Southern Trip

Doors and Floors

2012-03-04T19:31:00.001-08:00

This was our last week at 122 Juanita Drive and a lot has happened in this short time. 47 volunteers from Wisconsin descended upon us – one carpenter, one painter and all the rest - amateurs, but willing to learn. At one point, there were toooooo many people in the house and not quite enough jobs to go around because of some ‘re-dos’.

Volunteers everwhere!

Monday started out relatively calm, but then when the doors were to be put in, it was determined that the rough opening frame for the door was too small for the standard door that came in. So, Ken re-worked all the openings so the men could get the doors in.

Ken fixing the first of 8 incorrect door openings

Ken and Chuck(from Wisconsin) installing door

Of course, that put the painting behind schedule so we had about six women who had nothing to do.

Painting trim

Painting Doors

But then it all seemed to come together. Painting was completed, interior doors installed, trim around windows and doors installed and painted, kitchen cabinets were installed, electrical outlets and covers installed, ceramic tile installed and laminate flooring started.

Hanging Kitchen cabinets

Installing fans

Ken did make the people who trimmed out the window, take it all down and re-do it. He asked them if they would like to see that in their house and they said no. So why would you do it in someone else’s home, he queried. Once they re-did it, the remainder of the window trim was done correctly. One lady insisted on putting a ton of nails in one spot (to make sure it was secure). I counted ten nails in one seam. Marvin gave them the correct way to do it and said that if you put it in the right spot, you won’t need ten nails.

Cleaning and prepping floor

Installing Ceramic tile

Bathroom floor

On Friday we had a very short day. We were under severe storm alerts, the schools closed at noon, and UMCOR pulled all the volunteers off the job site at 10:30 am. We listened to the storm reports all evening. We got a lot of rain and wind, but no tornadoes in Tuscaloosa. Our electrician however lost his roof to straight line winds Friday night.

Wisconsin Volunteers leaving after a short day on Friday

I have been doing a lot of ‘go-for-ing’. In fact, the cashiers at Home Depot began counting as to how many times in one day I would be there.

Along with ‘supervising’, I got handy with the screw gun. Here I am screwing down the permaboard before the ceramic was being put down.

Julie hard at work

Her favorite new toy!

Left to be done this next week is laminate flooring, plumbing fixtures, final electrical and plumbing inspections -- Then Deloris will be moving in. How exciting to see completion nearing the end and how exciting it would be to see her face when she sees this.

Ken installing wood flooring

Kitchen base cabinets installed

At church today, the pastor brought us up to the front of the church to tell of our workings here in Tuscaloosa and other areas we have done disaster recovery. Of course, Ken would not say much – he let me do all the talking (go figure).

On Tuesday next week, we will be heading to Moss Point, MS where we began our inaugural initiation into becoming Disaster Recovery ‘Junkies’. We received a note from the pastor’s wife wanting to know when we would be arriving, as people have been expecting us. Then onto Beaumont, TX to visit with Pastor Billy and his wife, Dawn, who we worked with in Galveston.

Make a note: those of you planning on doing a mini mission trip, please sign up for June 11-15 to eastern PA to help with the flooding. If you have never done one, this is an experience you won’t forget and will learn more about helping others. Who knows – maybe you will become a Disaster Junkie! So keep posted as we lead members from our church to experience this wonderful ministry.
More to come as we come to an end of our mission trip.

Posted: March 4, 2012

(Our 15 sec of fame!)

2012-03-03T06:47:00.000-08:00

Julie was interviewed by an AP reporter during our work here in Tuscaloosa. I show up in the video briefly (wearing a black Purdue sweatshirt).

Here is the link to the video:

http://screen.yahoo.com/disaster-junkies-help-communties-rebuild-28485593.html

If you want to read the complete interview, go to this link:

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_SEVERE_WEATHER?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2012-03-02-18-22-20

Then go to the search box on the left side, Search for "Disaster Junkies" .

(Our 15 sec of fame!)

One of the reasons we are here

2012-02-26T16:47:00.000-08:00

Hello friends,

The weather has gotten better - cool at night, warm during the day - at least if you put it into "perspective" of north vs. south.

