I took the chance and moved the blog over to blogger.  Please check out the new Hough Stuff at:

 

As you know we have been working on completing our paperwork for a second adoption and I can tell you that we do have it all done.  Well, with the exception of it being received at USCIS (immigration)/National Benefits Commision (NBC).  Danielle went to the local Department of Homeland Security today to file the paperwork for immigration and we forgot that today is Patriot Day, so National offices were closed.  So back to Boise tomorrow to file.

 

On bigger news, last week we were on vacation on the Oregon Coast and we received a phone call from our adoption agency.  WE HAVE BEEN PREAPROVED TO ADOPT!   Which means that Danielle and I identified a girl last month and sent a request to China for approval to pursue adopting her, the finally came back to us and agreed.  So we now have 90 days (from September 5th) to get our paperwork to China.  We are under the gun now to complete it all, well we are now waiting on the US government to approve us.  

 

 

Our daughters Chinese name is Yang Cheng Xia, she is one year onld today!!! September 11, 2007 is her birthday.  She is located at the Gutian Welfare Institute in the Fujian Province.  Cheng Xia has a heart condition that is called pulmonary stenosis.  Essentially it is a narrowing of the pulmonary vein from the heart to the lungs, she will require a surgery once we are back in the US.  We have decided to give her the American name of Kate Ann Cheng Xia Hough.  Needless to say we are over the moon about the news.  The picture above is of Danielle on the phone with adoption agency the moment we go the call about Yang Cheng Xia.

 

We have a ways to go still, as of today we are down to 84 days before we have to have our dossier to China and from what we can tell it is taking about 80 days for the Government to give it's blessing, we are going to be down to the wire.  After we get the dossier to China it will take about another three months for China to sign off officially.  Then probably about another two months for travel, so it will be about 7-9 months.

 

The biggest challenge will be the timeline for documents to China.  So please keep in our prayers and thoughts.

 

I hate to tell you this but I do not have any photos that I can attach of our new daughter.  However I can put some pictures up of our recent vacation to the Oregon Coast.

 

 

So here is the low down on where we are for paperwork on our adoption.

 

Danielle is now on her third request for employement verification work.  My question is really, how helpful is HR if it takes (hopefully) three times to provide a basic verification letter?  First one actually had someone elses name in the body of the better, so it mentioned Danielle in the first and last paragraph, but mentioned someone named Michelle in two other paragraphs. NICE!!  The second letter actually had Danielle's name but was not then notarized.  NICE!!  On top of it all they will not send the verification letter directly to Danielle they say they must send it to a third party.  In this case we have deemed the homestudy agency our third paryt even though they are not the ones that want the letter the letter is for China.  Danielle has been having to drive out of her way to retreive bad paperwork.  So we are now having our social worker contact Danielle's company directly and walking through the process with the woman (same woman each time).  Very frustraiting.

 

On the new required Child Abuse Registry/Police Background Checks.  We have received background checks from Idaho, Oregon and Washington so that takes care of the US.  We have requested my background check from Australia.  We have confirmation that Australia does not maintain a Child Abuse Registry but we have been recommended to receive a background check anyhow.  Generally a statement in the homestudy that simply states Australia does not maintain a Child Abuse Registry would suffice, but after contacting the USCIS, they recommended a background check as well.  The hoops for an Australian background check went a little like this.  Receive application through the Australian Federal Police by downloading, go to our bank and convert US funds to Australian dollars.  The Australian dollars has to be in cheque form and affiliated with an Australian bank.  So for an AUS$32 check it cost us roughly US$70 by the time the bank charges are included.  On top of it we Fedex'ed the cheque and application to Australia and for a mere cost of $65 we got it to Australia in 4 days.  So it cost a total of $130 and now we wait for a response.  Hopefully the application is correct and there will be no hold ups.  In the mean time we contacted an online chat group in Australia to ask about the application as online the process is supposed to only take 15 business days.  Our contacts have said anywhere from one week to 5, so we have our fingers crossed for one week. 

