White white Christmas. It was my very first white Christmas with an Amercian family. The experence of such kind of American culture is nice. It was an 8-hour drive from Portland OR to Boise ID. Although I wasn't the one driving, it was still tough. Andy drove into the mountains. When the sun went down, we were in the foggy mountains that we could barely see anything. All we could do is to stay alert and try to follow the road curve. Finally we got to Boise, where Andy's brother, Chris lives. There were seven of us altogether, Andy, his parents Mike and Terri, his borther and sister in-law Chris and Kendra, me, and also Andy's nephew baby Ayden. It wasn't snowing in Boise but it was covered with snow. I failed to accomplish my dream making a snowman since the snow wasn't fresh enough. The next day we all went to Kendra's sister's. In her family there were the big sister (I don't remember her name) and her two kids Beamer and Bretta, Kendra's sister Toya and her brother. Their house was nicely decorated for Christmas. People were all nice, and I also got Christmas gifts from Chris and Kendra and Andy's parents which I wasn't expecting. But it was kind of awkard being there for some reasons. Just the ways Kendra's family teach their kids. Bretta was a girl who's doing well on school work and talented in arts. They are always saying that Bretta's such a good girl but being mean to Beamer. They said that this is only to help him. But I don't know. I felt as if this is only to frustrate him more. Their parents have divorced just a while ago. He must have been suffering. Instead of being way too strict, I think he needs to be cared more. Well, obviously this is none of my business though. Kendra's being kind of emotional, too. I guess it's because of the stress taking care of baby Ayden. Ayden is a chubby, healthy and strong kid. He's 11 months and already running around, trying to learn to say words. I tried to teach him "hamburger" in Chinese. Of course he wasn't able to do it. There's also a dog named Maximas. He is probably one of the nicest dogs I've ever seen. We also tried to give him the same orders that he always understands in Chinese. But he just sat there and tilted his head as if he was so confused. Maximas is still a puppy but a huge one. He wanted to play with baby Ayden but then his tail just wacked into Ayden's back and baby Ayden just burst out crying. Andy and I slept in the living room. One night I woke up and it smelled funky in the house. I heard Mike talking in another room saying that he has been smelling something. I woke Andy up and asked him if he smells it too. He said no and fell back asleep. I tried to do the same but couldn't sleep well. Then there I heard a woman's groaning in a very close distance. Andy also heard it and he jumped up, "What is that!!???". We were both freaked out since there's no one in the house could possibly make that kind of sound. Andy turned on the light and there I saw Maximas frowning, twisting his body and groaning..... "Maximas!!! Get up!!!!" He was having a nightmare but once I woke him up, again he was acting playful. Andy took me to downtown Boise on the last day there. It is a quiet and pretty little town with cute cafes, bookstores and record stores. Also the Library, the remarkable ones that the banner on the buildings go like "LIBRARY!" with an explaination point. I was kind of sad knowing that this might be the very first and also the last time being in the town with the McElhatton family. I tried not to think about my leaving the States. It's just too much of a burden for me to think about. I could feel my tears spinning in my eyes. In the morning on the day back. Andy accompanied me to Church in Boise. I'm really glad that he came with me that my prayers every day were not in vain. Hopefully one day the Lord will touch him fully so he could also enjoy this full enjoyment in Christ like I do. It was nice mingling with the Church in Boise. May the Lord never let go of me no matter where I go. Put me in the stream of Church life for His purpose, for the building of the body of Christ. It was so hard driving back to Portland. There Andy told me he needed to rest. On the highway then I saw a sign, "Pleasant Valley, Exit #". So I suggested we stop there. But just right when we switched lane to the exit, we found the road covered with ice and we started to slide to the left where there's a little cliff. The car was a bit out of control. Our heartbeats were raising. Seriously I thought we could die. I kept saying "Lord Jesus" in my head. Anyways, now I'm still here typing. We drove slowly on the roads in the "pleasant valley" wanting to get out of there. On my left there was that small cliff and on my right there's hills with nothing on. All of a sudden, both Andy and I said simultaneously, "Did you see that?". There, on our right hand side, was a bathtub standing in the middle of no where!!!!!!!!!!After both taking a bath in that tub, we fianlly got out of the "Pleasant Valley" which was not actually that pleasant. Now I'm here, back in Portland, and pretty soon I'll be back in Taiwan. I want to thank Andy and his family for always caring about me. I will definitly miss them. Especially Andy, although we've been fightinh, although we are both uncertain about this relationship. But I will let the Lord take care of all this and that, both him and I. White white Christmas, bye bye Christmas. -- 原PO是过气的萧蔷。 --

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