China

Wow! You are impressive bloggers! Yes, Shayne has been in China in the Hunan province! I can’t wait until he gets home very late this evening to learn more about his trip. The emails I’ve received have been very brief. When I told Shayla a couple of weeks ago that daddy was going to China she asked why. I jokingly said, “I guess daddy thinks you can’t get good Chinese food in Tiffin.” When she said, “Really?” I jokingly said, “The summer Olympics are in China and daddy’s such a great athlete and all…..” she stopped me in the middle of that one, laughed and said, “He’s going for work, right?” Ah, Shayla – so smart!

With the Olympics coming soon, he had to have a visa from the Chinese government. It did not arrive until about two days before his flight left so it was questionable for a bit whether he’d get to go or not. I’m so glad he did, despite being very worried about him traveling that far. He was picked up at 4AM (in the middle of the night Sunday) and didn’t arrive to his hotel for 30 hours. (It should have been 28, but they had a weather delay on top of those three lengthy flights.)

We picked up my mom a couple of days ago and traveled down to visit with my sister and her family to keep our minds off of Shayne being gone. Shayla had a glorious time with her cousins, as I did too! I was able to go shopping with my sister, study, read and write in beautiful surroundings, and have my Goddaughter serve me breakfast. Ashley is a waitress this summer, trying to make all the money she can before leaving for college. Christi loved going up to the Dairy Queen and having Ashley make her ice cream so I know she would have totally loved going into a real restaurant and having Ashley be a real waitress for her. Oh, sometimes things are so hard!

Additionally, we also used our Cedar Point passes to go to Kings Island where we were able to meet up with a sweet women (and fellow teacher) who followed Christi’s story since 2003. Just like last year when we met, Shayla had a wonderful time with her two beautiful daughters. God’s people are amazing!

I received my third question yesterday and so far it’s the best one! Its focus is on Multicultural and International Children’s Literature – my loves!! There are eight sections; however, unlike the first two questions they are exactly what I studied with my independent study Winter Quarter so I will not need to do additional research this time. Yipeee! I’m going to be able to write AND enjoy the summer over the next ten days. I hadn’t planned on that but I am making big plans now!!!