Yessi is back, but only for a short period.

Yessi has come back to live with me here on Whidbey Island.  We had hoped we'd be working in China for TuTwo, but that didn't work out.  There have been many long Skype calls as we assess our situation, where we want to live and raise children, how we want to live, what we want to do, etc.

Yessi with her Visa, good for a year as long as she leaves in the next two months!?

Of coarse we both want to be with our families in our home country, but we can't both be at home. Yessi was disappointed as she told everyone I'd be coming to China.  At first she though I was changing my mind.  Im not, and I would very much like to live and work in China, at least part time. But right now there is more opportunity for us in the Seattle area.

Yessi doing Moore gardening.

The ideal for us would be to live in Xiamen 5 months of the year and on Whidbey Island the other 5 months. Wait, that leaves two months!! Okay, then we want to continue our adventures and our traveling the other two months of the year.

Fran and Ed looking good in their Ibex outfits.  Of coarse, Benton, still the world's cutest Aussie, looks good in his fur coat.

Currently we are looking for small odd jobs for both of us to sustain the costs of living.  We have a great cabin at MooreVille, just outside of Langley and love it.  Yessi is very fond of the garden, her first, that we have created.

Yessi arrived just in time to see the Mushroom Extravaganza we're having in Washington this year.  In the Cascades, in the Olympics, and here on Whidbey Island, mushrooms in numbers I've never seen before.  This is the year of the Fungi!

And again, our plans have changed.  We thought she'd be able to stay until April, but must return in January, 3 months less stay.  We both know that immigration, marriage, children will be difficult topics for the next few years and there is no amount of planning that will add certainty to what awaits us in dealing with US immigration.  I'm drawing on my Freestyle skills from hiking all last year trying to recognize that we can't predict what will happen, we can only solve problems as we go, one at a time; and most important, that we have to enjoy each day of the process of getting there.

Carving pumpkins was new to Yessi.  An odd treatment of a food source, and kind of wasteful, but this is America and she did have a good time, as did Fran and Ed.  And we still have all our fingers!

Right now, Yessi and I are just trying to survive.  We may be able to extend her Visa with the help of an immigration Lawyer, but of coarse that takes funds we are very short on right now.

Durham property overgrown, but getting better and better.

In the mean time, we continue to work on our property in Clinton, little-by-little.  Getting rid of invasive weeds, clearing diseased trees, planting natives and building a fence are our priorities.  Soon we will begin building a garden shed.  When we have enough money, we will apply for a permit to build a house and a shop, but that may be a while.

Yessi learning the art of cedar shingles.