Sick Kids

For the past week now we have been dealing with Tyler being sick. It started last Wednesday (I think) when he had a stomach ache and threw up or dry heaved throughout the night. (Question: is there anything worse than a dry heave?) Thursday Tyler seemed fine, but then Friday night he had fitful sleep because of an extreme fever. Saturday he woke in the middle of the night with a horrific cough and chest weezing. Sunday he saw the doc and found out he had the Croup (Question: of all the names for illness isn't the Croup the coolest. Sounds like something that would rise from a swamp to torture young children). The rest of this week was spent getting him back up to speed. Finally, this Wednesday night he slept through the night without waking and is doing considerably better. (Not sure if you can tell in this picture, but this was taken when Tyler was looking very pale and sick. Still all too happy to smile for the camera. By the way, Jamie is only pretending to be asleep in the background.)

Cue Marcus. Marcus woke up shortly after going down last night with an awful wheezing in his chest. Clearly the dreaded Croup has invaded another victim. Poor Jamie had to rock him all night long. Marcus spurned all of my attempts to calm him or relieve Jamie. Finally around 5am Jamie couldn't take it anymore and I had to just let Marcus cry it out on my chest as I rocked him. It was heartbreaking. (Marcus isn't sick yet in this picture, but its the most recent one we have so I thought I would give you a visual of whom I was writing about).

My point today though is that I think my kids are the coolest sick kids ever. (I'm even going to provide some video evidence.) The night Tyler kept throwing up he had to have been the sweetest little puker ever. After each trip to the bathroom he would look up at me and say "thanks for taking care of me daddy." Then Thursday morning before I left for work I ran to the store to buy him some white bread and crackers. When I came back Tyler walked up to me and in the sweetest voice said, "Dad, I missed you when you were at the store," then just to make sure my heart really melted he added, "just like I always miss you when you go to work." I can't explain it well (one of those times when I wish I was a more skilled writer and could really help you experience just how sweet Tyler was being) but Tyler has been so sweet all week. (Of course he may be extra sweet because this week we let him watch a lot more TV and videos than we normally do). This video is of Tyler talking about being sick. I was trying to capture how funny his voice sounds now that it has been ravaged by the Croup (whenever I type or say "Croup" my mind automatically plays a vaudeville like villain's chord). The video doesn't really capture how cartoon like Tyler's voice has become, but it's kind of cute anyway so here it is:

This next video is of Marcus the morning after getting NO sleep. He was grumpy and groggy and all I could think to do to help him cheer up was give him the thing he is always after but that I never let him touch. My cellphone. I let it play a song for him and he totally started rocking out. Sorry its such a dark video it was too early for us to worry about things like lighting. This is proof that Marcus is also a cool sick kid.

Finally, I would be a total lame-o if I didn't mention what an amazing mom Jamie has been through all of this. She is definately dragging from the lack of sleep, but she has managed to fight through over a week of sleepless nights and continues to love and care for our little guys. She ROCKS!

Just For Today

Venturing away from my usual style of posting I decided to share something I read the other day. The background I give may be a tad personal, but I suppose that's part of the reason people blog...to share their insights, etc. with others.

Regardless, as some of you know, I tend to be an overactive worrier. My wife claims I hide it well, though I'm not so sure whether she just says this to keep me from having something else that worries me. I think the biggest problem I have is that I continue to see all that I want to accomplish in life and feel as though I'm still light years away. It can seem silly, even to me, given how many blessings I have in my life. Nevertheless it is something that can be difficult for me.

So I'm reading a book by Dale Carnegie that focuses on tips for worrying less. (Now don't you go worrying about me; I'm mostly reading it because I've enjoyed other books by Mr. Carnegie). In the book he cites this verse and I think it is pretty powerful so I thought I would share it with you all. It rings true to me that if I only think (worry) about things a day at a time it seems so much more manageable.

Just For Today!