Our week continued in building the handicap ramp, which is now complete. Ken and Tom put the ballisters on the ramp while Deb and Barry trimmed out the porch. Yes, it would have been nice to have enhanced the railing with spindles and be able to use metal brackets and bar for the handicap rail, BUT, all of those things would have cost an extra $$$ which we could use elsewhere. They made it work with what we had. The American Disabilities Act code is very specific as to the height and spacing. Using discarded pieces of 2×4 for blocks to hold the railing along the sides and applying liquid nails and screws to secure together. It met the code, so Ken, Tom and Barry’s job was done.

Completed handicapped ramp

Ken built an extra shelf for me inside the UMCOR trailer to help keep it organized. Of course, everyone must bend down to see it - it is at my level - OOPS.

Ken adding shelf

Inside the house there was sanding and mudding of the walls and ceilings left to do before paint was to be applied. I had done a little too much sanding and floating that my right arm was paining me and it was difficult to do a lot of things because of the brace I was wearing. I felt totally useless because I could not help inside, and UMCOR had no groups scheduled this week, but at the last moment we were blessed to have a crew of ten from outside of Cleveland, OH to help with this. They were so eager, that we let them sand, prime and paint the ceilings and walls. Now it is looking like a house and closer to moving into.

One of the volunteers from Ohio

One day a road crew was ripping and tarring the road. A few volunteers were standing in a circle talking when one of the men drove up and yelled out his window, “Do y’all take prayer requests?” I know I, as well as the group looked at him quizzically, but one of the mission organizers (Paul) told him, “Come on! Park that truck and come over here.” Paul said that there was no reason they couldn’t pray for him right here and now. The truck driver parked his truck and came over for prayer. Apparently, he and his girlfriend were having some difficulties and they had been praying for guidance in their lives. The group prayed for him and after thanking them, he put his truck in reverse and drove back to his job of dumping asphalt. He stopped in the next day and said that the prayer gave him a peace he had never felt before and he was ready for what God had in store for him. This is one of the reasons we are here! You never know when you can touch someone. The driver said that he had asked another group at a previous house to pray for him and they wanted to have him make an appointment. Our group was in the right place at the right time.

On Friday, the local Police officer who has been patrolling the area stopped in to see the house and talk and thank the volunteers. He spent about half an hour talking about what had happened before, during and after the storm. The volunteers had many questions for him and he was very obliging about talking about the storm.

Local Police from Tuscaloosa giving encouragement to volunteers

There are times when you are on a job site that you must make the most of a moment. As I was helping Ken with the railing, I noticed a pattern in the wood – to me it looked like a woman. Of course, Ken and a few others said that it was ‘KNOT’ a person nor was the other one an angel – I saw it with my artistic mind. Can’t you see it?

Woman in the knot of the wood

Angel in the knot of the wood

Deloris stopped by prior to completion of her ramp and made her initial walk. She was so elated as she walked up the ramp, clutching onto Deb (volunteer from York, PA) and exclaiming through tears, how wonderful it was, and that she had never seen anything so beautiful. I think her joy made her move faster than I have seen her move in the past.

We ventured out on Saturday for a tour of the area and some of the architectural highlights: Bama Theatre, one of the oldest operating theaters in Tuscaloosa decorated in the Moorish style of Renaissance Spain; the Battle-Friedman House and Gardens which has an elaborate architectural detail built in the early 1800’s built with brick 18” thick. Another house we saw was the Maxwell Peters Home built in the 1860’s with its English architecture – so much architecture from so many areas.

The First Presbyterian Church is a neo-Gothic church built in 1921. There are a variety of antiques consisting of a 15^th century German and Flemish stained glass and a 16^th century Italian baptismal font.

Baptismal font

One of the stained glass windows

Another stained glass window

University of AL had a Round House built in 1860 to shelter sentinels serving guard duty at the University as part of the military system to preserve order among the students during the Civil War.

Round House

The Gorgas House is the oldest building on the campus. This was one of the buildings spared when Croxton’s soldiers burned structures on the campus in 1865.

Gorgas House

Of course, I gravitated towards the Arts & Sciences Department and Ken felt it had some ‘interesting’ statuary. This one caught my eye. It looks like a fallen robot.

Robot?

We drove up to an area that was hard hit and throughout our drive you see “stars” scattered all over the area of Holt and are called “Stars for Holt”. The children from the local elementary school painted the stars. Holt has come together stating (with these stars) that they will return and restore their neighborhood. One looks at all the debris and wonder how much time it will take – but it is also a reminder of all that still needs to be done.

Star of Hope

This says it all!

