The weekend!

Well, Jenny, I guess this one is for you. (Although, I should be updating anyways.)

I guess the weekend started Saturday morning when I got up at 8 and was in Cissna at 9. Some people from town planted a tree in memory of Andrew, my cousin who was killed in a car wreck last December. It was mainly family and his classmates. It was really touching watching his classmates digging the hole.
Saturday afternoon was the Triannual Steidinger Reunion. It was great fun. For those of you that don't know the Steidingers, there were 450 people invited but only about 350 showed up! :) I love my family! We had all kinds of fun. Milk chugging, haybale throwing, etc. I guess my claim to faim would be that I got third in the hay bale throwing contest. :D I have some pretty beastly great uncles and cousins. Here is a pic of my uncle Eric throwing his bale.
Then Saturday night, Jo and I drove to Champaign for Erin's wedding on Sunday. Jo, Jenny, Gab, Nic, Bob, and I walked around dowtown Champaign for awhile and then went to Perkins for a night of fun! Sunday was Erins wedding. After the wedding, I drove Jo and Gretchen Steffen back to Cissna, ate supper with the fam (dad grilled steak, fresh garden potatos, etc) and as soon as supper was over, I drove back to Champaign. Once back in Champaign, I met with Justin, Quinn, Cameron, and Kyle and we played some tennis. Then it was home to work on some homewor, bed, and then Spanish this morning.

My one other claim to faim for the weekend is that I recieved an email saying the photo I entered in the photography contest was chosen as a finalist for the $6500 prize. I was just messing around, entered the photo, and got the email so...here it is -



One other thing, here is a cool story that I found while reading the Guidepost online while waiting for my pics to upload!

Back during the vietnam war, when i was stationed in Thailand, I met a beautiful Thai woman named Surapun. We fell in love and got married soon after. When my wife learned, after a trip to a doctor, that she couldn’t have children, we both prayed that somehow God would change things, that we would be able to have a family of our own.
My tour ended, and I went back to the United States, to my assignmentin Nevada. I started the huge amount of immigration paperwork necessary for Surapun to join me back in the States.
A short time later I received a letter from Surapun. She was pregnant! The doctor had been wrong. We were ecstatic. I couldn’t wait till she joined me. I rushed the paperwork to her for her signature.
A long time went by with no response. Letters I sent to her went unanswered. I was getting frantic. Then a letter came from her mother, telling me my wife had died. I was devastated. I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t have the money for airfare back to Thailand to pay my respects. I hadn’t known my in-laws well, and soon I fell out of touch. I vowed someday I would return to Thailand. Eventually, I moved on with my life. I remarried and had two children. I earned a Master’s in psychology. Later I became a writer. It was nearly 30 years till I went back to Thailand.
After searching many official records, I found my wife’s grave. Alone with my memories I stood beside it and prayed. Just then a young Thai woman walked up. She put her hands together in the wye position, a Thai gesture of respect. “Did you know her?” I asked her.
“No,” she said. “But I am the reason she’s dead. It weighs heavy on my mind. I have no family. They all died. And when I feel lonely I come here.”
“Why here?” I asked.
“She died while giving birth to me. I have spent my life searching for my father, but he is American, and I think he doesn’t want to be found.”
Now, after so long, there I stood with my daughter Sirikit, an answer to a 30-year-old prayer.