Update Much?

We are in somewhat of a holding pattern - The calm before the bigger calm, and then the storm. I'm not sure about how calm I'll be with my two youngest off on their adventures, and an empty nest, but we'll see. It will be quiet that's for sure.

When we last posted, Taryn had just returned to MS&T for a summer semester.  She called earlier this week with a computer problem that prevented her from turning in assignments on her laptop. We decided it was a job for DAD!  So Mike happily accepted the challenge to find out why her web assign program wouldn't run. Using the library and borrowing desktops from friends was not working out so Taryn was understandably worried!  Luckily, her dad is amazing at figuring that kind of stuff out.  Mike had a few ideas and if it came down to it he was going to call the web assign people.  In a race between tech support at the university and Mike, guess who the winner was hands down?!  I'm pretty sure the tech support didn't even get a contact before Mike solved it. Mike experimented on Mariah's laptop which also wouldn't run it, and his PC which would.... apparently that was a big clue. Turns out there was a standard security block from comcast installed on the laptops. Mike figured out how to disable it. Then he called Taryn and instructed her how to do the same on her laptop. Problem solved. What would we do without his expertise?!  We're kind of need it NOW people so we are especially thankful Mike is a figure it out NOW kind of guy.  Praying for summer success to keep on rolling for Taryn!

Just got a Mercer on Mission update #7. I'm excited to beat Mike to the punch! They have left the village of Sisit and at 2:45 am their time they were halfway to the Kakamega Rainforest (go ahead and snicker; I do!) and hoped to arrive at 1pm. For someone who likes to keep vehicular travel under 8 hrs in a day that doesn't sound nice. And vehicular travel here includes paved roads, rest stops, fast food, and air conditioning! But I guess Indie endures it well because she keeps going back!  The people of Africa hold a special place in her heart. She will be sad to say goodbye again I'm sure. Someday I would not be the least bit surprised to hear she wants to pursue an African adoption. She has one of the most generous hearts! We are so lucky that all our kids have been gifted with this trait. I am proud of them all for their caring and kindness, and willingness to serve others.  Indie's group heads home in less than a week.

Gib is just about done with the Eagle project horseshoe pit! He and Mike set the stakes last night and Gib has one more meeting with Skeeter to organize the finishing touches. The guys both got a nice set of blisters from last weekend's workday. 6 hours of digging and pick-axing will do that to ya.  Then Gib pulled a muscle at Ultimate Frisbee so he wasn't very happy that night. I wanted to pour hydrogen peroxide on his hands but he politely declined and settled for antibiotic ointment and bandages. The next morning he was proud to show me how much better it already looked. Ah, youth. Despite his amazing healing ability I suggested he might want to take it easy until Hawaii! He leaves at the end of the month for that Scout trip.

Besides hanging out at the house, staying up 'til the wee hours, the kids are staying active in the youth group at church this summer. They have a weekly bible study - Book of Daniel - and a weekly movie night which they enjoy. Last night it was Star Trek. I asked Gib if he had a good time and he gave me that crazy look and said, "Yeah it was STAR TREK".  When Mariah isn't tanning, she is planning her trip to France. She leaves in about 3 weeks. And she's pretty much packed her suitcase. I suggested she start early and clean out her closet and get an idea of what to take. She's been working hard at it and since her suitcase came in at 35 lbs I guess she's done very well indeed. That gives her 15 lbs leeway to bring back cheese and chocolate for her family and maybe a few trinkets for herself.   Mariah and I brainstormed for days about what gifts she could bring for Felicie and her family. We decided on a quilt made by Grammy which is coming along beautifully! And some accessories, photo collage and flip flops for Felicie. Crackle nail polish for her sister and graphic t-shirts for her brothers. Their family is almost a mirror image of ours - with 2 boys the eldest, followed by 2 girls. It gives Mariah and Felicie a commonality to be the youngest of 4 with sisters and brothers the same ages. They became like sisters last summer and Mariah is excited to become part of their family this summer. She will meet some but not all of Felicie's siblings as they do the Revolving Door thing just as my kids do here. I think the oldest son is the only one she won't meet, just like Taryn was the only sibling here that Felicie didn't get to meet. I received an email the other day from Felicie's mom describing their plans for July. Mariah is excited and will probably start a countdown any day now.