 

Once we get the background check and Danielle's verification letter we will have our homestudy done.  Then it is off to applying for our I800 (immigration paperwork and Federal fingerprinting).  My understanding that the I800 process is a long process as well.  So our timeline of having all paperwork completed by November 1st may be cutting it close.

 

We will keep you posted.

So what is new with us?  I think I have mentioned that we are headed down the road of adoption again.  I must say that things have really changed since we did all the paperwork in 2005!  Side note, if Danielle and I would not have switched to special needs we would still be waiting for an adoption.  God truly has a larger plan for all of us, we cannot imagine life with out Jessica.  According to all records China has only placed children that have familiies that logged in thru January 25th 2006.  We logged in March 13th 2006.  So by all calculations we would be waiting through probably September of this year before we would have received a placement for a "healthy child".  Which would have been 2 1/2 years, then of course we would have been waiting for travel approval which would probably put us a total wait of 3 years.

 

Now current update, some have asked us about what adoption agency we are using this go round.  We have chosen a smaller adoption agency that is Hague accredited.  Bay Area Adoption Services (BAAS) is located in San Fransico and traditionally dedicated to Bay Area Families and specifically families that are Chinese Heritage.  When Danielle spoke with the Chinese coordinator she has mentioned that she is getting a lot more inquires from all over the US, and as Danielle said, the woman basically interviewed us and our intentions.  For me, I thought that was a good move, that she was really interested in our goals.

 

So to date, for paper work, we have completed our birth certificates, marriage certificate.  Homestudy interviews, together and individual, now we have our home visit on Thursday, also our letters of reference.  We have our physicals completed.  Our Idaho fingerprints, and local police reports.  One of the challenges that we have now with China being a member of The Hague adoption world ( whole new set of challenges) we have to receive police clearances from each State that we have lived in as well as every country.  So since I grew up in Washington State I ordered, and received, my clear police record.  Danielle and have both lived in Oregon and we have fingerprints appointments for Oregon clearance (Washington does not require finger prints, Oregon does).  Also, I lived in Australia for 7 months on an exchange in College.  So now we have contacted the Austrailian Federal Police (AFP) and will have to get my clearance from there (by the way the AFP does not take credit/debit cards for payments, so I have to find a bank that will issue funds in Australian currency in order to pay for my background check).  Keep in mind all of these records have to be notarized.

 

I have to say that Danielle is awesome with the paperwork.  I am so out of it this go round that she just tells me where I have to be, what I have to sign and what documents I need to request (on certain documents I am the only one that can make the request).

 

So what do we have left to do, well I am not really sure.  We are awaiting our homestudy which all of the background checks have to be completed before the social worker can complete her job.  Financial statement and verification is another one....I am sure I am forgeting other documents.  That is the final document before we submit all documents to the various Secretary of States for authentification.  From there we sent it back to Condi Rice to complete her signatures then the the Chinese consulate.  Our goal is to have all paperwork done before November 1st, so we will see. 

 

The other major challenge will be the new immigration paperwork.  I won't get into all the details (because I just don't know), but with Jessica we received our I600 in only a couple of months.  Now due to The Hague rules (thanks to the World Court) we will get some sort of different immigration paperwork called an I800, which from what we have been reading takes any where from four weeks to several months.  Who knows when we will get that done. 

 

I think my goal is to have our homestudy and all documents gathered and verified the various States by the end of July.  So as you can see we have been busy and swamped with paperwork.  It is definately more of a challenge this time, but we know there is an end, and I can already see an end in sight.

 

Here is a quick update on Jessica, she is Awesome!  She is doing great and continues to be a happy girl.  Not much of an update, but no news is good news right?  I am putting additional pictures up and a new slideshow on the left.

 

 

Is it bad to say that I am blogging while watching American Idol?  Perhaps it is bad to say that I have been sucked in once again. 

 

Another update, Danielle's laptop took a crap.  So after many back and forth visits to the computer repair shop, we made the decision to scrap the old one and update to a new one.  Problem was that we really didn't do a whole lot of research before we went to Best Buy.  Our research consisted of visitng dell.com and building what we thought we would want them comparing computers at Best Buy.  Needless to say the geek squad member was really unimpressed with what we researched.  So we eneded up with a HP Pavilion with blah, blah, blah.  Which means I don't speak tech talk.

