My weekend

Hello all,

I am back from my weekend in Wuyi Shan. What a weekend! I am feeling a nap coming on, so I am going to try and hurry though this blog, but I'm sure it will be PLENTLY long because I have so much to tell. If you are in a hurry, you might want to come back and read this later. Otherwise, sit back and enjoy the ride.

The weekend began on Thursday night at 5pm when we left for the Shanghai train station. Upon arrival, I was so impressed! It was beautiful! Once I post this blog I'm going to post again with pictures. It's too hard to put pictures up with my blog in the way. Anyway, while we were waiting for the train, I had to go to the bathroom. Much to my dismay, the train station bathroom only had squatters. It was my first time, and it was NOT enjoyable at all. It actually freaked me out so much that I hardly peed. I was just way too afraid of missing the hole and hitting my shoes. Not a good experience.

Okay, so once the train came we managed to board with all of the pushing and shoving. Prof. Shang led the way and managed to snag us a couple of sectionals right in a row so we were all near each other. As Joe and others had told me, there was nothing to worry about with the train. I guess Drew just got me all worked up. I'm not saying that the train was the most enjoyable experience, but it wasn't like a train car with wooden bunks and us all shoved in there like Jews on the way to a concentration camp. Let me see if I can describe it. When you entered the train, facing toward the engine, on the left was a hallway with a luggage overhang, windows, little tables under the windows and seats that folded down from the walls. On the right were little sectionals of beds that if you turned into one you would be in a little aisle between 6 beds. There were beds on each side, going three high. On the end of each sectional was a ladder that you would climb to get into the bed. On each bed was a large comforter and a nice fluffy pillow and the cars were also air conditioned! So I took a top bunk, closest to the air and read my book until I fell asleep. I did wake up at one point to brush my teeth and spend some more time crouched over the squatter. I still had difficultly going... just too worried about my shoes. We finally arrived in Wuyi Shan the next morning at about 9am.

It was pouring when we arrived and we were all upset because none of us packed out umbrellas (Or "umbrellers" as Shang and Ni like to say. Cute huh? :o) We took a bus for about 15 minutes until we arrived in another part of town. Mom, you were right, the mountains looked very much like the Smokies, and the town we were in just made that even more clear! It was such a tourist town and it was set up very similar to Gatlinburg or Pigeon Forge. Our hotel was very nice. Erin and I shared a room, which was great. We seemed to have an instant connection from the moment that we met and we were more than happy to be together. I don't know if I said this before, but she is interning in WuShi, which is about 2 hour train ride from Shanghai. But she is there all by herself, so after our great time together this weekend she decided to come back every weekend while we are here.. and she is also set up to go to Tibet with us. It will be great to have her along.

Anyway, so the room was nice, and we ended up having an early lunch at the hotel before we began our day. We took a bus up through the mountains. It was beautiful, but also very sad. While Shanghai can look extremely poor in many places, the people that live in the mountains are much worse off. The places that the live in look like little shacks, or old old buildings that have not been kept up. It looks just terrible. But what I did notice is that these people are not upset about their living conditions. They actually seem very content. One other thing that I noticed on the train ride home was that while there is potential for many of the apartment buildings and homes to look beautiful, they look very run down and there is trash everywhere. I wondered why the occupants allowed it to look this way, and then it occurred to me. In America, we pride ourselves in being able to own our own homes. It is a symbol for stability, security and wealth. Therefore, we take great pride in taking care of our homes and making them look nice for others to see. In China, no one owns their homes. They are all owned by the country because it is a Communist country. Therefore, they do not take pride in their house, or keeping it looking nice. I thought it was very interesting.

