So much for global warming

For the third winter in a row, we've had snow on the "snowless" Oregon coast! This year was the most ever. It was so beautiful, and of course the schools all closed--including the Owens Academy. I took the kids inland a few miles where there was even more snow so they could play, sled, and make a very cute snowman.

MARRIED!

Mark & Jill are married! The only wedding I've ever been this excited over was my own! Brad and I made a very quick trip to Cincinnati to attend the wedding. We were on the ground for 36 hours, and visited exactly four places: the airport, the hotel, the church, and the reception hall. Despite the brevity of the trip, it was absolutely wonderful to be able to watch these dear friends of ours get married after waiting so many years to find each other.

We also got to see several people from our days in Austria. Carol Halm came to the wedding all the way from Austria, where she still lives. Don & Lynn Golden drove down from their home in Grand Rapids. And Roseanne Turner came up from Greenville, SC. We hadn't seen any of these people since we came home from Austria more than 14 years ago!

It was a wonderful trip and a beautiful wedding. We are so stoked to have Jill as our pastor's wife, and most of all we are just thrilled for these two who are so crazy about each other.

2nd annual AYUSA girls slumber party

Yesterday was mid-year orientation for all my AYUSA kids. When orientation ended, we sent the boys home, and the girls stayed for a sleepover. I have a fantastic group of girls this year and we had a blast! We played games, watched a movie, and had fun talking, laughing, and eating together. The only thing we really didn't do much of is SLEEP.

First game of the season

Basketball season is underway! Caleb's first game was today and his team did great! So did Caleb--all the time he's spent shooting hoops over the past months has certainly paid off. His skills have improved dramatically since last year. We are proud of him and look forward to the season!

Final score: 27-13 WIN!

How lucky can you get?

Vitor came to Oregon for a 5-month exchange. He's preparing to return to Brazil in a couple weeks, and his one wish was to see a big city. He was invited to visit his host family's daughter in Las Vegas, so he got approval from AYUSA and bought a non-refundable airplane ticket to fly to Vegas tomorrow.

Tonight he called me in a panic because the couple he had planned to stay with in Vegas had cancelled on him. He wanted to go anyway and stay in a hotel, which of course AYUSA would never allow. He was hopping mad, although I'm not sure if it was more because he was going to have to eat the airline ticket or because he wasn't going to get to see a big city. I told him to calm down long enough for me to make a few phone calls in search of a solution.

I was able to reach an AYUSA Regional Director in Las Vegas who was willing to pick Vitor up from the airport. She arranged for Vitor to spend two nights with a host family whose exchange student recently arrived to their home from Brazil. They will take him to see the sights of the city.

Early Tuesday morning Vitor will join a group of AYUSA students on a trip to the Grand Canyon and Los Angeles before returning to Las Vegas to fly back to Oregon.

Miri was amazed (and jealous!) and told Vitor he should kiss my feet for arranging this for him. He gave me a hug, which willl do just fine. :-)

Good news!

This was the note on the bottom of the receipt that came from Julianne's orthodontist today. Words can not express how good it feels to know those braces are PAID OFF!

What kind of title do you give a post like this?

This has actually been a pretty uneventful week around our house. We started school after a wonderful Christmas break, and are now back into our regular routine.

Today Caleb spent the day at the middle school playing in a chess tournament. We girls (minus Miri who had to go to school) met Mom & Dad in Coos Bay for breakfast as they were on their way to Portland. We made a Walmart run where Julianne found a couple skirts that will be perfect for Teen Missions. They are lightweight, reversible, non-wrinkly, and cute! I'm trying to pick up things here and there for her trip so we don't have to spend a fortune all at once.

Now we're doing a little weekend cleaning before we head out the door to Miri's game.

Happy weekend to you!

Let it Snow!. . .but please wait 'til we get home

Yesterday we girls (Julianne, Miri, Yara, and I) headed to the big city (Eugene) to catch some of the after Christmas sales and enjoy one last hurrah before school starts again tomorrow. Our van is in the shop being repaired from when I got rear-ended back in September. In its place we have a Pontiac Sunfire, which is just a step up from what the Amish drive. It has manual windows, manual door locks, no cruise control, and you can't even pop the trunk from inside the car. (You can however, pull the back seat forward and crawl into the trunk, which the kids think is uber cool.)

Here on the coast we've had lots of hail lately, and it is generally colder in Eugene than here, so I checked three different websites to make sure we wouldn't run into any snow over there. I also called my friend who lives there and had her check her local weather forecast. All systems were go. However since it was rainy, I told the girls we'd come home early because I didn't want to drive home in bad weather and in the dark.

