Goodbye Newton

Where has the time gone???

As I write this, we are in Marble Falls, enjoying the company of folks we have enjoyed working with over our MDS experience – Jake and Verna, Bert and Doreen, Art and Judy, and we had previously met Keith and Carole Workman as well. John spent one day assisting them with painting and thoroughly enjoying the comraderie.

Len and Nettie decided to take the trek with us – John and Len brought our truck and fifth wheel and Nettie drove their Jeep. They have also worked with these people before so hated to leave. They have 3 more weeks at Newton.

John and Len started installing the gyproc on Monday after lunch on the 24th and they finished on the 28th. It is a four bedroom 1230 square foot house. As quickly as they got one room done, Nettie and I were behind taping. Nettie did the closets while I did the rooms. It IS just about as much work to do a closet because it has all the same angles and flats as a big room.

Thursday, November 27th was Thanksgiving in the U.S.A. and we were surprised to learn it is second only to Christmas as an “occasion” here. Our entire crew of 7 had the pleasure of being invited to Walt and Pat’s friends’ home to share in their family Thanksgiving. They have a very typical Texas ranch-style home on rolling acres with a pond and everything was in the grand (but down-to-earth) style which one would expect in Texas, including the hospitality of Debbie and Nate and their family. Their Thanksgiving meal was at noon and the four “mudders” went back to work for a couple of hours afterwards.

After the super-festivities of Thanksgiving came Black Friday, the shopping extravaganza of the year. Total insanity. There were even a couple of deaths in the U.S.A. due to people being run down in a shopping frenzy when the doors opened!!??!!

Len and John decided to work on Friday to get things a little further for Len to finish. John put second coat on the ceilings on his stilts while Len put second coat on some of the wall flats. We women taped the bathroom, which had been the last room completed.

I walked over to my friend, Patty’s house (the cat lady) to say my goodbyes, but was sad to find she was not home. I am sure we will keep in touch via internet. That’s one of the blessings of this experience – to meet special people.

So, our time at Newton is over. It was great to see Pat and Walt again, and to meet his brother and his wife. We sure hope we have the privilege of meeting Alec and Laura Dutt again somewhere along life’s highway.

Newton is a very pretty area of Texas, but there is so much crime and poverty. Despite this, the “city” was having their annual Christmas Parade and light up display in their park the evening of the day we left. I really hated to miss it and am sure it must have been a real site to behold!

One “downer” of our last week was to learn that our dear friends, Paul and Mary, from Pennsylvania, whom we were greatly looking forward to working beside in Marble Falls in January and February, had received and accepted an offer from the MDS co-ordinator to go to Deweyville for a build there, rather than coming to Marble Falls. We had received the same offer, but declined. We also had arrangements made to spend the weekend of February 13th at a time share at New Braunfels near the Alama, taking Paul and Mary with us. This was thanks to Peggy and Steve in Sandpoint. The loss of Paul and Mary being a part of our working assignment in January and February was a great disappointment. Comes under the heading of “flexibility’ with MDS, I guess…

So – in a matter of hours we will be heading off to Austin to fly home for the month of December. I can hardly wait to see the kids and my mutts.

Guess I have to start working on my Christmas letter soon…

Over halfway in our time here at Newton

Weekend of November 21 – I am sorry I haven’t been paying attention to our blog as I intended to – this is really late (finished on December 1st)

Len and Nettie invited us to go on a “southern tour” with them on Friday. We left at 8:00 a.m. Beaumont was our first stop, then we headed for Port Arthur. We could see hurricane damage all along the highway – blue tarps on a lot of roofs, uprooted trees and damaged signs. Although we had been through Johnson Bayou on our trip down here, they wished to see the damage Ike did for themselves, so we headed for Johnson Bayou. Along the Gulf Beach Highway where there used to be beautiful “dream homes’, there were damaged homes and some that were completely gone.

We reached Johnson Bayou and were pleased to find owner Tim Trahan working at the RV Park where we stayed in January and February this year. We had become good friends in the two months we had been there and he was delighted to see us. We heard more stories about the hurricanes, and again we heard “We just didn’t think it was going to be that bad!” Several of his family lost their homes altogether, and his brand new home in Bridge City had 4 feet of water in it. He’s just trying to carry on as if he’s in his right mind… What else can you do?

We then drove up to Sulphur and had lunch and headed home through Merryville. It was a nice way to spend the day.

Saturday, my new friend, Patty (aka cat lady) was having a garage sale and I had seen a “wine table” she was going to sell so I wanted to get there before someone else bought it. It’s a beauty and is just what we needed for the RV! I stayed and visited a while and then went back later to see how it was going. It wasn’t, so I helped pack up her stuff.

Sunday morning we all decided to go to the church of Sandron, the lady who had sung on Thursday night at the Bible Encampment. She was awesome. Her congregation was awesome. There were several from the regular MDS unit who attended as well, about 18 of us in total, and we just about equaled the rest of the people there. Their church service was not “over and above” what we expected, but it was 2 hours and as John said, the preacher did not disappoint his expectation of a traditional Black service. Sandron was SO excited that we all came, and she said the Lord had told her when she got up, “The Mennonites are coming”, so she and her mother got a feast ready for lunch for all of us after church. What a lady! We had a great day.

Weekend 3

We had a big weekend – some of us spent Saturday in Houston at NASA – Johnson Space Centre. Diane is a space nut so she was very thrilled about every aspect of being there. It was special that the night before, the U.S. had successfully sent another spaceship up into space.

It was a sunny but there was a cold wind blowing. We spent from 10:30 to 4:30 there. It is certainly a great place to take children, as there is a large Starship Gallery, Lunar module, movies and exhibits geared especially for kids.

We took a tram tour of the Johnson Space Centre which was quite interesting. Also took in a couple of the movies and toured the exhibits. I was wishing Darren and the kids were there with John rather than wasting it on me. I would have been happier spending the day at the flea market in Vidor!

Houston is an hour and a half drive away.

Sunday we and Len and Nettie went to the Methodist Church across the street. The rest went to other churches in the area. We were happy that we went here, as Hank and Vi Remple from the regular unit (and B.C.) attended, and brought with them a new couple from Manitoba as well as Dick Buhler from Winnipeg who had been a crew foreman at Cameron this spring. Pastor Joe Miller makes a big fuss about us Canadians coming down to Texas to help them out. It’s good to know our presence is appreciated.

Sunday afternoon we had a late lunch at the Cedar Tree Restaurant in Jasper. We also went to Walmart and purchased a Tracphone with minutes; however, learning how to use the darn thing is another story!! We certainly do miss having a land line to use our SuperStore phone card.

It was a good weekend. Looking forward to getting back to work...

November 14th - Just killing time while John is busy and my laundry is washing

November 14, 2008 Blog

So, this is our second Friday off. More or less – John and Len are helping Walt and Vern unload the gyproc for the house, as it arrived at 8:00 this morning.

I just realized I didn’t mentioned what our good buddy Len has been doing on my last blog. He has been busy doing whatever he can see needs doing and I didn’t follow him around to know… I do have a picture of him working on a trench so we all could walk around outside comfortably without stepping into water after the big rain…

There’s no way the house will be ready for an electrical/plumbing inspection by Monday. John was hoping to be boarding soon, but there’s simply too much to do before that can happen. We really need Paul, “our” plumber/electrician here!

We 3 ladies put the tail ends of insulation around the windows and doors and were out of work by noon on Thursday. We MUST remember to put all our tools that we have been using away before leaving the job site on Thursdays though, as it wasn’t really fair to the men to have to put all their tools away, and ours too. There were MANY hammers, staplers, knives and other small tools laying on the window sills etc. We just thought they would be left until Monday, but on actually thinking about it, we should have put them away!

We were spoiled with cooking this week – on Wednesday night we had soup supper at the Baptist Church, as mentioned in my last blog. Then Thursday night, we were invited to the Methodist Church for a soup supper which they were having before their business meeting. They said we didn’t have to stay for that!!! It was great. Had supper and DESSERT and then we were invited out to the Bible Encampment for dessert and a farewell party for the two couples from Manitoba who have been cooking out there, one from Elm Creek and the other from Carmen. The Project Managers there are very special people. Alec (AKA Fig Newton) had a second daily devotion about Silent Night, which we sang, (one verse in German by those who knew it) and we had a sort of a family Christmas together, which was really neat. After the devotion, they got the pianist to play some more hymns and Walt led the singing. Pretty good singing, too. They also had four different desserts - 3 cakes the cooks made and a big ice cream cake. I noticed almost everyone had a piece of each on their little dessert plate!!!! And that was AFTER we already had dessert. Oink oink.

I had another visit with my new friend, the cat lady (Patricia) on Thursday afternoon. She had more news about her home invasion Hallowe’en that was not good. She had understood that the guy that they had identified and picked up was going to plead guilty so that would be the end of it. However, it appears he is the son of their neighbour (who she did not know personally) and his mother says he was at the table in their home when this took place, so she is providing an alibi for him. There’s no doubt he is the perpetrator though and he is in jail because he had warrants out against him. Hopefully he will stay in jail. Poor Patricia is having nightmares and while she was often wary about the neighbourhood and going out at night, now she is downright afraid. Good thing she has friends who offer to come and pick her up and bring her home in the dark and make sure she gets into her house safely. She is on such a limited income that she has no place else to go. She owns her home and while it is in a very sad state of repair, it’s all she has. She’s only my age. I do hope to get a picture of her on her sundeck covered in cats!

Well, I guess I have gone on here long enough. John should be pooped by the time he gets back. Probably will be happy just to read for the rest of this day!

