so long, farewell

A few things on my mind today...

Firstly, we've been in Arizona now for almost a month. Crazy! It has been so enjoyable to unpack all of our old furniture, pictures, and other keepsakes that have been collecting dust for far too long. While we have loved setting up our new life here, I can't help but think about and miss dearly some of the more simple things about London. I miss walking everywhere, our second family of friends we met, trees, parks, the markets, the supermarkets, and so many more things. So, I've made a decision to bring some of that simplicity here to Arizona; whether it means walking to the supermarket rather than driving (when it's less than 100 degrees outside), limiting my internet-usage, spending more time at the park, or just staying in touch with friends. Life is definitely different, but we are so happy to finally have some stability. Brett's job is going well. He is very busy but doing great and making us proud.

Secondly, this move and the new job has opened our eyes to a whole new concept: the weekend. Before, although most weekends were full of relaxing, good food, games, movies, etc.-it was always paired with a dark cloud of "what has to be done by Monday" feeling looming over us. Now, it feels amazing to have nothing "due" on Monday. We can just enjoy the weekend together as a family. I never imagined it would feel so wonderful to be done with school, when I wasn't even the one in school.

Finally, I came to the conclusion of retiring from the blogging world. I might change my mind later, we will see, I just need a break for now.

The caravan to AZ. She only slept for one hour ALL.DAY.LONG.

How she enjoyed the move-in process: eating snacks and watching The Little Mermaid in her new room-have I mentioned her obsession with "Mee Mee" (Ariel)? It has been wonderful having Maya in her own room finally.

Maya has loved being able to go swimming almost everyday-love that belly

And here are a few pictures of our new home:

(still under construction and working on filling up the empty walls)

Until next time,

brett.mal.maya.

Three Cups of Tea

One Man’s Mission to Promote Peace…One School at a Time

Greg Mortenson & David Oliver Relin

                                               Kashmiri refugees in school. Pakistan. Image courtesy Central Asia Institute.

Long story short:

I was recommended to this book by a friend we met while living in Belgium in 2009. By the fall of that year I had started it, but had a lot of other reading materials on my mind as I was newly pregnant. I kept it close and read it very inconsistently. It was a slow read, but always intriguing to me; the ideas, stories and philosophies always in the back of my mind. It is semi-embarrassing to admit that I finished it only a month ago; but very proud to admit that it semi-changed my life. As a teacher, it struck a passion deep within me to contribute in some way to this incredible mission.

This post is a tribute to an amazing true story, a worthwhile cause and a people and part of the world I long to see.

For those not familiar with this book, here is a brief description taken from the book:

“In 1993 a mountaineer named Greg Mortenson drifted into an impoverished Pakistan village in the Karakoram Mountains after a failed attempt to climb K2. Moved by the inhabitants’ kindness, he promised to return and build a school. Three Cups of Tea is the story of that promise and its extraordinary outcome. Over the next decade Mortenson built not just one but fifty-five schools—especially for girls—in the forbidding terrain that gave birth to the Taliban. His story is at once a riveting adventure and a testament to the power of the humanitarian spirit.”

Upon completing this book, I found myself researching the Central Asia Institute, current events in that part of the world and how exactly I could help. I decided to write about it, so as to persuade somebody else to read this book and become inspired to reach out and help. It is incredible to read how one person, when so obviously guided by a higher power and placed in the right places at exactly the right times, can make a difference in so many lives and create something so motivational and inspiring for others. 

Here are some of my favourite quotes from the book:

1. Mortenson quotes an author, Helena Norberg-Hodge, who wrote Ancient Futures and had spent years living among Ladakhi people in the nothernmost state of the Republic of India. I believe this quote is a very strong theme in this book and a philosophy that I agree in:

"Norberg-Hodge continues to argue not only that Western development workers should not blindly impose modern 'improvements' on ancient cultures, but that industrialized countries had lessons to learn from people like Ladakhis about building sustainable societies. 'I have seen,' she writes, 'that community and a close relationship with the land can enrich human life beyond all comparison with material wealth or technological sophistication. I have learned that another way is possible.'" (pg. 112)

2. This quote comes from Syed Abbas, a leader of northern Pakistan's Shia, and key supporter of Mortenson's mission. It was during a speech for the inauguration of a primary school in the small village of Kuardu on September 14, 2001, just days after the attack on the World Trade Center:

"'I request America to look into our hearts,' Abbas continued, his voice straining with emotion, 'and see that the great majority of us are not terrorists, but good and simple people. Our land is stricken with poverty because we are without education. But today, another candle of knowledge has been lit. In the name of Allah the Almighty, may it light our way out of the darkness we find ourselves in.'


