Caitlin participated today in the North Iowa Music Teacher's piano auditions at the NIACC Auditorium in Mason City. She played three pieces that she has been memorizing and practicing for many months.
In the Level D category, she placed in an Honorable Mention category! Congratulations Cait.
Video of Caitlin's first piece:
Here's the second selection:
And the third, nicknamed the "Storm""
Saturday, February 2, 2008
Thursday, January 31, 2008
Happy Birthday Sarabeth
Today we celebrated Sarabeth's 8th birthday. She ANXIOUSLY waited all day to open her presents. In our family, the birthday person selects the menu for supper. Sarabeth made excellent choices as we enjoyed baked chicken, mashed potatoes with gravy and lima beans (can you believe an 8 yr old chose lima beans?). For dessert we had a chocolate birthday cake with chocolate icing- she's truly her mama's girl!
Sarabeth also received an e-mail from China, with a Happy Birthday wish from her foster sister in Nanchang.
Here's a few pics of Sarabeth's big day.
Opening her first present
Reading a birthday card with her mama
Sarabeth LOVES to read!
Our lovely children!
Nathan sure enjoyed the birthday cake!
Sarabeth also received an e-mail from China, with a Happy Birthday wish from her foster sister in Nanchang.
Here's a few pics of Sarabeth's big day.
Opening her first present
Reading a birthday card with her mama
Sarabeth LOVES to read!
Our lovely children!
Nathan sure enjoyed the birthday cake!
Thursday, January 24, 2008
Travel Plans!
We have finalized our travel plans to China. We had to wait for our appointment date at the US Consulate in Guangzhou before we could book our flights, and today we received that info. Our appointment is set for Feb. 27, which means our Oath Taking at the Consulate will be Feb 28 and our flight home is Feb 29.
We will be leaving Minneapolis on Feb 14 at 1:10pm, arriving in Tokyo on Feb 15 at 4:40pm- a 12.5 hr flight. After a short layover, we depart Tokyo at 6:05pm and arrive in Beijing at 9:15pm. We will be staying at the Jinglun Hotel in Beijing and on Feb 16 we intend to travel out to Langfang, which is about 40 miles outside Beijing. There, we will visit the Langfang Children's Village/Shepherd's Field where Nathan was cared for before we adopted him. The Shepherd's Field is all new since our last visit in August 2005 and we want to see the changes and visit with the folks who provided such loving care to Nate in his first two years.
On Feb 17, we will travel on to Changsha, the capital of Hunan province. In Changsha, we will meet our new son Jeremy on Feb 18. Over the next several days, we will complete the Chinese portion of the adoption in Changsha and will also travel to Jeremy's home town of Yueyang to visit the orphanage there. On or about Feb 22, we will have completed the adoption and will procede onto Guangzhou. There, we will complete the US immigration portion of the adoption.
On Feb 29 we will depart Guangzhou at 8:3oam and arrive in Tokyo at 1:35pm. We will then leave Tokyo at 3:05pm and arrive in Portland, OR at 7am THE SAME DAY, 8 hours BEFORE we left Tokyo. That always blows my mind! At 8:50am we leave Portland enroute to Minneapolis, where we will arrive at 2:05pm (exactly 1 hour before we left Tokyo!).
As I mentioned before, you can follow our journey and see lots of pics at Journeytojeremy.blogspot.com
John
We will be leaving Minneapolis on Feb 14 at 1:10pm, arriving in Tokyo on Feb 15 at 4:40pm- a 12.5 hr flight. After a short layover, we depart Tokyo at 6:05pm and arrive in Beijing at 9:15pm. We will be staying at the Jinglun Hotel in Beijing and on Feb 16 we intend to travel out to Langfang, which is about 40 miles outside Beijing. There, we will visit the Langfang Children's Village/Shepherd's Field where Nathan was cared for before we adopted him. The Shepherd's Field is all new since our last visit in August 2005 and we want to see the changes and visit with the folks who provided such loving care to Nate in his first two years.