Love to you all. We are praying for Florette and her family as they say goodbye to their beloved Jules – prayer service tonight and funeral tomorrow.

Second week of November at Newton

November 11, 2008

Well, I have time to sit and type some more on our blog this afternoon thanks to the rain which has started to pour down around the middle of the morning.

I forgot to mention that Thursday evening we went for dessert to the West Texas Bible Encampment which is home to the regular short-term volunteers with project managers Alec (Fig) Newton and Laura Dupp from Abbotsford, B.C. We met a number of volunteers from Manitoba and some from La Crete, Ab. We also had the privilege of listening to “Brother Jason” who had prepared a special message just for the MDS volunteers. It was a very nice evening.

On our first Friday off, we washed half of our fifth wheel to get the oxidation from the summer off. Friday evening was the excellent Mark Lowry concert in Jasper. Mark used to be with the Gaither team. Turns out he was a classmate of the Pastor of the church there – they did a number together which was just awesome!

Friday morning I learned of a casualty at home. My wonderful pets managed to trash my 12 inch silver gazing ball which was “safely” harbored from harm on our dresser in the bedroom for the winter. Oh well, no sense crying over smashed gazing balls…

On Saturday, we were supposed to go fishing at a private pond of some friends of the unit, however, this fell through and we travelled with the Hieberts to Lloyd’s Trailer Sales at Orange instead. And didn’t we find a huge yard sale on the way. Good thing Len’s a good sport when we ladies insisted he turn around. He’s getting at pulling U-ies in the middle of the highway! We found some interesting things we couldn’t live without. The men made their purchases at Lloyds and we said hello to our salesman, Danny. Then back to the site. John and I went and tried the “new” sirloin tip dinner at Dairy Queen and I had taken my laptop along just in case they had internet there. They did, so stayed for an extra hour and he picked me up later.

Sunday morning we went to Ralph Rosedale’s Baptist Church at Brookville. We went early enough for Sunday School (Bible Study) as well and I got to meet the sweetest little ole’ Texas ladies! I enjoyed the fact they were more intent on visiting, finding out the latest news and wanting to find out about their visitors than getting into the rather dry bible study material…. One 10 year old girl came up when the Pastor gave the invitation to make a commitment to the Lord. That was neat!

After church, we all went to Momma’s Kitchen, a buffet put on by a “Black” Bible College for the last 4 years. The college campus is a distance out of town. All the servers and cooks were African American (or whatever is politically correct) and they were the friendliest people! The food was excellent and I am sure we will go there again.
Our group was taking a long time visiting after we had finished eating, so I went outside to get some fresh air. There were a bunch of children playing on the lawn and no sooner I sat down than I was barraged by three of the cutest little black kids you ever saw, ages 4 and 6. Their pretty, young Mom came out in a little while too, after the dinner rush, and we all had a lovely little visit.

We got so bored sitting around Sunday evening that we hollered across to Len and Nettie to bring over their Sequence game again – we broke even – Men 1 and Women 1.

Later John was happy to discover we are able to get 3 more T.V. channels in addition to FOX and PBS. He missed his “News”.

It was back to work on Monday, with a lovely sunny day again. The windows arrived and John and Len put them in. I helped with the window flashing tape. Nettie and Diane were back to pulling electrical wiring. Phil got the siding underway so the young helpers from the short termers could get going on it. Vern was doing all the things necessary to keep work going. Walt was on the road to Jasper again for materials.

It rained over night and Tuesday morning was a bit damp. It was a lot damper as the morning progressed. My task for the morning was to hold the one end of the Hardy plank siding while the one young fellow held the other end and the other young fellow fastened it with the air nailer. Before I knew it, I got promoted to “foreman” of the siding crew. That was quite a promotion in a short time!! By 10:45 a.m., it was pouring rain on and off. By noon, it was just straight pouring rain. I stayed home in the afternoon. John was working on plumbing, but they all quit a bit early. It rained cats and dogs all evening, and there was a tremendous electrical storm all night – lots of lightning and thunder – thankfully very little wind.

Wednesday, we 3 ladies started insulating. We have two bedrooms done, with the third to be finished tomorrow. There was only enough insulation purchased so far to do the three bedrooms. John is hoping to be able to start putting up gyproc on Monday. We only have two more four-day weeks here, so it would be nice if we can get as much accomplished as possible.

Yesterday, Mr. Phil put up the back veranda and today he finished the stairs, as well as getting back to the siding. Because the yard was so wet, the two young helpers didn’t work at this site.

We learned that our friend, Jules Gareau, from the Klassic Kruizers, lost his battle with cancer on Monday night. We were praying that he wouldn’t have to suffer too much longer. Our heart goes out to his wife and family to have to deal with such a loss. He was a good friend to us.

Well, I should get this posted to the blog in case I don’t have time tomorrow.

Good night everyone, and God Bless.

First week at Newton Texas completed

Our first Sunday in Newton, we all attended the Methodist Church which is providing us with the RV site. Apparently, this lot across the street was the site of a known drug house and was a scourge to the community. One of their parishioners purchased the lot, bulldozed down the house and donated it to the church for an RV Park for MDS. It is an excellent location and the community is thankful to have more reputable “neighbours”.

Pastor Joe Miller is a very vivacious gentleman reminiscent of Pastor Eddie in Georgetown, Alabama. He made sure we stayed awake during the service and his sermon, and acknowledged the Mennonites present in several instances. There was communion which we were invited to participate in. John and I observed a very moving act during the communion. When one of his young adult parishioners who was in the services approached the communion table, Pastor Joe Miller saluted him. What a sign of respect for an older man to pay to a young serviceman!! We were also very impressed with the amount of community service work this fairly small congregation does! There was no end to the list of ways they are involved in making their less fortunate fellow Newtonians lives’ better, and Newton a better place to live. They are truly excellent examples of being the hands and feet of Jesus and putting their Christianity into action.

We have completed our first “week” volunteering at Newton. Of course it is always difficult figuring out where newcomers fit into the program. However, John and Len both got busy doing what they could see needed doing. Diane and Nettie worked a couple of days strapping the walls to the foundation and installing the More-vent. Linda helped them one day as well. On Thursday, Diane and Nettie also drilled some holes and pulled some of the electrical wire into place. Three young fellows from the regular Newton project (in from Winkler, Mb) spent the week completing the shingling. Len and Phil finished off the porch roof and front. John started arranging the plumbing. Walt was helping with the roof, and Vern was working with the hurricane ties on the trusses in addition to all of their administration duties.

In the evenings, the men (Len and John) have beat the women (Nettie and Linda) in total games of Sequence. Now we have to catch up…

I went to visit Patricia, “the cat lady” the other day and really enjoyed it. She is around my age and has health problems that don’t allow her to work. She mostly walks with a pronged cane. So her life revolves around rescuing cats in the community. She has about some fixed cats and kittens in the house scheduled for operations. At daily feeding time around 4 p.m., she said there are around 50 who come for food. She “introduced” me to about 30 of them! All kinds, sizes and descriptions, except there were no white ones! She has a little wire-haired terrier dog as well. MDS did a bit of work for her in October. She lives in quite a nasty area, just a short distance away from where we are parked. On Thanksgiving night, she went to her door when someone knocked and before she knew it, the door was kicked in and a man accosted her asking for her money. He pushed her around quite roughly. She really thought she was going to be raped. She gave him all the money she had and, thank heaven, he left. They caught him later that night, as she got a good look at him and gave the police an excellent description. She has lived there by herself for 25 years and isn’t feeling very safe right now, although she does have some friends in the area. When I left, she said, “Do come around again. It’s nice to have a new friend.” Of course, I didn’t mind all the cats being around and didn’t think she is totally nuts like lots of people do. She has a mission and tries to give them away to good homes when she can. She arranges to have as many fixed as possible. If she didn’t have her cats, she wouldn’t have a reason to get up in the morning.

On Friday night we went to a Mark Lowry concert at a Baptist Church the other side of Jasper. He is a singer/comedian who performed with the Gaithers for 13 years. He sure was FUNNY! And can he ever sing!

We have had lovely weather all week. Only one brief rain shower one night. Other than that, it has warmed up to 80 most days. Mornings are quite humid and evenings cool right off. But mostly, midday is shorts weather.

We are enjoying our fifth wheel. John cleaned the side with the door and the hitch end to get rid of the oxidation over the summer. Has the other side and end to do yet. It looks much nicer.

Groceries down here are about the same price as in Canada. They used to be considerably cheaper, but not any more.

Being here for the big election was interesting. The fervent Christians were mostly McCain supporters. They believe the moral grain of America will be changed for the worse by Obama. I guess we’ll see. We’ve been there already, with legalization of same sex marriages, etc.

Thanks to everyone who sent messages after I advised that our blog was back in business. We enjoy hearing from you.

Well that’s all for this week. Hope I can get onto the internet in a timely fashion.

P.S.: We are parked near the Library and someone told me the internet was accessible in their parking lot. That's where I am at the moment and am happy to be able to get this done.

JOHNSON BAYOU REVISITED

WE HAVE ARRIVED AT NEWTON AND OUR FIFTH WHEEL IS NOW IN PLACE FOR THE MONTH. IT REALLY FEELS GOOD. EVERYTHING WAS JUST FINE INSIDE AND OUTSIDE THE R.V., EVEN THE FRIDGE. WE SLEPT IN IT THE FIRST NIGHT IN THE STORAGE FACILITY, JUST PUTTING OUT THE BEDROOM SLIDE. WE DIDN’T REALLY HAVE PERMISSION TO SLEEP THERE, BUT FELT WE HAD NO CHOICE. SULPHUR MOTELS ARE FULL OF DISPLACED PEOPLE FROM CAMERON, HACKBERRY AND JOHNSON BAYOU, AND ALSO, WE HATED TO SPEND THE MONEY EVEN IF WE COULD GET A MOTEL ROOM, AS WE DID HAVE OUR OWN BED TO SLEEP IN. WE KIND OF FELT LIKE WE WERE “SQUATTING” THOUGH. ALTHOUGH THE DAYTIME TEMP WAS ALMOST 80 DEGREES, IT SURE GOT COLD OVER NIGHT AND I WAS WISHING I HAD PUT ON THE EXTRA QUILT! WE GOT UP AND OUT FOR COFFEE AT 6:45 A.M.