There was a lone red door in the middle of the field as we were touring and we stopped and got out to check it out. It was a ‘safe fallout shelter’ that made it through the storm, as I am sure did the people. Ken went down to take pictures, and there were still remnants of what had been left behind.

Lone red door in open field

Inside the fallout shelter

Inside of fallout shelter

This is our last week here in Tuscaloosa and we will be anticipating the swarm of 50 people blessing us with their help this week. We will be painting trim, hanging doors, and hopefully installing flooring and cabinetry. Deloris will be so excited when she comes in this week.

The friends we have made from our onset here are leaving us. Tom from Iowa left on Saturday, Barry and Deb from York, PA will be leaving us on Monday. Barry and Deb have been working here since Jan., Tom started in Oct. It has been a pleasure working with them and becoming friends. These are people you do not forget as they are – DISASTER RECOVERY JUNKIES! Just like us.

Barry & Deb from York, PA

Ken and Tom from Iowa

Stay tuned.

ANOTHER WEEK ON JUANITA DRIVE –SETTING MANY POSTS IN CONCRETE

2012-02-20T05:42:00.000-08:00

Hello----

This has been a very productive week. We had a team from IN who professed to be drywallers. Drywallers is what we needed! However, only about two of the 17 people knew how to hang drywall correctly. But with a bit of instruction from Ken & Marv, they were doing good. They hung all the drywall in a day and half and then began floating and taping and sanding. By the end of the week, we have two coats of sheet rock mud on on and need one more coat, then final sanding, and then we can paint.

Drywall being delivered

Drywallers

One of the team members was a college student from Purdue
and she was a very enthusiastic and wanting to learn type of girl. She learned how to hang drywall (she was the youngest so it was easier for her to climb on the scaffolding), drill and screw into the drywall, cut and measure drywall, tape and float and sand. One day she was sanding and she told me she would rather be outside. The men were digging holes for the posts for the handicap ramp with a jack hammer and I asked her if she would like to give it a try. Her eyes lit up like a Christmas tree. She was catching on quite well and enjoyed it – so much so that Marvin had her bust up concrete to put a small drain in the driveway. Then she helped assemble the slats on the ramp with Ken’s trusty driver. She was like a sponge. She told us that she had never done any of this type of construction and was excited to learn – she was a good student.

Danielle - our eager college student running the jack hammer

We had an accident on our last day where my first aid training came in handy. One of the elderly ladies Carolyn, (late 70’s) was on a scaffold and it wasn’t fastened securely and she fell off, gouging her hand in several places – blood EVERYWHERE! I doctored her up and encouraged her to go to the hospital to get a couple of stitches in her hand and she flatly refused. So I taped her gash where she had lost the skin tightly and put a bandage tightly over the section that needed a stitch or two. Later that evening when we were at the play, the pastor (a paramedic/EMS) said I did a good job and she had agreed that she should have gone for stitches, but she said that I had pulled the skin tightly together that it looked like it would heal back together. Carolyn sat next to me and she said her hand throbbed, so I gave her an Excedrin and about an hour later she said it had stopped. I am sure she is gong to be quite sore, she has bruising on her arm and back where we think she had fallen.. She doesn’t remember how she fell or where – just remembers falling.

First United Methodist Church of Tuscaloosa encourages mission teams to share Wednesday night family night with them each week. Meals are free and are quite good – grilled cod, chicken over rice, mixed veggies, yeast rolls – there were over 150 church members there. This week there will be an Ash

Wednesday service after the dinner.

There was also another small team of five that were from York, PA that worked on a double wide trailer’s roof. Shirley, the homeowner, had brought her whole family into the house (25 people living in a double wide!). The storm damaged the roof and it was leaking onto where the children were sleeping on the couch. She had no stove so she was using a George Foreman grill. She currently has 17 family members living with her who have been displaced. She is handicapped and depressed. One of the other team leaders just sat and talked with her – sometimes that is all that they want – someone they can talk to – this is a process of healing for them.

The team from IN had invited us to dinner on Thursday and we gave a presentation of behind the scenes of UMCOR and how they determine who gets what and what the process is. Fortunately, I had done some intake and case management at Galveston and some in MS so I was able to give them a bit more information than they came in with. Ken filled in the gaps where I was not able to answer. We make a great team! I spoke with one of the Case Managers on Thursday and his assistant is going to CA to visit her grandbaby and when he found out I had done some case management, he said he would be checking with my “bosses” to see if they would release me to help him out for the remainder of the month. I hope so.