1. Just for today I will be happy. This assumes that what Abraham Lincoln said is true, that "most folks are about as happy as they make up their minds to be." Happiness is from within; it is not a matter of externals.
2. Just for today I will try to adjust myself to what is, and not try to adjust everything to my own desires. I will take my family, my business, and my luck as they come and fit myself to them.
3. Just for today I will take care of my body. I will exercise it, care for it, nourish it, not abuse nor neglect it, so that it will be a perfect machine for my bidding.
4. Just for today I will try to strengthen my mind. I will learn something useful. I will not be a mental loafer. I will read something that requires effort, thought and concentration.
5. Just for today I will exercise my soul in three ways; I will do somebody a good turn and not get found out. I will do at least two things I don't want to do as William James suggests, just for exercise.
6. Just for today I will be agreeable. I will look as well as I can, dress as becomingly as possible, talk low, act courteously, be liberal with praise, criticize not at all, nor fault with anything and not try to regulate nor improve anyone.
7. Just for today I will try to live through this day only, not to tackle my whole life problem at once. I can do things for twelve hours that would appall me if I had to keep them up for a lifetime.
8. Just for today I will have a program. I will write down what I expect to do every hour. I may not follow it exactly, but I will have it. It will eliminate two pests, hurry and indecision.
9. Just for today I will have a quiet half hour all by myself and relax. In this half hour sometimes I will think of God, so as to get a little more perspective into my life.
10. Just for today I will be unafraid, especially I will not be afraid to be happy, to enjoy what is beautiful, to love, and to believe that those I love, love me.

Who knows maybe someone else who reads this blog could use this advice (though maybe not all ten points apply to everyone) but I liked the perspective it gave me when I read it. Its sorta like they say...the only way to eat an elephant is one bite at a time. The only way to live a great life is one day at a time.

And never fear, when next I blog I will return to my usual style and format. Til then...

California Dreaming

For those family members (and friends) who read the last entry and were feeling a little jealous about missing out on the family get togethers here in Utah I give you these pictures of the three inches of snow that welcomed us Sunday morning. I was definately wishing I was living in Southern Cal, Tucson, Virginia Beach or anywhere else warm. They say misery loves company...so all you living out of the state should move here to Utah and freeze with us!

The Big Family Home Evening

I think I have mentioned this on the blog once before, but one of the main reasons I try to keep this up is to record a family history. (It is also why I sometimes bug people to make comments so that I can obtain their insights on our family activities).

Today's blog is not real exciting and the videos posted aren't well filmed, this is simply an attempt to document a glimpse of a Besaw family tradition.

It seems that about once a month we have some event (holiday, birthday, etc) where all the families that live in Utah (we really miss Carl's family) get together at my parent's house. It is always chaotic and at times the noise level is unbearable; however, I feel these get togethers will be something Tyler and Marcus will remember fondly throughout their lives.

Growing up I never had grandparents who lived nearby. I do have some good memories of times with my Besaw cousins who lived in Layton while I was growing up, but the distance and circumstances still kept us from being as close as we may have preferred. I remember while growing up some of my friends talking so fondly of spending time with cousins and grandparents. For me, spending time with cousins and grandparents was great, but it was not something to be enjoyed regularly.

One reason I chose to get my Master's degree from BYU rather than an out of state college was so that my children could remain close to family. Sometimes I wonder if I would have more financial success if I had followed a different path; but when we have these get togethers I am always glad that I stayed close.

A couple of weeks ago at our get together, Tyler found a crazy hat and vest in grandma Terry's dress up box and clowned around with Clayton and his other cousins. Morgan and London kept wanting to play night time and turning the lights off, much to the annoyance of the twins. Marcus' entertained with his almost crawl.

After a little bit we all ate dinner together...a big batch of grandma Terry's special home made chicken noodle soup. Then, grandpa Rod and grandma Terry gave a lesson on being kind. When grandma told the story about two little boys who put a silver dollar in a poor man's shoe you could have heard a pin drop. All the kids on the couch were definately listening close.

All in all, I am grateful for the lesson, grateful for the dinner, but more importantly grateful that my children are able to enjoy their grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins that live so close. (They are also lucky to have great visits from the family that doesn't live close!)

