5.4 Earthquake in California today.

Well today I decided to eat my leftovers from Styx, House Special Fried Rice, one of my favorites for lunch today. This meant that I didn't need to leave the office. So at about 11:30 I went into the kitchen to heat up my rice. Yum! After the rice was heated I took it back into my office and sat down to eat and read my book, "The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency" by Alexander McCall Smith. It is a book that is written about a woman in Africa which is especially interesting right now since Melissa is in Africa. Well, I'm really into my book and my rice when all of a sudden everything starts moving! About that time I hear Rick Mercier down the hall say, "Earthquake." Then things really started moving. It was a good one. Our offices are in Rancho Santa Margarita, 25 miles from the epicenter that was in Chino Hills. Located where we are we got a good shaking but no damage. The floors were moving and kind of rolling, the walls and doors were shaking and rattling and my chair was rocking with me in it! Very exciting! It lasted for what seemed like 30 seconds or so for us. Enough time for everyone to get in on the excitement and wonder...when is it going to stop! When it did, I got goosebumps! It made the National News, a little bit of over kill I would say. Guess it was a "light news day".

The Ryans and Murphys at Ringling Brothers Circus

After the circus was over I really wanted to get a picture with the tigers to remember our evening! Here is Dennis, Susie, Kevin and I.

Fun at John's 60th Birthday Party and Henna Tattoos!

Yesterday before we went to the circus we drove up to Torrence. John Rademacher was celebrating his 60th birthday and his wife Sandy put on a great party with Belly Dancers, a wandering magician from the Magic Castle and a Henna tattoo artist. Since it is only a temporary tattoo I decided to live on the wild side and get a scorpian tattoo! This is when it is still wet and she has sprinkled some glitter on it to make it prettier while it dries.

Greatest Show on Earth!

Last night we went to the Ringling Brothers and Barnum Bailey Circus. Lucas and Mercier where I work gave us 4 tickets so we took our friends, Dennis and Susie Ryan. It was really a lot of fun.

Here is a fun picture of the elephants performing. We had watched them outside earlier eating and having fun throwing dirt and stuff on themselves. The littlest one would play with a couple of tires. He would throw it around and then try and sit on it or lay on it like a pillow! He was really cute.

Dad needs some serious help with the cotton candy machine!

This past week Dad helped at his church's Vacation Bible School. His job was to make cotton candy for the kids. I think he got more cotton candy on himself than he did on the sticks!!!

Hudson and Daddy playing soccer.

While waiting for mommy at the dentist Brian and Hudson decided to pass the time playing a little soccer.

Hudson turns 1 year old!

On Saturday, July 5th Hudson turned one year old! Here he is with his new Tonka truck that Grandpa and Grandma Murphy sent to him. It's kind of squishy rubbery so it seemed like a really fun and safe truck for one of his first trucks.

His Daddy and Momma threw a big party for him in the Pool Room at their apartment tower. His Grandpa Craig and Grandma Chris were able to be there to help celebrate along with about 30 other friends.

Caila said that he was a bit overwhelmed with all the crowd and tasting his first cake loaded with sugar.

Melissa returns from Igalulu

THIS IS A PHOTO OF THE MV MWONGOSO, A SHIP THAT TOOK MELISSA FROM KIGOMA TO IGALULU. HERE IS WHAT SHE HAD TO SAY ABOUT HER TRIP TO IGALULU.

Okay, so I only have 11 minutes to get all the details typed from our week long trip in Igalula (not Ululu), so here goes.

The start was interesting. The intern and team guys, along with the national guys, took a boat around noon on Wednesday, and we were supposed (the girls and 4 men to protect us!) take the ship at 3:00pm. Well, the Liemba isn't working right now b/c its transporting refugees back to Congo, so we took the MOngozo (sp?) instead. We didn't wind up leaving until around midnight, so it was great because we slept the whole time! When we got off at around 8:00am Thursday morning, it was intense trying to walk through all the passengers in 3rd class. But, we all got off safely (no one was smashed between the big boat and little boat mom!), and then we were in Igalula in about 20 minutes.

To sum up the week quickly...it was awesome because we were able to go to the lake and bathe/swim nearly everyday so we just felt much cleaner than we did when in Kaseke. We did a lot of door to door ministry, where we would just walk around and wait for people to invite us to sit down and talk with them. They were pretty willing as there are not many white people there ever, so they were extremely open to what we had to say. The crazy thing was the demon huts that a lot of the villagers had built basically to appease the demons. Its so sad because we went to a house and talked with this family who says that they are Christians, but they still had the huts. They dont realize the power of God and that He is bigger than anything else they might fear. Please pray that through the week of us being there that they were able to see and experience His power!

