Young at Heart

Day Two - Spring Break

Today started with a trip to the swimming pool at the Holiday Inn Express where I stayed last night with the boys. Grammie Joyce, Jeannette and MelodyJoy came over, too.




Then we decided we needed to take MelodyJoy to Enchanted Forest, an amusement park near Salem. My first visit to Enchanted Forest was in 1975. It's probably a bit more age-appropriate for MJ at two years of age than it was for me as a high school sophomore.

I got a voice mail from Nelson Zarfas this morning, telling us that they were on Main Street at Disneyland today. I called back to say that we were outside Geppeto's Workshop . . . at Enchanted Forest. He said that was next best. Cinderella's Castle in Anaheim is just a little more grand. (To our friends in Indiana: Note the boys' new shirts.)


The little old woman who lives in a shoe also has a slide for everyone to play on . . .



There are also a few other attractions . . . a haunted house, a little roller coaster and the boys and I ended the day on the log flume ride.

The sign behind Jameson reads, "Warning - You may get wet!"

Chinese Acrobat Audition

Spring Break at the Grandparents

Today, the three boys and I drove to Salem to meet up with Melody and Jeannette, who had traveled north with Jeannette's mom on Monday after we returned from Indiana. (As an aside, Jordan had his first solo trip as a driver this morning, taking the Acura into the shop for repairs.) My sister, Laura, was down from the Seattle area to visit Mom and Dad and her quick shutter finger resulted in about 100 snapshots over a 24 hour period.

Melody enjoyed riding with Grandpa in his wheelchair (and, even more, trying on tiptoes to push him around in it) . . .


Of course, it wouldn't be a visit with Auntie Laura if there weren't several additions to Melody's wardrobe, including one direct from Laura's friend in Hawaii . . .




When we got there, we enjoyed a game of UNO, with Melody eagerly helping Phillip manage his strategy and leading him to victory . . .


For dinner, we went to a Chinese restaurant to celebrate the fact that today marks the one year anniversary of MelodyJoy's adoption being made official. I'll never forget the words, "The child is officially yours." Melody enjoyed the egg flower soup, the green beans, the shrimp, the sweet-n-sour pork . . . ah, she just liked it all!


This evening, we had our own Chinese acrobat show as MJ demonstrated her balancing ability atop Jordan's hands, complete with "Ta-Da!" each time . . .

Quote of the Week

"Do not pray for easy lives, but pray to be stronger men. Do not pray for tasks equal to your powers, but pray for power equal to your tasks. Then the accomplishing of your work shall be no miracle, but you shall be a miracle. Every day you shall wonder at yourself and the richness of life which has come to you by the grace of God."

- Phillip Brooks

One Year Ago Today

One year ago today, we met Nan Cai Jing for the first time. What a lot of changes MelodyJoy has brought to our lives in these past twelve months. From those first moments in a cramped room with her to today, she has captured our hearts and become very much a part of our family. God has truly blessed us all.

Jordan on the DL

Not the down low. Not the disabled list. Today was the big day when Jordan finally got his driver's license. And Dad got the bill for car insurance. Sigh.

Grammie Comes Callin'

Sorry for the lack of updates and, in particular, Melody photos. Jeannette and I took a whirlwind trip to Indiana over the weekend and her mom came to stay with the kids. She made herself right at home . . .


It was the first time that Jeannette has been away from Melody for more than just a few hours so that was hard but all was well when we finally got home.

Quote of the Week

“Original sin is in us, like the beard. We are shaved today and look clean, and have a smooth chin; tomorrow our beard has grown again, nor does it cease growing while we remain on earth.”

- Martin Luther

Another Melody

It was January of 2006 that Jeannette and I stumbled across a little girl on a website for families adopting from China. She caught our eye because her name was Melody and, as we read more, we figured out that her parents were adopting through AWAA also and traveling to China at the same time as we were. Naturally, in the age of the Internet and e-mail, we immediately got in touch with Sarah and Jose, who live in Indiana, and began to compare notes.

