The Cam & Jeri “Year in Review…2004”

 

This year has flown by.  As Cam turned 50 this year, it seems the thing that is noticed by this age is that time flies by.  We will try to fit some of the high lights in the next few paragraphs.

 

The years started with a cold snap which resulted in a broken pipe for the filter to our pond.  Fortunately, we caught it soon enough that we only lost a small amount of water from the pond and it was a relatively easy fix.

 

In April we celebrated our 9^th wedding anniversary.  We went to Astoria Oregon for the weekend and had a room right by the Columbia River next to a marina.  We saw several ships go by.  The weather was cool but not rainy for our weekend.   Also in April, Jeri did our first Wedding Photographer project of the year.  We ended up taking pictures at 4 more weddings between May and the 1^st of August, 2 of them family members, her nephew Bryan and Rori, and her brother Larry and Diana.   Cam also believes he has figured out the correct software options to get the pictures into slide shows that actually come out pretty good on DVD.  We are excited about this.

 

This summer we noticed our fish seemed particularly active.  That resulted in our having 16 baby fish.  That was exciting.  Still have our 6 cats.  They keep us busy cleaning up after them.  And we still have Joey, our miniature stallion.  In August we introduced him to a friend’s mare and hope to have a little offspring next summer.  Will let you know how that goes as we know.

 

As 2004 draws to an end, we are on a pretty good adventure.  Thanks to some advance planning by Cam’s cousin Darrell, we are currently in Thailand on a two week excursion, visiting Bangkok, Chang Mai, and Phuket.   I will be updating our web page www.litvinland.com with a diary of our activities when we have internet access so you are welcome to check the page regularly for updates

 

As this year closes, we pause to remember the past and contemplate the future.  We are thankful for a loving God who is our friend.   We trust Him to guide us in all we do and to meet our needs.  We pray for a joyful holiday and a blessed new year for all of you.

 

Love,

Cam & Jeri

 

 Addendum:  As most of you know, the last week of our vacation in Thailand turned into an adventure we or the world didn't ecpect.  On December 26 2004, a earthquake occurred off the coast of Sumatra Indonesia.  We were in Chiang Mai, Thailand's second largest city in the northern part of the country.  At 8:32am we were in our hotel, packed and just waiting for our ride to the airport to catch a flight to Phuket in the southern part of Thailand.  We were looking forward to a tropical paradise, warm weather and water, sun and fun.  The earthquake we felt was very small and other than thinking it was odd, didn't really think much about it.  As you all know now, it was one of the biggest earthquakes ever recorded and resulted in a tsunami that killed more than 200,000 people between Thailand, Indonsia, Sri Lanka, and India.

 

Later that Sunday morning, we went on to the airport in Chiang Mai and were waiting to board our plane when the line didn't move.  The airline finally said there would be a delay as there were weather problems at the Phuket airport.  The first delay was going to be an hour.  After that hour, there was another 2 hour delay.  About 3 hours into the delay we saw on some television screens in the airport waiting area that there had been a tsunami.  As the afternoon went on we discovered that Phuket had been affected.  However, my cousin Darrell checked with the JW Marriott where Jeri and I were staying and they indicated they were open and expecting us.  The only damage they reported was some debris in the pool. 

 

Our plane left Chiang Mai about 6 hours later than scheduled.  We arrived in Phuket about 7pm and to our hotel about 7:30pm.  When we arrived we noticed nothing really unusual.  We checked in were in awe of the beautiful room we had.   Fortunately we had internet access and were keeping in touch with family and friends at home, so they knew we were OK. 

 

As the week went on we found and heard of the severity of this event along with all of you.  The hotel had some damage but not near the amount other hotels the surrounding area had.   However the major effect was the loss of life.  Daily we were overwhelmed just as you must have been as we heard the numbers if lives lost grow so huge so fast.  

 

When you are in the middle of something like this, the reality of this world and our life here, comes to the forefront.  My wife and I were moved by the spirit of the Thai people.  They are wonderful.  We look forward to visiting them again.   We also experienced the presence of God through His Spirit.  We felt the prayers of our family and friends as we were so far from home in the middle of this disaster.  

 

We finished our week in Phuket, flew to Singapore on New Year's Eve and then home on New Years Day.   We have returned to our normal lives, but our life is not the same.  In the same way our lives changed after 911 and every time we here of some new way evil invades our lives.   We have realized that this life filled with evil is not what God intended.  God is a God of  love.