 

With the change of computer we stilll have all of our music, pics, etc. on the old one that need to be removed and either added to the new computer or perhaps put them on an external hard drive and keep them seperate.  So any suggestions would be appreciated.

 

I will say that that Jessica is done very well in her daycare.  She comes home singing new songs, I even find myself playing ring-a-around the rosey with her.  She is so much fun and developing a great sense of humor and personality.  I have to say she is one the best things, best decisions that I have ever done in my life!!!

 

An update for us.  Some of you have followed us in earlier posts, and I have to say we are moving strong towards our second adoption.  We have a ways to go but the paperwork has begun.  We have ordered our birth certificates, marriage license, we have our physcials scheduled for next Friday.  We have also began our parenting classes, those are for the next 5 weeks. 

 

Danielle and I have chosen not to go with our previous adotion agency America World.  We are using a West Coast agency that is smaller, we have already noticed that they are not going to hold our hands the way America World did.  We are very thankful for what America World did for us the first time, because we are so comfortable going this without the help we received earlier.   It is very exciting for us as we are working this alone and making it happen.  I realize that the biggest challenge will be getting our homestudy done, but we are giving ourselves until November to get everything completed. 

 

I will keep you posted!!!

 

Lately we have been asking Jess to say prayer at dinner or ask if she would like to say her prayers before bed.

 

Earlier this week, at bed time, I asked Jess if she would like me to say prayers or if she would.  She said, "Jessi say prayers".  OK, no problem.  So I told her to go ahead.  She closed her hands in prayer, shut her eyes (I did as well) and this is how her evening prayer went....

 

"Dear Jesus, A,B,C,D,E,F,G,H,I,J,K,L,M,N,O,P...Amen".  When she was done, she looked up at me as pleased as punch with herself, smiling from ear to ear.  The only thing I could say was, "That was a very nice prayer".

 

I guess the working on the alphabet at school is working out for her.

 Last week I was in Texas for work.  It was a very quick trip down and back, needless to say to get from Boise to McAllen, Texas it takes all day.  We left Boise at about noon and finally got settled into the hotel room at 12:30 am.  We got up at 6 am to do about 5 hours of work and catch the plane back to Boise that left at 4:30 pm that day.  Arrived back in Boise at midnight, only to get up and head to Lewiston, ID for a visit with my family. 

 Anyhow, while in Texas we realized that where we were working was right on the Rio Grande River.  I have never been to Texas and had to make a point of going to the river when we were done, just to say that I had seen the river.  The whole time I was looking at the river all I could think about was Marty Robbins and his great country ballads (I realize that some of you may not be able to comprehend great and country ballads in the same sentence).

 

 

While we were taking pictures and just enjoying a quick stop, another thought crossed my mind.  I wonder if anyone will try or has tried to cross the Rio Grande to the US today.  Low and behold about that time one of the women with me said look at that, I turned around and what did we see but a man on a raft (looked like a cheap 4 person raft that you could pick up at a Wal-Mart). 

 

 

 

The interesting thing was that the man was paddling from the US to Mexico, not what I would have expected.  We just stood there watching him.  Once he got to the Mexico side he picked up his raft and took a couple of steps and just as he did about 7 people came running out of the trees to meet him. 

 

 

We were standing on the other side of the river watching them.  They got agitated and started yelling and waving at us, we didn't know what to say or do and got a little nervous ourselves.  For all we knew they could have had guns or something and we stood out like sore thumbs.  So we gathered our selves and left quickly.

 

We don't actually know if they made it across the river, if all 8 people jumped in the raft together or they made a couple of crossings.

 

It was interesting events to say the least.  After all, we had seen several Border Patrol vehicles on the freeway, even saw a Border Patrol helicopter fly up and down the river.  I actually started laughing watching the whole event unfold, but after a time to reflect I became disturbed.  After all, it confirms that illigals cross the border all the time and in daylight.  The border is so long how could we ever keep a secure one.  It was also disturbing because three of us had flown all the way from Idaho and saw people trying to get to the US and no one was around to say or do anything.  It confirms that these practices take place more than I realize and illegal immigration is a real concern. 