As we near the first anniversary of our respective "Gotcha Days" (as much as I hate that phrase, I'm afraid I've been assimilated), today Sarah posted a video that they had made of their journey to get Melody. I took an early lunch today in order to watch it and all I can say is "Wow." I've watched a lot of China adoption videos over the last two and a half years and this one might be the most beautiful. If you have 20 minutes to spare and a high speed connection, go to http://www.rusongfilms.com/Melody and check it out. Keep a Kleenex handy.

Is It Spring Now?

MelodyJoy was lookin' pretty in pink again today so I made her pose with the giant bunny that my Admissions Office staff gave us before we traveled to China. You can't tell from this photo but she has a cold in her eye so it's all gunky and a little swollen.


This afternoon, the weather was beautiful again so Jeannette wanted to take MelodyJoy to the park to play. It was packed with little munchkins and Melody was reluctant to let herself go down but when she got to the bottom each time, she was full of smiles.

Jameson and Melody Slidin'

The Top of Klamath Falls

Laura and Jamey, you would be so proud of me . . .

This morning, Jordan was trying to find one of his buddies to take a hike with him to the forest service tower on Hogback, a ridge overlooking town. None of them were available so I offered to go with him. Actually, ever since we moved to Klamath Falls seven years ago, I've wanted to climb up Hogback so this was my chance not only to spend time with Jordan but to enjoy the perfect weather we're having right now, also.

I knew it would be a good little walk but didn't think it'd be anything too strenuous. About 100 yards into our climb, I was sure I was in trouble. Jordan made the mistake of saying, "We're almost there" after we had walked a few hundred yards more. Yeah, right.

So I had two things working against me. First, I haven't done anything more strenuous than walk around Washington DC in the last several years. Second, distances in the great outdoors are deceptive. "Almost there" was a lie oft repeated this afternoon. And, as this photo demonstrates, much of our hike was on pretty steep terrain . . .

But you have to love the lush green hills of Klamath Falls, don't you?

When we got to the top, we shot a few photos. Below, you can see a patch of snow behind us on the left and all I can say is that it's been a long time since I ate snow but it sure tasted awesome today. And, on the right, you can see a cross. Jordan speculated that this was prepared in anticipation that I would drop dead just about the time I reached Hogback.


We climbed up the stairs to the ranger station to get to the highest point we could. Greg, if you're reading this and look closely, note that I'm wearing my Biola Football t-shirt with pride (not to mention what is now a very ratty Disneyland cap that you gave me when your family visited us in Wilmore). If I had actually died at the peak and been buried under the wooden cross, I'd have gone to the grave wearing the spoils of our bet on the OIT-Biola softball game.


This was the view overlooking the valley from the top . . .


And this is the view looking the other direction, at Klamath Lake . . .


As we descended, I took this photo of the city and Mount Shasta. The sky wasn't quite a deep enough blue to make the peak stand out but, y'know, this is almost certainly the only time I'll be making this climb and Mount Shasta is one of my favorite things about living in Klamath Falls, I had to snap a picture.
I wasn't sure I was going to make it back down that hill. Actually, going both up and down, we made a number of stops. As we approached the top, I was only able to go about sixty feet before I'd have to stop and rest. Coming down, my feet and thighs and left knee were killing me. What a wimp! A cool thing was that we sat on a couple of rocks for maybe ten minutes and prayed together.

In all, we were on that hill for about four hours and, to make a long story shorter, I did make it back to the truck and home for a barbequed tri-tip steak dinner. Now it's bedtime . . . and I'm looking forward with great anticipation to waking up in a few hours to excruciating pain as both of my legs cramp up.

Quote of the Week

“Most people do not want to know the will of God in order to do it.
They want to know it in order to consider it.”

- Unknown

Video of MelodyJoy's Orphanage

Don't even attempt to watch this video unless you have high speed Internet access. It's almost ten minutes long and will take forever to download.

This is a video about a family's adoption journey and about three and a half minutes in, there is footage of the Maonan Social Welfare Institute for a couple of minutes. This is where Melody lived before we received her. Note that they mistakenly identify the orphanage as the Maoming SWI but I can tell that it actually is Melody's former home.