Deloris (the homeowner) came with her grandson, BoBo, and she was in tears to see what had been accomplished. The last time she had been in the house it had only the studs in. She is so very happy to see it coming to completion. We are hoping to be here when she does move in. We are shooting for the end of the month. In two weeks we are to have 50 people here, so it looks like it might be close.

Julie, Doloris, BoBo

Ken has worked on the handicap ramp extension – it is beautiful.

Ken checking over the drawing

Ken coming down his almost completed ramp

We went to a play with the group from IN called “Noises”. It was about behind the scenes of flubs of a play. It was hysterical.

Visit with my brother, Butch and his family
Melissa, Butch, Jeremy, Julie & Jessica

That's all from Tuscaloosa this week.

NUTS AND BOLTS AND SCREWS – OH MY!

2012-02-12T15:58:00.000-08:00

Another week on the job site. It rained three days last week which hampered doing any work outside, however, we did try to get some stuff done in between raindrops.

Ken has been working on installing the steps to the front of the house, which has been a bit tough. The specs were a little off (1/2”) and they had to redo them for it to pass the inspector's scrupulous eyes.

The infamous steps and railing Ken has been working on

I have been nicknamed “Cage Room Queen”. The Site Manager wanted to have the UMCOR trailer organized, so I put in screws to hang hoses on, nails to put other tools off the floor. Then I took inventory of all that was in the trailer. I made sure the people on site returned everything at the end of the day. One of the things I had to do was put the nuts, bolts and screws that were just thrown on a table into the correct box. Betsy where are you when I need you – I know you would know the names of these blasted things. (Betsy & Gregg owned Fairview Hardware a few years back and Betsy was always doing inventory and could identify everything!)

Julie after organizing the UMCOR trailer

The mish-mosh of nails and screws to be sorted

We had a team from York, PA come down for the week and they worked on a roof and picking up debris. Their last day, they began hanging sheet rock on the ceilings. Ken sheet rocked a closet while waiting for the rain to stop.

Team from York, PA and Ken & Julie

Ken found an aerial picture of the subdivision we are working in that was taken 3 days after the storm. The arrow points to the house we are rebuilding. Compare this to the Google picture of this same subdivision before the Tornado.

Before the tornado at 122 Juanita Drive

After the tornado at 122 Juanita - note house is next to arrow - this is the house we are working on

We were invited to the Construction Supervisor’s lake home. He told us it was a “pole house”. To me a “pole house” is a like a “pole barn”. Was I surprised! It took him four years to build it and the “poles” were telephone poles that support the house. The largest pole was 45’ tall.

Our hosts: BeBe & Marvin McKinley

Inside the "pole house" - notice
the poles along the wall

Of course, you don’t have a great view of Lake Tuscaloosa without going through logging roads and dirt roads. In fact, the road to his house was quite steep (see picture). We had to take a running start to get up the other side. But, very worth it!

The long, 45 degree slope road

The weather here turned out to be quite chilly…27 degrees when we woke up this morning (Sunday). They are predicting snow flurries for tomorrow morning and rain the rest of the week. We went to First United Methodist Church of Tuscaloosa this morning for their 11:00 Contemporary service. The service is called “The Bridge”. They have an awesome praise band and an amazing sound and projection system.

Praise Band at FUMC - The Bridge

Here is a picture of our “home away from home” and our construction vehicle complete with Asbury Mission sign - more updates next week. K & J

Home away from home aka
our rolling condo

Proud to be part of a Mission Team from
AUMC

Update from Tuscaloosa, AL

2012-02-05T15:26:00.000-08:00

Hello to all,

We arrived in Tuscaloosa, AL and began to work on Wednesday. We are at a campground about ten miles from our job site. The area we are working is a subdivision called Druid Hills. All the homes in this subdivision were completely destroyed. Most of the debris has been removed, and all that is left of the homes is the concrete slabs. The house we are working on belongs to an elderly woman, handicapped and very sweet. This house is nearing completion, most of the exterior work is done, all that remains is some siding, the porch steps, railing, and a handicap ramp. The interior is all studded out, electrical, plumbing, and HVAC are installed. We are currently waiting for the HVAC inspection before we can start insulating and putting up dry wall.