 

Spring may finally be here, although the jury is still out.  Granted it hasn't snowed for sometime now it still has been heavy frosts in the mornings. 

 

Danielle, Jess and I went out to my offices on March 9th to plant seeds in the greenhouse.  Danielle and I have made this a tradition for the last 5 years, this year Jessica was really able to get into it.  She is really into helping out and I know she has been with us for 18 months now, I find that I am still trying to work on my patience. 

 

Jessica is talking more and more interactive with Danielle and I.  It seems that since she has been in day care, three days per week, she is doing great.  She asks questions, wants to read to Danielle and I and just more aware of everything. 

 

I just wanted to add some updated photos of planting flowers in the greenhouse and Easter.

 

Hope all is well with you and yours.

Anyhow, quick update as to what we have been doing.

 

Jessica is doing great at daycare and is now looking forward to going in the mornings, needless to say I don't think she is taking naps during the day so she is tired when she gets home.  Which is not always a bad thing. 

 

Daneille is great!! 

 

I have been out of town this past week.  We have offices in Santiago, Chile and I took a trip down to visit and meet with a few people.  This last time was about my 5 or 6th time to Santiago and I have really started to feel comfortable with traveling and getting around while there.  As well I will be headed to Amsterdam in June and this will be the about the 3rd time with Nunhems.  I am trying to talk Danielle into coming again this year, but we are a little hesitant and leaving Jessica for so long.  I will keep you posted. 

 

Anyhow not much on this post just some pictures of Santiago.

We made it back into town on Saturday after a terrible day of travel.  Long story short we made it home but 6 hours after we were scheduled to arrive and after being up for over 24 hours. 

 

Danielle, Jess and my parents made it to Amsterdam on Friday and I finally was able to catch up with them on the Saturday night.  Since I arrived so late on Saturday evening, we left Jessica with my parents for a few hours while we headed out on the town of Amsterdam to take in the sights and catch up.  I have to say that I love the vibe of Amsterdam, every time I go I get more comfortable with everything.  It is great to see the city at night and then take in the sites by day. 

 

On Sunday the 14th we got our car and headed out on the open road to Germany.  It was a seven hour drive to our next stop in Rothenburg, Germany.  After getting slightly lost we finally made it and it was a great choice for a stop.  Rothenburg is a walled city that has been established for centuries.  We were able to have a great dinner at our hotel then we all headed out for a walk around town, the next morning we got up and Danielle, Jess, my dad and myself headed out for another walk and my mom hit the shipping.  Later in the day we found a play ground for Jessica to release some energy and we all enjoyed the incredible weather.

 

Monday we headed to Munich during the evening, needless to say all of Munich is under road repair and we got lost yet again.  We did end up stopping at a gas station and found a map then located where we were and where we needed to be.   We decided to stumble around on our own for awhile before Danielle jumped out and one of the taxis we passed and she decided to pay the taxi as I followed, he then led us to our hotel in town.  Wise choice on Danielle's behalf, as we would have never found where we were going. 

 

Tuesday morning we got up early and went North out of Munich to Dachau concentration camp for a little WWII history.   Since I had been there 20 years ago in high school I left a little early and took Jessica for a walk.  The others in the group spent a lot of time getting to learn and see what drove the Nazi concentration camps.  Interesting afternoon to say the least.  From there we jumped back in the car and headed South to Salzburg Austria.  We found our hotel fairly quickly once we got into town as Salzbur is only population of around 150,000. 

 

We spent two days in Salzburg and really enjoyed our time.  Salzburg is a beautiful city full of history and yet has a modern feel to it.  From Salzburg we headed west over the mountians through Innsbruck to Ruette Austria.  I do have to say that along the way to Ruette we got lost yet again and ended up on top of the Austrian Alps and crossed into Italy.  Imagine our surprise as we are driving along and then see signs saying Italy.  It still amazes me that you can take a wrong turn and within a half an hour end up in a whole different country.  Needless to stay we stoped for just a moment so my parents could say that they actually stood in Italy. 

