Jo's blog

For those who don't know, Jo is my 23 year old, youngest daughter who is in Kyrgyzstan as a Peace Corps volunteer trainee. She has a blog here, johannahauck.blogspot.com, which anyone can read if they like. So far she's doing very well and will be finished with her training soon. Then she'll be assigned a permanent site where she'll be working for the next 2 years. She'll be a health educator and will likely be working with folks in the small towns and villages, helping with basic sanitation and health practices. Jo's very good with kids--heck, she's not much more than a kid herself :)--and she's been able to bond with the children in her village which makes her much appreciated by the adults in the village. I know she'll be an asset where ever she's assigned.

As for me, I got two pieces of wonderful news this week. First, my niece in Colorado emailed me to say that she has passed all the tests at her 5 year check-up and is now officially cancer--free! Yippee!!!!. She was diagnosed with Hodgkin's Lymphoma, did the chemo, lost her hair, grew it back, and is looking wonderful and healthy as a horse. The other good news is my other niece in Minnesota called to let me know that the biopsy of the spot in her mouth came back benign! Another YIPPEE!!!!. I can't tell you how relieved I am that both of these wonderful young women are okay. Even though we had dismal, cold, rainy weather all week, this news brought sunshine to my heart.