'It was an incredible speech,' Mortenson says. 'And by the time Syed Abbas had finished he had the entire crowd in tears. I wish all of the Americans who think 'Muslim' is just another way of saying 'terrorist' could have been there that day. The true core tenants of Islam are justice, tolerance, and charity, and Syed Abbas represented the moderate core of Muslim faith eloquently.'" (pg. 257)

3. This last quote is from Congresswoman Mary Bono:

"'After I heard Greg speak, it was the least I could do,' Bono says. 'I meet so many people day in and day out who say they're trying to do good and help people. But Greg is the real thing. He's walking the walk. And I'm his biggest fan. The sacrifices that he and his family have made are staggering. He represents the best of America. I just wanted to do what I could to see that his humanity had a chance to rub off on as many people as possible.'" (pg. 291)

It is my plea for those reading this, to read this book, find out more about this mission and do your part to help. For those interested in reading more, Greg's story continues in his book Stones into Schools, focusing on his experience of expanding his mission into Afghanistan.

*Also, for all of you teachers out there, there is a wonderful international service learning program called Pennies for Peace that contains a K-12 curriculum linked to standards, loads of free printables ready to use and assessment tools (haven't used that word in a while). I kind of wish I had my own classroom to implement this. 

Life's ingredients

Living with food allergies is a challenge. You have to constantly be aware of every ingredient in anything that is in close contact to you.

Anaphylaxis is a nightmare. The fact that there is food out there that could potentially threaten your life is horrifying. It is even more horrifying to think of all the people around you who eat these very same things which are poison to you.

When we first became aware of Maya’s food allergies, we thought, “Okay, we can handle this.” It has been difficult to find things for her to eat, to alter every single meal and to pack food she can tolerate everywhere we go. For the most part, I feel like we have a handle on it. All except for that one day in June when the unthinkable happened, the nightmare became reality, and we realized how severe Maya’s milk allergy actually was, that it is her poison. I won’t go into too much detail, but leave it at this: it was in someone else’s hands. I felt helpless, but comforted at the same time. The words, “she will be fine,” were on repeat in my mind and I somehow found calmness amidst the chaos. I am happy and very relieved to now know that these come in a 2-pack.

I’ve thought about the incident a lot, but recently it has been on my mind more than usual. I think the cause is that Maya is growing up; she is becoming friendlier, she is nursery-age, she is into everything and the reality of actually living life despite her poison is more and more frightening. What happens when she goes to school and I can’t watch her at every meal? What happens when she is in public somewhere and a friend shares some snacks? How do I make everyone in her life aware of her life-threatening allergies? A question that is too overwhelming to think about.

A friend recently told me as I was explaining to her how to check for allergy warnings on nearly all ingredient lists, that if we inspected every “ingredient” in our lives, and what we expose ourselves to, as closely as one has to inspect ingredients for food allergies, how much happier and stronger we would be mentally, emotionally, spiritually. What is in your life that is acting as a poison or holding you back from something better?  What would be listed in bold to warn you of danger in the ingredients of your life?

I loved this thought and how it created a positive and relatable spin for me on Maya’s allergies. Yes I get choked up over anaphylactic shock commercials on TV, but I try to stay positive and hope that food allergy awareness is becoming more and more widespread.

For now, it is one day at a time, one meal at a time and checking my own life’s ingredients just as carefully.

Maya enjoying dairy, egg and soy-free banana pancakes to celebrate her 18 months of life

I love this website for food allergies. Always positive and motivating with good recipe ideas.

I know I need to update the blog header…my being lazy and in denial and missing London...

Normal

I wrote this before we received some really big and amazing news. The news of a job, stability, income, a home, maybe some normality. We’ve waited too long for this news and it feels wonderful.

We are moving to Phoenix in about a month. Brett is working with the state government in the Joint Legislative Budget Committee as a Fiscal Analyst. We feel so fortunate that it happened so quickly after we came home from London and are very grateful for the opportunity to start the next chapter.

Normal.

I don’t really understand the meaning of this word.

Since Brett and I were married, I’ve always thought that we haven’t really had a normal marriage or life. I think that everyone has a different version of the word normal. I guess in my head, a normal life was getting married, setting up house, graduating, finding jobs, moving once or twice and eventually starting our family.

