The Morrisons

Kyle finally came!

2010-06-06T20:12:00.000-07:00

Kyle came to see us last week and we had so much fun showing him our city, eating lots of hotpot and seeing the nation's capital. Kyle, thank you for diving right into our lives. We love you!

The Asian Rocky Mountains

2010-05-02T21:24:00.001-07:00

The most beautiful place we have been to yet...

My life is hilarious

2010-04-15T07:26:00.001-07:00

Check out a performance at an English competition last night that I was judging. Not sure how it proved their English level, but it made the evening a lot more fun!

Spring 2010

2010-04-05T22:10:00.001-07:00

Vacation 2010

2010-02-27T03:54:00.000-08:00

Thailand and Vietnam. Missing the sun already!

Christmas in Asia

2009-12-25T20:15:00.000-08:00

It's been a great Christmas here! We've loved celebrating with friends. Heading off to ice skate today to complete the fun.

Update on Gary

2009-12-01T05:57:00.001-08:00

(from his blog) Great news! Rejoice with us! We are giving God ALL THE GLORY! WOW! He is amazing! I am “squeaky clean”. My bone marrow biopsy was clean and all the DNA tests came back clean. This means I am in total remission! Thank you, Lord!

We will proceed with collecting my own stem cells for transplant next February. We meet all day this Thursday and next Monday morning with the doctors to evaluate me for the stem cell transplant itself—lots of lab work and tests. The stem cell collection process will likely occur during December. I will still have two more rounds of chemotherapy in January before the stem cell transplant. We will have more details on the stem cell transplant timing and process after our meeting on Thursday.

We still have three to four months to go on this journey. Right now, the disease is gone—the rest of these treatments are to make sure it doesn’t reappear for as long a time as possible.

Prom 2009

2009-11-16T07:45:00.000-08:00

In a town not so far away...

We Did It!

2009-11-16T07:41:00.000-08:00

Compliments?

2009-09-17T07:49:00.000-07:00

Tonight, we were sitting outside enjoying a yummy, super spicy meal at one of the local restaurants. It's still summertime so needless to say we were all sweating a bit when eating the spice. We were joking that Chris seemed to be sweating out of every inch of his body!
As Chris went up to pay the bill, he told the restaurant owner (half jokingly), "Your food was so delicious that it made my ears sweat!"
Apparently, this is a compliment in our local culture. The restaurant owner began to beam with pride and profusely thank Chris for coming to his restaurant. I guess you never know quite how to compliment people!

Qing Qing

2009-09-12T18:46:00.001-07:00

We are so happy to be aunt and uncle!

Cornbread Chicken

2009-09-09T22:54:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday night after reading about the new foods and old favorites that will soon be enjoyed at the State Fair of Texas, I got a hankering (thanks to Taylor Martyn for forwarding the article) for a taste of Texas. I decided, "Man, I really miss a Fletcher's Original Corn Dog. "

I wondered how I could come as close to that as possible over here. We can't get hot dogs over here. Thus, the idea of "Cornbread Chicken" entered into my mind. I thought, "If you can use cornbread batter to fry deep fry a hot dog, why not do the same thing with chicken?" So, I got to searching on www.allrecipes.com for a corn dog recipe, and eventually found what I thought to be a good one. On Sunday evening, I mixed up the batter, cut up some chicken (works best if the chicken is already cooked) and got to frying. It tasted really good, and was maybe as close to the State Fair as I can get for now.

Who knows what I'll try next. Maybe fried Oreos.

Sarah's Dad

2009-09-05T07:03:00.000-07:00

We received some really tough news today about Sarah's father, Gary. Gary has mantle cell non-hodgkin lymphoma. This is a rare and tough lymphoma that is aggressive. They are going to hit it with the most complex and strong chemo that they can do. And that starts on Tuesday, September 8. Gary will be hospitalized for 4 days at Vanderbilt 11 North for the chemo. He will be able to have visitors as long as he is feeling good and you are healthy. Then he will have to go to the outpatient clinic for other things on and off and then 21 days from the start or September 28, he will start cycle 2 in the hospital. This will be repeated for 4 cycles (at 21 day intervals) and then he will have another PET scan. If he can achieve remission then he will have his own stem cells harvested, and then 2 more cycles of chemo and then a stem cell transplant. This is going to be a tough journey with some very unpleasant side effects. It will take about 7 months.

We cherish your prayers and those of your friends as we fight this battle. We are praying that Gary is cured, that the chemo does the job that it is supposed to do, that Gary's heart will be able to physically handle the chemo, for rest in the midst of this trial, and for an incredible spiritual undergirding.

If you are interested in following this process, a website has been set up that you can follow. Go to http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/garyscudder and be sure to check "I want to receive Journal update notification e-mails" so that when we update it you can receive the updates.

Texas Stop Sign

2009-09-03T08:14:00.000-07:00

It may not be considered the classiest date spot in the US, but it's a high class place to take your loved one when Dairy Queen arrives in your city overseas. Sarah and I had Korean BBQ for dinner, and then finished off the evening with blizzards from Dairy Queen. I love development.

Welcome Home!

2009-08-14T19:00:00.000-07:00

So, Sarah and I have come back to our home in true fashion. Yesterday morning (our first morning back) we went down to the police to register ourselves back into the country trying to be good local citizens. The police all remembered us, and were extremely kind and helpful. It was painless. However, we had to call our landlord (whom is a delightful woman) to get the characters for her name. Upon discovering we were back she wanted to immediately get to work on repairing our apartment. She said some people would come in a couple of days. A few hours later, Sarah and I were about to head out to dinner when she showed up with two local men, one of whom was wearing flip flops, Hawaiian print swim trunks and no shirt. He is about 4'3" tall -- the local people are not exactly known for their height. They immediately started tearing apart the walls and then proceeded to haggle with each other over the price. They said it was too much trouble because we have furniture in the apartment (not sure what they expected on that one). So for now, we are sleeping in the guest room. All that said, it really does feel good to be back.