THEN HEADED FOR ORANGE WHERE WE GOT A 21 DAY PAPER LICENSE PLATE FROM THE TRAILER SALES PLACE TO MOVE THE FIFTH WHEEL TO NEWTON – IT IS NICE THEY WOULD DO THAT FOR US.

OUR MISSION THEREAFTER WAS TO GO DOWN THROUGH JOHNSON BAYOU AND CHECK THINGS OUT. THAT WAS VERY DISHEARTENING!!! SO MUCH DAMAGE - SO MANY HOUSES JUST SIMPLY GONE.

WE COULD SEE THE DAMAGE ALL ALONG THE HIGHWAY. DRIVING TOWARDS HACKBERRY, THERE WAS A SHRIMP BOAT LAYING ALONGSIDE THE ROAD. BROWN’S CORNER STORE AT HACKBERRY WAS OPEN FOR BUSINESS AND THE LIBRARY SEEMED FINE. THE DOLLAR STORE AND ANOTHER OLDER STORE WERE STILL CLOSED DUE TO DAMAGE. THE R.C. CHURCH APPEARED INTACT FROM THE OUTSIDE, BUT THERE WAS A HUGE PILE OF RUBBLE ON THE GROUNDS – OBVIOUSLY EVERYTHING INSIDE WAS RUINED BECAUSE OF THE WATER.

THERE WERE SOME HOUSES STILL UP ON PILONS ON HOLLY BEACH. WE DIDN’T BOTHER GOING CLOSER OR TAKING PICTURES OF HOLLY BEACH. AT THE CORNER WHERE WE TURN TO JOHNSON BAYOU, THERE USED TO BE A TRAILER PARK AND SOME HOUSING. ALL OF THAT WAS BARE – GONE.

THE SIDES OF THE HIGHWAY WERE STILL PRETTY BROKEN UP; THE MAIN PART OF THE HIGHWAY HAD BEEN FIXED ALREADY.

COMING INTO JOHNSON BAYOU, WAS A DEVASTATING SIGHT. WE DROVE TO THE TRAILER PARK FIRST. IT WAS STILL THERE, COMPLETE WITH LAUNDRY FACILITY!

MISS FLORA BELLE TRAHAN’S HOUSE WAS STILL PRETTY WELL IN ONE PIECE, BUT IT WAS OUT IN THE FIELD BEHIND TIM’S TRAILER PARK A HALF MILE FROM WHERE IT WAS WHEN WE WERE THERE!

IVAN’S GARAGE/LIVING QUARTERS WAS LESS THAN HALF THERE.

THE SCHOOL IS DAMAGED EXTENSIVELY BUT STILL STANDING. THE JOHNSON BAYOU CHILDREN AGAIN ARE BEING BUSSED TO HACKBERRY. THE HACKBERRY SCHOOL WAS ALSO EXTENSIVELY DAMAGED, BUT IT WAS A PRIORITY FOR REPAIRS. IN JOHNSON BAYOU, THEY ARE IN THE PROCESS OF PUTTING IN MODULAR SCHOOL BUILDINGS IN BEHIND THE SCHOOL AGAIN WHILE THE SCHOOL IS BEING REPAIRED.

THE STORE IS DEMOLISHED, JUST WALLS STANDING WITH NO SHEETING OR ANYTHING – YOU CAN SEE RIGHT THROUGH IT.

NONE OF THE CHURCHES ARE LEFT. WHERE THE BIG BAPTIST CHURCH WAS WHICH WAS BUILT OF BRICK, THERE IS JUST A ROOF AND A STEEPLE ON THE GROUND, NO WALLS.

ARCHIE’S LOT IS TOTALLY EMPTY, HOUSE GONE AS WE EXPECTED. APPARENTLY HE IS IN A NURSING HOME IN LAKE CHARLES, WHICH IS PROBABLY THE BEST PLACE FOR HIM.

ALONG LEROY’S DRIVEWAY, THERE HAD BEEN TWO VERY NICE HOUSES, ONE HIS SON’S AND ONE ANOTHER RELATIVE’S. BOTH OF THEM ARE DEMOLISHED – TOTALLY GONE EXCEPT FOR A HEAP OF SCRAP. LEROY’S HOUSE IS STANDING, BUT ALL THE RAILINGS AND STEPS ARE GONE AND IT IS ABANDONED. JOHN WENT INTO THE HOUSE AND TOOK PICTURES OF THE MESS, MOLD AND WATER DAMAGE. APPARENTLY THEY ARE LIVING AT EUNICE FOR THE TIME BEING AND ANTICIPATE ALL THREE FAMILIES WILL BE MOVING FURTHER NORTH TO FIND AN ACREAGE TO PUT TRAILERS ON, SO THEY CAN BE IN THE SAME AREA. WE DID NOT GO AS FAR AS THE HOUSE THEY WERE STAYING AT AND WHERE WE WERE INVITED FOR MEALS, BUT WE ARE SURE IT IS GONE AS WELL.

JIM’S LARGE HOME WHICH WE DID SIDING ON, IS SIMPLY GONE – A PILE OF RUBBLE IS IN THE VICINITY. THERE ARE BIG PILES OF RUBBLE EVERYWHERE.

THE BLESSING OF THE DAY WAS TO ARRIVE AT MISS MYRNA’S HOUSE TO FIND HER ACTUALLY THERE, BUSY WORKING, CLEANING UP AND WAITING FOR A SHED TO BE DELIVERED SO HER FURNITURE COULD BE MOVED INTO IT WHILE HER HOUSE IS FIXED. SHE WAS SO HAPPY TO SEE US DRIVE UP!! SHE HAS MITIGATED HER DAMAGES GREATLY BY GETTING THE LAMINATE FLOORING UP (HER TEENAGE GRANDSON AND GRANDDAUGHTER WHO LIVE WITH HER DID IT), GETTING THE AIR CONDITIONING BLOWING TO DRY EVERYTHING UP ASAP, CUTTING THE RUINED DRYWALL OUT ABOUT 6 INCHES FROM THE FLOOR, WHICH WAS WHERE THE HIGH WATER WAS, GETTING RID OF THE SOAKED INSULATION AT THE BOTTOM OF THE WALLS, AND SPRAYING BLEACH WHERE NECESSARY TO ELIMINATE THE MOLD FROM FORMING. WE WERE VERY IMPRESSED. SHE HAS WATER AND SEWER AND ELECTRICITY AND HAS RENTED A LITTLE APT. IN SULPHUR UNTIL HER HOUSE REPAIRS ARE FINISHED. THE HARD PART IS TO FIND SOMEONE WHO CAN DO IT IN A TIMELY FASHION. HER HOUSE SHIFTED ABOUT 3 INCHES ON THE PILLARS AND THAT HAS TO BE RECTIFIED FIRST. SHE IS VERY THANKFUL TO STILL HAVE A HOUSE, WHEN 90% OF HER NEIGHBOURS DON’T. HER NEPHEW’S VERY LARGE RANCH STYLE HOUSE NEXT DOOR WAS MINIMALLY DAMAGED. IT MUST BE STURDILY BUILT. THE DOUBLE WIDE MOBILE HOME ON THE OTHER SIDE OF MYRNA’S, ALONG WITH WRAP-AROUND COMPLETED SUNDECK, IS TOTALLY GONE.

INTERNET ACCESS AT THIS SITE SEEMS INTERMITTANT FOR THE PAST TWO DAYS. SURE HOPEE IT IMPROVES. IT APPEARS WE ARE GOING TO HAVE TO HUNT FOR ACCESS TO A PHONE TO USE OUR PHONE CARD. IT DOESN’T WORK FROM A CELL PHONE. WALT AND PAT ARE AT SOME KIND OF CONFERENCE FOR THE WEEKEND SO WEREN’T HERE TO GREET US. DIANE WILLEMS, WALT’S SISTER IN LAW WAS THE OFFICIAL GREETER. LEN AND NETTIE SHOWED UP AROUND 7:30 P.M. AND WE HAD A NICE VISIT.

ALTHOUGH THE PLAN IS NOT TO WORK ANY MORE THAN SENIOR R.V. HOURS, THEY HAD THE USE OF 3 YOUNG MEN FROM THE REGULAR PROJECT (WHICH IS OVER-STAFFED THIS WEEK) AND THEY “WANTED TO MAKE HAY WHILE THE SUN SHINES”. SO FRIDAY BECAME THURSDAY2. IT WAS STATED THAT NEXT WEEK WE WILL BE BACK TO A CREW OF OLD MEN, HA HA. THERE APPEARS TO BE AN EXCELLENT RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE RV-ERS AND THE SHORT TERM DIRECTORS – I SUPPOSE IT HELPS THAT THEY ARE NOT IN THE SAME CAMP. TODAY’S ACTIVITY INVOLVED PUTTING THE ROOFING ON AND HAULING THE SHINGLES UP ON THE ROOF. IT IS NOW DONE, THANKS TO THE YOUNG FELLOWS AND WITH THE THANKS OF THE OLDER GUYS !