Back to the trip, we made our way on a very bumpy ride up the mountain until we got to this parking lot. From there our tour guide (Shang and Ni hire one for every side trip in order to get good prices, ect.) led us further up the mountain on a paved road until we came to a few smaller buses. We were then either given the option of climbing up the mountain, which we were told would take a few hours, and then climbing down which would take about one hour, or taking the buses up and then climbing down. We opted for the second due to the fact that it was really hot and we had an appointment to white-water raft later in the afternoon. So we took the buses up this narrow, curvy road with no side rails at all. I thought we might fly off at a few points, but we made it safely up. Then we were dropped off in front of what looked to be hand carved stairs into the rock that led down the mountain and we were told to start climbing down. Crazy Chinese. Looking over the edge of the cliff we were about to climb down we say this huge waterfall called the Blue Dragon Falls. Mom, I know that Erin and I mock you endlessly about calling the Niagara Falls "Majestic", but these falls truly were majestic. There were no tourist trap signs around them, there were no crowds of people, it was just the falls in the middle of the mountain. It was one of the most amazing sights I have ever seen in my life. God really is an amazing, creative and wonderful God for creating such an amazing sight. I was in awe for most of the afternoon. We climbed down to the falls first, and played in the mist. We were soaking wet within minutes. They were SO powerful. We didn't even dare to stand under them for fear that we would be swept down the river to the next stage of the falls. We continued to walk over a stone bridge that the river ran under and that was on top of the next stage of falls. Now, looking down the mountain, we were on the left side of the falls. We continued to climb down stone carved steps to numerous different landing where another stage of the water fall occurred. At one landing there was this little pool off to the side of a smaller, but yet very powerful waterfall. We all went and played in the pool. Professor Ni even came in and played with us. I'll post a picture that I got of it. We hiked down the mountain next to the falls, and then later next to the rushing river for over an hour. It was so beautiful. Besides the stone carved stairs, it felt as though we were the first people to ever be in that area. I took tons of pictures so you will all have to see them later. On strange thing that I remember thinking was that we did not see any wildlife around there. We saw a few HUGE spiders in their webs here and there, and we saw a small lizard on a tree and we heard some birds, but other than that, it was very peaceful. It was so strange.

Once we got down the mountain, it started to rain. Crazy huh? It was seriously the very second that we got back to where our bus was parked. From there we went a few miles down the mountain to the whitewater rafting company. Do I have a story for you. Unfortunately, I almost died twice on this weekend trip, and once was while we were white water rafting. I'm not joking about almost dying either. Let me start at the beginning. Mom, you're really going to enjoy this story (I'm being completely sarcastic).

So earlier in the day our tour guide asking Shang and Ni if we wanted to go rafting. Now, we had a bamboo rafting ride set up for the next day, so some of us weren't too enthusiastic, but Shang and Ni said that it could fit into our budget, so we said, why not. We got to the rafting place where about 100 Chinese boys/men in bright yellow shorts and shirts were staring at us. The herded us down to the river and had us put on these bamboo helmets and flimsy life vests that are like the kind that are put in fishing boats so that people don't get tickets from the DNR.. you know, the kinds that people never actually wear. Some of the ties on the vests were missing or broken off, ect. We also noticed that we never had to sign a waiver form, the guides never gave us instructions and rather than sitting on the side of the boat with a paddle, the guides didn't wear helmets or shoes, and we were all placed inside a boat (not a real rafting boat, but the black ones that the marines have with motors on them to save people with), about 6 of us all in a row with our legs around each other. We really were sitting on the floor of the boat. So I suppose we all figured it would be an easy ride because normal precautions and typical common sense things didn't seem to be an issue.

