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".