Cousins

Here are some cute pictures of the cousins- my kids and my brothers two girls. It has been two years since they saw each other and now they are having fun getting reacquainted once again.

In just a couple of days, we must say goodbye to my brother and his family. We will then head south to California for more fun cousin time when we spend time with Jeff's family and see six other cousins. We have dubbed this summer as the summer of the "cousins". It will be filled with great memories.

Joshua rolls over

Since we have been here in Oregon, Joshua has learned some new tricks. His newest one is rolling over. He learned how to do this trick the morning we left for a trip to the Oregon coast. He enjoyed entertaining the family with his new daring feat. Thanks to my sister-in-law, I now know (hopefully) how to down load videos now.

I will post more pictures of our time on the coast. Right now, I need to rescue my rolling acrobat!

Jet Lag

We are almost fully adjusted to the 9 hour time change. Joshua and Sarah slept until 5 this morning. They did pretty well on the airplane. Sarah slept almost two hours on the ten hour flight. Joshua took alot of little naps in the bassinet on the plane. Now we are in Oregon enjoying the cool weather and getting use to the American culture after being gone for two years. I am still very overwhlemed when I walk into a grocery store and see all of the selection of food available to you to buy. Here are a few phrases that we have heard since we have been back that we haven't heard for two years:

"Do you want cash back?"

"Paper or plastic"

"Do you need any help out to your car with that?"

"Yo Hablo Espanol."

"Thanks for shopping with us, please come again."

"My name is John McCain and I approve this message."

"Do you want the super size with that?"

Hopefully pictures will follow soon of our visit back this summer. Stay tuned!

Leaving on a Jet Plane

Tomorrow this time, we will already be on our long journey back to the States. Tonight we will check our luggage in at the airport so that early morning we can just walk to our gate with our carry on. As of now, it looks like we are pretty much ready to go. The kids are down for their afternoon nap. Jeff is quickly doing some much needed last minute yard work before a thunderstorm hits us. I have just organized our luggage and carry on. I tried to think of every situation that may hit us on our 20 plus hour trip. Of course, it will be up to these two little ones that will determine if we have a relaxed flight or a nightmare for everyone on board the plane.

Bear with me once we arrive as it may be a few days before I can post my next blog. It may take awhile to figure out our laptop computer. I have also ordered a new camera and can't wait to start using it this summer.

Another angle

Here are a few more pictures of Graduation that I pulled off of the BFA website. If you would like to view more go to http://www.bfacademy.com/

Graduation 2008

Graduation at BFA took place yesterday. The 2007-2008 school year has offically ended! It was a great ceremony as we, the school body celebrated and said goodbye to the class of 2008. Jeff assisted by handing out diplomas. I didn't get a good picture of him, because our assigned seats were on the side in the front row. So this is from kathy's view point.

Here is my buddy Spencer receiving his diploma. I first worked with Spencer when he was in the sixth grade. At the time, we were the same hight. I am very proud of Spencer for working hard on his academics which wasn't easy for him. He has developed into a quiet leader and a man with a sensitive heart towards others. Spencer recently was baptized as well. There were many tears in the audience as the staff have seen these kids grow and go throw many trials during their time at BFA.

Way to go Spencer!

I thought this was an interesting "artistic" take on the ceremony. It looked cool with the silouettes of the Director, Principal, graduate and Board member. Can you tell which one is Jeff?

Academic Awards

Tonight, I went with Jeff as he organized and help open the High School Academic Awards. This is a big highlight for the students each year. It is the offical begining of graduation events as most parents have arrived. The graduation will take place tomorrow. Tonight, it was a celebration of the hard work and achievements of the students. Jeff opened the night with a great welcome and prayer that set the tone for the rest of the evening.

One of Jeff's small group guys received a scholarship to the Air Force Academy. Ben was very surprised and honored to receive the scholarship from a Captain in the Air Force.

The fun part of the night was to see the longevity of the students who had actually been at BFA since first grade. Six students came up who were in the original first grade class. Five of the six were from our mission. This is a rare thing for a boarding school to have students be here for almost their whole schooling. The average student may stay anywhere from 2- 4 years and that is mostly in their High School years.

So tomorrow we go to another graduation. This time, Jeff will be up on stag handing the graduates their dipolomas. Four days later, we will fly back to the states for some rest time with family and friends.

Gas Crunch

Gas over here in Europe is so ridicuolusly expensive. Last week we noticed that it is now nearly $9 a gallon here in Germany to fill up. For one fill up it cost us $130.00!!! I can't wait until we get back to the states in one week and enjoy the more sensible $4 per gallon. Other things that our kids will look forward to are free refill drinks. For six weeks, they won't have to hear us tell them "sip slowly, that glass of sprite is like gold!" Ah the simple pleasures that us americans enjoy and take for granted! See you all on the other side of the Ocean!

Neighborhood Pig

For the past year, our family has noticed a man walking a pig on a leash around our neighborhood. We asked him once as we were driving by what the name of the pig was and he quickly answered, "Its a pig, I didn't give it a name its just pig." Wierd, then why walk it every day on a leash? I caught sight of the man and "pig" outside my kitchen window so I ran and got the camera and took a picture.

Concerts, Recitals, Oh My!

Over the past few days, Jacob and Anna have held their final school music concert and piano recitals. They did a great job. Their elementary school concert was on Sunday afternoon. It was a western them and they slapped the leather with the best of the cowboys. Here are some pictures of their stomping good time.

Anna doing a Hoe down . She actually let me braid her hair. I wish she would let me do that everyday- very adorable!

After the show, Jeff showed me the mini art show from the students at BFA. There was a wall with art work from the elementary school. This is Anna posing in front of her artwork called blanket art.

Today, the kids had their end of the year piano recital. Jacob played two duets with his teacher. He did a great job.

Anna also played a piece called the "Juggler".

After the end of a busy day, the brothers like to hang out and chill together.