I was able to work in the Pharmacy of the medical clinic for a couple days to let Jason, one of the interns, break free for a time. He has spent all of his time in there, so it was great for him to be able to get out and play with the kids.

There is so much more I want to write, but I only have a few minutes left. I will have to fill you in when I'm home. Also, probably the biggest bummer ever....my camera fell out of my skirt (it was tucked in the elastic part) and the screen pretty much shattered on the inside. I can still take pics, just can't see what i"m taking. Mom, can you check the warranty to see if it is covered with drioping it? ThankS!

Eric, everyone out here greets you and missed you like crazy! They always are asking about you! You made such a huge impact.

Moqqi, I will try to answer your questions next time.

I love oyou all! Hope and pray you are doing amazing! I'm sorry this is so short!

love,
Mel

We're headed back home.

We are going back through the tunnel under Faraday to head back home so we can video chat with Brian, Caila and Hudson and hear all about how Hudson's 1st birthday party went.

Bird Catcher

This was some kind of a trap/cage where the city or whoever is catching birds for whatever reason. Not sure. Kevin thought it was to "relocate" them.

But this is also along the trail!

It makes the walk a little more interesting. You are always wondering if someone is going to hit you with one of their balls!

Part of the Trail...

Self Explanitory!

He wishes he had a golf club in his hand!

Walk this Way!

View of the tunnel from the golf course side.

The Tunnel

We are walking in the tunnel that goes under Faraday and puts us out on the other side at The Crossings Golf Course. The walking path actually cuts through the golf course.

We are headed to the tunnel.

We are headed down the path towards "The Tunnel".

Sunday stroll...

Kevin and I decided to explore the Carlsbad walking trail near where we live.

Laguna Beach is crowded!

Today Kevin and I drove up to "The OC" so that he could get his hair cut. On the way home we decided to drive down the coast. So did everyone else! Laguna Beach was so crowded. I was using my telephone to take pics so I wasn't able to get a good one of the beach, but here is some foot traffic.

Lucas and Mercier 2008 4th of July Breakfast

A really fun tradition at Lucas and Mercier has been the 4th of July breakfast. Steve and Donnie started it out by making a pancake breakfast for the office and it has grown in the last couple of years to a full on breakfast with all the trimmings. This year several of the girls decorated before hand to give it that patriotic flare! Here is everyone pitching in to bring the feast together.

Walking after work.

Kevin and I have been walking together after work. I don't really care for the treadmills in our fitness facility but prefer instead to walk around our neighborhood. Right across the street from where we live is "The Crossings Golf Course". It's really very pretty and actually has a nature trail that goes right through it that is a walking path. We didn't take the trail tonight as the sun was setting soon. We will try it at a later date though!

Melissa is in Ululu, Tanzania right now....

Well Melissa should be in Ululu right now. She was scheduled to leave from Kigoma on Wednesday to begin a 9 day trip to Ululu. So I don't really expect to hear from her until around 11th or 12th at the earliest.

Coni Knepper told me that "No news is good news" so that has helped alot in between her emails.

Here is Melissa and me at the Bradley International terminal at LAX the day that she left. It was crazy, I heard on the radio today that some nut case went up to the security and told them he was a terrorist. It completely disrupted traffic for several hours around the airport! I hope when she flys back in on August 6th that there aren't any nut cases that day!

I KNEW I SHOULDN'T HAVE EATEN THAT BURRITO!

Russ has terrible recurrent indigestion. Poor guy! I know the feeling!

Susie tidies up before the "Super Susan" is installed.

Lifting these cabinets will make your babies be born naked!

Guess these cabinets are pretty heavy!

Susie tries not to laugh as Rick and Russ try to look fit!

Rick and Russ wanted to show off their trim physiques for the camera. But alas they did wind up having to breathe!

The Key Word..."Ouch"...When Getting Up From The Floor!

Fortunately Kevin doesn't do the manual labor for a living anymore. The pain on his face shows this is a good thing.

Kitchen cabinets are taking shape!

It's taking a bit but the kitchen is slowly taking shape. Kevin and Russ worked on installing the base cabinets in the kitchen. They are natural Hickory and so pretty. I'm especially excited about my "Pots and Pans drawer bases! Also the two large "Super Susans" are pretty cool too! We plan on installing the upper cabinets, the counter top and flooring in the kitchen and laundry room during our next trip in August hopefully. (That's when the insurance company says the flood damage repairs need to be complete!)