Quote of the Week

“In order to be participants in shaping the future, we must intentionally associate with those we consider on the margins. . . . . So I ask you: Who are your marginalized, those not characterized as ‘mainstream’? Who are America’s social-economic outcasts? Let us find them and invest in them. In order to avoid becoming spectators of the future, the powerful nations, institutions, and all of us who are privileged must engage with the margins. You and I ignore the periphery at our peril.”

- David Zac Niringiye, assistant bishop of the Kampala Diocese

for the Anglican Church in Uganda,

May, 6, 2006, Wheaton Graduate School (IL) commencement

Scott's Over the Hill and Kathy's Not Far Behind

Since it was so important to Jeannette's brother Scott that Jeannette's 40th birthday be properly recognized, she wanted to be certain that his milestone birthday didn't go unnoticed. Unfortunately, we couldn't be in town when his birthday actually occurred, which might help explain why the belated celebration Saturday night was such a surprise to him.

Scott with his walking stick.

Scott's a cop but after blowing out all those candles,
we needed a fireman instead.

While we were at it, we celebrated Kathy's birthday, too, even though she's much, much younger than Scott.

Kathy's excited to finally have cereal bowls for breakfast. It doesn't take much to make her happy. Which is fortunate for Scott.

We all wore black, but even then MelodyJoy couldn't fake a somber tone.

Being around the Vinje boys brought out
Phillip and Jameson's wrestling genes.

MelodyJoy Enjoys Dinner with Her Cousins

MelodyJoy's First Thanksgiving

No matter the holiday,
no matter the location,
no matter the audience . . .
it goes without saying that
MelodyJoy will be the center of attention.

Cousin Bailey gives Jared's girlfriend Kelly a kiss.

Jared and Kely gave out early Christmas gifts,

including Disney's Cars DVD for the Muntz kids.

Joyce, Jared and Kelly.
(It's a miracle . . . two pictures of Jared with his eyes open!)


MelodyJoy loved having Thanksgiving dinner with the big girls, Alexia, Bailey and Madison (L to R).

Melody's Tea Party

MelodyJoy Has a Tea Party

Thanksgiving Quote of the Week

“The atheist’s most embarrassing moment is when he feels
profoundly thankful for something but can’t think of anybody to thank for it.”

- Mary Ann Vincent

New Mittens

On Friday, MelodyJoy got a package in the mail from Auntie Laura: New mittens in honor of her first winter in the frozen lattitudes. Believe it or not, she loved them! She put them on immediately and refused to take them off for a good little while.

Quote of the Week

“When in America did we come to the point of saying
that the mark of a college’s quality is the
proportion of prospective students it refuses to serve?”

- Kay McClenney, Research Director, University of Texas, Austin

A Day at Asbury College

I got an e-mail today from Asbury College, where I worked before coming to OIT. It included a fund-raising video that shows all the things that might happen in a day on the campus, though they wouldn't all take place in any single day. Watching it and seeing some of the scenes and faculty and staff just reminded me how much I enjoyed being at Asbury. It was also cool that the background music is the "class hymn" for "our" class at Asbury, the Abiding Class of 2002.

First Snowfall

Another first for MelodyJoy today . . . snow. Coming from southern China, with its tropical weather, I doubt she had opportunity to see snow until today. When Jeannette woke up this morning to see an inch (at the most) of white stuff on the ground, it was a foregone conclusion that MJ would get to try out her new Osh Kosh b'Gosh snowsuit.

Melody was pretty somber most of the time, just taking in the new experience, kind of like when she made her first trip to the beach last summer.

Blazing new trails.

She tried her hand at throwing snowballs. She ended up outlasting all three of her brothers, refusing to come inside even when they gave in to the cold.

Jameson tried to teach her to make snow angels but after she splashed snow into her own face, she gave up on that.

Melody's First Snow

A Visit From China

Last night, MelodyJoy had a visit from China. Well, sort of. Nana and Craig came over for dinner. Craig is a graduate student at OIT and last spring he brought his new wife, Nana, to meet me because she was interested in taking classes at OIT. Nana is from southern China, about 90 minutes from Guangzhou by train. Naturally, we got to talking about our upcoming trip to China to get Nan Cai Jing. Nana was a great deal of help to us. She told us the meaning of MelodyJoy's name, translated some of the paperwork we had received from China and helped us with the notes that we wanted to give to the orphanage's nannies with our little thank you gifts.

We watched some of the video from our trip to meet MelodyJoy (Nana informed us that the teapot salesman was cheating us . . . she also was puzzled by the American practice of putting bows and ribbons in the little girls' hair) and had a good American meat-and-potatoes dinner.