Here was a rather spirited opening song of Follow the Prophet:

Here is Tyler and London singing Book of Mormon Stories...and Kennedy wanted to make sure she got some face time as well.

And is there any way to lead a song more spirited than the way Clayton does here?

God's Kindness in Our Lives

As most any of you who read this probably know, last week was the General Conference for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Although it was not easy for me to watch as closely as I would have liked, given our two boys, I did hear a few messages that really touched me. The one that left the greatest impact on me was a talk by President Henry B. Eyring (newly called member of the first presidency of the LDS Church).

His talk, which I encourage you to read for yourself by clicking on the title of this posting, was about remembering God's kindness in our lives. I am definately guilty of being the type of person that has so many blessings that I tend to focus more on the times when things don't perfectly fall into place, rather than focusing on how often I am blessed beyond my capacity to truly appreciate.

One of the things President Eyring mentioned was that for a period of time he kept a journal each day of ways that he say God's hand in his life. He found that as he tried to think of an entry each night he recognized even more ways in which he was blessed.

I'm not ambitious enough to try to write in a journal every night, but I do want to strive to recognize God's kindness more readily in my life. I will also try to continue to share some of the Lord's "tender mercies" with those who read this regularly. I do find that as I try to think of things to blog about, much like President Eyring thinking of ways he was blessed, I find that I recognize more often how many special moments with which my life is filled.

Today, I'd like to reflect on my 3 biggest blessings from my Heavenly Father. My family! I am truly grateful to have such a wonderful wife who loves her Saviour and tries hard to keep me on the right path.

I am also so grateful for two healthy boys. Tyler has such a glow about him and is turning into a loving and caring little person. I love watching him learn from his pre-school, music and church classes. His imagination is soaring and he has a great sense of adventure. He is also quite thoughtful and will often pause to tell Jamie or I how much he loves us. He watches Jamie and I so closely (too close at times) and is the king of funny faces (sometimes on purpose sometimes not). I often love just to watch him in peaceful slumber.

Marcus is really at a cute age. He can't quite crawl yet, but he moves around. The last month or so he has almost always been happy and smiley. He tries so hard to communicate and loves to talk on the phone (quite the opposite of his brother). His laugh lights up a room and he has to be the best eating baby ever (he will eat anything!). He also has really cool hair whenever he first wakes up.

Here are two video examples of my boys. The first one is Marcus pretending to talk to his Grandma Renae on the telephone. The other is of Tyler pumping iron. He has watched Jamie on several occassions work with dumbells in our basement so he was pretty excited when we bought him a couple of 2 lb dumbells of his own.

My 50th Posting: My Boys and Their Pumpkins

I can't believe it, but this is the 50th post on this blog! Hopefully those that are reading it are enoying it.

On Saturday between general conference sessions our neighborhood planned a get together to pick pumpkins. It ended up being pretty tough weather as we had the first snow of the year so we ended up meeting in a garage. We put all the kids names in a hat and each kid picked a pumpkin when their name was called.

Tyler picked his pumpkin the old fashioned way...it was the first one he saw! Here is a slide show of a few pictures of the boys and their pumpkins. It is also another attempt at doing something new on the Blog...so we will see how it works out.

Jamie and Kent Celebrity Look Alikes

I saw this on Marshall Smith's family blog and thought it was funny; plus its a good way to pay Jamie back for her "hot mama" comment on my last blog entry. Of course, Jamie looks like supermodels and I most look like a comedic bafoon.

Nothing I didn't already know!

http://www.myheritage.com/collage

http://www.myheritage.com/collage

Tyler's Date with Mom

One of the best things about being a dad is that whenever I am home Tyler is excited. I'm like the novelty act that doesn't get old because I'm just not around much. Poor Jamie on the other hand is the one that is around all the time. Also, since when I am home Jamie usually is as well, but when Jamie is home I'm usually not; Tyler has a harder time getting Jamie's undivided attention (after all someone has to take care of little Marcus).