For us, it was much different. In the last 3 years, we have moved a total of 9 times, lived in 3 different countries, 6 cities, had a beautiful baby girl, took turns looking for jobs, stored all of our furniture and nice wedding gifts in storage, finished graduate school, and have travelled all over Europe.

I feel that many people look at our life and diverse experiences with a skewed perception of it being the adventurous and wonderful life minus the everyday problems overshadowed by a foreign home address. Perfect? Absolutely not.  An adventure and a challenge? Absolutely. I have come to learn that things aren’t always as they appear on the outside- life is just life, wherever you live, complete with a fair share of adversity and problems.  

It was difficult making so many new transitions, very difficult at times. Looking back on it, I am proud to say that I would not change one thing about the last 3 years. Everything we have seen, accomplished, endured and created has made our family stronger and closer. 

As we are embarking on a new adventure and the next chapter (out of many) we are looking forward to settling down somewhere longer than 10 months. The job search and dissertation completion is daunting, but we are hopeful things will work out for the best.  Meanwhile, Maya keeps us entertained constantly and we are enjoying each day as it comes.

Here’s to 3 more years times infinity of endless adventures, surprises and road bumps along the way.

Ireland

Our trip to Ireland was a huge success.
So beautiful, so green, and so relaxing.
The people were SO friendly and warm.
We really enjoyed spending time alone together.
(Thanks mom and Wade for watching Maya!) 

The Emerald Isle: Our Trip to The Dingle Peninsula Slideshow: Mallory’s trip from London, England, United Kingdom to Dingle, Ireland was created by TripAdvisor. See another Dingle slideshow. Create your own stunning slideshow with our free photo slideshow maker.

a london without Maya

I recently returned home from a 2 week trip to Utah to attend my sis's wedding. She was stunning, He was a prince, it was perfect; if not for an anaphylactic scare and ambulance ride with Maya the day after I arrived in Pine Valley (another story for another time). To be brief, Maya is doing fine in Pine Valley, chasing Chester around and enjoying the beautiful outdoors. We decided to leave her there after what her poor body endured and bought tickets back to Utah for the beginning of July. Poor Brett hasn't seen her since the beginning of June and honestly, I think it will be so much easier leaving London now that we will have our little papaya there at the airport waiting for us. 

 

London without Maya is definitely a lonely one. Brett has one more final, and my job is to pack up our flat into six large pieces of luggage by Friday for the couple moving in on Saturday. We are very much looking forward to our trip to Ireland (Happy Anniversary to us!) and a few more sights around London, just the two of us. The thought of flying solo (without a papaya on our laps) lifts a thousand pounds off my shoulders. On my flight to Utah, I became abruptly aware of Maya's sudden motion sickness during landing in Washington-Dulles as she threw up all over herself, me, her blanket, and luckily the aisle instead of a person. We did not smell good standing in that customs line.

London is our home, and it will be very hard to leave it all behind. We are unsure of what the future holds and are once again, stepping out into the unknown. Something President Uchtdorf taught recently has been on my mind, and I hope that we can apply it during these next few months of uncertainty to remember to focus on the things that matter most, to enjoy every minute of every day and to find joy in the journey.

“My dear brothers and sisters, we would do well to slow down a little, proceed at the optimum speed for our circumstances, focus on the significant, lift up our eyes, and truly see the things that matter most. Let us be mindful of the foundational precepts our Heavenly Father has given to His children that will establish the basis of a rich and fruitful mortal life with promises of eternal happiness.”

for brett during finals...

as per your request, here is a little something to keep you smiling while buried in books...good luck and 

we love you

The Shoe Corner

Maya has a lot of shoes. We've been given almost all of them. Half are too big, half are too small. They sit in a corner in our living room. I put them there temporarily at first, then watched Maya grow attached to her little shoe corner, and decided to leave them out. 

I've never seen her so content than when she is sitting with her shoes on and has her blankie.

Oh, and look who's finally walking! She is quite pleased with herself and the view from above.

The Blitz

We had back to back visitors joining us here in London most of April and the first part of May. First, Grandpa & Grandma Searle came to visit and shortly after, Grandma Jan and Grandma Syd made the long journey to spend time with their long-lost children, and favorite grandchild (who we all know is the #1 purpose for everyone's visit!)

We had a great time gallivanting around London seeing the sights and taking a couple of trips outside of the city (during one of which Maya threw up on a bus all over Brett, me, and a lady named Linda). We were blessed with wonderful weather; no rain and lots of sunshine. Brett and I had postponed a lot of the London sights, knowing that we would be going with visitors, so we had fun seeing some things close by for the first time.