So I got into a boat with Erin in the front, Beau next, then me, then Even, the Sean and then Tony. Beau and I were the only ones who had even white water rafted before. We started down the river, hit a few very small rapids and got completely soaked and our boat completely filled with water. Also, our butts hit rocks a few times. Our guides somehow communicated to Tony in the back that he had to get up, sit on the side and use this little attached bucket to get the water out of our boat. We became a little uneasy at this point. We saw some harder water up ahead and in the middle of the white water our front guide (we had one in the front standing up and one in the back standing up), somehow dropped his paddle! I just remember him turning around with a look of complete panic on his face and screamed something to the back guide. Erin and I started screaming and I honestly cannot remember how we even got through the rest of the rapids. The look on that kids (he looked to be about 18) face was honestly complete panic, like he thought we were going to die. Somehow our guide in the back beached us on some rocks without us dying and the guys all got out looking around for the paddle. They never found it. Erin (who can speak really good Chinese) asked the guide if we really need it and he said yes. He disappeared while the guys were looking for it and we had no idea where he went. We were waited on the rocks with our other guide for an hour! (Meanwhile, our other guide must have had to pee a lot because twice I saw him go over to the woods, lift up one side of his shorts and pee out of the side!!! I was in shock!! I was even more in shock when he did it the second time only about a 1/2 hour later!!) So we kept seeing all these boats go buy and our one guide would yell something in Chinese to the other guides and we would yell out "Ni Hao!" to the people in the boats.. anything to entertain ourselves and keep ourselves warm. Finally, on one of the boats, we saw our guide riding in with another paddle! Apparently he had run all the way back up the mountain to get another paddle. So, thinking the worst was over, we got back in the boat. We continued down the river, through a little more white water when all of a sudden, the kid of a front guide turned around and said something to Erin. She turned around when he was done and goes "I think he said something like, tighten your helmets, don't hang on to the ropes on the side of the boat and if the boat tips over, try not to hang on to the boat!" We were in shock because Erin really wasn't even sure if she had translated that right (she was not prepared to even be a translator for something like this!) and because he didn't even give directions on what to do if we did fall out! I remember Beau saying something about sending a videotape of a US rafting trip back to China to show them what rafting was really like.

So we see some REALLY hard water up ahead, and I just remember being in shock and awe that we were even going to attempt it. I remember asking Beau what level he thought the rapids were and we agreed that they would probably be a 4... so here I am in my crappy life jacket that probably wouldn't even work, and my frickin' bamboo helmet that hardly stays on my head, let alone would protect me from rocks, and I am about to go over level 4 rapids. We ended up heading straight toward this giant rock that had water furiously rushing over it. Again, I distinctly recall the front guide turning around with a look of terror to the back guide and screaming something... this was right before we hit the rock head on, the right side went up the rock while the left side went down into the suction-cup water and for some reason the front guide took his paddle and pushed us into the suction and our raft flipped!!!!!! IT FREAKING FLIPPED!!! I have been in lever 4 rapids in Colorado and I have never flipped but I FREAKING go to China and I flip!! I hardly even remember what happened after that. I remember rushing down the river, Beau and I were yelling for everyone to put their feet in front of them and keep them up with your toes pointing out of the water (HOW DID BEAU AND I GET TO BE RAFTING GUIDES!?!?), I remember finally getting past the white water but still having a huge current dragging me downstream, I remember laughing hysterically (Mom, Joe, Sarah and Leah, remember right after Mell died, when Mr. Pearson said "Well guys, have a nice life" and I died laughing because I didn't know what to do with my emotions? This was a similar situation.. a panic attack gone bad), I remember Erin yelling "STACEY! WHY THE HELL ARE YOU LAUGHING!" at me, which of course made me laugh even harder. I remember seeing Sean's flip-flop fly past, I remember seeing Beau grab Erin by the frickin bamboo helmet, I remember the guides being nowhere to be found until the raft was frickin flipped over from upside down right onto my head and me being pushed back under water, I remember coming back up and seeing an oar fly by me and somehow grabbing it but I continued flying down the river until Erin, who was holding onto a tiny tree branch grabbed the other side... I remember seeing Tony being dragged into another random rafting boat that had drifted by... and then I remember my butt finally hitting the ground and me stopping, but yet I was still laughing. Then, to top things off, when we began getting back into the boat, one of our stupid guides asking Erin where our friends were, and we were missing both Tony and Beau. They couldn't have been dead! But the stupid guides were too busy saving themselves to even help save us! Luckily, both had somewhere in the chaos been picked up by other boats and were waiting for us further down the river. All-in-all, we, thankfully, had no casualties, one bleeding knee on Even and one nice bump on Erin's forehead. I just remember screaming not-nice words and praying that God would save me the rest of the way down the river. It was terrible. Hands down the worst rafting ride I have ever been on and I most likely will ever be on again. (Mom, have the Laughlin's pass this story on to Bri, I'm sure she will appreciate it.) Finally we could see the buses up ahead, but rather than dropping us where everyone else got dropped, our guides apparently wanted to get rid of us a little early, so they dropped us at a completely different spot further up the river and made us walk down to the buses. Erin and I just about started crying on the cold walk down, and then looked like retards when we got down to the bus because Sean and Tony started telling everyone how "cool" our ride was and we looked like the bad guys because we were so mad about it... It was an experience that I will never forget. I can tell you that much. Erin and I were still in shock and dismay this afternoon when she told the story to her parents on the phone.

