China Trip 2009 update...

I thought I would update everyone on our China orphanage trip that is coming up next week. We are leaving Thursday, July 2, and have been planning for our third trip to the Chaoyang, Liaoning orphanage. However, it seems that H1N1, otherwise known as Swine Flu, had a different idea. The province we were to visit has had 10 confirmed cases of the swine flu, supposedly brought back by students visiting the west, and the provincial government recommended closing orphanage to outsiders. We were told that the orphanage director petitioned for permission on our behalf, but was turned down.

Fortunately another orphanage has opened up their doors to us. The Jiangxi province has not had any documented cases, plus it is a much poorer region, and so their restrictions are fewer. We will be working in the HengFeng SWI (social welfare Institute). We have never been to this part of China, so are looking forward to seeing a new area, but not looking forward to the heat and humidity of the south at this time of the year. Actually we are very thankful that doors opened up at such a short notice, as the situation could have been much worse. We are very disappointed that we won't be able to see the "Faces of Chaoyang," but know that God has great plans for us.

Please keep our travel in your prayers, as this part of the trip can be quite complicated. We anticipate having our temperatures taken while still on the tarmac in Beijing, and have also changed our trip itinerary to allow for extra "quarantine" days in Beijing, just in case. Usually we site see at the end, but it made sense to add it to the beginning as a precaution. Also, check back here daily, as we plan on blogging our journey, but we have also been told that when the hotel in HengFeng has the air conditioning on, the Internet doesn't work. This could be interesting....

Father's Day and More...

Over the weekend we made a fast and furious trip to Oregon, for a variety of reasons. First, to celebrate my Grandpa's 90th birthday! His birthday is actually later this week, and he had no idea we were coming. I know, you probably shouldn't surprise someone that old, but it really was fun:) The entire family went bowling for the celebration. Grandpa is an amazing bowler for being 90 and legally blind. He was one of the top scorers!

The second celebration was of course, Father's Day. I hadn't spent the day with my own dad in quite a few years, so was fun to celebrate with he and Mike. We took them to OMSI where everyone had a good time. Well not so much the girls during the OMNIMAX showing, as they both got scared and cried for some reason, but they did like solving a crime at the CSI interactive experience and the play area where we became a family of chipmunks...

We have also been wanting to visit with my grandma since she had a stroke back in May, but hadn't had an opportunity. She fell a couple of weeks ago and broke her shoulder, received stitches for a cut above her eye, and is extremely black and blue, but her speech is back and her spirits are amazingly high. Kaia proclaiming to her "Grandma, I love you soooo much" probably helped with that! You can see from the photos how traumatic her fall must have been, as her fall was two weeks before the photos were taken and she still is quite black, blue, and puffy. Not something you want to go through when you're 93!

Milestones

This past week has been a memorable milestone for both Kellen and Joshua. First, Kellen's graduation on Friday, June 5, then Joshua's 8th grade passages on Monday, June 7th. Kellen celebrated with an all night graduation party following the ceremony, which included a cruise and some hilarious hypnotist stories, and Mike as a chaperone. They both had a wonderful time. Kellen followed that up Sunday with an Open House celebration at our home. Kellen's latest news is that he got a job yesterday, and starts as a "Courtesy Clerk" at Safeway on Monday.

Josh had his special 7th/8th grade dance on Thursday, June 4th, where he was escorted by 4 dates. We need to watch out for that one! Following Monday night's passages ceremony, a large group of 8th graders and parents went out to celebrate. It was a bittersweet celebration for Joshua, as he will not be attending Coupeville HS in the fall with this great group of friends. He has made the decision to go to Oak Harbor HS where he can wrestle for Dad, among other things.

He Did It!!!

I will post many photos later, but for now, this says it all...