Of course, this story isn't about how its great to be the dad and hard to be the mom. The story is that a few weeks ago Jamie and I noticed that Tyler needed some special mom time. So, Jamie and Tyler planned out his first date with mom. For several days ahead of time we built it up and the day before it was all Tyler could talk about. He was as excited as could be about his "Special Date".

The special Saturday came and both Tyler and mom got dressed in nicer clothes. Jamie took Tyler to Winger's, his favorite restaurant mostly because of the popcorn bowls you get right when seated, and told him he could order whatever he wanted (neither of us were surprised that he picked Mac & Cheese). Jamie even let Tyler talk her into ordering a Concrete Pie (I'm sure it didn't take too much convincing).

After the dinner, Jamie took Tyler to the video store for the first time (yes we have deprived him of this up until now with good reason). He was very excited when he found a Scooby Doo movie. He had never actually seen a Scooby Doo movie, I don't think, but he knew that Cousin Morgan was a big fan so he thought it was pretty cool that he got to rent a Scooby Doo show. Best of all, it was Scooby Doo and the Ghost Pirates to go along with the Pirate theme our house has had going of late.

Tyler and Mom snuggled up on the couch and watched the show. They were so cute together. I'm really glad that they were able to spend some quality one on one time. Tyler is very lucky to have such a great mom, and we are very lucky to have such a wonderful son. He continues to be a truly caring and sweet little toddler. Even if, at times, he can be a challenge for his mom.

A Quick Tyler Quote

On Sunday Tyler said something that gave me a good chuckle. I decided it would make a good, brief blog. Two things to know as background. First, we are often teaching Tyler about the importance of being reverant at church because it is our Heavenly Father's and Jesus' house. Second, Tyler is ALWAYS asking Jamie and I where we get things (ie. dad, where did you get that shirt? or mom, where did you get this cereal?).

When I took Tyler to the bathroom and was waiting for him to finish up, he asked "Daddy, Where did Jesus get this nice toilet?"

Playin' Pirate with Captain Tyler

For those of you who have had Tyler over to play at your house, you know how much he loves playing dress up with his friends. For those of you who haven't, you might recall that nearly all of Tyler's friends (and cousins his age) are girls. Much to his father's dismay Tyler is often caught being the pretty princess. So, it was with great relief (to me at least) that he returned from his last play group (at cousin Morgan's house) having played Pirate dress-ups which is considerably more manly. Although we don't have nearly as cool of Pirate gear as cousin Clayton with all his Jack Sparrow and Will Turner garb, we were able to put together a pirate outfit that satisfies for now.
All week Tyler would mention pirates and has threatened me with walking the plank if I am not careful. His "ARRRR Matey" is also pretty cute. On Saturday night when his mom was at a relief society conference Tyler insisted we play pirate. He also kept telling me we needed a pirate ship.

And now our story flashes back some 20 odd years ago. One of my most fond memories of spending time with my brother and sisters growing up was making "forts" in our basement and playing "Swiss Family Robinson" for hours on end. I'm not sure how my parents managed to get us to play together so well, but I do remember spending literally days together "living" in our jungle forts.

Back to Saturday night, I recalled my "Swiss Family Robinson" days of yore and built us a pirate ship "fort" with a card table Jamie had borrowed for the scrapbook night she had hosted on Wednesday. The top of the table became the lookout as Tyler and I sailed the seven seas (or at least our living room) looking for sea monsters and treasure. Down below were the barracks where we could rest and exchange pirate tales. Tyler got pretty good at singing "Yo Ho Yo Ho A Pirate's life for me."

Oh ya, Marcus got in on the action as well and I dare you to find a cuter first mate!

Harvest Time

I think I made a similar post last year about this time regarding our family garden as well as the neighborhood garden. So, if you want more information on what a rocking gardener my wife has become feel free to look back in the archives (listed on the right hand side of the blog). This year is much the same, only I think Jamie has canned even more this year.

