Just 5 Weeks

Five weeks, or we could say 35 days. Yes, we are counting down the days until we quit for a while and it’s pretty exciting now that it’s in the 30’s. We are especially looking forward to it since winter has made an early appearance and we’d like to think we can get off this truck without having to drive on ice and snow this season!

We’ll have a month off for Christmas on the West Coast with family, and then we will board a plane in Seattle to South Korea for twenty-four hours and onto Manila, PI for a month.

A little history… While Kevin was stationed on his ship the USS Oklahoma City in Yokosuka Japan, he spent quite a bit of time in Subic Bay, Philippines. About a year after he left he was told by an old shipmate he might have a son back in Olongapo PI. He had no way of finding out or pursuing the matter until the internet came along. Even then, after writing several organizations, there were no helpful leads until Facebook came along and forever changed the way we look for people.

After 35 years of wondering, with 15 years of actively searching, he found Jace, who was born in May of 1981. The miracles of modern technology brought them together after all those years, and it was the modern DNA test that showed he was not Kevin’s son.

There was disappointment on this discovery, however, some very old-fashioned bonds have been established and the two have been talking and getting to know each other ever since. Kevin has always thought of him as his son, and Jace thinks of him as his dad, so they are father and son “Of-the-heart” so to speak.

So we will be staying with Jace and his wife and three kids in Olongapo for much of our time there and getting to know this newly acquired family. We’ve had this in the works since last spring and now that it is finally getting close we’re getting anxious to be on our way. But we still have lots of exciting plans before leaving too. We’ll be in Council Bluffs for Thanksgiving with the Eicher Family and then Christmas on the west coast with my family.

Kevin’s ship USS Oklahoma City

Subic Bay near Olongapo City

When the world was young…

Jace

Jace & Gerly (wife)