January 30, 2008

Hi all,

We had a great time at NASA Kennedy Space Center. There was a simulated ride to get the feel of the G Forces and what it feels to be in space. Ken took this challenge – TWICE and thoroughly enjoyed it!

We drove to Ocala and visited with my best friend since 1968 (is that right Linda?) – anyway, it has been a long time we have been friends. We had a great time reminiscing about our black wigs, our shopping trips, her little girl (who is now 40!) riding in her VW bug with our shopping goodies surrounding her…had dinner with Linda, Tom, Ken and I at a great Italian Restaurant with humongous portions and then went to visit their home on Lake Weir. It was sad to say good-bye, but we will be getting together when we both get back from our winter hiatus.

We have arrived in Moss Point, MS to begin our mission work. We are excited about seeing all the people we have made as friends.

We had gone out to dinner with the pastor and his family and were traveling on I-10 just about 10 miles from the church and encountered an accident in process. A tractor trailer had skidded in front of us to avoid hitting the one that had partially gone over a bank and it was like slow motion. It looked like the tractor trailer was gong to hit us - all we saw was black tire smoke, heard skidding of tires and we slipped by him. We pulled over to see if we could help the man who had gone partially over the bank. He was quite shaken up as we were. While waiting for the ambulance and police, (they had gotten hung up behind us at a couple more accidents that had happened because of this one). The others were traveling too fast for conditions (it was rainy and slippery) and caused a few more hospital visits. We stayed with the man in the first accident in the rain until the ambulance came (about 45 minutes). He needed to get checked over because his chest had hit the steering wheel and his leg was bleeding. He couldn't get out of the cab until the police came, so I was talking with him so he wasn't alone. He told me he was just a new Christian and he felt that God was with him and it was by his guidance he didn't cause any more damage and that he was alive. He asked me to pray with him. I think I was put there for that reason.

We have started our work here in Moss Point. Ken is building shelves, I am 'assisting' him and when he doesn't need me, I'm updating the Katrina volunteer database. There is a group of about 10 people from NC this week. Next week a couple from New Hampshire will be here until the end of Feb.

Our RV has been behaving itself! Ken had the fuel pump replaced and hopefully that was the source of the problem that caused the breakdowns last year.

This morning we got bad news that our Aunt Winnie had passed, we will be flying to PA for the funeral.

Will update next week.

julie & ken

January 21, 2008

Hello from Cape Canaveral! We have not had any internet connections, so I have not been able to update our blog.

After leaving Bradenton and my family, we spent three days in Naples visiting friends from our church (Dixie & Rea Atwell). We have spent the day of Dixie’s birthday with her for about the past eight or nine years, so it has become an annual event which we enjoy. We did a lot of eating out and just relaxing and enjoying each others’ company. We do not usually get to do this at home because we are always too busy.

After leaving there we went back to Bradenton and spent a couple of more days with my family. My dad is still suffering with cancer and he has his good days and his bad days…he sleeps a lot of the time.

We then went to Jacksonville and visited with our son and his girlfriend, Katherine. Again, we ate out a lot! Toured the area and just enjoyed the time with our son who we don’t get to see too often. We watched the Giants/Green Bay game and thought we were cold down here (30’s)…we were glad to be sitting inside. GO GIANTS! Needless to say, I enjoyed the game – even though Ken, Tim and Katherine were for Green Bay!

We have been visiting churches in each town we are in on a weekend and have gone into their sound booth to compare and talk with their people to see if they have the same software and some of the problems we have (old habits die hard). The one we went to in Jacksonville had 18 praise band singers and 16 people different people playing instruments. The instruments were: acoustic guitar, bass guitar, regular guitar, keyboard, bongo drums, regular drums and percussions, saxophone, and trumpet. WOW! Although this is nice, I feel I would get lost and just become an envelope number. But, there were a lot of things they had going on and it was a huge church.

We are currently in Titusville, outside Cape Canaveral, which we will be touring tomorrow. We will then meet a very close, dear friend of mine in Ocala for dinner and then vacation is over…we head to Mississippi and join our church away from home…Dantzler UMC.

More later.

Love to all…keep warm…and we miss y’all!

Julie & Ken

Happy new year!

Hi All,

We are currently camped at Frog Creek Campground in Palmetto, FL after leaving a cold, wintery day on the 31st of December. We were one step ahead of the snowstorm, but did have cold nights...WVA evening was in the teens; SC was the same and FL was in the 20's...cold for down here. Yesterday it was in the 70's today it is in the 80's. Back to normal.

We enjoyed Russian Christmas with my family eating the typical Christmas dishes (all without meat) and enjoying the family. We will be here until the 11th and will leave to head to Naples to visit friends of ours from church (Dixie & Rae Atwell) for a couple of days.

Today there was a craft show in town so I took my mom and sister-in-law. My sister-in-law said it was not as big as the one before Christmas.

We will then come back here to Frog Creek for a few days before we go to Jacksonville to visit with our son and before we head to MS.

Have a great week!

julie & ken