Reunion with the Sommerfeldts

It was fun to meet up with the Sommerfeldts on on Friday, May 18, 2007 in Bar Harbor, Maine. Matt Sommerfeldt graduated with a law degree from the University of New Brunswick. That is one of the major reasons the Sommerfeldts came to visit Eastern Canada. Since Bar Harbor is only a "stone throw" away, why not came to Maine for a small vacation. It was nice of them to invite us to Bar Harbor to dine with them to celebrate Matt's graduation. We had such a wonderful time to catch up with news of many of our old friends in the old 7th Ward. It was a delightful evening.
Today, Sunday, May 20, 2007, the Sommerfeldts came to Ellsworth, Maine to church. It was our stake conference broadcast from Salt Lake City. I was assigned to Ellsworth representing the stake presidency to conduct the meeting. We met up with them again. We brought lunch and we had a nice chat during lunch. Two weeks from today, we shall see them in Edmonton, Alberta. Matt and Karen had left town the day before for Lethbridge to his new job.
We have not seen Matt for 13 years. We left Edmonton, Alberta when he was on his mission to Montreal. I tell you, we wouldn't have recognize him if we saw him on the street. He has changed so much. We have never met Karen. Her maiden name is Harker, a Southern Alberta stalk.

Convocation - May 12, 2007

Another milestone for many of the students at Husson College graduation day on May 12. It is a proud moment for both students, their relatives and friends. In Maine, many of these graduants are first generation college bound students. It is a big deal to them. I am humble to be part of the contributing force to their success. The number might be few, but we are accumulating success stories one student at a time.

This is our graduaing class of ten in elementary education.

I believe this is a New England tradition. The bagpipe band
lead the processional to the stadium

We followed the students into the stadium. Since
I was assigned to read the names of my students,

I got to go first in the faculty section.

This is a close up of the faculty section of

the processional by the photographer (mom!).

Since I love myself so much, I will let you see

a close up of me!

This is where I read the students' names as they

came forth to the podium

to receive their diplomas.

Games we played while visiting Oregon

These were the four games we played while we were visiting Oregon. Some of them I don't even know. Therefore we will have to rely on Nancy, Michelle, and Steve's knowledge to be the judges. Whoever is the first to identify the games and able to identify them correctly will be the winner. The competition is now begun. There will a prize to follow.

Sorry, Barkers and Nancy Tang. You are working for the cooperation. You can't play.

One of the newest US citizens

Mom became the newest citizen of the "good young" USA yesterday. She will never forget this day. It was FRIDAY the 13th, 2007. For those of you who didh't catch on, if you are superstitious, oh, this is a bad day -- bad things will happen. For the orientals, this is just as good as any other days. Just to invalidate this superstition, it turned out to be completely opposite. We had the most wonderful day.
Here are a few pictures to show you the event.











This is mom speaking next. Because the process was drawn out over so many months, the swearing in was sort of anti-climatic. Still a good day though, more of us have dual citizenship now. There were about 16 individuals sworn in as American citizens. We each got a small flag from the Portland chapter of the Daughters of American Revolution. If dad could have been sworn in too, it would've been much more exciting. Another thought -- I think because we come from Canada which is also a good country to live in, it's not quite as exciting for me to become an American as someone coming from another country that might be not politically safe or economically favorable to live in. Well, at least dad could take photos of me. When his turn comes, I will be able to do the same for him. Hope that'll be sometimes this year.

Christmas in Portland, OR

December, 2006, Mom and Dad traveled across the continent to be with Michelle and Steve for the holiday season. Nancy came from Utah to stay with them to do her internship in recreational therapy with Portland Parks and Recreation after the New Year.

This year, we combined the Barker and Tang traditions to celebrate Christmas. The Barker's tradition is to have pizza for Christmas Eve. We had two huge pizzas for five people. It was quite a feast. For some reason, I didn't take any pictures. I could have hit myself now. On Christmas day, we woke up to a song which is a Barker tradition and then went downstairs to start the day. I don't remember the song now. Ask Steve, he will be able to tell you. We cooked and ate the usual Tang breakfast. Then we opened the stockings. There was no time for presents for we had to go to our Sunday services. I had the most wonderful time attending this ward. The sacrament meeting was a musical program describing the birth of our Savior. They have some talented members in the ward. Michelle and Steve were in the program. Sunday School was great. A lot of people participated in the discussion. I especially like the high priests in their quorum meeting. They must have 20 high priests in attendance. The discussion was so enriching. In our ward, we count ourselves lucky if there are 8 high priests in the quorum meeting.

After Church, we went home to open presents. The spirit of giving and receiving was in abundance. Here are some selected few pictures for your enjoyment.

We took our grand old time to open presents. Even though there was a lot of laughter and joy, Christmas without young children is very different. I hope everyone else agrees with us. Anyhow, while we were opening presents, the turkey was in the oven, while the ham was cooked over at Michelle and Steve's friends. The Whitely-Ross family came over for Christmas dinner. As soon as the presents were opened, we were busy setting up the dining room to welcome our guests. There was an incident that happened during dinner. I am not privy to mention here. If you want to know, ask Michelle and Steve directly yourself. The Whitely-Ross family brought the party hats over. It seemed it was a Christmas and New Year combined dinner. There is a picture of Steve cutting the Turkey for the first time, I believe. You have to decide whether he was doing a good job or not. Here comes a few pictures of the dinner.

This was a fun filled day. We were tired by the end of the day after the guests were gone. What a wonderful day and there were so many things to be thankful for.

Bangor Creche Exhibit

It’s the Bangor Maine Stake 7th annual Creche Exhibit held from Friday, Dec. 1, to Monday, Dec. 4, 2006. This is our gift to the community. If you weren’t there, you’ve missed something absolutely beautiful! It took 4 ½ days for 30 to 40 committed/creative members to put on a very professional display of about 450 creches loaned from LDS as well as other community members. The photos do not truly do justice to what the eyes can see, and definitely do not catch the peaceful and reverent atmosphere with wonderful Christmas music playing at all times, either from a CD, from a talented elder on the piano, or from various performers including a superb harp player who brought joy and peace to all who heard her sing and play. This is worth going to for a cost, let alone it’s all free! Dad played the role of one of the magi from the East (someone joked “wise guy” from the East) in a live nativity presentation. Over 2000 visitors came to view the exhibit, many are return “customers”.

A life size Creche in the center of the Exhibit

The Old Bangor street shops

Another street in the old Bangor street shops

These are some of the small creches in the shops

One of the shops in the main street in Bangor

Here comes the "wise guys" to the manger

Joy to the World, the Lord hath come .....