October 27, 2008 - starter fixed - headed for Kansas

We encountered many blessings in dealing with our blown starter. Wade, our tow truck driver, was super helpful. He recommended a garage where he was able to get the truck INSIDE because it was Sunday and no one could look at it until Monday morning. We did not then have to worry about the contents stored in the cab or the back. Our motel was very nice and they gave us a real good deal. It also included a continental breakfast. The Dakota Inn is part of a larger complex and there was a very nice restaurant, a mini Casino and a bowling alley. Plus the world’s largest ring-necked pheasant up on top of the building…

When John called the garage at 8:30 a.m. to see what the score was, they were about a half hour from being finished installing the new starter. He could barely believe his ears. They came and picked us up and the bill was extremely reasonable. Wade had advised the owner of our circumstances and I am sure he gave us a special deal.

We were back out on Highway 81 heading south by 10:30 a.m. and stopped in Salina, Kansas, at 7:30 for the night. This Baymont Inn and Suites looked like it was going to be expensive, but the Super 8 next door was over $10 a night more and this one has a pool, a hot tub and a little water slide. I enjoyed a swim and hot tub for about ¾ hour.

Tomorrow we hope to get to Texarcana.

Stranded in Huron, S.D.

My Mom’s excitement for this week was to watch the building movers dismantle and move the building beside her - it left for Arcola, Sk. this morning. They were just jackhammering the foundation and raising it up for moving when we were there Thursday night.

We are presently “stranded” in Huron, South Dakota. We stayed over night in Redfield, S.D. and were just on the road for an hour. We stopped at a gas station in Huron to get diesel, and when John tried to start the truck up, it would not start. Rats. We believe it is the starter (the second one in 6 months). We bought this 1997 GMC diesel in May to pull our fifth wheel trailer which we have stored down south. We had taken the truck down to Sandpoint Idaho this June and the first starter went down there! Anyway, the Good Lord provided a very nice tow truck driver to tow the truck to a service station and have it inside to prevent any theft or damage until tomorrow morning. Nobody is working on Sunday of course. Also, we were able to get a deal on a motel room so we are thankful for that. Not happy to be delayed at least one full day on our trip, but it is VERY windy outside and perhaps we are just not supposed to be out on the road!?! At least we are not short on time to get there. Have to be at Sulphur, LA, to pick up our trailer by the 31st and at Newton by Nov. 3rd. We are looking forward to taking a drive down to where we worked last year and see what damage this year’s hurricane have done…

It is presently pheasant hunting season down here, and obviously pheasant hunting is VERY big in this area. The motel “hunter’s special” appears to be $99.99, which is way over our budget for accommodation! Thankfully this Dakota Inn saw fit to find us a room for $47.00!! Unfortunately, we did not foresee the Canadian dollar falling through the floor and did not avail ourselves of the opportunity to open a U.S. bank account at our bank as was suggested to us about 4 months ago, when Canadian money was at par. Of course, we are booting ourselves now!! Oh well, that’s life…

We ended up with a motel in Redfield for $38.00 (when all the others were the hunter’s special rate) but it didn’t have internet. I wasn’t prepared to pay an extra $60.00 per night for internet!! The room was very nice and the telephone worked, so I phoned home with our card instead of e-mailing.

It is sure windy here today – gusts up to 60 mph. I’m sure the hunters aren’t very happy about that either. We are observing that the hunters here are not very considerate with their dogs. Every truck has one or two big dogs and the hunters don’t pick up after them when they dump. At this motel, they allow dogs in the room stating they have to be kenneled when their owners are out. The room cleaner said that on the second floor, they don’t even bring their dogs down to have them crap. There are big dumps right on the walkways outside the motel room. And she said the other day, one of the dogs on the top level lifted his leg against the railing when she was walking below, and she got all wet. Can you imagine???

We saw on TV that it is 81 at Houston. Sure wish we were down there already!!!

On the road again

Blog for October 25, 2008

We are on our way to Texas!

After a very nice over night visit with Jake and Rita at Brandon, we started out at 10:30 a.m. The border crossing is always very traumatic for Linda ever since the bad experience the first MDS trip. However, there was nothing to it this trip and soon we were enjoying the fall view of the Dakotas. It was a nice, sunny day, perfect for driving. We didn’t realize hunting was so popular in this area. The fields (and motels) are full of hunters, camoflauge outfits, blaze orange vests, rifles, and hunting dogs! We found they must have a “special” on motel rooms for hunting season, as the first three inquiries were: $99.99!!! Way above our budget! Last year the same room at the same motel in Aberdeen (the last week in Dec.) cost $43.00! We arrived in Aberdeen at 6:00 p.m. and it was still light out, so we kept traveling on down to Redfield. Here they had the same $99. “hunter’s special” at the Super 8. However, we did manage to find a little privately owned motel for $38.00. Lovely room, but no continental breakfast, nor high speed internet. No problem… We found a very nice friendly place to have supper and were told there was probably high speed available at the One-Stop on Main Street, so we drove over there and pulled out the laptop in the parking lot. Sure enough, I was able to retrieve our messages and get back to Shari. The phone in the room works just fine for calling with the calling card.

GETTING READY TO LEAVE FOR TEXAS

Well, it's been a long time since my last entry.

We did have a safe trip home, but we were both so (flu/cold) sick that we just drove straight through, only stopping at a motel for one night. All we wanted to do was get home and BE SICK in comfort!

Although Peggy and Steve's house was not totally closed in (some of the metal on the gable ends was not completed), the goal was achieved to have the walls up and the roof on.

We applied again to MDS to go down South and have been accepted for November of this year into Newton, Texas, where we will be volunteering with Walt and Pat from California, and Art and Judy both of whom were with us in Alabama. We are anxious to see what damage was done by Hurricanes Gustav an Ike in the Johnson Bayou area, and see how our fifth wheel weathered the storms. We have been assured by the storage facility that they did not sustain any damage at Sulphur, for which we are extremely grateful.

We have had a GREAT summer. Although there were periods of rain, there was plenty of sunshine and warm weather that made it feel like we did HAVE a summer for a change. We enjoyed our gazebo and lawn swing on our sun deck, and put our plans to build an addition on hold for an indefinite period of time. We spent an enjoyable few weeks visiting Portage La Prairie, Brandon and Langenburg. My Mom also spent a week with us around my birthday in September and got in some bonding with her great grandchildren. We really enjoyed having her here. I also enjoyed our dogs for the summer months and am lamenting having to leave them again.

We are presently planning to volunteer for November and fly home from Houston for the month of December, returning to help in Marble Falls, Texas for January and February, 2009. Hopefully that will lessen the shock of an extended time away from home, and will enable us to brighten our family's Christmas and help out with babysitting, etc. The kids are growing up so fast!

There are many things to do in the four days remaining before we leave. Tomorrow we are having five neighbourhood couples over for a chili supper. Should be fun.

So long for now. I will have to advise everyone that our blog is "back in business".

Still in Sandpoint...

No work happening on Steve and Peggy’s house today - we have hit “the rainy season”.

By the end of last week, all the trusses were up and the house was looking good. The metal for the roof and walls is scheduled to be delivered today. John was hoping to get all the ladders done by then, but the rain put an end to that. They were not very happy with Sandpoint Builders, as normally ladders are provided, but when the trusses arrived, there were no ladders. Steve and Peggy had to foot the extra bill for the lumber for the ladders, and John has to build them. The
lumber company wouldn’t go good for them either.

We went to Rod’s birthday party in Creston last Saturday and stayed overnight. Christy made a lovely turkey supper and invited friends over. No chocolate fountain this time though! Bryce made a nice birthday cake with angel food cake and lemon pie filling mixed with whipped cream, smothered in strawberries... YUM.

We are aware that there is a big meeting going on in Akron, PA, head office of MDS, for all the Project Directors. Hope everything goes well and that the Senior RV group gets the recognition it is due. On checking the MDS website, I was very pleased to see that Don and Marilyn are directly in charge of RV Project volunteers.

I have been keeping my hands busy making antique tin can footstools. I have completed four already and have cans for about 3 more. Initially, it was very difficult to find the big tomato juice tins, but I have two places that are saving them for me, one in Bonners Ferry and one in Creston.

We have been back to Creston twice and thankfully all of our border crossings have been excellent. John figures it’s because we have a different vehicle...

Well, that’s all for now. I am looking forward to getting home and seeing our kids and getting our lawn mowed and extra vehicles sold. Would also like to take the grandchildren on a little holiday in the motorhome before we sell it.

We are praying for the rain to quit so we can get on with construction! We've had to have the wood fire going every evening for a while... Everyone out here is complaining about the weather - WHERE IS SUMMER?????

Great Day in the Morning!

Wednesday, May 28th was a red-letter day for us. We received two items of news to which we could say “HALLELUJAH!!”

On Tuesday, there was a visit from the local County Planning Commission representative at Steve and Peggy's house which John has been framing up. His news was not good., Although they had taken out a building permit 4 years ago, and built the concrete slab 2 years ago, in order to keep the permit current, they had to show some substantial improvement to the property at least every 6 months. He was a very nice, sensitive person and listened to the story of John being there to help out as they couldn't afford a contractor nor a mortgage payment. Try as he night, he could not see any way out of getting a new building permit and probably a new permit for the septic as well. He went away feeling very disgusted with his job in these circumstances.

The next morning Peggy and I were about to leave for Sandpoint to attend at the County Commissioner's Office to obtain new permits (which simply was a considerable amount of additional money they would have to put out that could be spent on material for the house and which they really did not have) when the telephone rang. It was this gentleman's secretary advising that upon checking, everything was in in order and no further building permits would be required at this time. However, they would be required to show substantial improvements every 6 months. Almost a miracle, in my mind. They were certainly jumping with joy. Something going their way for a change...