So for the rest of the night I was completely exhausted because my adrenaline was rushing so fast earlier. We ate dinner and walked around the city as a group. Ni and Shang didn't want us to go off by ourselves because apparently this city is known for being a "red-light district city". They had lots of the bicycle rickshaws all over the place, but if you get in one the men will take you to a brothel. As we walked around town we saw plenty of brothels. It was sad. We also saw lots of snake stores. This town is also known for its snakes. They make snake Vigo (V-eye-joe). Vigo is liquor. So they have these shops all over the place that has these bottles up on shelves that have this red liquor and snakes (dead ones of course) in them! The bigger the bottle, the bigger the snake! It was SO creepy! I could only look for a minute. Of course a bunch of the guys taste-tested it, hated it, but bought the Vigo anyway. Shang told them that they could only buy the small bottles because the only way they can get it back into the States is by saying that it's medicine. But we also went into the backroom of one of these stores and they showed us some of the live snakes. It was terrible. The guy brought out a cobra... sick... oh gross. It was all nasty. There were over 10 snakes in this one cage. Gross gross gross. In these stores they sold tons of snake stuff. I guess you can eat snake tongue? And they also had this medication that comes from snakes? It was all too gross for me. But in another store I did find the snake purses, wallets and belts. Now, those are my kind of snakes. I bought myself a nice snake skin purse. That's the only way I like to see snakes. :o)

The next day, Saturday, it was pouring rain outside, but typical Ni and Shang, the show must go on. So we took a bus up to Tian You Peak, or Heavenly Wandering Peak. We knew that we were going to the peak, but what we didn't expect was that we would have to climb the peak in the pouring rain! We began climbing all these stairs (meanwhile we all had our backpacks on us with water, cameras, ect. in them and we also brought umbrella's with us). The stairs were again, like the day before, carved out of stone, and when wet were very slippery. I immediately changed from socks and shoes into my sandals from my backpack because I can't stand wet shoes, and I bought a rain poncho that I tried to wear but it was too sweaty, so I wrapped it around my bag to protect the items inside. So here I go, climbing a few steps until I get to this overlook when I see the mountain in front of me with a HUGE line of people with umbrellas climbing up the steepest spot. It looked ridiculous, so I asked if we were seriously going to do that, and the answer came back that yes, we were. Up we went, in the down pour. I wish I had a water camera with me to show you just how steep the mountain was and at just what sort of angle we were climbing. I honestly thought I was going to die. These steps were carves all the way up the mountain, but they were slippery, and some of them were so far apart that I had to hold onto a railing (if there was one!) in order to hoist myself up! This was the second time on this trip that I thought I was going to die. It took us over an hour to get up, but then we had to climb back down... more slippery steps. I'm tellin ya, these Chinese have no fear. Erin and I got passed by tons of people on the way down because they were practically running down the stairs! We were just trying not to die and so we tried to take one step at a time. Mom, you probably would have refused to do it. So in your case, they had men with those little carrying carts. You know, the kind with a chair between 2 poles and one man was in the front and the other was in the back. Yes, these CRAZY Chinese actually carried people up and down the mountain. I have never seen a more ridiculous thing in my life. By the time Erin and I got to the bottom, our legs were so worn out, cold and scared that they were shaking. I was just standing there and they would not stop shaking. Needless to say, it was interesting.