I believe the count is something like 20+ Quarts of Salso, 40+ pints of Tomatoes, 30+ pints of Green Beans, Several Gallon bags of Corn, 14 Quarts of Peaches and today was scheduled to be a Pear canning day. Jamie is really great about keeping us eating healthy, fresh foods during the harvest season.

One unusual thing this year is Jamie's Marigolds. Each year she plants marigolds around the garden because the smell is supposed to ward off bugs (or something like that). This year she planted the marigolds from seed (last year I think she bought little starter plants). Well, those Marigolds have grown to be six feet tall!!! Its crazy, they didn't even start to bloom at all until they were over four feet tall. Quite the power flowers.

Oh yeah, for those who don't get to see our goofy Tyler very often, here is a quick video clip of Tyler with a gigantic Zucchini (sp?)

Marcus Being Marcus

For those of you who aren't baseball fans there is a player for the Boston Red Sox, Manny Ramirez, whose antics have earned him quite a reputation. Now when he acts up people in Boston mostly shrug it off and say that it is just "Manny being Manny."

What does this have to do with our family? Besides our love of baseball, we also have a little troublemaker and these videos are of "Marcus being Marcus." Fortunately, his antics are absolutely adorable and we LOVE when he acts up the way he is in these videos.

By the way, the only digital videos we have come from our little camera so that is why the clips I post aren't all that high quality. I hope you enjoy them anyway. The first one is definately my favorite. The other two were a minute or two too late. He was being really funny for them, but the camera missed most of the action. However, the first one caught little Marcus in full head shake.

Best Friends & Brothers Too

Last night Tyler woke up with a bad dream and was a little shaken. We sat together for a few minutes and I asked him "Who is your Best Friend?" I was thinking he would say I was, afterall I was the one asking. Instead he said "Little Marcus." How sweet is that!

Our two boys can definately be a handful at times, but they are developing a very special bond as well. I hope that they can have the closeness that I felt with my older brother when I was growing up. Added to that the fact they are so much closer in age and I get really excited for the adventures they will have together.

Here are a few pictures of our boys hanging out together.

Lunch in the Clouds and a Day Together in Chicago

If any of you are planning a trip to Chicago in the near future, Jamie and I would recommend having lunch at the Signature Room on the 95th floor of the John Hancock center.

Thanks to my cousin Sarah we learned about this fantastic place to eat and get a great view of the city and lake Michigan. We saw the dinner menu and its very pricey so we recommend sticking with lunch (which is more reasonable).

Jamie and I really felt like high rollers eating at such a fancy establishment. I guess its good to get out of your comfort zone from time to time.

We followed up lunch with a walk over to the Navy Pier where we rented bikes and spent some time biking around and enjoying one of Lake Michigan's beaches. Jamie is definately in better biking shape than I am. We pedaled until I thought I would die and she hadn't even broken a sweat yet.

Once that had us good and worn out we went to the Blue Man Group concert. Quite possibly the strangest concert experience you can possibly imagine. It was very entertaining, but Jamie and I walked away wondering what exactly it was we had just experienced.

All in all Chicago was a great vacation for Jamie and I. I am so grateful to mom and dad for watching our boys so we could have this time together.

School's Over...Time to Get in Shape

This blog entry could also be entitled "I'm #101".

With school behind me I knew I wanted to try harder to get back in shape. My friend in the program Marcus Skeem convinced me to sign up for a half marathon race he was planning on running. Well, given that I hadn't run a mile, much less 13.1, I was hesitant but in the end I did sign up. I even tried pretty hard to train.

I had just started to train when my neighbor Kirt Melling invited me to join him in Burley Idaho for the Spudman Triathlon to compete as his runner. So, thinking he would swim and bike I agreed. Turns out he wasn't planning on swimming either...so in the end I did the mile swim (thank goodness it was in a river with a current) and the 10k run for our Spudman team of two. Our goal was to beat 3 hours and we totally killed that with a time of 2 hours and 40 minutes. My times weren't great, but I felt I did just fine for a guy who doesn't swim and who hadn't tried running in over 3 years.