Then we received an e-mail that the ex family friend who had sexually molested our granddaughter a couple of years ago had his sentencing that day and the Judge had thrown the book at him. He had pled out to one year and the Judge upped the sentence to 2 years less a day – provincial time as opposed to federal so he could impose some rather severe restrictions on him after he got out. The Judge spent a half hour reaming him out severely, which was music to the ears of the family of the victim. Too bad she couldn't have been there herself. They are getting a transcript so she can get the full impact, and they can put an end to this dreadful experience. Thank the Lord!

John made excellent progress on the house. By Friday, all the interior walls were up and braced and fastened down to the floor with a Hilti gun, and top plates installed. Peggy and I cleaned up the floors so it looks pretty neat. We now have to wait for the rafters to arrive. They are expected June 3rd.

Not to brag, but the “old man” put up that house basically 80% by himself, in 6 full days. Pretty darn good, I'd say...

So we decided to let Peggy and Steve have some time alone and went to Creston to visit Christy and Rod again. While John and Christy and Rod were standing on the front sundeck smoking, did John spot a COUGAR casually strolling through their yard between the wood shed and the coverall building. Rod has pigs and chickens at the back, so he grabbed a big stick that was handy and sprinted off like a shot, chasing it out past the back garden, before realizing what a disadvantage he would be at if the cougar didn't run! It didn't exactly run away, but it didn't turn back either. So they are going to have to keep an eagle eye open. Thankfully, there is a skunky smell in the air to warn them when the cougar is nearby. They said it was easily 4 feet long from head to rear end (not including its 3' tail), and higher than a large German Shepherd.

There had been people standing in the neighbour's yard and the cougar would have been watching them across the fence, but they didn't see it. They thought the smell was a skunk in the distance. Fun and excitement in the country!

Well, that’s it for now. Hi to all.

Pictures finally...

Christy & Rod
25th Wedding Anniversary May, 2008



Ceira, 16
This is our granddaughter??? Gorgeous!




Kootenay country - where we moved from
22 years ago



Concrete slab where house is to go



After first full day of work

FINALLY I AM ABLE TO GET SOME PICTURES ON OUR BLOG.

I am sitting at the GM dealership in Sandpoint accessing their WYFI while John is getting a new starter put into his truck. It was dragging sometimes after it was warm and needed to be started again, so he decided to get it looked after right away. It is considerably cheaper to have it done down here than in Canada.

It is a lovely sunny day in the U.S. Understand it froze at home night before last. Can't remember if I have anything out that would have frozen.

U.S. Memorial Day

Here we are, enjoying ANOTHER long weekend. Working, of course. As of the end of today, all the outside walls of Steve and Peggy's house will be erect. It is a fine looking floor plan, all one level, on a cement slab. There was a bit of rain over the week, but it didn't halt construction much. Today, it is sunny and warm. John would say HOT, right now.

I have been working on my antique tin can footstools. I phoned around and finally found a place that uses the tomato juice tins I need - the kitchen manager at the Bonner County Hospital kindly said she would save them for me. Thank you thank you, as I was unable to find any... Out of desperation for something to do in the evenings, I made one out of three coffee tins, which are a larger diameter, and about a quarter-in lower. It is a nice footstool, but not as nice as the one with the 7 tins. I am also assisting Peggy in getting rid of some of her cloth scraps that she has had for crafts for years.

I've also been collecting some flat rocks for my border around our fire pit at home. Peggy says help yourself to all the rocks you want - their whole mountainside is full of rocks! There are a lot of rocks that have gold fleck in them too which are really pretty.

Today we are planting her garden while the men finish the walls. It feels late for planting, but they had a late spring. She was just barely able to find any seed potatoes. Everything that the wildlife would find tasty has to be enclosed with wire. There is lots of wildlife around here! Haven't seen turkey-lurkey for a day or two though.

John and Steve worked on Sunday morning for a few hours, as Peggy worked from 6 to 11 a.m.and the plan was to take Linda to the Flea Market across the Sandpoint Bridge, and then go out to some friends' for coffee (for John). There wasn't too much at the Flea Market, but it was nice to go through it. Then we went to Larry and Marian's, where there is a "field of dreams" for the guys. A bunch of Mopar treasures and one old Mustang. Kept them busy for about two hours investigating and taking pictures...

Well, I guess that's it for today. Hope everyone travelling on Memorial Day weekend is safe. The gas prices don't seem to be slowing down the travellers any!

Take care, and God Bless.

Have to figure out how to get pictures on here from Peggy's computer...

Now in Sandpoint, Idaho - May 20, 2008

It's been a while! We wre in Creston for Christy and Rod's 25th wedding anniversary barbeque, and then came down to Steve and Peggy's in Sandpoint on Sunday, May 18th - sure was a long line-up at the border, but it wasn't long before we got through, with no searches or anything. A pleasant surprise for a change...

Spent yesterday in town getting material ordered for their new home and a starter for John's new diesel truck which we found for pulling the Fifth Wheel next year. It has been grinding when it is warm and he's afraid it is going to leave him stranded so might as well fix it now.

John said Steve should go to work if he had a job to go to, so off he went, and John was here when the material trick arrived first thing this morning. He helped the driver unload (with his forklift) and then was anxious to get started. There was lots of measuring and planning and strategizing to do before he can actually get to work - comparing the blue prints to the mesurements of the concrete slab, etc etc etc. Thankfully, although it was quite cool, it didn't rain (too much) and the sun came out to take the chill off. Peggy did start up the fire in the garage which is presently their (our) living quarters, as it really was chilly and damp.

Peggy and I spent an hour outside pulling nails out of some wood too. We also had gone to town to get some wire and blades for John. I learned there are 3 towns making up the district of Sandponit - Ponderay, Kootenai and Sandpoint. Kind of like the tri-cities in Port Arthur Texas area.

It is kind of neat for John to be greeted at the door first thing in the morning when he goes out for his smoke, by a large wild turkey gobbler right outside. He disappears later in the day but hangs around all morning. He is seeing a lot of pretty birds around too. Took a pot shot at a cowbird that chases the nice birds away from the bird feeder, but missed. Steve had a wood tick on him yesterday, and Peggy found one on her today, so we will have to be checking ourselves closely every day.

HOMEWARD BOUND

Miss Flora-Belle Trehan and I


Miss Myrna receiving her "Bless This Home" gift


Mr. Archie receiving his quilt donated by Mennonite Ladies
(traditional gift)


Goodbye Bayous that we have grown to love

TONIGHT, WE ARE AT A NICE RV CAMPGROUND CALLED "HIDDEN LAKE" AT ARDMORE, OKLAHOMA, AND I AM THRILLED TO HAVE WY-FI, IF NOT A COMPUTER TABLE. WE DID A LITTLE RECALCULATION AND TURNED NORTH OUT OF TEXAS SOONER THAN PLANNED. LAST YEAR, I WANTED TO STAY IN TEXAS AS LONG AS I COULD, BUT THIS YEAR, WE HAD BEEN TO TEXAS LOTS, SO THE NOVELTY WAS NOT THERE. WE'LL SEE MORE OF OKLAHOMA THIS YEAR. HAVE TO PICK THE PLACE WHERE WE WILL STAY TO CELEBRATE OUR ANNIVERSARY TOMORROW NIGHT. MAYBE STILL CAN SLEEP IN THE R.V. IT IS MUCH COOLER HERE THAN WHERE WE HAVE BEEN!

WE DROVE ON I-35 FOR A WHILE SO WE COULD STOP AT A WELCOME CENTRE, BUT WANT TO GET OFF OF IT AS SOON AS WE CAN. TOO MUCH TRAFFIC! THE OTHER HIGHWAYS HAVE BEEN GOOD.

I HAVE SO MUCH FOOD IN THE R.V. THAT WE HAVE TO EAT "IN" FOR A WHILE YET. I MADE BACON AND FRENCH TOAST IN A DOLLAR STORE PARKING LOT THIS MORNING... IT WAS TOO EARLY TO EAT WHEN WE LEFT SHREVEPORT. BOY DID WE EVER SEE A LOT OF BLACK PEOPLE THERE - NOT EVEN ONE WHITE PERSON FOR A LONG SPELL.

TOMORROW IS OUR WEDDING ANNIVERSARY. WILL HAVE TO FIND SOME SPECIAL SPOT TO STAY, PROBABLY IN THE WONDERFUL STATE OF KANSAS (ECH). HOPEFULLY WE CAN STILL SLEEP IN THE MOTORHOME, AS IT WILL BE SOON ENOUGH THAT WE CANNOT. WE CAN ALREADY TELL THAT THE WEATHER IS COOLER AND WE ARE ONLY 500 MILES AWAY FROM THE GULF, WHERE WE BASKED IN 80 DEGREES THE LAST TWO DAYS.

WE HAD TWO HOME DEDICATIONS ON OUR LAST DAY, MARCH 27TH. MYRNA'S WAS IN THE MORNING, AND IT WAS WONDERFUL. IT WAS DONE BY THE CAMERON MDS UNIT. THEN THE SENIOR RV GROUP HAD A PRIVATE HOME DEDICATION FOR ARCHIE'S HOUSE. THERE WERE FEWER PEOPLE THERE. WE WERE HAPPY TO SEE MISS FLORA-BELLE TRAHAN AND HER HUSBAND (CAN'T REMEMBER HIS NAME) THERE. THEY ARE UP IN THEIR 80'S AND GOOD FRIENDS OF EVERYONE DOWN THERE. TRAHAN IS A VERY BIG NAME IN THE WHOLE AREA. THEIR SON, TIM, OWNS THE RV PARK WE STAYED IN. HE'S A HECK OF A NICE FELLOW AND WE GOT TO KNOW HIM AS A FRIEND WHILE WE WERE THERE.

