quick June update

I apologize that there are still no pictures to post (I still need to figure that out) but- quick update-

Andrew has arrived and we love having him in Osaka with us. He spent the last month with my brother's family up in NY and enjoyed working on their farm and getting to know this side of our family better. What a treat- thanks, Keith and Lori.

Now however, Andrew's job will soon involve being his dad's murse... (male nurse). Jeph and Andrew will be flying to Thailand on Wednesday. J has his consultation scheduled for Thursday when he will find out exactly what kind of knee surgery he will be having... which we are thinking will involve a total knee replacement. Please keep both of them (travel, surgery, recovery) in your prayers- thank you!!!

While the boys are in Thailand, I (Karen) will be in London all week attending a class for International School Counselors. I am looking forward to being back in the UK- haven't been there since my college semester abroad in 1981! The course schedule is quite full, but I hope I can squeeze in a little sightseeing before heading back to Raleigh at the end of the week. I am excited for the trip and the class, but admit it is hard to not be with Jeph. However, I am thankful that Andrew can be there to take care of his dad- (it's kind of fun in that last summer, J took care of Andrew after his knee surgery- and now A returns the favor- the caregiving will have gone full circle!) Knees.... guess we have to love them and if you happen to have good knees, be grateful!

27 years of wedded bliss!

Well, for some reason, I just discovered that we have "exceeded our quoto" for photos, so... until I figure out how to post more pics (does anyone have any advice?), I will just add a quick update. Yesterday, J and I celebrated our 27th year of marriage! Above our bed is a quote that I love: It doesn't matter where you go in life, it's who you have beside you" - that has certainly been true in our case and I continue to thank God for J and the gift that he is to me. We had a great day, although I admit that we both sort of forgot about it being our anniversary due to the fact that it was also the start of the World Cup Games, but even more importantly, it was graduation here at OIS. What a special celebration- hopefully, pictures will follow.

Senior Class Trip to Okinawa

Although we were all disappointed when the planned trip to Thailand to work with Habitat for Humanity was cancelled due to the political situation, we were grateful for the chance to still get to take part in the senior class trip. The class advisors (J is one of them) worked hard to make a trip to Okinawa a reality.

Oki is a beautiful place- and we took advantage of almost everything it had to offer.. from DragonBoats (this was a riot)
to underground caves (amazing)

to butterfly gardens... we had a great five days!

We also visited the Aquarium, Pineapple village, Glassblowing Center as well as the Peace Memorial, Underground Tunnels, and Okinawa World.

While there, we also discovered the secret to the Oki long-life spans....