Applause to Maya, who was such a trooper all day everyday that we were out in museums, cathedrals, towers, castles, parks, etc. Our little London baby has seen so many things in her short life, and sadly will remember none of them. All the more reason for gobs of pictures and albums with her smiling face in front of so many historical sights.

Relaxing at the Windsor Castle

Windsor Castle

        

Laughing at Grandpa

Making friends with a Beefeater in the Tower of London

Pretty flowers outside of Buckingham Palace

This little girl all of a sudden decided to stand up and take some steps on her own. I guess she was waiting for a larger audience. So we bought her shoes and she's gaining confidence everyday...I CAN'T WAIT.

The moms went to Mamma Mia, it was awesome!

 

In front of Buckingham Palace

Stonehenge

Our mothers were here during the infamous royal wedding and we celebrated with an authentic English meal of bangers & mash with some close friends while watching the magical day on TV. We had been out sightseeing all that week and saw all of the preparations, not to mention Will & Kate (well masks that is). We were in Westminster Abbey on Tuesday and people were everywhere bringing in camera equipment, dusting, and basically making every tiny detail the perfect image that it was.

As far as heading towards Buckingham Palace on Friday, out of the question! Way too many people for us with our moms and a very hyper-active 15-month old. I did enjoy watching the wedding. It was fun to pick out all of the carriages and coaches that we had just seen at the Royal Mews. I loved Kate's dress, her simple bouquet, and laughed at Prince Harry's reaction to her walking down the aisle. So cute. I wish they only could have acted a little happier (they did just get married you know). A hand hold? Arm around the waist? A little wink? Kiss on the cheek? At least they finally kissed twice (supposedly against the Queen's etiquette lessons to the Prince).

I'm off to a wedding of a much closer relation...my sister's, in the beginning of June. It's a bit daunting to think about having Maya by myself on a plane (sadly Brett has exams) but I will be very happy to see my whole family and watch my beautiful sister get married to someone I can't wait to meet!

St. James Park

After that, it's a trip to Ireland, maybe Scotland, and then back to the USA. I don't want to think about the relocation yet, it is too soon. It came too fast, and I already miss England thinking about it: the markets, free healthcare, (repeat-free healthcare), windy park roads, fresh flowers on the corner, fresh baguettes, endless entertainment, good food, great shopping, walking everywhere, the list goes on. For now, I'm enjoying everyday we still have here.

(Sorry for the 2 novel-length posts in a row...and thanks to those who actually read them)

Holiday in Spain

Thanks to a last minute deal from Thomas Cook Airlines, a cheap hotel with a balcony, kitchenette and 5-minute walk to the ocean, and warm weather, we had a wonderful, relaxing family holiday. 

Grilled chorizo, pineapple, peppers and island spices over rice

After attempting to eat together the first night at the Hotel's restaurant while Maya tried to climb on the table and then proceeded to throw a fit, we decided to buy our own food and make good use of our kitchenette...good decision because we made some delicious meals.

The first day we were there, Maya was a little freaked out by the waves, but warmed up to them by the time we left. Little did we know she wouldn't want to play in the sand with the shovel and bucket we bought for her, but rather sit on her towel and eat pretzels. She did, however, take a swim in the ocean with Daddy.

Fuerteventura was a charming island with a fair share of half naked German retirees. When we arrived at the airport and got our rental car, we started driving and came to the realization that the scenery away from the coastline was oddly familiar. We thought it looked a little like someone had dropped Arizona, Utah, or New Mexico in the middle of the ocean. I kept telling Brett that I felt like we were in Mexico (I've never actually been) and he proceeded to sing the James Taylor classic "Mexico" throughout our entire stay. So the tagline for our holiday in Spain became "Oooohhh Mexico, I've never really been, but I'd sure like to go!"

Lunchtime bruschetta and fruit 

Saying bye-bye to the ocean

The beach was rejuvenating, the water was warm, the sun was strong and Brett even brushed up on his Spanish. We played cards and Banana Grams on our balcony after putting Maya to bed and enjoyed the peace and quiet away from the hustle and bustle of London. Maya was such a trooper. More and more we are realizing how much she loves people. Everywhere we go, she talks to people and opens up conversation between us and strangers. She is one of a kind.

Last, but not least, the view from our drive back to the airport consisted of goats...lots of goats!

More to come on sightseeing in London and royal wedding chaos with the Grandparents!