WHEN THE DEDICATIONS WERE OVER, EVERYBODY PACKED UP AND LEFT.

SO, THAT ABOUT COVERS ALL OF OUR NEWS TO DATE. WE DO NOT LOOK FORWARD TO SEEING SNOW AGAIN, BUT DO LOOK FORWARD TO SEEING EVERYONE AT HOME, SPENDING TIME WITH GRANDCHILDREN AND HAVING MY SHADOWS BACK (DOGS).

GOOD NIGHT EVERYONE.

"Flexibility" is the word

Today, Jake and John hauled the fifth wheel to the storage place in Sulphur and he tried to use our credit card and it wouldn't go through. So he had to use cash and borrow some from Jake at that. I tell you we have had more than enough with this credit card. So I called them today to find out what the heck is going on. She said the card has not been activated. I told her we HAD activated it the end of January but that we had told them we were not going to use it until we came home. She said she had the record of the call that we were travelling frm LA to Alberta (????????NOT). I had called them yesterday to change our address to back home and let them know we would be using the card today and on our way home.... Anyway, we got it activated and hopefully can use it now. What on earth good is a credit card that never works when you try to use it?????????

We have not been having a great week. We found out on Monday that the Blanchards tried to get insurance on their house and an occupancy certificate. The county inspector advised that the pillars are not high enough. [See photo of Paul on new website update doing electrical work on old pillars]. This is after there has been a stairway put up to the back and a 66 foot handicap ramp on the side(which our volunteers were very proud of because it was a work of art!!!! They both have to come down, the house has to go up, and another 2 1/2 feet has to be added to all of the 16 pillars, plus extra steps added to the stairway and a further 30 feet of ramp. WE WERE ALL JUST SICK. Jake was here at the time, but he was not involved in the elevations, and in any event, is not an engineer to understand what was required. The building was inspected a couple of times and nobody said anything. It was absolutely unfathomable news! None of us are staying to fix it, but the Cameron group had already torn both steps and ramp down by yesterday. That was tough to see! MDS is rectifying the situation. There are no words to tell the volunteers who lovingly built that ramp that it had to be torn down.

We have had to test our flexibility this week. Plans change from minute to minute it seems. First we didn't have a place to store the RV in Sulphur and were going to store it in Johnson Bayou, then a place became available, and Jake had to pull it over for us. Tomorrow we were supposed to have 2 home dedications, one at 10:00 a.m. and one at 2:00. Now they've changed the second one to 11:30, so the Project Managers and their friends can head out right away after that to take the MDS vehicles back to Mississippi for storage and then go home to Portage La Prairie.

Ivan is planning Archie's home dedication. Because of the changes in time, there probably will only be us there (it had been tentatively scheduled for 2:00 pm, but is a private dedication rather than a regular MDS dedication for a new home.

We were going to stay until Friday, but if we can leave by about 1:00, we will go tomorrow too.

I MISS MY COMPUTER DESK AND MY RADIO!!! Otherwise, being back in the cramped motorhome is okay. I should have brought more dishes, as I only took out the bare minimum.

I was in shorts today!!!! And soon I have to bring out my winter jacket...

Copy of second last website update

MDS Senior RV Program update for week
of March 17 from Johnson Bayou
By Linda Braun

Now that Leroy's house is done, we turned our energies to completing Myrna's house.

There were light covers to put on, extra baseboards to paint, and trim to finish. Jake finished the window trim and baseboards. John installed the last piece of countertop for the kitchen after affixing the ends. He caulked all of the trim and did final touch-up painting.

Lemar put in closet shelves and rods and installed the telephone outlets.

Paul the plumber finished the plumbing in the sink and tub in the bathroom, installed the hot water heater, and with Lemar's assistance, installed two air conditioning units. They also ran water into the house to test for leaks, There were none.

Mary washed up all of the windows.

All of the boxes and rubbish from the front yard was removed from the sundeck and taken to the dump.

The only thing remaining for our crew at Myrna's is to clean the floors and make the house ready for dedication. The Cameron crew will be installing the bubble wrap insulation under the house next week.

Archie's kitchen cabinets were delivered and Paul installed the lower cabinets this week.

Paul and Mary had consented to stay a few extra weeks in March in order to see his part of the work completed. They pulled out of our campground on Thursday morning, headed for home in Pennsylvania. We are sure that the side of the road in Johnson Bayou will never be as free of garbage and debris as it has been these last three months, as both Paul and Mary were very conscious of every item that did not belong there. On their walk to devotions they often carried a garbage bag in their pocket to put the garbage in, and it was not uncommon to find them out on the campground seeing that all litter was picked up!

Toward the end of the week, Jake and Verna went to Houston to pick up their friends from Manitoba, Dave and Rose Froese, who have flown down to assist them in closing down the project next week and return the MDS vehicles to Mississippi. Unfortunately, due to bad weather conditions, the Houston airport was major mayhem, and their luggage was not able to be located, so they arrived with no extra clothing to wear for Easter, and no camera.

We have become so fond of the people for whom we have been building houses, and the area, that it is going to be difficult to leave. We are so thankful to the Lord for this blessing to be able to serve in such a rewarding capacity.

HAPPY EASTER Y'ALL

Well, we are winding down here. One more week to go. . .

This Easter Sunday morning, it was our privilege to attend an Easter Sunrise Service at the local Baptist Church at 6:30 a.m. It was quite windy all night, so when 5:30 rolled around, John begged off. I knew that if I didn't go, I would never forgive myself for missing the opportunity to see the sun come up over the Gulf Coast. The rest of us (5) went over to the "Head of the Hollow Cemetery" and participated in the service. there were about 20 other people besides us. They had a little keyboard set up and sang a couple of hymns first (although it was barely light enough to see the words). By the time we were leaving, the sun was up above the clouds and it was absolutely beautiful.

We then we over to the church for some biscuits and Monkey buns an a little visit with some of the people we have gotten to know a bit, There was a piano in their small dining hall and because there were so few people, I felt comfortable sitting down and playing some gospel tunes. Loved it!

The Easter service was not until 10:45 a.m. so we all went home. John was listening to a church service on T.V. and we had a little sleep. I felt a bit chilled even though I wore my wolf coat. I decided to go visit Archie instead of going to church. I took him an Easter basket of goodies. He really appreciated the visit and the goodies.

When the rest returned from church, we drove to Beaumont to the Golden Corral for our last MDS meal together. They have Black Angus Texas steak in the buffet and it is "to die for".

Then the rest of the afternoon was ours to do with what we wished. John and I had bought a new Microwave, as the one in the fifth wheel had burned out. So he put it into the hole and took the old one out. I went over to Myrna's (the last homeowner) and took her an Easter basket, and was VERy glad I did, because she didn't have any company at all. She had cereal and milk for her Easter meal. Her daughter and grandkids live in Florida. I stayed for a little visit and had coffee with her.

Yesterday, I had Rose come over and be my "grandkid" to help me color Easter eggs. Rose was much more artistic about it than I am. Of course everyone knows Linda can't have Easter without coloring eggs. We had a great time and we enjoyed eating them today.

Hope everyone had a lovely Easter. God Bless You all.

Copy of text sent to P.A. Daily Herald re February activities

Fun activities for February-
MDS update from Linda Braun, Johnson Bayou, LA

As our service with the MDS Senior RV Program includes a long weekend every weekend, there is ample opportunity for travelling and taking in the local events.

Ragley, LA, has a small Bluegrass Gospel Jamboree in an old garage building once a month, and our crew and the Senior RV MDS group from Newton, Texas, arranged to meet there to enjoy the music. The main attraction for us was to hear Kathleen Sanner and the Buegrass Gospel Singers who last year sang for the MDS crew every Tuesday evening in appreciation for them restoring Kathleen's home. It was said “she had the voice of an angel”. The welcome we received was like going home. It was a wonderful musical evening, and the band was thrilled to be reunited with some of the folks who had volunteered last year. There were other talented musicians performing, as well as a comedien.

Two of our new volunteer couples for February spent one weekend making the 6 hour trip to New Orleans and were excited to share their experiences with the rest of us upon their return. They had toured the famous Oak Alley plantation from Gone With the Wind, enjoyed a swamp tour, and toured New Orleans, including a most impressive three hour “Katrina” tour.

The rest of us traveled to Louisiana’s Prairie Cajun Capital and enjoyed a Cajun concert “Rendez Vous de Cajuns” at the famous Liberty Theatre which is broadcast on live Cajun and Zydeco Music Radio and T.V. in the area. We also attended an afternoon Music Program at Jean Lafitte Prairie Acadian Culture Centre as well as a Cooking Demo. It was a wonderful way to spend a Saturday.

I was wishing our grandchildren could have been there, as they go to Vickers and are in French Immersion. They would have understood the commentary and the words of the songs, which of course were Cajun (French). The Music Program this particular Saturday involved having the Girl Guides in to learn the traditional dances and have fun with some of the traditional simple Cajun instruments, such as the spoons and triangle. It was wonderful to see the Cajun seniors interacting with the children and encouraging interest in their heritage.

That Friday, I had listened to CJWW on the internet, and heard a wonderful Cajun-type song sung by Donnie Parenteau. He would be right in his element on the Liberty Theatre stage!