 

We got back on track and made it to Ruette, Austria.  Ruette is located along the Germany border in Barvaria.  We decided to spend one night there on our stay over for the visit to Neuschwanstein castle.  I will just say that is was freaking cold as the snow level in the mountains dropped considerably overnight and we ended up with snow falling.

 

After the tour of the castle we had one long day in the car on our way back to the Netherlands for the last night.  We stayed in Roermond, NL and headed into the Amsterdam airport on Saturday morning.

 

Jessica was a trooper the whole time and I can tell you that she was really awesome.  She has proved yet again that she has the travel bug.

 

I hope you enjoy the pictures!

I probably won't have any updates until after the 22nd of October.  We are headed out of town tomorrow to catch the WSU vs. Arizona State game in Pullman on Saturday.  On Sunday I leave for the Netherlands for meetings all week.  Danielle and Jessica will be flying to the Netherlands on Thursday the 11th and spending two nights in Amsterdam before I catch up with them on Saturday evening.  Sunday the 14th we are getting a rental car and headed to Germany and Austria for sightseeing.  We are back home on Saturday the 20th.

 

Should be a great time, my parents will be joining Danielle and Jessica for our "family" vacation.  So it is great that we are able to bring our own babysitters on this trip.

 

See you all soon!  Have a great October.

OK, so I finally took the time to figure out how to post videos to the page.  I have included one of my favorite videos from back in the day.  In high school I was always a fan of In Living Color that was on FOX.  Found this video and since it is the season I thought I would share.  Have a great weekend.

 

 I know, I know, we are now a couple of weekends since Labor Day but I have not gotten around to discussing our weekend adventure. 

 

It started out with me flying to Portland, OR the Monday before Labor Day (I went to our offices in the Salem are for work).  Danielle and Jessica drove over to Salem on that Tuesday.  They caught up with me there and they did their thing for a couple of days and I worked.  We finally took off from Salem on Thursday, not before we stopped for fresh peach shortcake at a local farmers market.  Then it was off to Silverton to hike at Silver Falls.  It was decided that since Danielle had attended college in the area she would be the official tour guide for this leg of the trip.  She lead us on our first family hike, and I use the term hike loosely.  Jessica was more or less packed for the 2 mile hike.  Danielle and I didn't really think much of it when we started as we were envisioning Jess running, skipping, enjoying the hike.  But after only 1/4 mile into it, she was done.  Please find the picture below to see how she spent the time.

 

From Silver Falls we headed to Monmouth for one of Danielle's favorite diners from college, the Rice Bowl.  It was good Chinese food and we all enjoyed a good meal after a hike.  From Monmouth we headed out to Portland as we were meeting our friends Bob and Robin for breakfast on Friday morning.  Bob and Robin took us to one of the local favorite breakfast joints in the Beaverton area.  It was good food.  After breakfast on Friday morning we headed out to the Oregon coast.  Danielle had made reservations for a hotel in Lincoln City. 

 

It took us the rest of the day to get to the hotel as from Portland we headed straight west to Seaside/Cannon Beach area and then drove south on highway 101.  It was a great drive and we got out once we hit Cannon Beach, we stopped for a cup of coffee and to take Jess to the ocean for the first time.  Her face lite up when we got there and she just took it all in.

 

After getting to our hotel we headed straight to the beach for more walking.  We spent Friday and Saturday nights on the coast before we headed even further south in Oregon to Rogue River.  Rogue River is just north of Medford which is just north of the California boarder.  Three of our favorite people live in Rogue River.  Dan, Sandi and Jenna Mortinson.  We met Dan, Sandi and their son Eric while in China last year, they were part of our group that adopted together.  We were with them when they met Jenna and when we got Jessica.  We will always have a special connection to all the people in our travel group, and it was a great way to celebrate the one year anniversary since we have been with our daughters.

