Jeff and Kathleen

Well, I have been asked how Jeff, Kathleen, Liam, and Collin are doing since the earthquake in China since they are living in Shanghai. I'm sure you have all heard about the earthquake. It measured 7.8 on the Richter scale, the most severe earthquake in over 25 years. It struck the whole Sichuan area of China-that's big!! Map of China. It hit on May 12th. Just a few details and numbers reported on May 14th:

• Tens of thousands are still missing.
• More than 25,000 people are still buried in the rubble.
• Major phone lines and roads are cut off.
• Millions of homes have been destroyed leaving residents, of whom are still alive, with severe shortage of water, shelter, food, and fuel.
• Thousands of people are still trapped under the rubble and rescuers are using their bare hands to search for survivors.
• Rescue efforts are hampered by rains and road blocks due to fallen boulders and landslides.
• A middle school in Qingchuan County collapsed and many students have been reported dead while close to 1,000 students are still reported buried.
• Death toll tops 70,000.

Also, just a few things about China, they have no architectural laws. You can build anything however you want, as tall as you want, and as unstable as you want. There was tons of flooding caused by the earthquake. So not only was there buildings falling, streets crumbling, but there was major flooding. A earthquake is a very scary thing to be in.
Kathleen said that she could see the tall buildings swaying from her apartment. It was very scary. Liam said that when he dies he doesn't want to live with Jesus, he wants to live with his mom. So cute, but sad to think that death crossed the mind of such a young boy. They are doing fine but still recovering from the scare.
Jeff was traveling when it happened. He was on, I believe it was the 17th floor of a like a 68 story building. It started to move and pictures were flying off the walls and everything going all over the place. He ran down the 17 flights of stairs (running during an earthquake is very very difficult and dangerous because you never know where the ground is going to be once your ready to put another foot down, and many people break legs and bones while trying to run during one) and got to a safe place. He is fine as well and made it back home to his family.
All of China is in mourning and many shops and schools are closed. It will take a while for China and it's people to get back on their feet. Keep them in your prayers. Thank you all for your concern!!

Redken Course

I am so stoked!!! I get to go to a Redken certification course!!! It is a four day thing-2 days this month and 2 days next month!! This month they are going to go over Redken cutting and tools! Next month they are doing color classes!! It is a hands on course and there are only 20 spaces and I get to go!! The school I work for is paying for it- it's quite expensive- they are so great at helping us continue our education!!! I am just so stinking excited!!!! I will be that much closer to being able to be a Redken educator!! That is my plan if I don't have kids soon!!! I am so excited!!! I can't wait!!

Random

So it's just been a while since I've posted anything so I thought I'd just put a few things on that are new until I get more picts taken! So...we love our house!! We love that it is ours and that we can do whatever we want to it!! I love walking through it and looking at everything knowing that it is all ours!!
So, I worked last Saturday and I came home to a freshly cut, weed free yard!!! Mike worked so hard and got it looking great!! While he was working in the yard our neighbor came over and told Mike that our sprinklers are getting her sand box wet... we have a fence so I thought "wow!! that is some good pressure to get the water clear over the fence!!!" So today I turned the sprinklers on. Before we moved in we were told that there was a drip system in the garden areas (close to the sand box). But there isn't, there is just a pipe that comes out of the ground that we can hook a drip system onto. This pipe doesn't have a cap on it, so when I turned the sprinklers on there was a fountain of water coming out!!! I flooded our garden area and the neighbors sand box...oops!!! We'll have to get a cap on that!!!!
I worked in the yard today (and got way sunburned) because their is a very large area for planting bushes and flowers...just too big! So we are going to tear up the cheap black plastic thing that separates the grass from the garden and put grass down. I worked on getting everything level and worked on our actual garden. We are growing strawberries, tomatoes, cucumbers and zucchini!! I love fresh fruits and veggies!! I hope it can grow in our rock infested soil!!!