Summer in America

2009-08-10T10:21:00.000-07:00

It is hard to believe how quickly the summer has flown by. We head back home tomorrow. It has been such a joy to catch up with friends, breathe fresh air, hike mountains, herd cattle, and rest. Below are some pictures from our adventures the past six weeks.

Back on American Soil

2009-06-28T06:28:00.000-07:00

We are home for the summer and already enjoying all of the good things of the "land of the free." Sandwiches, cereal, Mexican food...yummmm! Here until August!

Happy Father's Day Louis!

2009-06-18T20:52:00.001-07:00

Five Years and Going Strong

2009-06-17T02:02:00.000-07:00

This week we are celebrating our 5 year wedding anniversary! We recently took a trip to a mountain town not too far away to celebrate...

Happy Father's Day

2009-06-16T23:32:00.001-07:00

We're on a Boat!

2009-06-03T09:06:00.000-07:00

We woke up yesterday morning to find most of our apartment flooded with about 2 inches of water due to a pipe that burst in our bathroom. We sat up on our island (really our bed) and this song came to mind...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xOvaCV6uQp8

Springtime 2009

2009-05-18T08:17:00.001-07:00

A look at our spring...

Best Birthday Gift Ever!

2009-05-13T19:44:00.001-07:00

Check it out!!!
http://www.travelsofanodos.com/happybirthday.html

Lunar New Year 2009

2009-02-07T19:42:00.001-08:00

We're back at home and had a wonderful last month of travelling around Southeast Asia. It was refreshing to bask in the sunshine and spend time with good friends!

Off to Sunshine!

2009-01-18T07:22:00.000-08:00

We are off traveling around Southeast Asia for the next month! Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines--oh the fun! We'll post pictures when we get back!

New Years 2009

2009-01-01T21:43:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year Asian style. It's the year of the cow. Go celebrate!

Happy New Year 2009

Christmas in Asia

2008-12-26T01:18:00.001-08:00

Christmas 2008!

Yangshuo

2008-12-08T05:47:00.001-08:00

One of the most beautiful places we have been yet...sunshine, rock climbing, hiking, mountain biking, and rafting on bamboo boats!

It's Been Too Long!

2008-12-02T05:15:00.000-08:00

Sorry for not being better at posting. We're slow at this new technology! Hope you are having a wonderful Fall. We thoroughly enjoyed our Thanksgiving and are all decorated for Christmas. Looking forward to the holidays! Enjoy some pictures from the past few months!

Fall 2008

Earthquake

2008-05-12T09:16:00.000-07:00

Just to let everyone know, we are safe right now. The earthquake was pretty strong and shook our building quite a bit, but we are all okay here. We are headed to bed after a very long day, but will try to update more soon. Thanks for thinking of us!

Thailand 2008

2008-02-19T03:39:00.001-08:00

The beginning of our New Year's holiday was spent in Thailand. It was incredibly beautiful. We easily got reaccustomed to sunshine, fruit smoothies, and hanging out with friends. It was rejuvenating and relaxing. In Chiang Mai we had the opportunity to go on an elephant safari. Wow! We saw elephants play soccer and draw pictures. Then, we got to go for a ride! Lily even got to ride on the elephant's head. It was a blast! Our guide had fun playing with my camera and getting the elephant to pose! After Chiang Mai, we headed to Bangkok. We enjoyed longboat rides, the Palace, and VIP movies--nothing like a lazy boy and down pillow to make a movie perfect~it was a great way to begin vacation! Below is a link to a bunch of our pictures--enjoy!

Chiang Mai 2008

2007-10-08T07:10:00.000-07:00

Women's World Cup. USA vs. Sweden. USA won 3-0. We made it on ESPN. What a day!!!

A Brian Regan Moment

2007-10-08T06:53:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I thought that I'd give you a little glimpse into life here in our wacky country. Today, our foreign affairs officer asked me to come help her with translation. Apparently, she had been asked to do English translations of all of the offices, classrooms, and the new library on campus. Quite a task! Needless to say, since there are billions of people in this country, there can be people for every single little job--no multi-tasking! Translation was a little difficult as I couldn't think of different job descriptions for all of the different people. However, the funniest experience of the day was the last room in the new library that we had to name. As she began to describe the room, it sounded a bit like a security room. There will be big screens that show the camera angles all over the building. However, it was not a security room. Guess what else it might be? No idea...it is for the "fire watcher." Yes, his only job is to sit there and watch the screen in case a fire might break out. The foreign affairs officer was diligent in pointing out that it is not a fire prevention room. Rather, he just looks for fires and if there is one, I guess he calls the emergency services. I mean, what kind of training do you have to have to watch for fires? What are the qualifications? And what do you name a room where this goes on? We decided on "Fire Observation Room." I tell you, this is a wacky country!

Colorado

2007-08-16T21:26:00.000-07:00

We have been enjoying the beautiful mountains in Colorado this week--breathing fresh air and being renewed in body and spirit. It has been fun meeting new friends and having new adventures. Now, if only we could get some sunshine.... We leave for Asia on Sunday and are super excited to begin our studies. We'll keep you posted!

Counting Down the Days

2007-07-20T07:39:00.000-07:00

Wow! Can you believe how quickly the summer is flying by? These last couple of months have been a whirlwind of bittersweet emotion and fun. We wrapped up our jobs in West Dallas, moved out of our house, and found a loving, new home for our dog. We have also covered the U.S. from coast to coast via training in North Carolina to vacationing with Sarah’s family in California. We also managed to spend time in West Texas with the Morrison clan.