 

Unfortunately our time was short with Dan, Sandi and Jenna as we had to hit the road back to Idaho on Monday (Labor Day).  We left for home at about 9 am local time for the 10 hour drive back home.  We were not really looking forward to the 10 hour drive through central Oregon with Jessica but we had no other choice.  We took off and headed out, I must say that I had forgotten how desolate central Oregon can be, especially with the speed limit being only 55 and the cops being out in full force for the Holiday weekend.  We were all ready to be home!

 

It was a great weekend and it is filled with many memories.

 

 

It has been one year today that we have been with Jessica!  I cannot believe how fast the time has gone.  Through the heart sugery, pneumonia, MRSA Staph, hospital quarantine, numerous Dr. visits, etc.  We have all come through it better people, happier people and a stronger family.  We thank our Savior everyday, we are blessed.   

So we were out of town this weekend for our first family vacation!  I won't say much as Danielle is hoping to start up her blog again and talk about it.  So I am going to sneak in pictures on the left hand side of this post, look under the label Sawtooths! 

This past weekend was our annual trip for rafting.  Some of our friends were not able to make it this year, the Christiansons with a wedding and the Raspones with being in London and all.  We had a great time and we missed not having them around.  Danielle, Jess and I drove up to Clarkston on Friday after work and got up there at about 9 pm.  Only to run down to the grocery store and make the purchases that would serve as the menu for the next two days.  Laura, Steve, Greg, Shannon and my youngest brother Levi made up the group this year. It has been determined that this year was our 11 year of rafting (give or take a couple for years that were missed). 

 

We did not get an early start to the day on Saturday, we didn't leave for the river until 10 am or so.  But not to worry, we had rented two four man rafts and everything fit/crammed together.  Note to self, rent slightly larger rafts for next year, a little more space to spread out never hurt. 

 

After getting to the river, it was determined that things were going to be slow this year.  The runoff has really slowed down and the river was low, in fact we had to walk the rafts across rock bars several times this year.  Not to worry, the slow rafting served as a great time to sit back and enjoy the great view.  I guess I should mention that we raft the Grande Ronde river in the very Southeastern corner of Washington State.  I grew up in the area and as far back as I can remember, my family has floated the river for years.  Generally it was a get together with friends that my dad had back in college, now it is my turn to share the love that I have with the area with the friends from college and ones made along the way. 

 

This past weekend was also the first time that Danielle and I left Jessica overnight without being there.  She stayed with my parents and we are just happy that Jessica really likes her Papa!  This weekend also served as a great time for Jessica and Grandma to catch up, in fact, Grandma took Jess out and bought her her very first pair of cowboy boots.  Jess has been wearing them around the house this evening, so it looks like a purchase that Jessica approves of.

 

To finish up the weekend, Jessica, Danielle and I jumped in back in the car Monday morning and made another 2 hour drive to Kennewich, WA for a family wedding.  After the wedding we jumped back into the car and drove 4 hours back home.  Needless to say it ended up being another long/quick weekend, but fun was had by all.

 

I guess for the 4th, we are just going to lay low and enjoy ourselves around home.

 

I have added two different slide shows to the left.  They are from the weekend and from Jessica's latest photo shoot with Danielle.  Below you will also find pictures of Jessica and you can tell she is not much of a morning person, Danielle says she gets that from me.

 

 

By the looks of things, it is as if I have not updated for awhile.

 

First off, we are doing well and have been enjoying the ever changing weather here.  From 104 degrees to 64 in three days.  So needless to say we went from running the air conditioner to turning on the heat for awhile.  Granted today it was 80 and we should be holding steady for awhile now.

 

Last week, Jessica took ill so I stayed home with her for one day.  This was my first day of staying home from work with her since she has been with us.  I guess you can say that during that time I was christened a true parent when Jess decided to upchuck all down the front of me.  Good times.  Although, I do have to say that I was surprised with my own reaction.  I have always been thinking that when the time came I would throw up as well (kind of like the scene from the movie Stand By Me, where they cause a chain reaction of the barf-o-rama at the pie eating contest http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=STB4s7Qhf40), but I didn't.  I handled myself reasonably well.  I jumped Jess in the bath, threw my clothes in the laundry, got her out of the bath, then jumped in the shower myself. 

