Wed Afternoon
29 May 1985

Dear Mom & Dad,

Sorry about the letter situation. The days seem to be 15 hours long and 4 days a week here. I'm not sure when I'm suppose to get everything done that needs to be done.

Just as soon as we got over our trip and water-in-the-bedroom-floor problem, we had to battle the virus-of-the-year. I had it first for about 15 hours. Angelique had it next with just a slight fever but no complaints. Steven had it next with fever on and off for 2-3 days. Then Michael got it - for 8 days! He had fever, chills, almost fainting spells, a little diarrhea, aches, etc. He slept most of the time. He missed 3 days of work. He never got as sick in the States as much as he has here. I need to bring him back to Arkansas where he can be a healthy person again. But, we all managed to survive that virus & Michael's illness - I think.

Angelique graduated from kindergarten last night. She wore her long blue dress I made her for Easter. Each one of them had to recite a little poem - a Japanese haiku. Her poem:

Don't ask me what that means. Ms. Abbey, her teacher, said she tried to fit the poems to the children's personality. Is she trying to tell me something here? What is a yellow voice? Anyway, Michael got it all on video so you can see it whenever he finishes this tape. It's not real exciting, either, but it's cute. Angelique is so proud to be a graduate. She's all ready to turn six so she can start 1^st grade. She got a couple of graduation gifts. I got her an art set with finger paints, water paints, markers & crayons.

[remainder of this letter is lost]