Due to the crazy rain and the rushing of the river, the bamboo rafting trip was postponed until the next day and we were given the rest of the afternoon for free time. What do you suppose Erin and I did? Nap? Good guess, but that came after our massages. Oh yes, we got hour long massages for only $6.25 USD. It was incredible. We first had Shang go and find the guy in charge. We wanted to make sure that we weren't going to get cheated and we had him barter the price a little. We also wanted to make sure that we didn't get prostitutes coming to us rather than masseuses. (This happened to 2 guys on the trip when they went to Beijing!) So Shang battled back and forth with the guy for a little while, and then we were brought into a room with 2 beds. Unfortunately on the wall was a huge picture of a naked lady in 2 different poses. We immediately asked to be switched to a different room... the beds in that room just didn't make us feel comfortable. So we got into a normal room and these two ladies came in and got right to work. They started on our foreheads and worked their way down. When they got to our legs I had to have Erin tell them to go a little easy because we were so sore after our two crazy days. But it was such an enjoyable hour that Shang went back later that night to get his own massage.. we joked with him about getting into the other naked lady room. He goes "Now, do you think Daddy would really do that?" Hahaha Shang likes to take care of us girls, and he calls himself Daddy. It's too funny. So I started to call Ni Grandpa. They love it. :o)

Um... so after our massages we took small naps, then went down for a little class and dinner. After dinner I did a little shopping. This is when I bought the snake skin purse. I also got a few bridesmaid gifts and some gifts for other people as well. When I checked out the lady who followed me around (when foreigners go into stores here they send one person to follow you around and try to sell you anything and everything. There is a lot of "Bu Yao" being said which means something to the extent of "I don't want it") Anyway, the lady who followed me around told Erin to tell me that I was a great shopper. I almost told her that I inherent it from my mom.. but I don't think she would find it as funny as me :o) But I got a nice big bag full of stuff for until $30 USD. I'm doing pretty well.

On the way back to the hotel, Erin and I stopped by this grocery store that we had stopped at the night before with the group. When the group was there the night before there was this most precious little girl there with her grandparent while her mom worked the fruit cart. She was about 3 years old and reminded me of Emma Bykerk when she was that age. She was so cute! She was so shy with us at first when we were sitting on the corner. She would peek at us from around her grandparents. Then she got up the courage to yell "Hello!" to us. Then she finally got up the courage to bring some of us pieces of newspaper, and then she would run back to her grandparents. If we held it back out to her, she would come and get it and then run back. Erin and I went over and sat with her and her mom at this little table. Erin was talking to the little girl and her mom. Beau came over later and we played with her and teased her. I fell in love with her. So after I did my souvenir shopping and we were on our way back to the hotel, I hear this little "HI!" being yelled at us. We turned around and saw the same little girl. We played with her a little more and then Erin explained to her in Chinese that we had to go. As we walked away we both said that we wanted to find her a little outfit because she was wearing the same one as the night before. We had Shang ask this man if there was a shop around with children's clothing. The guy told him no, but then turned around and told the little girls mom that we wanted to buy her daughter an outfit. We felt terrible because she looked embarrassed and told Shang to tell us that we shouldn't do that. We looked the next day to see if there was a store anyway, and the guy was right, there wasn't :o( I just wanted to take her home with me. It just made my dream of someday adopting from China even more real.

