I don't mix her peaches with cereal it makes her gag. Silly stuff.

Happy day for us today!

Oh and this last video is old but I don't want to forget to post it:



Enjoy! And we hope you had a great April 6 too!

When Sorry Isn't Enough

There’s a saying in the South that goes something like this: “I didn’t break it - I can’t fix it.” It’s used to apply to anything bad that is – or at least seems to be – out of the control of the person speaking. It could be used to apply to legislation such as No Child Left Behind, the attitude of a child in the person’s class at school or in Church, the relationship woes of a loved one, the hatred a coworker shows for the person, and even literally, like in the case of a dead cell phone or computer. David and I at times has found this saying laughable, at other times concerning. We’ve had conversations about things that we didn’t break that we could still help to fix. For example, we encouraged a neighbor to read the Book of Mormon, attend Church, and meet with the missionaries, even though we didn’t “break” her troubled life. We also showed love toward and danced with a little girl whose life is usually filled with drama, high emotion, and loneliness. These are among the things, people, and situations that we didn’t break but still tried to help fix.

Today my heart is sad because I broke something that I can’t fix.

I actually do that more often than I’d like to admit and, when I do, I try to apologize and repent and move forward resolved to better in the future. But sometimes, “Sorry” just isn’t enough.

Feeling pressure that made it difficult to discern and follow the Spirit when the moment of decision came. As a result, we left Georgia about a week too early. That week would have allowed us to tie up some very important business. David would have been able to finish a project he was on at work, and may have been able to invite his interested co-worker to come to Church with his wife or meet with the missionaries. I would have been able to spend some more time with my aforementioned neighbor, and go to Church with her for the first time in months. I would have been able to bring my children over to the Glaziers’ house one more time. We would have been able to sit down with the Bishop and thank him personally for his help. I could have gotten my Chinese friend a picture of the Savior. We would have had time to organize our own belongings, and sell what we should have gotten some money for (and sell the car for more than we did so we could buy another one as soon as we got here). I would have been there to say what could get donated to a garage sale and what we wanted to keep. I wouldn’t have mispacked our tax documents, David’s scriptures and journal, the Preemie clothes PJ needs, the cloth diapers, and Charlotte’s journal. And I wouldn’t have to ask my friends to clean up my mess after I’d already gone, turn in my keys for me, and store in their house what we couldn’t ship.

My heart aches for the opportunities we lost, but mostly for who was hurt. Most have already forgiven me, and I pray that the rest will be able to some day. I miss them because I wish I were with them, and even more because I long to make it up to them somehow, but I can’t. There is literally nothing I can do to fix it, save to pray that Christ will heal the hurts and restore the important things somehow.

I don’t want to look back at Georgia as the year that was great except the end. I am so glad for the experience and people I added to my life – to my heart – for having lived there. I feel grateful to my Savior for taking on the burden of the sinner for the sinner – and also for those hurt by their mistake, miscalculations, slowness in listening to the Spirit, and other things.

He has truly borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. I pray that you and I will let Him heal our hurts and grow our hearts through it and into a greater capacity for love in the future, on until we can love as He loves. I know sorry is not enough, but I’m still sorry. I am so, so sorry. I pray that you will be able to forgive me, and I assure you I’ve learned from this sad lesson and I will do better in the future. I’m still a work in progress, but I hope we can still be friends and continue progressing together.

What I Learned from Leaving Facebook

Hello Everybody,

So, I finally did it. I left Facebook. I went to account settings, second (I think) tab from the bottom, clicked the link for “Deactivate My Account.” What greeted me on the next page was a line of five pictures from my Facebook collection which had others of my friends tagged in them. Each of these pictures has the words "[Name] will miss you." above it and "Send [Name] a message." below it. Below the pictures you had to chose a reason for leaving.

I refreshed this page several times, once inadvertently and after that on purpose, and learned that it changed which pictures came up but the people who would miss me were the people who I tag the most in pictures. David and Mom were always on the list (and usually David’s Mom), and the others alternated between my sisters, my brother, my new sister-in-law, and two of my good friends. And the pictures that came up were always ones we two were in together.

I piddled around with the list of reasons for leaving for a little while and learned that when you click any one of these bubbles (with two exceptions: “I have another Facebook account” and “Other”), a proposed solution to your reason for leaving instantly appears below it, usually with a link to another place on the site that will give you more information about how to solve the problem. These proposed solutions stay where they are until you complete the process and leave the page.

Once you explain why in the "please explain further" box, opt out of future invites and stuff, and press “Confirm,” you have to confirm your password, and prove you’re a human before it goes through. Fine.

Then if brings you to the regular login screen, where your email address is just where it always used to be just waiting for the password. And a textbox right below this line says:

“Your account has been deactivated
To reactivate your account, log in using your old login email and password. You will be able to use the site like you used to.

We hope you come back soon.”



Yikes! It’s like a bad relationship! You think you’ve gotten rid of it and it just keeps on – and urges you in every way it knows how to get you to come back.

Call me crazy but I think this is kind of creepy stuff.

So there you have it. Farewell, Facebook!

Fast Stats About Texas A&M

Texas A& M – in College Station, Texas

To Nance House – exactly a day
The Brayton House – 1 day and 7 hours
The Butterfield House – 1 day and 13 hours

To Houston – a little under 2 Hours
To Austin – a little over 2 hours
To Dallas – 3 ½ hours
To San Antonio – 3 ½ hours
(Both Dallas and San Antonio have temples in them.)

Rent in College Station looks like about $700/mo. for a nice place according to a cursory search for a 2-br, and not loads more for a 3.

Number of Campus Wards: one (plus a Spanish Branch and a YSA spot)
Next closest Ward: Just over an hour