6 children in Shanghai -- and loving it

SHANGHAI, China — "One big, happy family" aptly describes the Gregory and Tracey Butters

family — big as in one of the biggest families residing in the

largest city in the world's most populous country, and happy to be among

fellow expatriate Mormons in the People's Republic of China.

The Butterses total eight — including Harrison, age 12; Benjamin,

11; Edison, 8; Molly, 7; Oscar, 4; and Dorothy, 2. Understandably, a

number of families worldwide can top that count — some doubling it or

more.

But the Butterses are Americans living in China, where the norm for a

Chinese family is a single child. And in their half-dozen years in

Shanghai, they've found one family larger — a Catholic family from

the United States with seven children participating in their local Cub

Scout pack.

Members of the Pudong Branch of the Shanghai China International

District, the Butterses are a rarity among church members holding foreign

passports and comprising the church's 11 international branches. Few LDS

families — and even fewer with such a large number of young children — spend more than a couple of years in China before returning

home.

The Butterses' China adventures began before the children arrived, with

the Butterses — both BYU law school graduates —

working in the legal profession in Southern California.

"We looked at each other across the table one day and said, 'We're not

having fun'," he recalled.

Joining the BYU Kennedy Center's China Teachers Program in 1994, the

Butterses — a contrast to the workforce of individuals and couples

twice their age — went from enjoying a pair of lawyer incomes to

earning $180 a month teaching English in Qingdao.

See the rest of this story at ldschurchnews.com.This story is provided by the LDS Church News, an official publication of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It is produced weekly by the Deseret News.