Exciting news!

On April 9th, we got news from one of our "Australian relatives"! Tikari is travelling from Adelaide to Portland for a concert then asked if they could come up to visit us for a week - if we would have them!  Of course we would! 
We met Tikari's parents, Lester-Irabinna and Joanne, when I went on an exchange to Flinders University in Adelaide in 1994. G came along. Lester-Irabinna was a professor working for an Indigenous program called Yunggorendi, and one of his colleagues had come to UBC to talk about that program and learn about NITEP, the program I worked for. They wanted someone to go over, and none of my Indigenous colleagues were able to go. I was hesitant, being a non-Indigenous person representing an Indigenous program, but everyone was okay with it. Long story short, we stayed with Lester-Irabbina and Joanne and formed a wonderful friendship. We reconnected with Lester-Irabbina at a conference in Albuquerque in June 1996. He had to leave early because Joanne went into labour, expecting their first child, Tikari. Our granddaughter Krista was born in March, so she's only a bit older than Tikari. Over the years, the family has come to visit us. One year, Lester-Irabbina was a visiting prof at UBC and we saw them a fair bit when I'd go over for meetings. We've always considered them to be part of our family and Tikari and their sister, TarniWarra, our grandkids. It's been quite a few years since we've seen them, though. My memory isn't great, but I'm guessing at least 16 years because Tikari wasn't a teenager yet. We exchange emails and send birthday and Christmas greetings. We hope to spend some time at Renata's when Tikari arrives in Vancouver so that they can reconnect with Renata, James, Krista and Kalyn. Krista and Kalyn follow Tikari and Tarni Warra on Facebook and Instagram, so great that they've stayed connected too. I've included a photo of Krista and Tikari when they were wee. I hope to get one of them when they're here! 
The main is a photo of a Kookaburra fridge magnet that we received for Christmas one year. 
My last memory of Tikari is walking down our road with them, listening to them chatter away. I can't wait to do that again!  We're all so excited that they want to come for a visit.