The Spudman was just the motivation I needed and my training went much better after that for my race (the hobblecreek half marathon). Of course, the morning of August 25th when my alarm went off at 5 am I really felt like bagging the whole idea. I didn't though and fought through the cold morning air.

The race was very crowded and was not a timing chip race. I was a little disappointed because it seemed to take forever just to get to the starting line. Once I got going I did pretty well (fortunately a lot of the race is downhill). I was feeling great until about mile marker 12 and then I could barely move at all. Fortunately, before long there was Jamie, Tyler and little Marcus cheering me on. What an adrenaline boost. I nearly cried, but also found new legs and was able to get to the finish on a good stride.

After I crossed the finish line I saw a young lady handing out medals to everyone. I was pretty excited because I realized that I must have made the top 100. They only give medals to the top 100. Of course, as I stepped up to her she just turned around and left. That night when the official results were posted sure enough I was Mr. 101. Jamie thinks that makes a great nickname.

It feels weird to blog about your own events. I'm much better blogging about Jamie or Tyler or Marcus. However, my time was one I was happy with: 1:36 almost even. It comes out to about a 7:20 pace per mile average.

Okay, the best part of all of this is that between Jamie's triathlon in May and my race in August, Tyler is always talking about wanting to be in a race. Then Jamie started the Family Fitness Challenge and he has seen us exercising more (well Jamie more, me at all) and has really become quite the little exercise fan. We love it. (See video which is mostly because Tyler was so jealous that Marcus had a "computer video" and Tyler didn't).

First Day of Pre-School

I know what you are thinking...its boom or bust with this guy and his blog. Three months of nada then two in one day. I just felt bad having a blog that didn't include our children since they are far more fun in front of a camera than Jamie and I.

Besides today was a monumentous one as Tyler had his first day of preschool. He looked so grown up with his Spiderman backpack and Polo shirt. Unfortunately, the polo shirt soon met its demise because Tyler was given the opportunity to try using scissors for the first time in his life. Once the shirt was ruined, he was given instructions on the proper use of scissors.

Tyler is in a class that is predominatly girls, but that will suit him just fine. Cousin Morgan is in the class and 2 other little girls from our ward are as well. Maybe he will turn into the ladies man his dad never became.

In other news, turns out Marcus is the king of the clap. In another family blog pioneer moment I am attempting to blog my first video. Sorry its sideways, I haven't figured out how to flip it yet. That will be my next feat. For now, you can enjoy how cute little Marcus is with his new found clap. He's growing into one mighty fine Cubs fan.

A Dream Come True

Seeing that Miranda and the California Besaws have caught the blog fever makes me wish I had been better about keeping my blog up. I have tons to blog about from the summer and just never took the time to finish up my Asia Trip blogs, or tell about the races I've done or graduation and the goings on of our children. So, the next series of posts may not necessarily be in any kind of chronological order, but I'll try to put out a few pictures and tell a few stories of the things we did this summer.

Most of you know that last week Jamie took me on a trip to Chicago to fulfill my childhood dream of catching a game at Wrigley. I have to admit I got a tad emotional when I walked into the stadium. I must be wired wrong, but it really meant a lot to me to see the Ivy on the walls, the scoreboard in straight away center and to sing "Take me out to the Ball Game" during the seventh inning stretch. Jamie surprised me by how much she got into the games and seemed to really support the CUBBIES!

They won the night game 8-2, but blew a lead in the ninth inning of the day game and lost 7-4. Both games were against the Dodgers and were a lot of fun. Jamie even treated me to a Derek Lee Jersey (which she loves to tell about because we couldn't find one in my size until we shopped in the kids section of the Sears across from our hotel). Overall I couldn't have asked for a better fulfillment of my dream to see the Cubs at Wrigley. Especially because I was there with my amazing wife who really is too good to me.

Asia Trip Day 9: Stay in School Kids

June 4, 2007

Today we spent a LOT of time on a bus! Fairly early on we headed across the border of Hong Kong and back into China. On the way out we had to go through the entire customs process both for leaving Hong Kong and entering China. Apparently there is a middle ground of No-Man’s land in-between the two.