The next day was our last day. We took the bamboo river raft ride that morning. It was a beautiful day, which made it a beautiful ride. We were quite sick of being in wet clothes by then (turns out it's the rainy season there... who would have guessed!). So we enjoyed a little sun and a some semi-cloudy skies as we drifted down the same river that we had gone white water rafting on a few days earlier (much further up-stream) and had climbing the peak right next to (we passed the mountain on our way down the river, which is how I got the picture of the mountain). Our guides couldn't speak any English, and both Shang and Erin could not understand their dialect, so it was relatively peaceful except when they would point out a certain mountain for us to take a picture of. One of which is known as the "2 Breasted Mountain" (Ni was very embarrassed when he told us this name the day before!) and one which looked like a gorilla head. The guide even let me push the boat with the big stick for a little while!

When we were done rafter we went and hiked a little. We were all pretty dead by the end of the trip, and I don't think we appreciated it for what it was. It was unfortunate. But it was SO hot, and the sun came out in full force and of course the humidity was about 98% again. It was beautiful, but we just weren't into it. When we got back to the hotel, we had already checked out and we were just supposed to grab our bags from the holding area (the lobby with a bright orange net over them... hm.. that's going to keep people out of them!) and then leave. We were SO hot, sweaty and stinky by the time we got there that we begging Ni to rent a room for an hour so that we could all at least rinse off under a cold shower before the all-night train ride. He finally gave in and rented 2, one for the boys and one for the girls. So we were at least somewhat clean for the trip home. The ride home on the train was uneventful again... I felt really sick so I knocked myself out with Dramamine really early and I got about 10 hours of sleep. I woke up at 5am, which gave me about a hour before we were supposed to get off at Shanghai, but I guess somewhere in the night we got held up at a few stops and we were running 2 hours late. So we got back to our dorm at about 9:30 this morning. Because Erin and I didn't drink with the rest of the group, we took showers and went out into Shanghai. She took me to a few places I hadn't been before. We were both CRAVING an American breakfast, so we went to the Sheraton Hotel (where all the rich people stay, including the President) and had breakfast at Fresh Element. Yum! I had pancakes and fresh squeezed orange juice. It really was needed and I felt much better afterward. After that, we went window shopping at some of the nearby stored. I say window shopping because these stores included Prada, Gucci, Channel, Dior, Kate Spade, Louis Vuitton, Fendi, ect. Most of these stores I have never even seen in person... It was interesting. We actually went into the LV store because I wanted to see just how real my suitcase looks (It looks pretty good!), but we got greeted by security and were followed around the store, so we quickly left. A life I can't even imagine having... We continued to go around the city, trying to find another type of copy market since the old one in People's Square closed a few weeks ago, but it was not successful. A new copy market is supposed to open July 16, so we will try it then. Until then, I will have to visit the guy who I bought the suitcase from. I sent Erin there and she had some success as well, so maybe he can give us some leads on where to find things. He's great though because his stuff is very nice, and looks more real than most.

Erin left this afternoon to head back to her job. The second she left I got very very homesick. Until she got here, I didn't realize just how lonely I am. I'm trying to get through this homesickness, but I'm not meshing with the group very well. I'll keep trying, but I am very lonely over here. So Mom and Dad if you could call me to make me feel better, it would be great. I emailed you my number. Joe, I'll try to call you again soon. I bought an IP card, but we couldn't figure out how to call from my room today, so I need to ask some of the guys tomorrow.
As for all of the emails that I received this past weekend while I was gone, thank you SO much! They are all wonderful and I cherish every one of them.

