Today I was humbled

Grandma and Grandpa Hunt's (old) house

Shar's name in the cement

Tree swing

Garden and workshop

Shar and my Grandpa and Grandma Hunt's grave

My mom Shar's grave (with her 4 grandsons!)

Great Grandma Fuja's grave

  Yesterday I found myself getting frustrated and discouraged because getting around Tokyo is just plain hard! Ashton and Weston had a modeling shoot about 3 miles away from here. There is often time no parking (or parking is really expensive) so driving is hard The train or subway is our only option. I have a lot of anxiety about them because I don't speak the language here and I'm afraid of getting lost. After we got home I felt sad and upset because I found myself wishing that it was easier for me.Yes, living here is challenging with certain things. I am forced outside of my comfort zone a lot. We live in the middle of a HUGE city and I can't just hop in the car and go. Walking, biking or riding the subway is the most practical way of transportation. But navigating is difficult.  Tomorrow I am going visiting teaching . I am meeting my companion in front of the Australian Embassy. I have no idea where it is, nor how to get there. But I know that I have many options to figuring this out. I am blessed to only have worries about how to get somewhere. It could be a lot worse. We are healthy, happy and content here together as a family. I need to count my blessings.

The following story/post was written about 2 months ago soon after we had arrived in Japan. I was feeling some anxieties then, too. But I was prompted to listen to a talk from President Monson and this morning I found myself re-reading it and feeling better.


Today, we turned on some conference talks to listen to. President Monson's 'Be of Good Cheer' message was playing and one story stood out to me and touched my heart and quickly humbled me. The story was about his Great Grandparents who traveled from Scotland to Zion leaving behind the land they loved, friends and family. They sold all of their possessions and prepared to sail across the Atlantic. They had 5 small children and basically only brought 1 trunkful of belongings. They traveled 8,000 miles which took them 8 weeks. Along the way, their young son got extremely ill and unfortunately died. They had to lay his body to rest in the ocean. It's amazing the faith and determination they had.

It really put into perspective how easy we have it. Throughout the process of this move to Tokyo I have found myself getting discouraged, upset, frustrated and stressed with different situations. But here I am with my 4 healthy beautiful kids, husband and house. We live in a beautiful place with nice things. Our plane ride was only about 13 hours. We were in an air conditions airplane with meals and snacks served to us, tv's and video games to keep us entertained and we were in Japan before we knew it. We were able to bring basically anything and everything we wanted. And we made it here safe and sound-all of us.

Heavenly Father really has ways of reminding us to count our blessings. For some reason, the spirit prompted me to turn on that particular talk from President Monson this morning. And I am so glad that I listened to the prompting. 

The above pictures are of our last night in the states (sorry to everyone and anyone that we didn't visit. This was literally the last evening we were around and we had tons of packing to do. It was a very quick trip to Lehi).

I wanted to take the boys to the Lehi cemetary where my Mom and Grandparents are buried. It was nice to show them and snap some pictures.

We also went to my grandparents old house. I got some pictures of his beautiful yard and garden. Also of the infamous tree/tire swing.
Cooper's middle name is Hunt after my mom's maiden name. I am so glad that I got to make a visit with my children before we left for Japan.

I am truly counting my blessings because we are so fortunate.
I am thankful for family. I am thankful for a hardworking husband who provides more than I could have ever imagined. I am so thankful for my children! They bring us so much joy.
And even though it's sometimes harder than I would like, I am thankful for this foreign  experience. Living in Japan has been exciting. We have already met wonderful friends and the kids are doing so well. We will have a life full of adventure and new beginnings. So I am choosing to be of good cheer.
I am thankful!