On Feb 17, we will travel on to Changsha, the capital of Hunan province. In Changsha, we will meet our new son Jeremy on Feb 18. Over the next several days, we will complete the Chinese portion of the adoption in Changsha and will also travel to Jeremy's home town of Yueyang to visit the orphanage there. On or about Feb 22, we will have completed the adoption and will procede onto Guangzhou. There, we will complete the US immigration portion of the adoption.
On Feb 29 we will depart Guangzhou at 8:3oam and arrive in Tokyo at 1:35pm. We will then leave Tokyo at 3:05pm and arrive in Portland, OR at 7am THE SAME DAY, 8 hours BEFORE we left Tokyo. That always blows my mind! At 8:50am we leave Portland enroute to Minneapolis, where we will arrive at 2:05pm (exactly 1 hour before we left Tokyo!).
As I mentioned before, you can follow our journey and see lots of pics at Journeytojeremy.blogspot.com
John
Monday, January 21, 2008
January Update
TA HAS FINALLY ARRIVED! We have received word from our adoption agency that the Chinese have issued our travel authorization. We expect to depart for China on February 14 and meet our new son on Monday, Feb. 18. If all goes as expected, we should return to the USA on Feb 27 or 28. During our travel, we will be posting daily on the Journey to Jeremy site.
WINTER IS IN FULL NORTH IOWA BLOOM: It's been a great week for the winter lovers here. Temps in the single digits as the daily highs, in the negative numbers for lows (as low as -17F on Friday night!) Today, we got about 5 inches of loose, fluffy snow. Caitlin and Grace are going to the North Iowa Winter Retreat at the Baptist Camp this coming weekend and are very thankful for the snow, as many outside activities depend on the white stuff being there (i.e. sledding, snowmobiling etc).
ICE FISHING: John and several friends from church have been working on building an icehouse to use for ice fishing. Clear Lake is frozen solid with up to 15 inches of ice on it. There are numerous portable and semi-portable ice houses out on the lake. If you've ever seen the movie "Grumpy Old Men", you'll know what I'm talking about. The house is 8' x 12', built on a frame of 2x6's and plywood. It will be fully insulated and we'll put a portable heater in it when it's done. It will be equipped with ski's for pulling it out on the lake with either a truck or a 4-wheeler. Hopefully the fish will be biting!
HOW 'BOUT THEM TERPS! Knocking off the #1 team in the country on Saturday. It's always fun for a Terp fan to see the Tar Heels go down. Next up for Maryland is a game vs. Duke. Two big wins in a row? We'll see.
WEDDING PLANS: Jeriah and Shawna have set the date for June 21. The wedding will be held in Colfax, IA which is about 25 miles east of Des Moines. We can't wait for the big day.
WINTER IS IN FULL NORTH IOWA BLOOM: It's been a great week for the winter lovers here. Temps in the single digits as the daily highs, in the negative numbers for lows (as low as -17F on Friday night!) Today, we got about 5 inches of loose, fluffy snow. Caitlin and Grace are going to the North Iowa Winter Retreat at the Baptist Camp this coming weekend and are very thankful for the snow, as many outside activities depend on the white stuff being there (i.e. sledding, snowmobiling etc).
ICE FISHING: John and several friends from church have been working on building an icehouse to use for ice fishing. Clear Lake is frozen solid with up to 15 inches of ice on it. There are numerous portable and semi-portable ice houses out on the lake. If you've ever seen the movie "Grumpy Old Men", you'll know what I'm talking about. The house is 8' x 12', built on a frame of 2x6's and plywood. It will be fully insulated and we'll put a portable heater in it when it's done. It will be equipped with ski's for pulling it out on the lake with either a truck or a 4-wheeler. Hopefully the fish will be biting!
HOW 'BOUT THEM TERPS! Knocking off the #1 team in the country on Saturday. It's always fun for a Terp fan to see the Tar Heels go down. Next up for Maryland is a game vs. Duke. Two big wins in a row? We'll see.
