Jacen leaves for Fiji!

I don't have any pictures. Sorry! We only have one camera and I sent it with Jacen on his trip with a promise from him that he would take LOTS of pictures! He left yesterday. Last minute, we bought him a ticket from San Jose to LAX so we wouldn't have to drive him all the way to LA.  It was a great idea. San Jose is far enough to drive with my kids! It was kind of funny at the airport because everything there is so foreign to me. I haven't flown since my college days (seriously, I don't know how people can afford to fly their family places) and everyone could see how clueless I was. Oh well. Jacen gave us each a hug and he boarded the plane. Gavin cried for several minutes. We're all going to miss him. He arrived in LA before we even got home from San Jose. He met up with his Humanitarian Experience group and called me to let me know he found them okay. He flew out of LAX at 11:30, Tuesday night, and arrived in Nadi, Fiji Thursday morning at 5:10 a.m. (that's about 10:30 Wednesday morning our time). We got an email saying they arrived safely. So today they were going to take the bus to the Marina and then boat out to a little island where they will stay in a little grass hut on the beach for two nights and do some snorkeling and beach activities, watch some resort shows and do a service project tomorrow. Saturday he'll go back to the big island and stay there the remainder of the trip. Next Monday he'll start on the work projects (building bathrooms for people that currently do not have any indoor bathroom) and his Eagle Scout project.  For his Eagle Scout project he will be helping a small, rural school. The school is very limited as far as their school supplies goes. He will be taking many school supplies such as paints, paper, pencils and pens, art supplies, posters, learning games and so forth to donate to the school in addition to books that he has collected from local schools here in Pacific Grove. He has also researched how to create an effective lesson plan and has created six lesson plans in the subject areas of math, science and language arts for lower and upper elementary levels. He and his traveling companions will deliver these lesson plans. I'm excited for him to have this opportunity and I hope that he will learn and grow from it. I want him to get to know these wonderful people from Fiji that are poor in material possessions but rich in their faith and love of their family and friends. I hope he will let down his thick barrier and open himself up to them. Upon his return he has decided to create a blog in which he will post pictures and document them and write about his experiences so that his family and friends can see. For now I will try not to worry if he's remembering to put on his sunblock and insect repellent. (: