Like Father Like Son

Just returned from a quick trip to the mall with Andrew. Knowing that he won't feel much like shopping after his knee surgery, I convinced him that it would be a good idea to go ahead and get new tennis shoes now. What made me laugh, however, was that he needed a WIDE size! This was a first (and most likely due to the style) but... he really is turning into his dad. First the job career path (math teacher), next the knee (J has terrible knees and has endured numerous surgeries) and now... the wide shoes. How wonderful to have a younger version of a great classic in the world! (I should probably also add other similarities that have been around for years: both J and A love reading, have incredible memories, share the same sense of humor, are great story and joke tellers, love history, are master game players (esp. computer types: FPS, RTS, MMORPG, etc.), love when things involve strategy, have terrible eyesight along with selective hearing (but this seems to only apply to my voice!), neither will ask for directions when "not exactly sure where they are" (some may refer to that as being lost...) and are two of my favorite people!

One Bad Knee & an ED Ball

This past week was an eventful one- it began with a phone call from Andrew's doctor stating that his MRI revealed a torn ACL and meniscus!!! Surgery is scheduled for July 6th. I think Andrew's looking forward to having a restored knee (that won't pop out and hurt), but not to the surgery and certainly not to the long recovery time that reconstructive knee surgery requires. So.. keep him in your prayers! We are grateful that he had the MRI- his 'regular' doctor was pretty sure that he was dealing with a bruised MCL- which would have been nice, however, it wasn't correct! So.... July will have a new focus.

The week then ended with the Education Ball. Communities In Schools of NC hosted it's 4th (?) Education Ball to raise money and awareness of it's highly successful work helping kids stay in school and prepare for life. The Ball was held at the RBC Center and a great time was had by all. New this year was the Dancing with the Stars format with local celebrities doning their dancing shoes for a great cause. Below are a few pics from our set up time- I'm again amazed at how beautiful the RBC center can look!

This year's theme: Rock the Dance

table decorations

One of the many auction tables that Amanda & I lovingly set up

My new ED Ball bf, Amanda. She was awesome to work with! Here we are after way too many hours of work~ (which explains why we look so tired!)

Additional auction items (we were a bit "challenged" with this display. I came away with a new appreciation for utility tape, paper clips and one very tall staff guy)

I do have to admit that the very best part of the week is that it's over which puts us that much closer to having Jeph home! Both Andrew and I are looking forward to his Tuesday night arrival!

Conference Fun

This past week, I (Karen) had the incredible opportunity to attend a College Board Conference for International School Counselors. There were 58 of us representing 36 countries who gathered at Georgetown University (in Washington DC) for 5 days of training. I learned as much from the presenters as I did from my colleagues. I also came home with a renewed appreciation not only for the opportunity to live overseas, but also for the US. Even with all it's faults, America really is an amazing country. Georgetown's beautiful campus
we "got" to sleep in the dorms! They didn't seem all that small- I've gotten use to Japanese sizes!A special treat was having Mrs. Staggers as one of the presenters! Mrs. Staggers is the college advisor at Cary Academy! Nothing like learning from the best of the best!! (what a small world!) one of the highlights of the week was a Night of Sharing- heard so many touching stories from around the world- and laughed a lot as well! The pic above is one of the counselors sharing a tapestry from the Congo. Below is a Hungarian gingerbread cookie. (these two ladies were a riot- one is from Hungary, the other, Serbia.)

The only 'bad' thing about the conference was that my list of places I want to visit has grown! Met some incredible folks who are working in the Ukraine, Latvia, Macedonia, Germany, Ecuador, Vietnam, Malaysia, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Hong Kong, Myanmar, Guatemala, to name just some of the lands!

A New Life

We are still celebrating the birth of Abigail Rose! My (Karen) nephew, Matthew and his wife, Leah welcomed Abigail into their lives two weeks ago. She is absolutely precious! This past weekend, my brother Keith and his wife, Lori flew down to NC to meet their new granddaughter and Andrew and I were blessed to have been able to spend an evening together. Abigail is grandbaby #3 for them and the first girl- yep, everyone is in love!


"uncle" Andrew with Abigail

the happy grandparents!

the proud parents and grandparents

what a beautiful family!
Abby at her first baseball game! Go Durham Bulls!!

Swine Flu

As you may have gathered from Karen's posts, I am still here in Japan. Unbelievably our school goes until June 30. This is some sort of compromise with the Japanese school calendar. Because of that compromise we get a nice 3 week break for spring break in March and another week in May for Golden Week. It's more like a year round school calendar than I'm used to. Well, anyway, I have been alone here in Osaka. The first order of business was to give the sermon at our English worship service. The topic was "Loving God With All Your Mind" and it went very well. It took a little while to get used to stopping after every sentence to wait for translation but after three services I had it down. Many people came up to me afterwards (and are still coming weeks later) to say how much they got out of it. It was also broadcast in streaming video on the Internet so Karen and the kids (and anyone else for that matter) could watch. I'm even told that there is a video archive. See if you can find it. http://kansaiconnect.com/church/

Immediately after the service it was decided to cancel the planned pizza party. Why, you might ask. Well, swine flu had hit Osaka on Saturday night. The pastor said that if we had known about 12 hours sooner church would have been cancelled as well. About two hours later the official word came down, the mayor had cancelled school for the city. FOR THE ENTIRE WEEK! I have never had this happen before. Yes there have been snow days. Even several days in a row. Here though, we knew in advance that school was cancelled for a minimum of one week. A surprise working vacation. I did get out and about but the streets and trains and buses were eerily empty. Very strange but it did seem to have the desired effect. So now we are back in school and in the home stretch. YEA!