WEDDING PLANS: Jeriah and Shawna have set the date for June 21. The wedding will be held in Colfax, IA which is about 25 miles east of Des Moines. We can't wait for the big day.
Thursday, January 3, 2008
HuckaBOOM!
The HuckaBOOM in Iowa has reached it's pinnacle, as tonight Mike Huckabee scored a landslide victory in the Iowa Caucus. I'm not one to typically say "I told you so", but click here to see my prediction dated Oct 31, 2007.
In the overall scheme of things, this is a SMALL beginning to a very long process. There are 49 more states to go before the Republican convention. Gov. Huckabee's victory however, gives him some momentum going forward to the Feb. 5 "Super Tuesday" primaries. Now the BOOM must go beyond Iowa into the other states.
Again, I urge you to visit www.mikehuckabee.com/issues to see where the Governor stands on the issues facing our country and his ideas for moving our country forward.
In the overall scheme of things, this is a SMALL beginning to a very long process. There are 49 more states to go before the Republican convention. Gov. Huckabee's victory however, gives him some momentum going forward to the Feb. 5 "Super Tuesday" primaries. Now the BOOM must go beyond Iowa into the other states.
Again, I urge you to visit www.mikehuckabee.com/issues to see where the Governor stands on the issues facing our country and his ideas for moving our country forward.
Tuesday, January 1, 2008
Blessings for 2008!
We celebrated New's Year Eve at the Stephenson's home last night. Six families from our church gathered for games, food, fun and a bit of political bantor .... the caucus here in Iowa is just 2 days away. There were 18 children from 4yrs to 20yrs present and they all had a wild and woolly time. Dressing up, playing pretend, board games, cards, pool - thank goodness the Stephenson's have a large home where the kids can play downstairs or in other rooms and the adults can have space to themselves. Many of us youngers and olders learned a new game called Ticket to Ride and enjoyed building railroads across the US and Europe. Close to midnight the teen girls gathered to mix up the Mocha Punch - a tradition of a sweet coffee flavored ice cream milkshake - yum!
As we look forward to 2008, there are so many new things in store for the Kambergers. We will be bringing Jeremy into our family before the end of February; Caitlin will turn 16 and be driving on her own by the summer; Jeriah will graduate from Faith Baptist Bible College in May and has actually already started to take module classes to continue into his Masters of Divinity program; Jeriah and Shawna will be married sometime in the summer - no date set as yet.
ADDENDUM: THE DATE HAS BEEN SET FOR JUNE 21, 2008!
And those are things we already know, Lord willing, will occur. There will be so many more things that will take us by surprise, too! The good, the bad and the very blessed await us in 2008. What happens will take up about 20% of our life and how we respond to those things will take up the remaining 80%. May we take the mind of Christ with us into every situation, drawing closer to Him at every turn.
Our ultimate goals for 2008 remain the same:
to become more like Christ,
to please Christ in all we do
and to give God the glory for everything that happens.
Blessings to you and yours this new year!!
Mary
As we look forward to 2008, there are so many new things in store for the Kambergers. We will be bringing Jeremy into our family before the end of February; Caitlin will turn 16 and be driving on her own by the summer; Jeriah will graduate from Faith Baptist Bible College in May and has actually already started to take module classes to continue into his Masters of Divinity program; Jeriah and Shawna will be married sometime in the summer - no date set as yet.
ADDENDUM: THE DATE HAS BEEN SET FOR JUNE 21, 2008!
And those are things we already know, Lord willing, will occur. There will be so many more things that will take us by surprise, too! The good, the bad and the very blessed await us in 2008. What happens will take up about 20% of our life and how we respond to those things will take up the remaining 80%. May we take the mind of Christ with us into every situation, drawing closer to Him at every turn.
Our ultimate goals for 2008 remain the same:
to become more like Christ,
to please Christ in all we do
and to give God the glory for everything that happens.
Blessings to you and yours this new year!!
Mary
Sunday, December 30, 2007
Wedding Plans!
We are so happy to announce the engagement of our son Jeriah to Shawna DuRocher. As many of you know, Jeriah is a senior at Faith Baptist Bible College in Ankeny, IA. He will be graduating this spring with a degree in Pastoral Ministries and Counseling. He intends to continue on for his M.Div in the Seminary program at Faith.
Jeriah and Shawna met at the First Baptist Church in Colfax, IA where Jeriah works as the youth pastor. Shawna is active as a leader in the church's youth program. She has a Master's degree in counseling and works for the state of Iowa's Department of Human Services.
A wedding date will soon be announced!
Jeriah and Shawna met at the First Baptist Church in Colfax, IA where Jeriah works as the youth pastor. Shawna is active as a leader in the church's youth program. She has a Master's degree in counseling and works for the state of Iowa's Department of Human Services.
A wedding date will soon be announced!
Wednesday, December 26, 2007
Christmas at the Kamberger's
Caitlin ready to begin opening presents.
The girls are anxiously waiting!
Juliana has the hang of this wrapper ripping thing!
Sarabeth only wanted 1 thing this year, and this is it.....an American Girl doll.
Grace's turn!
Sir Nathan the warrior is ready for all comers
Jeriah and Shawna
Mary's sister Cindy enjoying all the activity.
Saturday, December 15, 2007
A Sad Day
It has been a tough day today. You can go to Jeremy's blog to read the latest downer on the adoption front.Today we had to say goodbye to Maggie - our 17 mth old Golden Retriever. She was born with a congenital heart defect with a rapidly progressing heart murmur. She would have good days when she would run and fetch, running hard and happily. Then she would have bad days when she would pace, vomit and sleep for endless hours. This past week she had nearly 5 good days in a row! That was very uncommon as of late. Last evening however she was starting to have some difficulty breathing. She went into pulmonary edema and progressively worsened through the wee hours of the night/morning. I slept on the floor with her for several hours, sure in my heart that she wouldn't last till the morning light. This morning her respirations and heart rate were very fast and she was totally immobile. The vet was out on farm calls and couldn't come until nearly 11am. He eased her into the great doggie beyond as I stroked her soft, shiny fur. She was finally at full rest.
We will miss you, Maggie! We will miss how you loved to run to fetch the tennis ball over and over; how you jumped in the lake and barked at the geese; how you unmercifully chased the kitties and chewed on their fur! No more noses on my leg while I eat at the table. No more squeaky toy squeakily saying ,"come and play with me".
Goodbye, dear Maggie!
Mary
P.S. a favorite video of Maggie as a very young pup, playing with Tessa
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
Nothing to complain about
I have whined several times in this blog, both last winter and again this year about how much I dislike the snow, ice and cold......can't wait for spring etc. etc.
Today, I am thankful that I have electricity and a warm house (my corn stove needs electricity to run-- more on that another time). God has provided everything we need to survive, a home, heat, a great job that provides for my family and, as the title of this post says: I have NOTHING to complain about.
Many, many folks here in the midwest are tonight without the electricity that I'm so thankful for. The ice storms that have created so much havoc in this part of the country the past week have all been to the south of us, and I am also quite thankful for that. Please keep those who HAVE been affected by these events in your prayers.
1 Thes 5:18 "In everything give thanks...."
James 1:2 "Consider it all joy my brethren when you encounter various trials..."
John
Today, I am thankful that I have electricity and a warm house (my corn stove needs electricity to run-- more on that another time). God has provided everything we need to survive, a home, heat, a great job that provides for my family and, as the title of this post says: I have NOTHING to complain about.
Many, many folks here in the midwest are tonight without the electricity that I'm so thankful for. The ice storms that have created so much havoc in this part of the country the past week have all been to the south of us, and I am also quite thankful for that. Please keep those who HAVE been affected by these events in your prayers.
1 Thes 5:18 "In everything give thanks...."
James 1:2 "Consider it all joy my brethren when you encounter various trials..."
John
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