Everything Mike!!!

These past two weeks or so have been all about Mike, and we are proud of him! First of all, he flew back to his hometown for dual purposes; his 30th class reunion, and being inducted into his school's hall of fame for being on the state championship football team, then following that up by winning the state wrestling championship at 142 pounds (almost 30 years later he would return to the championship with his son, but he was nearly 20 pounds heavier!). Unfortunately he accidentally deleted the video of the speech he had to make at the inductee ceremony, but here he is proudly modeling his new t-shirt...

Four days later he celebrated his birthday. But since his birthday fell on the day parent/teacher conferences dragged on lasted until 8:00 pm, we had to make sure it felt like his birthday, so we surprised him by adorning his desk with a balloon bouquet!

The next day he continued the celebration by driving to visit Joshua for Dad's Weekend at WSU!  Josh's gift? A WSU Dad sweatshirt.  The problem with that?  You see, Mike and I are both diehard Beavers, as we graduated from OSU.  Who was WSU playing against Dad's Weekend? Yep, you see the dilemma.   It was difficult for Mike to wear the sweatshirt, as at first he first wanted to walk around with just "Dad" showing...

But he decided to "sacrifice" for his son...

Josh was happy to be one of the first students through the gates so that he could earn his Cougar Super Hero Cape. Doesn't he look cute...

A compromise was made at the game. Dad wore the sweatshirt the first half, but kept his head warm with his OSU beanie. The second half got too cold, so he had to layer up.

And to cap off the past two weeks, the Beavs pulled off the win. But Mike says the best thing was definitely spending time with his son. Can't wait for Mom's weekend, but I have to wait until next April!

Love This Girl...

Fingernail painting was on today's agenda. The girls begged to do it on their own, and assured me they would not make a mess. With me standing nearby, I let them have at it. Kaia's nails got painted a pattern of Seahawk green and blue. What was most fun though was watching Jaelyn paint her own nails. Who said the brush is the part that has to move? She is such a great problem solver....skills that will do her well later in life! And her nails turned out great!

Josheeeee!

This weekend I got to spend just shy of 24 hours with Joshua! Okay, after subtracting off sleep time, it was more like 12 or so hours together, but we had a great time.

Josh got a ride over to watch the annual WSU game that is played on the west side of the mountains, in Century Link field in Seattle.  His girlfriend Rebecca and I met up with him at my brother's on Saturday morning. Looks like beautiful weather for a football game, right?

We didn't let a little bit of rain dampen our spirits though!

Unfortunately the game wasn't much better than the weather. We left third quarter when it was 3-31, and it eventually ended at 17-55.  We drowned our sorrows in delicious cheesecake at the Cheesecake Factory instead! We were pretty tired and silly by this time, which made the evening all that more fun.

It was a quick visit, but a pick-me-up for everyone's spirits.  Now just two more weeks until a visit from Dad. Speaking of Dad, big news coming up in a week for him....

Forever Summer....

As the Mid-Autumn Festival is being celebrated around the world today, and there is an incredibly beautiful moon outside tonight, that can only mean one thing: Summer is over!  Mike and I have had an amazing summer of travel and family time. When we were in Kauai this summer we heard this song on the radio for the first time, and we both fell in love with it. We downloaded it from iTunes and it has been on our playlists ever since. We wake up to it every morning on our alarm clock; how can you not wake up in a good mood when the second you wake up you are taken right back to the beauty of Hawaii and memories of Hawaii?  Though Fall is in just a few days, it will be Forever Summer for us....


The end of summer is also signaled by the arrival of football! Josh sent us a photo of him at his first game cheering on the Cougars (and they actually won!). He may be traveling to Seattle in a couple weeks to watch them play, and if he does, we hope to be able to meet up with him. Can't believe it has been over a month since he left! Hoping it works out to meet up.

Planning Ahead....

This morning I had the pleasure of briefly sharing about our 2013 work in Chaoyang, as well as plugging the 2014 trip to my church body.  Along with the slideshow and meaningful lyrics, I focused on the perspective of a first timer on the trip...

Signups for the June 25-July 6 trip are already taking place. You may do so and/or learn more at the Visiting Orphans website.  The team is comprised of not just members from my church, but from various Christian denominations across the United States that come together for one purpose, to fulfill the mandate of James 1:27 to "visit orphans and widows in their distress." Feel free to message or post any questions you may have.  It may be one of the most meaningful things you ever take....

With Honors...

Yesterday was Joshua's birthday.  I mailed him a box full of cereal, mac-n-cheese, brownies, etc. earlier in the week. We  Skyped with him while he opened his presents, but it wasn't the same for either of us.  Josh pretty much whispered the entire time, as his room mate was sleeping. Turns out his roomie actually sleeps often, after staying up late playing video games.  From the sound of things Josh isn't too thrilled about the overall situation. But I digress. Where was I? Oh yes, Josh opened his gifts while we watched him open them.  He then was off to church followed by a wonderful celebration dinner at Panda Express with new friends! So I guess I shouldn't worry about him being too lonely!

On Saturday I erroneously opened his mail when sorting through my junk mail. Here is what I found...

We already knew his results, as he received college credit for four classes. But it was a timely reminder of how proud I am of him, and reassuring that he will be successful where he is.

Down to Two...

We are down to just two "first days" of school this year, well, that is if you don't count Mike and I, because we will forever have first days of school! Here they were their first morning...

After two days, both are singing high praises of their teachers, and Kaia even responded that Math was her favorite subject so far. Wow, that's a turnaround from last year! Let's just hope the entire year stays this positive!

And yes, technically both boys had/have "first days" of school this year, but for some reason they don't like the first day photos anymore.  Josh has finished three weeks of college so far, and from the little correspondence I get from him on school, he says things are going well. Club wrestling has started for him, and we are hoping he will wrestle close enough this season so that we can go cheer him on once again. We haven't seen a schedule yet, but maybe he will be in a gym near you. Kellen has another week before his school begins. My nocturnal child is still working on switching his body clock around to daytime hours.  Good thing he doesn't have any a.m. classes scheduled!