4 Seconds of Chariots of Fire '07

Just a few seconds of Jordan running the 1600 meter leg of the distance medley relay today.

First Track Meet of '07

Today was the Basin Relays, a low key kind of kick off to the track season. In addition to some "regular" events, a number of coed novelty races are run, such as a hurdles relay where three boys run hurdles in one direction on the track, say in lanes 2, 4 and 6 and as soon as they cross the finish line, three female teammates run the hurdles back the other direction in lates 3, 5 and 7.

The meet started off with the 3000 meter race and I was excited when Jordan came off the start line in good position and was in 10th place after the first lap. He continued to remain in the top ten throughout the race, alongside his teammate Corey Collins. With two laps to go, someone at the finish line yelled that they were in the final lap, so Corey and Jordan really kicked it in. As they neared the finish line again, they heard their coach yelling that they had one lap left!

In any case, they managed to pass several runners and Jordan finished 6th in 11 minutes, 5 seconds. For the first meet of the year and Jordan's first ever experience at the 3000, I thought that was a pretty decent time.


In a real surprise move, Phillip decided two weeks ago that he wanted to try track and field, too. He's going to be running distance events as well but he didn't participate today. His first meet will probably be in about two and a half weeks. Today he dressed down but his role was limited to helping Coach Zach keep track of where people needed to be on the field.

Jordan also ran in a distance medley. If I remember right, it started with Maggie running a 1200, followed by Corey doing 800 meters, then a new girl at Hosanna doing one lap (400 meters) and then Jordan ran the final leg, which was 1600 meters. Jordan was in a pretty deep hole by the time he got the baton. It was hard to tell how well he ran and we didn't get a stopwatch on him, but considering that he had run two miles just an hour earlier, he seemed to do okay.

Jenna Comes Calling

Today we had our final "post placement home visit." China requires reports six and twelve months after the adoption is finalized so our social worker, Rebecca, came down from Portland. Conveniently, she also had six-month-visits to do with two other families in town, a one-year-visit with the Lymans (and the first home visit for their next adoption), plus Dan and Sandi Mortinson drove over from Rogue River with their daughter, Jenna, for their first follow-up review.

Since they were in town anyway, Dan and Sandi came by for a visit. They went to Western Baptist with us, Jeannette was in their wedding and Sandi was in our wedding 23 years ago. MelodyJoy had just woken up from a nap when they arrived so it took her a few minutes to warm up to 17-month-old Jenna, but they were soon getting along just fine . . .

When it was time for them to leave, we told the girls to give each other hugs, which resulted in these great photos. Sorry if there are too many but I couldn't bear to leave any of them out . . .

Quote of the Week

“Washington is limited in its power because social change does not start in the Capitol and flow into the foothills of Georgia or the Iowan cornfields. Congress reacts to the nation’s social and moral temperature.”

Matthew Weigelt
(“Salt of the Earth, Light of the World,” Connections, Spring 2004, p. 7)

One Last Day in DC

Today started with several speakers at the NACAC Legislative Conference, highlighted by Congressman Tom Petri from New York, in my opinion. It was pretty cool to hear from a former admissions counselor, now a member of the US House, and as a former college provost he has a great grasp of how the government interplays with higher education.

We had three visits on the Hill. We were supposed to meet with Rep. Wu but his office was very busy and we ended up with a nice young aide, though it felt like our visit wasn't very productive. When we went to Rep. Defazio's office, we were surprised to have him walk out and greet us, then stand there to talk briefly about our concerns. We were caught so off-guard that I think we had a bit of a "deer in headlights" reaction. At least I know I did. It was cool that he took the time to initiate a conversation. From there, we went to Rep. Hooley's office and met with one of her aides.

That left me with most of the afternoon on my own. This was my fifth trip to DC in the last six years and each year I've wanted to go to the national portrait museum at the Smithsonian. For the last five years, the building has been under renovation so I was determined to get there this time. My main target was the portrait gallery of the presidents, which I enjoyed immensely when Jeannette and I visited DC with my folks in the 80s. First, though, I walked through a good part of the rest of the museum, which had some incredible artwork. This set of figures caught my eye, for obvious reasons . . .


