Greetings from sunny, flowery Sugar Land.  I have seen global warming with my own eyes.  When we arrived in Houston twenty some years ago, hibiscus was grown in containers to be taken inside in the winter. I attempted to grow bougainvillea and it froze to death the first year.  Citrus trees could only be grown south of here.  This year I have a massive bloom of fluorescent fuchsia bougainvillea spread over my porch roof, a profusion of outdoor hibiscus in five colors, and producing lemon, lime and grapefruit trees.  There is one upside to global warming. We are doing everything we can to be a green family: 90% recycling, compost, all organic material stays in our yard.  It amazes me how up and down my street, every week there are hundreds of bags of leaves or grass. Nan, I am more and more jealous of your organic farm!!

Dave, Lisa, Eric, Andrew and Kristi.

Last year, 2008, was a year of an extreme high and extreme low.  In April, Dave and I took a trip of a lifetime to New Zealand where we spent some time traveling with our younger son Andrew (22) who was there for a semester abroad.  It was a magical experience. A perfect place for low cost, bare bones, nature-loving travelers such as we are.  We stayed mostly in hostels and felt very young again. In June, Andrew announced his engagement to Kristi Hank, sweet and beautiful daughter of a family friend.  Yes, we had some very good days.

On May 22, my older son Eric (24), who has had insulin-dependant diabetes since age 7, passed out in the shower, probably from a low blood sugar blackout. (He did not have good control of his diabetes) . By the time I heard and deciphered the strange noises coming from the shower, he was badly burned from the hot water pelting him.  He was life flighted downtown to the burn unit where they told us he has 3rd degree burns on over 30% of his body ( all on his left side).  This combined with the diabetes, put him in the ICU for 3 months.  I was there every day with him and Dave came up all day on weekends and every evening from work. It was a very stressful, difficult time. If you want, you can read the whole story at www.caringbridge.org/visit/ericjastram where I blogged almost every day to keep people informed. Eric was discharged on Aug 22 (in a wheelchair) and after 4 months of rehab and gym, was finally able to get back into life again. He's back at school and now has an insulin pump which has helped with his diabetes control. The fact that he is back playing bass in his band again is nothing short of a miracle.  His left hand was badly burned.

Dave, Kristi, Andrew, Eric and Lisa.

Now we are back to a more normal life.  I am back to my children's programs ( I cancelled most of my summer and fall programs) and am music director at a small UCC church (Grace UCC).  The church merged with a Filipino congregation and I am really enjoying getting back into Asian culture it is, of course, very different from the Japanese ways but that is even more exciting to be getting into another culture.  I also do origami exhibits and workshops as a hobby.   Kids and adults love origami so there have been many smiles and good feelings from doing that.  You can see that at my website www.oasisforchildren.com. It's not the very complicated, amazing origami that has been coming out lately, but just what an average person is interested in.

Dave is enjoying his work at ASEP USA where he does IT computer work, electrical designing and anything else they need.  Several of his products have gotten rave reviews from Halliburton and Baker-Hughes.

Another big event this year was Hurricane Ike.  We stayed in our house and had the experience of living through a hurricane (very much like a typhoon-maybe they are one and the same).  Eric had only been out of the hospital a few weeks so it was very difficult to manage.  The last thing he needed was stress and with no electricity for one week and hot muggy weather, it was very hard on him.  We got through it with the help of friends who had electricity.  It really devastated this part of Texas. Again, global warming makes me fear it will be happening more often.

Some of us ASIJ 74 women were thinking it might be fun to have a women's retreat by the ocean in California.  Anybody interested?

Lisa DeYoung Jastram