Wrasslin' Jordan Down

Ganging up on Jordan

Quote of the Week

“Compassion and gratitude come down from God,

and when they are exchanged in a glance,
God is present at the point where the eyes of those who give
and those who receive meet.”

- Simone Weil

Hosanna's Board Retreat

Jeannette, MelodyJoy and I spent last night at the Pinehurst Inn, a bed and breakfast about halfway between Klamath Falls and Ashland on Highway 66, near the Box R Ranch. We were there for Hosanna Christian School's board retreat. There are seven of us on the school board and I am its secretary. We decided we needed to get some extended time away to discuss some strategic matters, thus the retreat.

Pinehurst Inn was a very pleasant surprise. First, its chef is Ira Krizo, a local boy from Tulelake CA who studied in New York and he is a great chef. Last night we had salmon, though some in our group had prime rib, chicken or a vegetarian dish. (If I had known that he was such a good cook, I would have ordered the beef.) His breakfast this morning and even the little deli sandwich lunch he fixed were also very good. Jeannette had some interesting conversations with Susanna, Ira's wife, who is Finnish by way of Sweden.

Each of the rooms at Pinehurst has its own bathroom and we were fortunate enough to get the "nicest" room, because we had MelodyJoy with us, which had a bedroom and a separate sitting room. We slept great on a king size bed with a pillowtop mattress and it was very comfortable. We hardly even thought about the three boys we had left behind at home, on their own overnight for the very first time.

(By the way, before any HCS families lose any sleep over this, note that the school did not pay for the retreat.)

I was afraid that the retreat was going to be a waste of time in terms of making progress on real "work," but we actually did get some important stuff done. We looked at our policy manual and reconsidered some important part of it, we discussed how we should be evaluating our chief administrator and also talked about ways of solidifying Hosanna's future and helping more families access an HCS education. We absolutely face some big challenges but are trusting that God will lead us in the right direction and that Hosanna's families will be responsive to our leadership.

I have to say that it's a real pleasure to serve on this school board. I think we have some very competent and godly board members and I appreciate the fact that we can discuss issues and disagree on things but still maintain a positive tone and relationship. I also appreciate the way that we are trying to appropriately function as a board, rather than micromanaging the administration of the school.

As soon as we got home this afternoon, I turned around and drove almost five hours to Reno. I'm staying at the Nugget. Talk about from the sublime to the ridiculous. Pinehurst was peaceful and customer-centered. The part of the Nugget I'm in is right by a highway and it feels like a real dive. At the risk of sounding spoiled . . . elevators that are truly frightening, small rooms dimly lit, wireless that costs $12 a day (so I'm on dial-up . . . which I later found out costs as well!), a bathroom out of the '60s with a chest-high showerhead. (Funny how a clawfoot bathtub out of the early 20th century was quaint at Pinehurst but here it's mildly disgusting.)

Tomorrow is the Reno College Fair . . . my first time at this one in my twenty years of working in admissions. Can't wait to get back home!

Quote of the Week

“The greatest danger besetting American Evangelical Christianity is the danger of anti-intellectualism. The mind as to its great and deepest reaches is not cared for enough. This cannot take place apart from profound immersion for a period of years in the history of thought and the spirit. People are in a hurry to get out of the university and start earning money or serving the church or preaching the Gospel. They have no idea of the infinite value of spending years of leisure in conversing with the greatest minds and souls of the past, and thereby ripening and sharpening and enlarging their powers of thinking.”

-Charles Malik,
former president of the United Nations Security Council
The Two Tasks, pp. 32-33

Charles Malik (far left) speaking with Eleanor Roosevelt (far right)

Melody's First Sentence

Jeannette realized earlier this week that MelodyJoy had said her first sentence. If you watch the video, listen VERY closely and after the phone rings, you'll hear MJ say, "I'll get it!" (Use your imagination if necessary.)

Melody's First Halloween

What will I do next year when I no longer can title everything with "Melody's First" this or that?

As has often happened over the course of this family's existence, I missed Halloween because of recruitment travel. I was in Boise at a college fair where, needless to say, the attendance on Halloween evening was a bit light. (But it was a very good fair during the daytime portion.) Anyway, here's how our four stars dressed up this year . . .

Jordan the Clown

Phillip the Sith

Jameson the Pirate

MelodyJoy the Ladybug
(Ladybugs are considered to be good luck
in the Chinese adoption community.)

Melody and Jordan on Halloween