Jasers, thank you so much for the email. Sorry to call you out on not emailing me, I know you're busy and I really appreciate it (oh and I did email you more than once while you were in Europe!) Your camera is working out great. I wish the carrying case wasn't so big; it would be easier to get around then. I have been using my small camera a lot because it's so much lighter, but I gave in and brought yours this past weekend. My pictures are amazing because of it! I can't wait to bring it to Tibet with me! Be nice about talking about food! Ribs sound amazing! Although, we do get some sort of ribs here.. we tend to get the fattiest cut of meat all the time (The Chinese like animal fat! Once we got a plate full of pig fat!!), so it reminds me a lot of ribs. Tell Phil I said Congrats! That's so exciting! Tell him that he's not allowed to plan the wedding for July 21 of next year; you're already booked for that day. I'll be praying for Lou and Ginger. I heard that Jordan's dad died too. It must be a really hard time for Lou. I feel really bad for him. I love and miss you. I hope that you will be able to get back for dinner on the 7th. If not, I understand and hopefully lunch the next Sunday or maybe dinner on that Saturday. I'm not sure when Joe and I are leaving for Glen Arbor yet.

Erin, thank you for your emails as well! It was great to hear about all of your adventures. Mom emailed me and told me that you had a great time this weekend up north. I hope you can come up while Joe and I are up there! I know Jay, Janice and the kids would love to see you. Oh Erin, how can you say that a ride up to Glen Arbor is boring?! It's my favorite car ride of the year! I look forward to it (and to the ride home) every year because it is so beautiful! I guess I take after dad huh? And I guess I take after dad to never get lost either! I always find my way, even if I do have to get my bearings for a little while ;o) But you on the other hand, ALWAYS get lost and then panic. Silly goose. I'm glad you were able to get a hold of the Cusacks and that they could help you find your way! The Tubergen's cottage sounds beautiful and I would love to see it when I'm up there (if you are there of course!) Did you know that Janice used to baby-sit for the Tubergens? Oh and you may now make a trip to the mailbox! ;o) I love you very much and miss you tons!

Miss Alex, loved the email as usual! I actually finished "The Devil Wears Prada" this weekend and LOVED it! I can't wait to see the movie! We will have to go because I know that Joe won't want to see it with me. I am not about to start "Can You Keep A Secret?" Have you read it? I'm a little worried though. I only brought those three books and I only have one left to read! I might have to make a visit to the foreign bookstore soon. I saw a few there that I want to read yet. And I will have to look for "A Tree Grows In Brooklyn". I hope you have a wonderful time in Cabo! I'm so jealous! (Well.. not really because I'm in China!) But I'm sure you will have a wonderful time with them. And I hope that you did well on your MBST. I passed mine easily (even though I woke up 10 minutes before it started and didn’t eat breakfast!!!) Tell you parents I said hi and to enjoy themselves in Cabo! I can't wait until we can all get together again!

Miss Leah soon-to-be Ploeg. I can't remember if I wrote to you in my last blog, so I will write you here. I'm so glad that you had a good time in Cedar Point. I was a little nervous for you, but it's good to hear that it all turned out okay. I hope you got a lot accomplished in the wedding area this weekend! I have a few great recommendations for you for photographers, so let me know if you need some! I can't believe that Adam leaves so soon! I wish that we all got to hang out one more time before he left. Hopefully when he comes home to visit okay? I'm glad that he and Joe have been hanging out. I hear they have been talking about the weddings... weird? I thought so. But enjoy your time with Adam while you have it. And then I will comfort you at camp. Oh and Joe has not mentioned talking to a travel agent yet.. I suppose that means that he hasn't done it yet. Tell Adam to light a flame under his butt! ;o) I miss and love you tons and I can't wait to start planning with you again!