 

The other note about Jess is that she is really starting to call me dad, and I have been loving it, until I realized she calls about every man dad and even calls sculptures that resemble men dad.  Kind of disenchanting but we are working on it.

 

This past weekend we drove up to Zillah, WA to catch up with a good friend of mine from college.  He and I also lived together for a year or so after college when I was working in Yakima.  Greg has finally decided to put down some roots and he bought a house.  So his house warming party was over the weekend.  During the weekend we caught up with some friends who drove over from Seattle and also visited with others that were there.  We even made time to do a little wine touring on Saturday. 

 

On Sunday we headed back home (5 hour drive) and we stopped in Kennewick, WA to catch up with my parents and my cousin and his little girl.  My parents were headed to the San Juan Islands for a conference and my cousin was headed back to Western Washington from visiting his folks.  So it was great to meet somewhere for lunch so we could catch up.  After lunch we all continued on our journeys home. 

 

This is a quick post but wanted to take the time to share some pics.  I have also added a new slide show to the left.  Below you can find pictures of sculpture that apparently Jessica mistook for me, and what happens when we don't feed Jessica on time.

 

This past weekend, Danielle headed to Twin Falls for a conference so Jessica and I decided to pack our bags and head North.  We headed to my parents house.  It had been since Christmas since we were home and my parents were last down to visit in February. 

 

Jess and I left Friday morning and drove up through Oregon, it was a great day for a drive, great spring weather.  I was finally able to take Jessica through some of my country in the whole world, the Wallowa Valley in Northeastern Oregon.  There was plenty of snow on the Wallow Mountains still and Jess was impressed with the herd of buffalo at the edge of Enterprise, OR.

 

We were able to stop in Anatone and visit with Jessica's great Aunt and Uncle Bob and Pat.  It had been since October since they had met Jess, and needless to say the little gal has been through a lot in the last few months.  They couldn't believe how much she had changed.  After that we headed on into Asotin and caught up with Mom at the Court House.  Mom was surprised to see us so early in the day, I thought that Mom might have knocked off early to join us at home, but she is one dedicated employee and decided to make it a full day.  That afternoon Jess helped Grandpa feed the horses and take care of odd chores around the house.

 

On Saturday, Jess helped feed again and went for a walk with Grandpa.  My brother, Levi, and I got up and headed out of town to do some running around and left Jessica with Grandpa and Grandma for the day.  Later that afternoon, when we returned, Mom surprised Jessica with some legos and a bubble machine. 

 

Sunday morning, Mom, Dad, Jessica and myself headed to my Uncle Harold and Aunt Sandy's for a quick visit before heading back to Caldwell.  It sure was great to catch up with everyone and have Jessica get the chance to meet and spend time with her extended family from my side. 

 

This weekend we are looking forward to good friends coming to Caldwell for a visit.  Christian, Karen and Hannah Gustafson will be here on Saturday and head back to Seattle on Monday.  I am sure it will be a great two day visit.

Every now and again a person hears a song that really speaks to them.  The new song "Ticks", by Brad Paisley, is one such song for me.  Today I heard this song on country radio, at first I thought Brad was talking about checking the ticks on his hunting dog, but the more I listened the more the picture became clear.  Brad is indeed speaking about wanting to check for ticks on his new gal. 

 

Besides the obvious reason why a person would want to check their new girlfriend for ticks, I think this process could also be a great public service.  Afterall we are headed into Lyme disease season and no one really wants to get stricken with Lyme Disease. 

 

This afternoon I did happen to mention to Danielle that I have a new song I want to dedicate to her on the next, "Crying, Loving, Laughing, or Leaving" edition of radio dedications.  Her question to me was, "What song would it be?"  When I told her it was about ticks and how I wanted to check her for ticks (I now think a person should be checked regularly) she was not overly impressed.  So much for me getting to really take care of my wife.

 

I have tried to include a link to Brad's space so you can have a listen as well  http://www.myspace.com/bradpaisley (the song title is "Tick")