Once into China the views of the countryside from the bus were great. The landscape was very beautiful and we were able to see a lot of homes and farmlands. I really enjoyed it for the first while; however, given the amount of travel we have had the last little while, by the 2nd and 3rd hours of driving I was ready to get off the bus! I was able to get some reading done, but not a lot as if I read too much on those buses I tend to get a little car sick.

After our three hour journey finally ended we were treated to lunch at a pretty nice restaurant. We had what is called (in Cantonese I’m assuming) Dim Sum. It was basically a lot of different types of dumplings and ManTou’s (not sure how to describe those). I’ve always loved the Chinese breakfast foods and this was basically what we had for lunch. Although we also had a few really good seafood dishes as well. We literally ate until we could eat no more.

After lunch we visited PerfectTech Toy factory where they make toys for Japanese toy distributors. Today they were making Power Ranger toys that also transform. The toy factory employs over 2000 factory workers and another 250 office staff. The factory was very hot and very humid. However, all of the employees that we watched seemed pretty happy on the job. The young girls from the office staff that toured us around were also very nice and seemed to really enjoy having us visit. Granted the office staff all looked about 12, when I talked to them most of them had worked there for at least 3-4 years. In fact, the average employee (including line workers) had been working at PerfectTech for over 2 years.

The factory has 60 sets of injection machines and over 400 seats for paint spraying. The production line can make up to 15 types of toys. The thing I was most impressed with was the amount of quality control at every stop. Each worker had a clear picture right in front of them that showed how the toy was supposed to work after it was done with their station. I was surprised by how much of the process was manual labor and how little of the process was automated.

The factory workers make about 86 cents an hour. However, because housing is provided most of the workers are sending money home to their families out in the farmlands. I think the most astounding thing for me was seeing how satisfied the workers appeared. In the states it seems that a lot of our minimum wage workers don’t seem to be the type of person who would be so willing to work hard with a smile. I definitely think that with great wealth has come a certain sense of entitlement. I think that in America we could really take a lesson in gratitude from what we see here. I know that I have felt an increased need to be more grateful for all I have. I certainly feel fortunate for the educational opportunities I've been given.

In my undergrad I remember learning about Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. This trip has really shown me how accurate that hierarchy seems to be. In the United States most people are at least to the level where their physiological and safety needs are met and thus have moved up to the need for belonging or the esteem of others. It is actually really refreshing seeing people who are able to gain satisfaction just from meeting the needs of food, shelter and safety. On other legs of this trip its been interesting seeing other areas (like Beijing) where they are somewhere between today’s factory workers and the business people we visited in Japan. I’m not sure if this paragraph made any sense at all…but my point is just that it is interesting to study Maslow’s hierarchy of needs in this setting. (For those not too familiar I recommend using Wikipedia.org and typing in Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs for more information and a far better explanation of what I am trying to say here).

At PerfectTech (which by the way is in a town called ZhongShan near ShenZhen in GuangDong province) I think I lost at least a liter of sweat. It reminded me of the mission in Taiwan. Sometimes I am still amazed that I was able to work all day in the heat and humidity over there. That is one part of my mission I don’t miss very often.

As we were leaving the toy factory they gave each of us a Power Ranger toy to take home. Regan was great and let me have his (given that he has two girls) and I just know that Tyler and Marcus are gonna love them (at least Tyler will for now). In fact, I’m guessing that these will be a greater hit than anything else I could hope to pick up on the trip.

The ride back was similar to the ride in…it was LONG! Again, I enjoyed parts of it as I was able to see the farmlands etc. However, I was good and ready to get off when we finally got back to the Hotel.

This evening we once again followed Jason Bell and took the Subway to another part of Hong Kong where we had dinner, saw a night market and sort of just experienced what we could. I got a pretty good kick out of watching some of the locals play basketball and would have loved to join in if I wasn’t wearing sandals.

The evening didn’t bring about too much to talk about, but it was kind of fun just seeing more of Hong Kong.