TYPHOON HERE! - Thursday, July 12

The biggest news of the day is a looming typhoon. Actually it isn't looming so much anymore. We sent all the kids home today at noon because we are officially in TC-1 (typhoon condition 1 - - which means winds in excess of some high amount are expected in the next 12 hours.) If we enter TC-1C then the military bases all close. Our kids have to get back home before that happens, so they went home. We probably won't have school tomorrow either. I cannot tell you the name of this typhoon. The office ladies here are telling me it is "typhoon #4". I don't think it is supposed to be a super typhoon, but it is big. It is also headed to go straight over us. It might be a noisy night.

The other big news was that yesterday was my birthday here. I had a great day. The kids were great at school. After school, I went to the beach to buy a "donut dog" from the bus stand for lunch. They are really called "America Dog"s, - corn dogs, but they are especially sweet and crunch. I love them. After my extra special lunch, I tried to go snorkeling. We drove to two differend beachs and did try, but they were all stirred up and quite wavy. It was fun none-the-less. Then, that evening, a bunch of missionaires/visitors went with me to the "Sushi-Go-Round" down by the ferris wheel. While I was cautious and only ate cooked food, I enjoyed the sushi very much. Then, we went to play video games at the Dragon Palace, followed by ice cream . .. and the highlight of everything for me: KARAOKE! FUN FUN FUN! It was a great night.

Today at school the office ladies made me a birthday cake even. It has been very special!

Music classes are going very well. The 4th graders are extremely excited about the musical now. One boy asked me to come meet his mom, he was so excited to be a part of it. Thank you for praying. Please keep it up! Hopefully missing the one day of rehearsals won't be a problem for our performance next week.

I hope all is well with each of you. Things are great here. I will give you a typhoon report when it is done. As it is, we are all typhoonizing our rooms and getting things boarded up.