As did their creator's self-portrait . . .

Anyway, I really enjoyed walking through the presidential gallery (though I did fall asleep briefly while watching clips of various presidents' speeches).
It was really neat to be able to stand just inches away from some of the best known paintings in American history. A few items were reproductions, to avoid having the originals degraded by exposure to the light, but the vast majority were originals. I was interested to read that that this portrait of George Washington, and a matching one of Martha, was left unfinished on purpose because the agreement with the artist was that "upon completion" the paintings would belong to Martha. Gilbert Stuart liked what he had done so much that he wanted to keep it for himself to use as a model for other paintings. By leaving it incomplete, he wasn't obligated to turn it over to the Washingtons.

It was also interesting to look at these two life masks of President Lincoln. The first was done in 1860 and the second in 1865. The information with this exhibit pointed out how much more haggard the latter looked as the president had endured several years of the Civil War. I was also able to put my hand next to one of the plaster casts of his hands. His hands and wrists were considerably larger than mine, which shouldn't have come as any surprise, I guess.

This painting of James Polk caught my eye simply because at first, from a distance, I thought it was Mel Gibson . . .


Strangely enough, this portrait of Richard Nixon remains one of my favorites . . .When I last was at the portrait gallery, I liked it so much that I bought a print of it. I guess I've always been a sucker for Norman Rockwell. It was humorous to read that Rockwell himself noted that the portrait was "favorable" to Nixon, saying that he figured if he was going to err, it would be on the side of flattering the president.

On the Hill

Today in the Capital, we made three legislative calls. We met with aides for Senator Gordon Smith (standing in a hallway by an elevator because there was no place to meet in his cramped office suite) and Senator Ron Wyden, and then our last visit was to Congressman Greg Walden's office.

Rep. Walden's administrative assistant, Blair, gave us a great welcome and it even turned out that Ralph knew some of her family members from Medford. Then his senior policy advisor, Valerie Henry, greeted us. She remembered meeting with Teri and me last year and even some of the things we discussed, such as the congressman's son's college search. She took us into his office and after a couple of minutes of small talk, he walked in to talk with us.

I was pretty impressed by Walden. First it was great that he took over a half hour to talk with us. He was very interested in what we had to say and asked us questions about our impression of the No Child Left Behind Act. I'm not sure we clearly got our specific requests through to him but it felt like we connected personally. Before we left, we had our picture taken with him:

Me, Valerie Henry, Ralph Burrelle, Greg Walden, Teri Calcagno

Tonight I connected with Sarah Paff, one of the students that Jeannette and I worked with when I was at Asbury College. I've been to Washington DC five times in the seven years since leaving Kentucky and each time I've been able to see Sarah. It's kind of funny (and sad) but I've seen Sarah more often than some of my friends in Portland and Salem.

Every time we get together, Sarah introduces me to some place new to eat. It is her mission to make sure I don't eat at any chain restaurants while I'm in Washington. She is working her way, restaurant by restaurant, through a list of DC's top 100 dining establishments. Tonight, we went to Indique, which as you might guess serves Indian food.

Jeannette will be very impressed to see our appetizers: mussels and something else I can't quite describe or name . . . .

Sarah said it was a yogurt. We put it on a pita bread, though of course it's called something else in Indian cuisine. We also had a chicken entree. But mostly it was just fun getting reconnected with Sarah.

Lobbyists

Calling us lobbyists would be an overstatement but here is our Pacific Northwest Association for College Admission Counseling crew in DC. We spent about five hours in training today for our legislative visits tomorrow on Capitol Hill.

From left to right: Teri Calcagno (PNACAC Past President, Central Catholic HS, Portland), Karl Stumo (NACAC Government Relations Committee, Pacific Lutheran University), Robbie Cupps (Capital High, Boise), Marolane Stevenson (Big Sky High, Missoula), Ralph Burrelle (PNACAC President-elect, North Medford High) and me.