Mrs. S’s Cookie Factory was in operation for several days one week. Mrs. S. is our friend, Paul’s wife, Mary Stoltzfus from Pennsylvania. Our MDS unit was excited to be the Hackberry Bluegrass Gospel Singers at the Catholic Church in Johnson Bayou on Tuesday evening instead of our Thursday evening games night. Some of our clients also attended for this musical evening. We had the pleasure of inviting Rene and Ruth from Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada, who had stopped in our campground on their way to Texas, attend to enjoy the music with us. They had no idea of who the Mennonites are, so we filled them in on our purpose and mission here.

One weekend we went on a swamp tour to McGee’s Landing. Although it was a lovely day for the drive and the tour, t was rather disappointing that there was only one alligator to be seen. We also stopped in at the small town of Breaux Bridges, which has a quaint little main street lined with antique shops.

One Sunday when we attended a church service in Port Arthur, Texas, the Pastor of the Church introduced our group of 16 to his congregation. Afterwards, a very kind, elegant lady approached us and invited us all to brunch at her exclusive private Country Club. That is another example of how kind and generous the people have been.

Extra Excitement at the Home Dedication

Mary and I



John "just before" chatting with Paul, the Cameron Parish Deputy Sheriff



Leroy and Lorraine being presented the "found" item

Well, I had a three-page post to publish (had spent almost an hour typing it) and before I was going to send it, I went to justify the margins, and it disappeared. I was just a little upset! It highlighted the text and then it was gone.


So I took a bit of a break and enjoyed some of the “pretty day” as they call it down here. 85 degrees again today and it is a PRETTY DAY! So, now I will try and recap everything I wrote before…

Started with Monday of this week, when we were putting the finishing touches on Leroy’s house getting it ready for the home dedication on Thursday. Paul and Barb cleaned up the yard and burned all the cardboard from cabinets, etc. and the leftover building materials,. They had a few hours worth of burning there! And the yard certainly looked better when they were done. John and I stayed late at Leroy’s (later than the usual 3:30 finishing time) and then went over to Myrna’s where the Cameron crew (short-termers) had been helping us by sending two men and three young ladies over to paint the house. We just wanted to see what it looked like. What a sight! I swear our 10 year old granddaughter, Keely, could have done a better job. So, because the cabinets were arriving in the morning, John and I took off our coats and got to work repainting the kitchen ceiling and walls.

We were trying to figure out how to deal with the situation for the next morning, and decided the best thing we could do for our sake and MDS was for John to go in the morning and teach the young girls how to paint properly. There were two older men and 3 young girls there on Monday. So that’s what he did, and helped them finish up himself. Of course, the 3 young girls started painting the way John showed them, and did really well. The younger of the men, the crew foreman, was tall and was doing all the cutting in just walking around the rooms. The older man continued painting exactly as he had done the day before… Isn’t that just the way it goes! It all got painted and it looks quite good anyway.

Verna and I swept up and washed the laminate flooring at Leroy’s on Tuesday morning and then went over to Myrna’s to clean up the floors there after painting.

On Wednesday, John put in the kitchen at Myrna’s and Paul and Lamar were installing receptacles and light fixtures. Verna and I went to Myrna’s and painted the inside window sills before the trim would be put on. When we were done, we saw her neighbour out in her yard planting a tree so went over to talk to her. She told us her story about the storm. I had gone into great detail with the story when I typed this morning, but just don’t feel like doing it again!! It’s in my head to tell if anyone is interested.

Verna wanted to see what our motorhome was like because their friends who are coming from Manitoba on Tuesday are going to be staying in it while they are here. So we were checking it out and while I was checking to see if one of the screen windows was open in the front, and the front door was open, I slipped and fell out the door, scrambling to try to get back my footing, and landing, rolling on the ground about six feet from the motorhome, not quite on the cinder road, thank heaven. What a feeling. Of course Verna was watching, helpless, at the door of the motorhome. I lay there for a while trying to assess any damage to my limbs and she’s telling me, “get up, get up, are you hurt??” The grass was quite wet and she was worried about me getting the knees of my jeans wet and dirty. I said “Just wait until I can see if I’ve broken anything!” I managed to get up slowly and determined I only had scraped elbows and bumps. Knew I’d have my share of bruises, but was very thankful to walk away, with BOTH OF US LAUGHING OUR FOOLS HEADS OFF. Not that it was funny, but it would have been one for Candid Camera. She said it was a graceful fall, but it sure didn’t feel like it.

Mary was home baking some of the 10 dozen cookies which were our responsibility to provide for Leroy and Lorraine’s Home Dedication on Thursday.

Thursday was the “Big Day”. Our first home dedication, which turned out to be a lot more than we bargained for! The Home Dedication itself was wonderful. There were about 40 people there, including the homeowners, relatives and friends, the Deputy Sheriff (who is not the Building Inspector {inside joke}), Karl and Laura Dube, Project Directors for Cameron, and some of their crew (including Naomi, who I found out is Ruth Landis’s sister – we worked with Ruth and Ira in Alabama last year), Dinah, the representative of the local Recovery Committee who was on board from the first, Julie, the co-ordinator of the Americorps workers who helped pour the pillars, the lady from the newspaper and the MDS RV program volunteers. Dinah opened the dedication with words of greeting to everyone and to let us know that this dedication was to turn the structure from a “HOUSE” into a “HOME”. She had a brief responsive dedication ceremony. Karl and Laura presented Leroy and Lorraine with the traditional quilt and wall hanging from MDS, and our unit presented them with a little kitchen hamper from the couples here right now, as well as a lovely GOD BLESS THIS HOME plaque from the MDS Senior RV Program. I also presented them with a little 50th Anniversary Precious Moments cross that had been found in the grass near the house and which must have been lost in the storm. I took home and cleaned it up and the group said I should “present” it to them. So I did. The kleenexes all came out…

We never did get to see the presentation of the keys and Bible because there was an unscheduled interruption. My dear husband passed out on the concrete where the van was parked and the Deputy Sheriff called the ambulance, which carted him (and me in front) off to the hospital in Sulphur, where he stayed over night. Scared the heck out of everybody. I did the long version earlier and want to get this over with, so suffice it to say, they took him in because his blood pressure was excessively low and they wanted to know what was causing it. After many tests including heart monitor, heart tracing, echogram, carotid artery and heart and chest ultrasounds, PLUS a stress test with the treadmill, the cardiologist discharged him with a clean bill of health and no explanation for the incident. The only thing he could say was that John was taking one extra medication that he did not think was warranted to lower his blood pressure. So he told him not to take them any more and gave him a prescription for something he should take only occasionally IF he finds his heart rate increasing from normal on a steady basis.

And there is another interesting story. Because Walgreen’s was the closest pharmacy, we went there for the prescription. Before the prescription was filled, I inquired what it would cost. The pharmacist said $54.00. I know that when John got his muscle relaxant prescription filled last month, we saw a sign at Walmart that said “All generic prescriptions are $4.00”. That prescription was $4.00. So, off we went to Walmart, where the cost of this prescription was $4.00. Isn’t that just unbelievable! No wonder the Walmart pharmacies are terrifically busy! It would be interesting to see if there is any such thing in Canada. I think not.

Anyway, John felt quite bad that he had “rained on their parade”; however, everyone was just happy it was nothing more serious. Our new friends here were just as concerned as the old ones!

He was back at work today… to make up for lost time…

Well, that’s enough for now. Maybe will catch a few rays yet before the sun goes down and them pesky mosquitoes come out.

Bye for now.

Hello everyone - this is a big week

Leroy's house

Just thought I'd pop in to let you know the latest. This is the week for our first home dedication and we can hardly believe the house is actually finished. Everyone is getting a little frustrated as we wind down here. It's six months of service for Jake and Verna, which is a LONG time. And we don't think we'll do it for 3 months at a time again - probably just 2. Paul and Mary have also been here for 3 months. Then we have one new couple from Minnesota. He is a cousin of the husband of a co-w orker of mine at Sanderson Balicki....small world.

We are planning to store our new fifth wheel down here for the time being. Don't know if it will be until next winter, or what. We don't have a use for it up in Canada, and have to pay quite a bit to just get it up there (GST & PST + inspection fee + ???) We have to drive our motorhome back anyway and probably sell it up there.

Last Friday, I got a perm at the Beauty School in Lake Charles. Poor John had to wait 4 hours for me!! It turned out very nice. It was the student's first perm on her own.

Saturday, Mary, Verna and I went to the huge Flea Market at Winnie, Texas while the guys worked overtime. I wonder if they'll get paid time and a half, ha ha. Anyway, it's only on once a month and this was my last opportunity. I did find some treasures. Can't believe Verna came home with NOTHING... We did try out some butterfly fries, which are GREAT, and brought home a Funnel Cake. YUMMY!

The group of us went on an alligator walk after Church on Sunday and saw about a dozen alligators. Mary said she wasn't going back to Pennsylvania without seeing more alligators... They have a wildlife preserve down the road and around the corner and they have about a mile of walkway over the bayou, with several lookout points. Also saw a couple of turtles and some snakes. it was a lovely day - we had a picnic, then all went to Sulphur shopping and to Cracker Barrel for supper.

We changed to Daylight Saving Time down here and I absolutely HATE IT! Last week, we woke up at 6;30 a.m. to daylight, lovely sunshine, bright mornings, and this week it was like going back to winter again. Boy, I tell you, if they start trying to promote that back in Saskatchewan again, I'm getting on the major bandwagon against it!!! I already was against it before, but this experience cinched it. Here, especially, it doesn't pay to have extra daylight hours in the evening, because you cannot step foot outside without getting eaten alive by mosquitoes! And you certainly don't want to be opening your door, because a thousand of them are waiting to come in. We have come to think that Len is right about screens - they don't work because two mosquitos get ahold of the screen and pull it apart and the rest all come right in!

