tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-130064792011-11-13T03:24:45.861-08:00<center>The ongoing adventures of the Owens family. <br> Please leave a comment so I know you've been here!</center>Karinoreply@blogger.comBlogger2541100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13006479.post-54890417431295585342008-02-16T21:05:00.000-08:002008-02-16T21:16:05.525-08:00

I thought I better spell out the number lest you think it's a typo. Twenty-seven is the number of points Caleb scored at his basketball game today! The final score was 47-20--a huge win for the team and a huge day for Caleb. He was glowing after the game (yes, I know it was sweat) and has had a smile on his face all day. I forgot my camera, but even if I'd brought it I'm sure he would have

Karinoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13006479.post-54232983217929040152008-02-16T20:44:00.000-08:002008-12-11T10:39:46.773-08:00

Last night there was an awesome concert in Salem: Matthew West, Jeremy Camp, and Toby Mac. Julianne and Miri wanted to go so badly, but I just didn't see how I would be able to take them. We were able to find a great solution with Kent & Becky. They took the girls to the concert with them, and we watched their younger kids. (I told Brad I know I'm getting old when I'd rather babysit than

Karinoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13006479.post-8194956665574273522008-02-14T21:06:00.000-08:002008-12-11T10:39:47.214-08:00

This year's Valentine's dinner menu included:Meatloaf with glazeMashed potatoesSweet cornRed Lobster BiscuitsPunchCream filled puff pastry w/raspberry sauceAll the kids pitched in and helped make dinner. We found a website with ways to fold napkins and had the coolest ever napkins. Yes, this is made from ONE napkin. We ate our dinner by candlelight and exchanged valentines afterwards. It was

Karinoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13006479.post-49350013530768101472008-01-28T21:15:00.000-08:002008-12-11T10:39:48.010-08:00

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.

Karinoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13006479.post-62172325390182789402008-01-28T18:58:00.000-08:002008-12-11T10:39:48.181-08:00

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

Karinoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13006479.post-8218321511663287712008-01-21T20:46:00.000-08:002008-12-11T10:39:48.400-08:00

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.

Karinoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13006479.post-39096944531704039452008-01-19T20:37:00.000-08:002008-12-11T10:39:48.530-08:00

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!

Karinoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13006479.post-47300621035326544982008-01-18T23:13:00.000-08:002008-01-21T20:36:03.354-08:00

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

Karinoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13006479.post-5676375435684253172008-01-16T17:48:00.000-08:002008-12-11T10:39:48.549-08:00

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!

Karinoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13006479.post-2963347984998472932008-01-11T15:48:00.000-08:002008-01-11T15:57:40.983-08:00

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

Karinoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13006479.post-69544402152526718922008-01-06T19:05:00.000-08:002008-01-10T14:58:06.554-08:00

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

Karinoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13006479.post-21142491341281599482008-01-03T22:00:00.000-08:002008-01-03T22:06:16.447-08:00

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

Karinoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13006479.post-90028692178883750212008-01-02T22:24:00.000-08:002008-01-02T22:32:40.291-08:00

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

Karinoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13006479.post-55215389953951361742008-01-01T22:59:00.000-08:002008-12-11T10:39:48.869-08:00

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

Karinoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13006479.post-72237315361206011702007-12-31T16:35:00.000-08:002007-12-31T16:37:21.196-08:00

I finished setting up the new blog for Julianne's missions trip this summer. I'm looking forward to documenting her adventure there, and I hope you will enjoy reading about it.Check it out: South Africa Summer

Karinoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13006479.post-81499007604936087072007-12-30T23:24:00.001-08:002007-12-30T23:28:16.998-08:00

I have been working on setting up a new blog for Julianne as she prepares for her missions trip to South Africa this summer. It's nearly finished, so check back here soon for a link. It is similar to the blog I used when she went to Belize, but I think this new one will be even more useful, in part because I didn't wait until she left to start it. :-)Our weekend has been uneventful, but nice.

Karinoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13006479.post-44893014791957967092007-12-28T11:44:00.000-08:002008-12-11T10:39:49.364-08:00

Pico (Hong Kong) was here in Coquille as an exchange student last year, and is now attending college in Coos Bay. Pico's host family is now hosting Yara from Israel, so the girls are [sort of] sisters. Both Pico and Yara spent the night at our house, and we girls had an evening out. We had fun goofing around, we shopped a little, and went to a movie. It was a great evening! Oh..did I mention we

Karinoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13006479.post-48952364527964555192007-12-26T21:40:00.000-08:002008-12-11T10:39:49.979-08:00

The day after Christmas was filled with cries of "Let's do something!" so we considered our options. The weather had been alternating between hard rain and blue sky, but regardless we decided to head out to Shore Acres. I read that it is whale watching time, and that this migration was supposed to be unusually good. In addition, we hadn't yet made our annual trip to see the Christmas lights at

Karinoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13006479.post-24520384416045676202007-12-25T16:27:00.000-08:002008-12-11T10:39:51.119-08:00