Sarah my love. Thank you for your facebook messages and your emails! They made me cry when I read them this morning. You always know exactly what to say. :o) You don't have to be "totally J" yet because I haven't seen the wall yet. I'm still trying to figure out if I can get up north to see it or not. If not, Joe and I will have to see it when we adopt ;o) But I am "totally J" That you get to go up to Kari's I wish I could be there. The Cherry Festival was one of my all-time favorite high school memories. :o) I loved it. Tell Kari and Betsy that I said hi and that I miss them. Sad to hear that you and Cory aren't engaged yet! Hahah I gazed over your email, saw the word "engaged" and almost shouted.. then I looked a little closer. Hehehe. I'm sure it will happen soon. I hope all goes well with Cory staying with your fam at the cottage. Let's hope that Diane is on her best behavior.. for Cory's sake ;o) Um.. oh and I just remembered, if possible, it would be nice if you, Leah and Megan could come to my mom's dinner on the 7th (sorry mom, but I need to invite some more people!) I figure I will get to see Leah at camp, but I won't get to see you or Megan for a few more weeks maybe! Please come! Pass the word! Oh and thanks for the big long hug that you sent in your email. I needed that tons! If only it were real. I love and miss you tons too.

Mom and Dad, thank you for all of your emails too. Dad, how long did it take you to peck out that email? ;o) Thanks for the joke, I really was laughing quite hard. It cheered me up from my homesick tears. I think Joe would enjoy the joke, along with Sarah of course. So I will post it for all to see.

"Did you hear about the two peanuts who were walking down the road? One was 

assaulted!"

Yes everyone, you have now been introduced to my dad's humor. I love it. Oh, and thanks for not talking about the food Dad. It's greatly appreciated. Mom, thank you for all of your emails as well. They are always appreciated. It's good to know that you write me when you miss me. You got Joe started too, I just got an email stating that he misses me so he has learned from you to email me when that happens. :o) Yes, I had heard about Tyler. I actually found out a few weeks ago when it happened. Facebook is amazing I tell ya. Sorry I forgot to tell you. Tell Grandpa Ludema that I send my love when you read him this blog. Tell him that he better be there the 7th as well! I'm officially throwing a party for myself. I miss too many people! Oh Mom! PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE go to Guatemala with Aunt Nanc! You have always wanted to go and now is your chance! What if she doesn't adopt anymore!? (I know.. that's crazy of me to say!). It would be the chance of a lifetime and I really think that you should do it, no matter what! Please go! (I forgot to tell you.. along the lines of adopting, when Erin studied abroad here, her friend set up a program that college students went into a Shanghai orphanage and played with the kids. She is contacting her friend this week to see if we can get in this weekend! I hope so!!!) But please take this opportunity. You know that I have always wanted to go with her really bad, but better you and Erin than none of us!! I hope it all works out. Ummm lets see.. I have to read through the 5 emails that you sent me to figure out what I need to respond to. I will be praying for Aaron Hall and his fiancé. I can't believe that Becky is pregnant! If you see Aunt Joyce or talk to her soon, tell her to pass along the message that I say congrats! How exciting! I'll pray for the best for Kirk and Matt as well.

Aunt Beth, thanks for the short message. It was great to hear from you. It's always nice to know who is reading my blog. Thanks for the prayers. They have been and will continue to be needed!

Finally, Joe. Thank you for all of the emails honey. They have been the best out of all of them. It was so nice to be able to talk to you before I left. I am going to try to figure out the phone card soon so I can talk to you again. I'm glad that you had a good time with Adam! Did you have fun with Tim and Lisa? How are they? I'm glad to hear that you went to Crossroads! Did you miss it? I do! I can't wait to go the Sunday after I get back! I can't believe that you and Ploeg were talking about the weddings... it's good to hear that you both are somewhat interested. Oh.. besides the travel agent, you had one more job to do that included the groomsmen; did you take care of that? Thanks for the email just a few minutes ago. I will email you as soon as I post this and a few pictures. I love and miss you so so so much. We are under the one month mark. Can't wait to hear back from you. Your emails mean the world to me. Oh, and I "picked up" a shot glass for you this weekend. It seems as though China doesn't sell shot glasses either... but "picking" one up was quite easy ;o)

Thanks to all who have been leaving messages! They, along with your prayers, have been what are pulling me through right now. Love you all.