CONGRATULATIONS JIANGPING LI LYNN !

My daughter-in-law Jiangping Li Lynn became a citizen of the United States today at a naturalization
ceremony in Anchorage, Alaska.

Congratulations squared and multiplied by a million! We're proud of you Jiangping!

Jiangping is the wife of my oldest son, Bob Lynn Jr. Their current home is Port Moresby, Papua, New Guiana. Bob Jr. serves as a Foreign Service Officer at the US Embassy there. Jiangping was born in Zhenjiazng, a city north of Shanghai, in the People's Republic of China, where her parents and brother still live. Bob Jr. was stationed at the US Embassy at Tbilisi, Georgia, and met Jiangping during a trip to China. Jiangping is a graduate of a Chinese university with a major in chemistry, as well as schooling in clothing design. She works at the embassy as a Webmaster and newsletter editor, and is an accomplished photographer.

Since then they have been stationed together at Tbilisi, Georgia, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, and Vientiane, Laos, and now New Guiana.

Jiangping’s journey to US citizenship has been a journey of more than five years, part of the problem being that her Chinese surname “Li” is like “Smith, Jones, or Brown” in the English-speaking world. Considering the number of people in the Chinese-language world with the surname Li, her background check took a long time.

Today was the first time in my life to witness a naturalization ceremony, and was a joy to see. Jiangping’s husband Bob was unable to attend due to his embassy duties in New Guiana. But she had plenty of proud family on-site to support her, from Marlene and I (Jiangping calls us “Mom” and “Dad”), my daughter Mary Lynn, son and daughter-in-law John and Ann Lynn, and my grandsons Simon and Ethan Lynn.

THE DARKEST DAY

Today, December 21st, is the darkest day of the year. It’s also the shortest day - so the darkest of the dark won’t last long. Light returns, slowly at first, then more and more. The cycle repeats itself, but light always follows the dark. I think there may be a lesson here. Think about it.

GOOD PARENTS DO WHAT BAD PARENTS DON'T WANT TO DO

I don’t know the man or anything about man except that - according to the Anchorage news media - he discovered his sixteen year old son had two pipe bombs and an explosive grenade in his backpack at home. The father called the cops. Good for him. Good parents do what bad parents don’t want to do. Parenting isn’t easy. From what little I know (or need to know), the boy apparently has a good father. At least in this instance. The world would be a better place if we had more good fathers.