We had finished at the second mall at 3:00, so we decided we had time to stop by Old Navy before heading home. At 3:45 we walked out the door of Old Navy to find it snowing hard. I said, "Girls, get in the car. We're heading home now." Normally we come home by taking I-5 south for about 45 minutes to Drain and then cutting over to the coast. However, in light of this sudden snowstorm, I thought it would be better to cut directly over the coast on Hwy 126, coming out at Florence.

It continued to snow as we left Eugene, but it was wet and melting as soon as it hit the road. It was still daylight and I was thinking we were getting started just in time to stay ahead of the real weather. Then we came to the accident. . . .

At first we didn't know it was an accident because we were behind who-knows-how-many cars at a dead stop. As we sat there waiting for the traffic to clear, it started snowing harder. There was no rain mixed in with the snow now. . . . just big, beautiful flakes (zillions of them) falling silently to the ground. It was absolutely beautiful, and my biggest disappointment was that I'd left my camera by the door at home.

There were several inches of snow on the ground, on the trees, and by the time we finished sitting there for an hour, on the oncoming lane of the highway too. Yara (from Israel) said, "Now this is America!" It's not every CR that will get stuck in a snowstorm so her students can experience real America!

Finally, when traffic started moving again it was starting to get dusk. There was a lot of snow, slush, and I assume ice on the roads by then, so I took it very slow. The traffic ahead of me pulled away much faster and got so far ahead that I couldn't even see them anymore, so I became the leader of 50 pairs of headlights behind me. I went 20-25 mph for about 30 miles, and only a little faster after that. It's 60 miles from Eugene to Florence, and it was snowing for all but the last 10 miles. Then the snow turned to rain for the rest of the trip home.

What is normally a 2.5 hour drive took us 4.5 hours, but we made it home safely. This morning I looked at tripcheck.com to see how much snow was on the road now. It says "A large slide has blocked the hwy. The hwy is closed."

It is so good to be home.

Hallelujah! The Christmas tree is down!

Christmas is my very most favorite time of year without a doubt. I love setting up the tree on Thanksgiving weekend (although this year it was later than that.) I love shopping for gifts, planning for company, baking up a storm, and counting down the days until Christmas Day. However, once the day passes, the tree in my living room is just a reminder that even though the excitement of the holiday is over, there's still more work to do. The kids beg to leave it up longer, but I prefer to get that baby down and get my house back to normal.

Well, today was the day! We took the tree down and boxed up all the Christmas decorations. That ends up being a lot of boxes that need to go upstairs, but I have found a good system. I put them all at the bottom of the stairs and wait for Brad to get home. When he got ready to take the biggest one up tonight, he asked if I wanted to help him. I replied, "Isn't that what I gave birth to a son for?" (Yes, I really said that...)

Anyway, the tree is finally down and the house is back to normal...just in time for school to start on Monday.

Say what?

Communication can sometimes be challenging when your home contains a 7-year old with a still-developing vocabulary and an exchange student who speaks English as a second language.

This afternoon Elisa was telling us about a movie preview she saw. The film is about a bunch of cute little puppies.....but "one of them has an inappropriate name," she informed us very seriously.

I figured it couldn't be too bad in a kids' movie, so I asked what the name was.

She lowered her voice and said, "Rose-butt."

Julianne giggled and said, "I think you mean Rosebud."

It's nice that she's still learning new things over Christmas break. :-)

Then tonight Brad mentioned that someone "threw a fit."

Miri raised her eyebrows and said, "They threw a fish?"

I'm so glad she doesn't take her English faux pas too seriously.

Happy New Year

To ring in the new year we invited the Jones family over for an evening of games, laughter, talking, and munchies. We don't get together with them nearly enough anymore, so it was a great time of catching up. We all managed to stay up until midnight, but the party wrapped up soon after that, and the kids very willingly went to bed. Claudia, Russell, and Natalie spent the night, much to the delight of our kids.

Russell is becoming quite the chess player, and he really gave Caleb a run for his money. They are nearly evenly matched and really have fun playing together. We plan to get the boys together again soon.

A few minutes after midnight the phone rang, and it was Terry & Donna Jeanne Schneider calling from Austria. We had a wonderful time catching up each other's lives since--who knows how long? They are doing well and we hope very much to see them again--either here or in Austria.

This morning the Jones kids left just as one of Elisa's friends arrived to play for a couple hours. Miri left to go horseback riding and Julianne went to a friend's house. It was a busy day with not much at all really getting done. (The Christmas tree is still up...)

When we went to pick up Miri, we stayed awhile and visited with our friends, the Godfreys. Elisa got to ride their horse, which was a very special treat for her.
Happy New Year to you and may God bless you richly in the coming year!