In early June my neigbor  spoke very highly  about the movie TAKEN.  I thought what the heck I might as well rent it.  With much delight, I sat to watch the most fearful movie I have ever seen.  Little did I know that the movie was about two American girls who were kidnapped while visiting Paris.  I was horrified and numb.  Fear began to take place in my heart,  I began to second guess my decision to let my daughter go study in Lausanne.  I had nightmares about it ,  after many sleepless night I realize I have allowed myself to be overtaken with fear.  I soon made the decision, one can't live in a shell, I need to allow my daughter the joy of accomplishing a long  time goal.  I decided that fear is no friend,  but a very cruel enemy.  What was I teaching my daughter?  I finally made up my mind,  all these years I have taught my daughter about being responsible and prudent,  allowing myself to be drenched in fear was indeed a very poor example for her.  In short, my husband and I sat her down and explained that we trusted her and made sure that we would trust her to make good and sound decisions.  The rest is history.   I was abundantly blessed upon recieving the email below.  I am so very happy that she is having the time of her life and experiencing things in a  brand new way.  I encourage all parents to let their children experience life in a meaningful way!

Greeting parents and friends!
My name is Josh Downs. I am a lucky member of the blessed group of eleven children traveling with your child to Lausanne. With so many people and such a limited amount of Internet, we decided it might be best if I was to write a brief update and send it to everyone. Here it goes. Starting from the beginning. We met, rather awkwardly, at LAX yesterday afternoon, made our way to the terminal, and learned that the flight would be delayed an hour. No problem. One hour. That’s two episodes of 30 Rock. We sat, ate, chatted, and anxiously boarded our flight safely, soundly, and loudly. The flight was extraordinary. As if the fascinating British accents of the flight attendants weren’t reward enough, we were served two meals, blankets, pillows, smiles, and a hearty dose of culture. Apparently our flight had been delayed because of snow in London, which luckily for us did not effect our landing any more than about 30 minutes of circling. The pilot told us before we exited that flights were delayed and that only one runway was operating and that the airport was a mess. With eagerness in our hearts and hundreds of sometimes sharp but often jolly British treasures surrounding us, we bolted to the terminal to catch are connecting flight to Geneva only to learn with much dismay that our flight along with all British Airways flights flying within Europe were cancelled. We waited patiently in line for two hours before being told that there were no more flights leaving for Geneva today and that the airline would treat us to a hotel, dinner, and breakfast. They gave us vouchers along with directions to the hotel (The Cumberlin). We met a wonderfully charming German girl who was traveling to Seattle (my home town!) who happened to know London very well (along with the unstoppable Mariesa Short) which was a real blessing. After checking in, we contacted our program coordinator who gave us our new flight information. Our flight tomorrow leaves at 3:05 pm and arrives in Geneva at 5:45 pm. So to put it briefly, all of your children are alive, happy, and humored by the events, but completely and understandably exhausted. We have come to love lines, perhaps only to laugh at their constant presence in what seems to have become our new lives. Yes, this serious of fortunate events is obnoxious, but it honestly could not have worked out more perfectly. All eleven of us are now already alarmingly close, we were able to briefly stay in/see/explore London, we got to skip the first day of orientation and have had the distinct pleasure of laughing at the backwards highways in person—ALL FOR FREE. Your children are all fantastic, beautiful creatures and I am honored and privileged to be traveling with them. Hopefully you will be hearing from them shortly.

Tata, for now!

Cheerio, good chap!

~josh Downs

p.s. I attached a couple group pictures from our adventures today. hope they work!

 

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My daughter is the one wearing glasses		My daughter is the girl(left to right) second row standing next to the young lady with curly hair.
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