Christmas is always my favorite time of year, and I think this was one of the most fun Christmases yet. We started off by doing the usual holiday baking. It's even more fun now that I have helpers in the kitchen. On Christmas Eve we had our traditional turkey dinner, which was absolutely delicious and we all ate too much. In the evening we opened our new pajamas and read our advent story,

Karinoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13006479.post-2047836788316219222007-11-15T03:51:00.000-08:002008-12-11T10:39:51.662-08:00

This year the AYUSA Overseas Partner Experience was to the Netherlands. Wow! The week was packed full of fun and sightseeing, and I had a wonderful time. Here are the highlights:Flying out of North Bend created crazy connections for me, and I ended up on a red-eye flight from Portland to Chicago, followed by a 13-hour layover in Chicago before my group flight to Amsterdam. The upside was I stayed

Karinoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13006479.post-70602114329827032032007-10-31T03:44:00.000-07:002008-12-11T10:39:51.808-08:00

In my effort to update the blog, I'm just hitting the highlights.....Our October was filled with school, Miri's soccer season, a field trip to the cranberry bogs, and of course, Halloween. We had a great time at the church's annual Trunk or Treat fall celebration.

Karinoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13006479.post-49262052738373588012007-09-21T03:32:00.000-07:002008-12-11T10:39:52.202-08:00

Although I grew up in Oregon, I had never been to Crater Lake before. I told plenty of people it was a "must-see" destination in Oregon, but just hadn't quite found the time to visit myself. Finally...I did it! I took the exchange students on a day trip, and it was spectacular! We drove around the rim of the lake, stopping occasionally to walk around and take pictures. We spent some time at

Karinoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13006479.post-32090078705656445752007-08-15T20:05:00.000-07:002008-12-11T10:39:52.454-08:00

One of the other students that arrived on Miri's flight was a Chinese boy named Ted. I just found a host family for him recently, so the host family did not get to choose his arrival day. They have previous commitments and are not able to take him yet, so Ted is spending his first 10 days at our house. He's a great guy and we are really enjoying him.Monday we went to Sunset Beach for a picnic

Karinoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13006479.post-24154913679745912082007-08-11T19:52:00.000-07:002008-12-11T10:39:52.721-08:00

The big day finally arrived, and Miri has now joined our family! There were three other AYUSA students on her flight, so their host families were waiting at the airport with us. In addition, two of the students that arrived earlier also came--with their host families--to meet and greet the new arrivals. We had quite a crowd at our tiny little airport!After welcome hugs were completed and bags

Karinoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13006479.post-80971606242698046992007-08-06T22:40:00.000-07:002008-12-11T10:39:53.137-08:00

After all the waiting, the first day of camp finally arrived. Caleb and Elisa were so excited...and yes, Elisa was still nervous. We got them checked in, and I was thrilled to learn that Elisa's counselor is Anita, a friend of mine from years ago. She is a neat lady that will make Elisa feel comfortable. I think it also helped her (and me) feel more comfortable to see that many of the counselors

Karinoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13006479.post-29316050205508701402007-08-06T22:20:00.000-07:002008-12-11T10:39:53.294-08:00

This just goes to show....There's more than one way to make a float!

Karinoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13006479.post-17319799339163042832007-08-04T21:23:00.000-07:002007-08-05T09:31:42.667-07:00

For a long time I was setting things aside in our storage room with the goal of eventually having a yard sale. I had quite a collection of stuff, but the thought of organizing it all was overwhelming, not to mention sure to set off my allergies. So I decided to just forget the yard sale and donate it all to charity. Julianne asked if she could do the yard sale herself and keep the profits. I

Karinoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13006479.post-45476083635029861852007-08-02T21:47:00.000-07:002007-08-02T22:01:21.845-07:00

This has been a very busy week. Monday evening I did Host Family Orientation for half of this year's south coast families. Yesterday Julianne and I went to Eugene, had lunch at the Olive Garden, and did some shopping in the afternoon. I was once again blessed by Julianne's great taste in clothes--she does a great job of finding clothes that are cute, classy, and modest, and still manages to

Karinoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13006479.post-55185823907746074522007-07-25T08:57:00.000-07:002007-07-28T09:01:14.525-07:00

It's that time of year again--the fair is in town. We told the kids that since we have taken them to Disneyland AND Six Flags this year, we are not shelling out money for fair rides. Julianne and Elisa decided to use their own money to buy a bracelet that allowed them unlimited rides. Caleb opted to go swimming with his friends.Brad was working, so we three girls headed to the fair. When we

Karinoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13006479.post-89017285926157655932007-07-22T22:45:00.000-07:002008-12-11T10:39:53.681-08:00

My baby is seven! How did this happen? Much to our surprise, she did not want to have a birthday party; she wanted to do something special with the family. We started celebrating on Saturday when we went to Coos Bay and let her make all the decisions. First we went to lunch at Saphires Mongolian Grill. We told our server that it was Elisa's birthday, so they sang to her and let her choose one of

Karinoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13006479.post-33978996792667546122007-07-21T10:00:00.000-07:002008-12-11T10:39:54.073-08:00

It seems that each summer Dad Owens sends photos of his beautiful garden and remarks that it's the best one yet. We decided to get started on the family tradition, and we're giving ourselves plenty of room to grow. Nonetheless, we are quite pleased with our single tomato plant (the currently has 16 tomatoes) and are really looking forward to sinking our teeth into a nice, ripe, red tomato.

Karinoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13006479.post-56135377322895806132007-07-20T23:34:00.000-07:002008-12-11T10:39:54.455-08:00

Today was the last day of swim lessons and all I can say is WOW! Caleb is amazing in the water now, and he's decided he wants to be a lifeguard when he's old enough. The pool manager is happy about that! Elisa has had her first experience working toward a goal. As part of her swim lessons each day, she has had to jump off the diving board and swim back to the side. However, when we've gone

Karinoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13006479.post-7077831799285582142007-07-19T15:55:00.000-07:002008-12-11T10:39:54.719-08:00

What's more fun than going swimming with your friends in the summer?

Karinoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13006479.post-59051338520220562452007-07-18T18:07:00.000-07:002007-07-18T21:47:48.411-07:00

My handy-dandy new camera allows me to record short videos. Here's a good view of Elisa's progress at swimming lessons, recorded this morning.

Karinoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13006479.post-85750162462030516992007-07-16T22:36:00.000-07:002008-12-11T10:39:55.143-08:00

Real intimidating, huh? Oh well...I guess even a ferocious guard dog needs a break once in awhile.

Karinoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13006479.post-7186025406660287402007-07-13T21:33:00.000-07:002008-12-11T10:39:55.436-08:00

Caleb and Elisa reached the end of their first week of swimming lessons, and they surpassed my wildest imaginations of what they would accomplish. Elisa can swim quite well underwater, and she continues to work on her crawl stroke and back stroke. On Thursday her instructors took her (and her classmate) to the deep end of the pool using a kickboard. After they got the feel of swimming in deep

Karinoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13006479.post-10830365249812583862007-07-11T06:46:00.000-07:002007-07-11T06:58:53.783-07:00

We all know the kids are smart, but now we have more proof. Homeschooled kids are required to take a standardized test every few years, and this was the year for Julianne and Caleb. We got their test scores back and they both did great! The test covered several aspects of language (vocabulary, grammar, etc.) and math. Their scores were given on a percentile (not a percentage), which means

Karinoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13006479.post-45334312881518436622007-07-09T21:40:00.001-07:002007-07-09T21:52:55.278-07:00

Last night at church, someone asked me what we are up to. I replied that June was busy seeing off the exchange students--especially Igor--and then with our trip to San Francisco. August will bring the arrival of next year's students, so for now we are taking it easy.The scheduling part of my brain had apparently fallen asleep, because today was clear evidence that July is not a slow month. All

Karinoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13006479.post-23543180293465654092007-07-08T17:43:00.000-07:002007-07-08T22:12:06.376-07:00

In the interest of keeping this blog going, I am posting again even though I still don't have any new pictures to upload. I lost my old camera in San Francisco while we were in Chinatown. I don't know if I set it down (which doesn't seem likely) or if someone snagged it out of my purse, but either way it is gone. The camera wasn't working properly and I'd been saying I was going to get a new one,

Karinoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13006479.post-10873826382896925432007-07-06T06:39:00.000-07:002007-07-06T06:58:59.534-07:00

You know it's been too long since you've updated your blog when you can't even remember your own website address! I typed in what I thought it was and found myself at Kari Smith's blog, reading about her adventures working with a summer youth ministry. You can check it out at http://karisadventures.blogspot.com. The difference between her and me is she has adventures--plural, whereas I guess

Karinoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13006479.post-28658024424689499992007-06-11T21:55:00.000-07:002008-12-11T10:39:56.103-08:00

I was just looking through past pictures and found several of Caleb's birthday that are too cute not to post. I'll leave them here for a week or so, and then I will move them to the June archives.Is there any doubt who the birthday boy is???And take a wild guess what the theme of the party was.....Boys will be boys....and Elisa likes to join in too. :-)

Karinoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13006479.post-31967997682656105902007-03-23T09:13:00.000-07:002008-12-11T10:39:56.399-08:00

We have wanted to go to Disneyland for so long, and have looked into it several times, but it is always soooo expensive. A couple weeks ago, one of my host families called me to tell me they were taking their exchange student to Disney. They found a great deal online. Well.......I looked into it, and sure enough, it was by far the best price I've ever seen. Brad and I discussed it and quickly

Karinoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13006479.post-7201148243007808862007-03-17T21:08:00.000-07:002007-05-19T09:13:15.538-07:00

Again this year, Caleb qualified for the state chess tournament, so we headed to Portland for the two-day event. The first day was team competition, and the second day was individuals. Coquille didn't place in team competition, but Caleb was able to come away with a beautiful 2nd place trophy for individuals. We are so proud of him!! Great job, Caleb!

Karinoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13006479.post-44417963889672506972007-03-14T07:59:00.000-07:002008-12-11T10:39:56.859-08:00

It's almost spring, and that means time to start placing next year's exchange students. We have chosen our newest family member, and here she is:Miriam is from Germany, and based on her profile, she sounds a lot like our family. She's only two years older than Julianne, and the two of them share many interests. Miriam is a Christian, and her father and grandfather were both pastors. We've spoken

Karinoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13006479.post-27992830545279472792007-03-04T22:26:00.000-08:002007-03-13T22:27:21.661-07:00

I had the fun of jetting off to San Francisco again this year for the annual AYUSA training conference. This year was so much fun! I got to room with my good friend, Stacie, who started out as one of my host families, and ended up moving to Central Oregon to become a Regional Director with AYUSA. It was lots of fun to see staff that I hadn't seen since last year, and an extra-special treat was

Karinoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13006479.post-76932563054975749312007-02-25T14:41:00.000-08:002007-02-25T15:18:02.359-08:00

This weekend the youth group participated in World Vision's 30 Hour Famine. The purpose was twofold: to raise money to feed poor children of the world, and to increase awareness and understanding of poverty around the world.The kids set a goal of $1200, but after the first week, they had already exceeded that goal, so they increased it. Lots of the kids worked hard, but Julianne really outdid

Karinoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13006479.post-87564170634407151942007-02-24T14:30:00.000-08:002008-12-11T10:39:57.645-08:00

Caleb has a small team (both in number and in stature) so it has been a challenging season, but the team is improving greatly and most importantly, the boys are having fun.Caleb scored 10 points today. Here's one of his shots that went in. . . And here's another. . . Great job, Caleb! You are awesome!

Karinoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13006479.post-65704232327715053152007-02-23T23:12:00.000-08:002008-12-11T10:39:57.826-08:00

The morning started early--we left home at 6:20. Three of the exchange students from Coquille/Myrtle Point spent the night at my house so their host families wouldn't have to bring them so early. We loaded into the church van and headed to Coos Bay to pick up the rest of the group at 7:00.Our first stop was Eugene, where we took a tour of the University of Oregon campus. The campus is beautiful

Karinoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13006479.post-39404690445960547172007-02-22T17:01:00.000-08:002008-12-11T10:39:59.225-08:00

This month's co-op field trip included a visit to the vet. Being in a rural area, Dr. Joe services all kinds of animals, big and small. First we toured the inside of the vet's office, including the exam room, the surgery room, and the boarding kennels. We then ventured outside to see where larger animals are taken care of. The kids enjoyed pretending to be cows, as they were herded down the shute

Karinoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13006479.post-44741879898064584182007-02-21T23:12:00.000-08:002008-12-11T10:39:59.831-08:00

OK, I have absolutely no idea how this happened, but I am now the parent of a TEENAGER! I guess that's what everyone meant when they said, "Enjoy every minute of it--they grow up quickly!"Julianne has been counting down for months and is thrilled to have reached this milestone. While I must admit it makes me feel older than I really feel (understand that?), even more than that I feel incredibly

Karinoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13006479.post-70274779380726338992007-02-20T21:13:00.000-08:002008-12-11T10:40:00.080-08:00

Pico is from Hong Kong and is living with another famil here in Coquille. She is such a sweetie, and we all just love her. Julianne and Pico have become good friends, and Pico spent the night Friday night. Sunday was Chinese New Year, which is a huge holiday in most of Asia. Pico brought some special paper and taught all of us how to write our names in Chinese.

Karinoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13006479.post-9443342609653407772007-02-19T22:08:00.000-08:002007-02-19T22:27:44.044-08:00

After Caleb's game we came home and Caleb took a quick shower. Pico (from Hong Kong) had spent the night with Julianne, so I had to take her home. When I pulled back into the driveway, Brad said, "Stay in the van..." Everybody else came out and loaded up (including Betsy) and off we went.We drove to Gold Beach where we dropped off the kids. Then Brad surprised me by taking me to Crescent City

Karinoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13006479.post-76837995395430065732007-02-17T14:43:00.000-08:002007-02-18T08:53:52.285-08:00

Caleb had a double-header basketball game this morning. His first game was at 9:00, and by gametime only four guys from his team had shown up, so the game began with 4-on-4. Eventually one more kid showed up to make a full team, but they had nobody else to rotate in, so all five boys had to play the entire game. The other team, however, had nine boys. In addition to them being able to sub in

Karinoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13006479.post-55573433601829463812007-01-15T03:58:00.000-08:002008-12-11T10:40:00.658-08:00

Julianne had a wonderful season playing basketball this year. Her skills improved dramatically over the course of the season, and we had so much fun watching her play! She is an incredible defensive player, and she did her share of scoring too. Looooong legs, courtesy of the Owens side of the family! Taking it down the court.....See the ball? #42 red put that there! Great season, Julianne!

Karinoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13006479.post-84603230050488203542007-01-14T13:48:00.000-08:002008-12-11T10:40:01.260-08:00

I had mid-year orientation for all my AYUSA kids, and afterwards the girls stayed for a slumber party. It was so much fun! Julianne stayed for the sleepover, but we sent the rest of the family to Gold Beach.We watched movies, played games, took pictures (taking pictures of oneself with one's friends is apparently a popular activity among teenagers now...), and even got a little sleep. Many of the

Karinoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13006479.post-64027770452669807442006-12-25T18:18:00.000-08:002008-12-11T10:40:02.152-08:00

Well, today two different people asked me when I am going to update my blog, so I guess now's the time to get around to it. Since I'm two months behind, we're just going to hit the highlights. Here are a few pictures of Christmas morning.

Karinoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13006479.post-53004345063153487852006-11-24T09:02:00.000-08:002006-11-24T09:14:16.033-08:00

You know what they say about the best-laid plans. . .We had our Thanksgiving planned out pretty well. Wednesday morning I had to go to K-Light to do some voicework, but most of the day was scheduled to bake some pies and dinner rolls to take to Mom & Dad's. I arrived in Coos Bay at 7:45 a.m. and thought I'd just swing the van by the shop next door and have them check out the squeeking sound I'd

Karinoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13006479.post-84389661274486556062006-11-19T15:19:00.000-08:002006-11-19T15:30:38.095-08:00

Julianne and I decided to get away and have some fun--just the two of us. Friday afternoon, we headed off to Eugene for some girls time away. We checked into our motel room and set up my laptop so we could watch a DVD--the first disc of season 2 of Alias. Julianne watched season 1 last year with Marie and has been dying to see season 2. We had a pizza delivered to the room and got

Karinoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13006479.post-87958869723820980032006-11-16T20:03:00.000-08:002006-11-17T08:06:06.793-08:00

After attending a workshop on unit studies over the summer, I decided to give it a try this year. Using this method, we choose a topic and most of our subjects relate to the topic. Our first unit study was on Russia, and it went well, although we had to give ourselves a little grace as we got used to this new method.Now we're getting ready to wrap up our unit study on horses. We have had so much

Karinoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13006479.post-9284100331154162532006-11-12T21:08:00.002-08:002006-11-12T21:21:21.066-08:00

Last summer we painted Marie's old room so Caleb could move into it, and then painted the guest room for Igor. Caleb's old room is now the guest room. I intended to paint it over the summer but ran out of time, and ever since have been looking for a good weekend to get the job done. This was it!Mom came Saturday morning to help me while Brad went to get a load of wood. We taped all the edges and

Karinoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13006479.post-1163173710875337232006-11-09T19:43:00.000-08:002006-11-16T21:01:16.379-08:00

Caleb had Show & Tell at co-op today. He had a hard time deciding what to bring, but finally settled on bringing Betsy. There's nothing she likes more than kids, so she was thrilled to be there.Caleb told the kids how we got her at the pound, and he demonstrated how well she obeys. She was surprisingly cooperative, even though she was very excited.Caleb did a great job and the kids enjoyed

Karinoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13006479.post-1162743790012753022006-11-04T07:53:00.000-08:002006-11-10T07:46:02.023-08:00

Today was the first chess tournament of the year. Originally only Julianne and Caleb were going to enter, but Igor and Elisa decided to participate at the last minute too. All four ended up with a trophy! Elisa hasn't been playing at home lately, so her skills haven't really improved. She has a good understanding of how the pieces move, but still doesn't know how to strategize to checkmate her

Karinoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13006479.post-1162588010408014082006-11-02T23:05:00.000-08:002006-11-10T07:46:01.946-08:00

For my Countries & Cultures class, I brought in my two Italian students, Gianluca and Marina. They shared the culture of Italy with us and taught us to make Spaghetti al Carbonara. It was delicious!First, Gianluca boiled the water and added salt to taste. While we waited for the water to reach a boil, the girls cut bacon into small pieces while our Italian teachers grated an entire wedge of

Karinoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13006479.post-1162357422503268742006-10-31T20:58:00.000-08:002006-11-10T07:46:01.734-08:00

We had a very fun Halloween evening! As soon as Brad got home from work he changed clothes and we headed to the church for the second annual Trunk or Treat event. First we enjoyed a hamburger & hot dog potluck dinner, followed by games, caramel apples, and popcorn in the gym. Finally it was time for the event of the evening: trunk or treating. Each family opened their trunk and the kids went

Karinoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13006479.post-1162259566819826742006-10-30T17:43:00.000-08:002006-11-10T07:46:01.549-08:00

This family wrestling match included everyone except me. Julianne hadn't joined yet when this picture was taken, but she did eventually get involved. The gray sweats and orange shirt are Brad's, and the blue & white shirt is Igor. Nothing like a little family fun! (But I confess I was happy to be the photographer.)

Karinoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13006479.post-1162398090010785992006-10-27T08:07:00.000-07:002006-11-10T07:46:01.840-08:00

After taking a year off from co-op, we decided to come back this year. One of the problems with attending our old co-op is they have changed locations and are now a 45+ minute drive from home. Fortunately, three families from our church decided to start a co-op here, so now our commute is about 90 seconds. :-)I teach a Countries & Cultures class, which as been lots of fun. A few weeks ago Igor

Karinoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13006479.post-1162064150514173642006-10-26T12:34:00.000-07:002006-11-10T07:46:01.382-08:00

Igor is adventuresome and wants to make the most of the opportunities his exchange provides him. He has played soccer and basketball in Russia, so he's decided while he's here he'll try new sports.He's been a wonderful addition to Coquille's J.V. football team. When he arrived, he didn't even know how to play football. In effort to be a most excellent host family we tried to teach him, but I

Karinoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13006479.post-1162250885712864912006-10-05T15:20:00.000-07:002006-11-10T07:46:01.455-08:00

I was never able to get more pictures to upload to my last post, so here I am starting a new one! This is me with my Taiwanese host family, except for the father, who was at work.And here I sit, enjoying the most wonderful foot massage on earth. I don't know why we don't have foot massage parlors in the U.S.!My chicken rice burger was a special treat! I've been told that these are also served

Karinoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13006479.post-1161988691608481432006-10-05T15:15:00.000-07:002006-11-10T07:46:01.294-08:00

One of the highlights of my year was my trip to Taiwan at the end of September. I qualified for this all-expense paid trip by reaching placement goals with AYUSA. It was a fabulous experience!I flew alone to San Francisco where I met up with the other 18 AYUSA staff members that were going on the trip. Our flight left at 1:30 a.m., which was nice because we slept a lot of the flight, making the

Karinoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13006479.post-1158427141598235732006-09-16T09:53:00.000-07:002006-11-10T07:46:01.108-08:00

I had orientation with the rest of my students. What a great group we have! It's nice to have so much variety of nationalities and most of the kids have very good English.Leonard and Vadim, both from Germany Igor from Russia, Flavia from Brazil, Gianluca from Italy Yuka from Japan, NaYoung from S. Korea, Anna from Germany, Lynn from Taiwan, Marina from Italy

Karinoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13006479.post-1157518892542067562006-09-04T21:38:00.000-07:002006-11-10T07:46:01.034-08:00

AYUSA holds optional pre-arrival orientation for the students in New York and Washington DC throughout August. Each session lasts three days, and they asked me to come to Washington DC to help with one of them. I've always wanted to see the sights in DC, so I jumped at this opportunity. It was a quick trip, but we had a professional tour guide that helped us squeeze as many sights into two days

Karinoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13006479.post-1157517179373376952006-08-22T21:23:00.000-07:002006-11-10T07:46:00.924-08:00

Orientation for my scholarship students was a great time of getting to know the kids and preparing for the coming school year. All of these students are here on highly competitive full scholarships funded by the U.S. Department of State, and they are wonderful kids! They are outgoing, intelligent, and a lot of fun. I am looking forward to working with them this year.Back: Fatma from Germany,

Karinoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13006479.post-1155966296966912082006-08-18T22:44:00.000-07:002006-11-10T07:46:00.544-08:00

Synergy: The interaction of two or more agents or forces so that their combined effect is greater than the sum of their individual effects.Is that definition clear enough for you? If not, let me give you an example: 10-year old boy, energy level = 10+ 15-year old boy, energy level = 10 2 boys together, energy level = 30We have finally found a match for Caleb's energy! He and Igor have so

Karinoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13006479.post-1155707441473678082006-08-15T22:44:00.000-07:002006-11-10T07:46:00.434-08:00

It seems like we've been waiting forever, but Igor is finally here. He's darling! We were all surprised at how tall he is--much taller than the pictures on his student application. He informed us he was 11 in those pictures. :-) (He's now 15 years old and about 6'1")He has pretty clear blue eyes and a wonderful smile that he has shown us lots of during his first evening here. He and Elisa

Karinoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13006479.post-1155706152953525862006-08-15T22:04:00.000-07:002006-11-10T07:46:00.352-08:00

It's been crazy busy around here greeting students at the airport, getting Igor's room ready for him, and looking for host families for these last remaining students. Yet despite the hecticness, we couldn't pass up the opportunity to make a quick trip to Portland to see Beth & Steve and the girls who were there to see Caroline play in the Little League softball world series. We got to watch one

Karinoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13006479.post-1155051184590113692006-08-08T08:30:00.000-07:002006-11-10T07:46:00.266-08:00

Tip of the day: Don't give a 6-year old unsupervised access to gum while you're on the phone.Today's quick fact: A 6-year old can fit 11 pieces of gum in her mouth and still talk well enough to tell you many pieces are in there.

Karinoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13006479.post-1154897880492905822006-08-05T21:50:00.000-07:002006-11-10T07:46:00.172-08:00

The first of the exchange students arrived today. Greeting students at the airport is one of my favorite parts of the job. (Although I will admit I have many favorite parts of my job!) I love meeting the students for the first time, and having what has until now only been a photograph become a real person!Today's arrival included:Anna Lena from Germany Anna's host family went to Germany over the

Karinoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13006479.post-1154844386020459132006-07-22T22:49:00.000-07:002006-11-10T07:46:00.013-08:00

I don't know how it can be possible, but Elisa turned 6! She's been counting down for weeks, and was incredibly excited when her birthday finally arrived. She invited some of her cute little friends over, with instructions for them to bring their bikes.After opening gifts. . . and enjoying some cake & ice cream. . . it was time for some serious fun riding bikes together at the school. Brad set

Karinoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13006479.post-1154845807316673142006-07-18T23:10:00.000-07:002006-11-10T07:46:00.096-08:00

It's been several years since we've attended the fair, so we figured it was time for us to try it out again! The fair is always expensive, but it was so worth it! We had a wonderful time! We got bracelets for the kids and me to go on unlimited rides and got more than our money out of them.I knew Julianne was daring when it came to rides, but I was surprised to find that Elisa was too! She went on

Karinoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13006479.post-1153119493535252082006-07-16T23:51:00.000-07:002006-11-10T07:45:59.934-08:00

Tonight I had the most fun I've had in a very long time. Jennifer Steward and four of her daughters are staying with us before Jennifer gives a homeschooling workshop in North Bend tomorrow. They arrived just before dinner and instantly felt like old friends. We spent the evening playing games, laughing, and being silly.I wish I'd taken pictures, but we were having too much fun to even think

Karinoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13006479.post-1152888244399918012006-07-14T07:39:00.000-07:002006-11-10T07:45:59.850-08:00

Yesterday morning I stopped by Staples and picked my newest, most favorite toy--a laptop! AYUSA gives us the chance to earn "AYUSA dollars", which is money that can be spent on any work-related purchase, including travel, training, or office supplies. I've wanted a laptop for awhile, both for convenience sake, and so I can do powerpoint presentations for host family and student orientations.

Karinoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13006479.post-1152459413023703672006-07-09T08:26:00.000-07:002006-11-10T07:45:59.779-08:00

In preparation for Igor's arrival, we will be doing a big bedroom shuffle. Julianne & Elisa will continue to share a room, although they are swapping their double bed for two twins. Caleb is moving upstairs into Marie's old room, and what is now his bedroom will become the guest room. Igor will get the current guest room.The first step in this process was getting rid of the pink flowered

Karinoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13006479.post-1152362985212015422006-07-07T23:41:00.000-07:002006-11-10T07:45:59.707-08:00

At lunchtime today, Elisa decided to get a little creative. She toasted two pieces of bread herself and asked me to cook her a fried egg. While the egg was cooking, she put mayonaise and mustard on the toasted bread. She put the egg in the middle and had a delicious fried egg sandwich! I've never made this sandwich for her before, so I thought it was pretty cute that she came up with the idea

Karinoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13006479.post-1152151574829639372006-07-04T23:30:00.000-07:002006-11-10T07:45:59.618-08:00

For the second year in a row, we headed down the street to our neighbors' house for a 4th of July cookout and fireworks in their driveway. It was so much fun! Good food, lots of laughter, and tons of fun lighting fireworks. Two of the boys were leaving for church camp early the next morning, so we got started before it was very dark, but that didn't hamper our fun a bit!The evening

Karinoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13006479.post-1151983159592327562006-07-03T20:09:00.000-07:002006-11-10T07:45:59.545-08:00

My Sunday School classroom is just off of the church library, so I sometimes pop my head in and browse around for a good book. This past Sunday I found this book. I was initially going to pass over it, but the title intrigued me. Also, I didn't know Thomas Kinkade was an author and I was curious to see what his writing was like.I looked over a few pages and was instantly drawn in, so I brought

Karinoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13006479.post-1151767654337503702006-07-01T08:26:00.000-07:002006-11-10T07:45:59.393-08:00

Karinoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13006479.post-1151494337032367192006-06-27T21:30:00.000-07:002006-11-10T07:45:59.149-08:00

Marie left today to return to Korea. We took her to the airport this morning and said good-bye with many tears and much sadness. She has become such a wonderful part of our family over the past 10 months and we will always consider her part of the family. It was very hard to watch her get on the plane, not knowing when we will see her again. Yet despite the sadness of her departure, we feel so

Karinoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13006479.post-1151495924110977562006-06-26T22:04:00.000-07:002006-11-10T07:45:59.321-08:00

Our van has a thermometer that moniters the outside temperature. As we crossed the pass between Bend and Eugene, we made a game of seeing how high the temperature would rise. (Hey, some people watch tv, others watch a thermometer!) We actually came home with pictures of every degree from 98 up to the record high of. . . . . Living on the coast has made temperatures like this a novelty, and we

Karinoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13006479.post-1151495555259675112006-06-26T21:36:00.000-07:002006-11-10T07:45:59.246-08:00

The drive home from Bend is a beautiful one. The high desert is quite different from our scenery here on the coast, but still beautiful. The snowy mountains were even prettier in person than they appear in pictures. On our way home, we made a point of stopping at Sahalie Falls. We'd been there last year on our homeschool co-op trip to Bend, and it immediately became one of our favorite

Karinoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13006479.post-1151466382819910872006-06-26T20:31:00.000-07:002006-11-10T07:45:58.951-08:00

Edward Jones held their summer regional meetings at Sun River this year. It was the perfect place for a family get-away, and it just happened to fall on Marie's last weekend with us, which made it even better.Brad called in advance to tell them a standard 2-bed motel room wouldn't be enough for the six of us. They said it was no problem because they always reserve some larger units for families.

Karinoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13006479.post-1151465055170780122006-06-20T20:18:00.000-07:002006-11-10T07:45:58.869-08:00

Caleb had another great baseball season. As he was filling out his registration form in the early spring, he all of a suddent exclaimed, "Dad! It says they're looking for coaches! Will you coach my team?" Brad and I looked at each other and knew there was no way we could say no to all that enthusiasm. And so, Brad got to try his hand at coaching.Caleb's skills continue to improve, and this year

Karinoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13006479.post-1151464669982491972006-06-17T20:14:00.000-07:002006-11-10T07:45:58.796-08:00

As much as we hate to admit it, the school year is winding down and it's almost time for Marie to return to Korea. She had a going-away slumber party and had a great time with seven of her girlfriends. They played games, ate snacks, watched movies, and even got a little sleep.

Karinoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13006479.post-1151464458955788172006-06-11T20:05:00.000-07:002006-11-10T07:45:58.721-08:00

I don't know where the years have gone, but Caleb is now a decade old. He had some of his buddies over for a party at our house. When I asked him what he wanted to do at the party, I began mentally preparing for the work it would take to prepare elaborate games and activities. His first choice was, "I want to take all my friends to the school playground up the street and play together." Done!The

Karinoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13006479.post-1151463914652809792006-05-22T19:53:00.000-07:002006-11-10T07:45:58.641-08:00

Last summer Julianne won a family pack of tickets to the Newport Aquarium. Ever since, we've been looking for a good weekend to go, and we finally found it! We spent the night at a wonderful condo and had a great time playing around and having some good family fun. This was the view from our balcony.On Sunday we visited the Aquarium. What fun! Lots of cool sea critters to see, and even some we

Karinoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13006479.post-1148396030727725852006-05-19T07:48:00.000-07:002006-11-10T07:45:58.555-08:00

This past week Elisa was riding her bike when I noticed she wasn't using the training wheels. The bike had previously been ridden by someone too big for it, causing the support bars for the training wheels to bend, making it so that only one training wheel could touch the ground at a time. As Elisa rode down the sidewalk, neither training wheel was on the ground--she was riding solo! Brad took

Karinoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13006479.post-1147584755683520612006-05-13T22:23:00.000-07:002006-11-10T07:45:58.483-08:00

Next year we will host Igor from Russia. He just turned 15 and seems like a wonderful young man. He loves sports, especially basketball (which makes Caleb happy!), and does very well academically too. We've talked to him on the phone several times, and his English is excellent, with a very cool accent, I might add.He's coming through the Future Leaders Exchange (FLEX), which is funded by Congress

Karinoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13006479.post-1147584077545681002006-05-13T22:11:00.000-07:002006-11-10T07:45:58.409-08:00

For AYUSA staff members, this is the height of our placement season. I've been incredibly busy (thus the lack of blogging!) looking for host families, making placements, and overseeing my Community Representatives, in addition to working with the students that are currently here. Each year AYUSA organizes a trip for all the Regional Directors that qualify by meeting certain placement criteria.

Karinoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13006479.post-1146694735365964712006-05-03T15:09:00.000-07:002006-11-10T07:45:58.331-08:00

Last Saturday I got all my exchange students together for a community service project. We helped run the Family Fun Fair sponsored by the Child Advocacy Center in recognition of National Child Abuse Awareness Month. I'd seen an article in the newspaper about the upcoming event, and many of my students still hadn't been involved in volunteer work, so I called and asked if we could help out.

Karinoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13006479.post-1145971948899898522006-04-25T06:23:00.000-07:002006-11-10T07:45:58.256-08:00

Saturday was the Coquille Spring Chess Tournament, and all three kids participated. There was a good turnout and some good competition. Julianne plays in the 6-12 grade division, so there is some pretty stiff competition. She won four out of five of her games (her one loss was to a high school boy) to take 1st place in the 6th grade category. The Roseburg chess coach made a point of telling

Karinoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13006479.post-1151883492916537762006-03-25T16:28:00.000-08:002006-11-10T07:45:59.469-08:00

For Spring Break we decided to head south and show Marie some of the sights down there. We spent a few days at Papa & Grammy's house and took day trips from there. Two of my other students, Simon from Korea and Felipe from Colombia, didn't have plans for Spring Break either, so I invited them to join us.The first day we hiked Cape Sebastian--one of my favorite hikes in the area. Papa dropped us

Karinoreply@blogger.com0