Can hardly wait to get home to see my naked dog, Abby. They had to take her in and get her clipped because she had mats and some other problems. Jughead also needed a haircut. That happens when Mom isn't there to keep them neat...

I spend hours on the computer every evening. It's very tiring. The P.A. Herald has been printing my articles and I do weekly website updates plus receive e-mails for Mary from her sister back home. She writes often. Not much, but often. I'm also doing pictures for albums for the homeowners. John says I don't even need my recliner because I'm always in the computer chair. Do love the computer desk in this rig though!

Well, that's all for now. Our love to all.

Last week of February - saying goodbye to volunteers

I should have stood BETWEEN the two cowboys.... Homeowner Archie and
fellow volunteer/Alice's cousin's husband, Bruce Isaak, from Medstead, Sk.

John's buddy, Paul Stoltzfus, on coffee break

Here I am, taping the ceiling at Myrna's house (yay, last one to go)

Myrna's house - interior still needs finishing

Website Update for the last week of February somewhat personalized for our Blog
From Johnson Bayou Senior R.V. Project

Spraying all of the ceilings in Leroy’s house with the heavy texture hopper one day and then the next day painting all of those ceilings with a long handled roller proved to be a bit much for John and he ended up with a strained chest muscle last week. He attended at the Johnson Bayou Medical Centre just to ensure his chest pain was not something serious, and the doctor confirmed strained muscles and put him on less strenuous duty. Thankfully the weekend was ahead so he could get some rest and his muscles could relax.

We had an eventful weekend. Saturday was an outing for all of us to McGee’s Landing near Breaux Bridges, for a swamp tour. Some of our volunteers said it was not really a “swamp” tour compared to others they had been on. John called it a “glorified boat ride”. We did have a lovely day for the drive and the tour. We were rather disappointed that there was only one alligator to be seen. Some of us then went to Breaux Bridges, which has a quaint little main street lined with antique shops. The rest drove to Eunice to see the Liberty Theatre presentation they had missed the weekend before.

Sunday morning, we attended the Presbyterian service at St. John’s Lutheran Church in Port Arthur. The two denominations are sharing one church building at this time. The headquarters of another volunteer organization, the Christian Reformed Church, was on this church's property in a gymnasium. They showed us around their accommodations and photos of their projects.

The Pastor of the Presbyterian Church introduced our group to his congregation, and afterwards, a very kind, elegant lady approached us and invited us to brunch at her exclusive private Country Club. I don't believe any of our group had ever been to a Country Club. It was exactly like what you see in movies. The buffet was very normal though – not fancy food at all. We learned that Mrs. Batty's ancestors were seamen at Johnson Bayou. She offered to give us a tour of Port Arthur and show us any sites we would like to see. Unfortunately, the group that we were with were on their last week of service and time was at a premium, so we were not able to take her up on her offer.

It was the nicest day we have had yet weatherwise – 83 degrees.

Monday morning, knowing we still have much to accomplish with our projects, and there were only 4 days left to work, our volunteers gave it “all they had”.

John’s “light duty” was installing the tiles in the bathroom and laundry room, laying the laminate flooring in the diningroom and kitchen, and installing the kitchen cabinets.

Bruce and Dave finished the bit of siding left to do on Myrna’s house. It was brought to light during the week in idle conversation that Bruce had last year hired someone to do the siding on his garage at home because he didn’t feel he had the time or inclination to do it. How ironic that on this mission, he spent 95% of his time doing siding!!

They then worked at Leroy’s house where Bruce laid laminate flooring and Dave installed light fixtures.

Len and Nettie painted the final coat on the ceilings at Leroy’s house on Monday. Len then put on the window casings and base boards.

Gerry continued boarding the kitchen and livingroom at Myrna’s, and Linda and Georgia started taping the back bedrooms. When Len and Nettie were finished painting at Leroy's, they came over to Myrna's and Len filled corner bead and did some second coat, and Nettie got to work taping. We three women taped the whole house, ceilings and all. M & M's mudded the nail holes and then came back and sanded them down. John worked Saturday morning and finished the second coat except for the angles, so it is ready for the next step on Monday.

The “M & M's” painted doors and enjoyed a visit with Leroy and Lorraine. They were waiting for more doors to arrive to paint for Myrna’s house, but unfortunately, the doors were delivered so late that there was only time to paint one or two.

Paul was busy with plumbing and electrical all week. It is a never-ending task.

Our devotion on Thursday morning was with the realization this would be the last time we would be meeting and we would soon be losing more than half of our “family”, plus Gerry's superb singing voice!

Wednesday evening, we had a dessert night at our RV. It was nice to get together and visit all together for one last time. It was hard to believe it was time to leave already and this was the first time we had a chance to all get together as we had done frequently the month before.

On Thursday, Jake and Verna had returned from Belize to resume their position as Project Manager. Warren (aka Noah) and Carol had filled their shoes admirably over the past month. Bruce and Dave tacked this nickname onto Warren, as he was responsible for listening for severe weather warnings on the N.O.A.H. radio.

By mid-day on Friday, 5 RV’s departed from our site, leaving three lonely couples at our camp.

John and Linda have agreed to stay for the month of March, and Paul and Mary have agreed to stay on until mid month, in order to try to finish our projects. At this point, we are expecting only one more couple to arrive for March.

Archie, the elderly homeowner who lives in our trailer park until he can move into his home, will surely miss Bruce, as he often took him his mail, and spent time visiting with him over the month he has been here. I went over and took a picture of the two “old cowboys” for posterity.

Week of February 18th MDS Website Update

Georgia and Nettie putting up bubble insulation underneath the house (6 foot pillars between house and ground)
66 feet of handicap ramp Cuddling up with Leroy's Yorkie (what a cutie)
Miss Kat and Shayne with their Hackberry Bluegrass Gospel Band

Website Update for the third week of February
From Johnson Bayou Senior R.V. Project
Submitted by Linda Braun

Monday morning, Bruce and Martha and Gerry and Georgia were excited to tell us about their weekend trip to New Orleans. They had toured the famous Laura plantation, gone on a swamp tour, toured New Orleans, including a most impressive three hour “Katrina” tour.

Dave and Maretta arrived safely back from visiting her son in Austin, Texas. They said they had a great time.

The rest of us traveled to Louisiana’s Prairie Cajun Capital and enjoyed a Cajun concert “Rendez Vous de Cajuns” at the Liberty Theatre which is broadcast on live Cajun and zydeco music radio and T.V. in the area. We also attended an afternoon Music Program at Jean Lafitte Prairie Acadian Culture Centre as well as a Cooking Demo. It was a wonderful way to spend a Saturday.
One of the things I was thinking was how much our grandchildren who are in French Immersion would enjoy this. They would be able to understand the French which we do not, and the afternoon was a children's program .

We then attended the local Baptist Church and had Sunday afternoon to ourselves to relax.

That takes care of the "time off" part of our program!

Work is progressing satisfactorily.

Bruce and Dave spent the week siding the house which is Project 4 (Myrna’s house). It is not a small house, and the two of them by themselves have been steady at it. It won’t be surprising if they don’t want to be doing siding any time soon after all the siding they have been doing with MDS!

Carol and Linda had a visit with the homeowner, Myrna, a middle aged widow, who shared her story. She will be very happy to have a home again after living in a tiny FEMA trailer for two years.

At Leroy's, during the early part of the week, John and Len completed finishing the drywall. Martha and Maretta (the M & M’s) and Nettie and Georgia painted the doors, trim and baseboards for Leroy’s house out in the storage shed. They were painting outside at first, but then the grass was being burned on a nearby bayou, and soot and ashes were falling on their newly painted masterpieces so they had to move inside.

John finished the taping on Monday and Linda cleaned up the floors. The rest of the week, John sprayed the ceilings and he and his 5 painting ladies (M & M’s, Nettie, Georgia and Linda), sanded the walls and painted the primer coat and one coat of Antique white.

Nettie and Georgia insulated the doors and windows at Myrna's house, and then Gerry and Maurice started putting up the sheetrock. Maurice came down with a bug for a couple of days, and Georgia helped Gerry board one day, and Len another.

Len and Nettie and Georgia also spent some time putting on bubble wrap insulation underneath Leroy’s house.

Paul worked on electrical wiring and plumbing all week
.
Mrs. S’s Cookie Factory was in operation for several days this week, Mrs. S. being Paul’s wife, my dear friend, Mary Stoltzfus from Pennsylvania. We were hosting the Hackberry Bluegrass Gospel Singers at the Catholic Church in Johnson Bayou on Tuesday evening instead of our Thursday evening games night. We had also invited our clients to attend for this musical evening, but only Leroy and his wife, Lorraine, were able to come. We also had the pleasure of Rene and Ruth from Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada, who had stopped in our campground on their way to Texas, attend to enjoy the music with us. They had no idea of who the Mennonites are, so we had to fill them in on our purpose and mission here.

Kathleen Sanner ("Miss Kat"), and Shayne, her singing partner, had sung a bit of a medley which included Down to the River to Pray fron O Brother Where Art Thou, when we had heard them at Ragley Country Gospel Show a couple of weeks ago, so I asked her if they could fulfil a dream of mine - to sing the whole song. I know our group has some lovely voices which would make the required choir. They were happy to accommodate, and I am happy to have it on video! A dream come true!!

We have had some nice weather, but also some more tornado warnings and wind and rain. We are relying on the Lord's protection. What a wonderful world if there were to be no such thing as a tornado to cause such havoc and destruction!