Ken and I were initially assigned to building a set of exterior steps for the front porch. It took Ken and I

two days to complete from measuring to cutting to nailing, etc. My first set of steps – Ken has done this before. Ken and another worker started to attach them to the porch and got rained out. While Ken was working with the steps, I worked with 3 other women wrapping siding around a window and nailing into place. I worked on organizing the UMCOR Construction trailer…it was quite a mess…but I will get it in order. My other task has been keeping the work site cleaned up.

Ken cutting steps

Ken adjusting step

Julie admiring the steps they made together

Devastation

More devastation

The house next door is very close to completion, it is a project that volunteers from Samaritan’s Purse are working on. This week there was a team of 15 from Northeast/Harborcreek, PA! It was quite a surprise to find another team from our area. When we met the team, we also found out that a team from Weis Library in Erie was working with Samaritan’s Purse just last week! On Friday, there were putting final touches on this house and will have an open house and dedication next week.

This Sunday we went to the First United Methodist Church of Tuscaloosa contemporary service, called “The Bridge” – it was the youth program – WOW! What energy! They even had fog machines. We have been asked to come to Wednesday night activities: dinner, Bible study, etc. It is a buffet and they charge $6 per person, but we will be the pastor’s guests on Wednesday.

Contemporary Service ("The Bridge") - note fog machine

Praise band - note 'living room' furniture

Next week a team of 7 from York, PA will be here to help insulate and start sheetrock work. Ken will be working on the deck railing and maybe start working on a 37’ handicap ramp. I will also be picking out the flooring and tile next week.

More pictures and update coming next weekend.

Blessings to all,

julie & ken

Update #2 - last of vacation before mission work

2012-01-30T07:48:00.000-08:00

Hello all,

Sunday (15^th of January), we arrived in Cape Canaveral and met up with our friends, Gregg & Betsy (from Girard). We met up with Charlie and Joyce – Charlie and I go waaaay back to the 70’s when we worked at King’s College and have been friends ever since. They are really enjoying the South since retiring from King’s College. Joyce volunteers part-time a couple of days a week at an exercise/gym and Charlie volunteers at a hospital and does meals on wheels.

Julie, Charlie & Ken

We did a lot of walking, eating in local “family” establishments and sightseeing. Our sightseeing included going to Port Canaveral to see the cruise ships and the flea market, in fact, we went to two flea markets (there are a lot of them around here), Melbourne and the botanical gardens and planetarium, visited and reminisced with Charlie and Joyce and then before we knew it our week was over. And the BEST thing we saw was the military missle launch from the Cape! We watched it from the beach, which was only a block and half from the condo. Thank you, Janet, for letting us use your condo!

Ken, Gregg & Betsy taking a rest in Botanical Gardens

Ken & Julie hiking in Botanical Gardens

We heard about the recent tornado devastation near Tuscaloosa, AL where we are heading to do our mission work. We will be contacting them to see if we will be doing ‘first responder’ work instead of ‘disaster recovery’. This would be a new area for us. Fortunately, we have our UMCOR and UMVIM badges as FEMA will only let those people in, but it is a whole different way of ‘recovery’.

Our next trip was to visit my best friend, Linda and Tom, in The Villages. As you have heard me say in my blog, Linda and I have been best friends since the late 60’s. We did a lot of reminiscing and met some of their neighbors and topped the evening off with dinner at their Country Club and watched the sun set – what a beautiful sight.

Julie & Linda

Sunset at The Villages

We travelled to S.C. and met Ellen at our usual place - Carrabbas (can you tell it is one of our favorite restaurants?). Again we caught up on all that has happened in her life and ours over the last year. Ellen and I worked as a team doing event and party planning together for Fluor Daniel and had a great time doing it – we complimented each other and we had fun doing it.

Julie, Ken & Ellen

We then had our last visit before beginning our work with our daughter, Karen. Ken and Karen went for bike rides during the day, played with the dog and picked up limbs from the yard for the coolness of the evening (got down to 27 degrees two nights in a row). We went out on Saturday evening to the Boathouse with Karen’s friends, Janice & David, and then to the Ailey Ballet. What a marvelous way to put Christian Spiritual songs to the ballet. The first part of it was left to the imagination as to what they were dancing about, but after the intermission it came to life and the Bible stories (Daniel, Abraham Parting of the Seas, and others based on the Revelations) were brought to life so beautifully. On Friday after hard rains Wed and Thu, there was a rock slide that closed one of the few roads up Signal Mountain to Karen’s home. Karen and Ken hiked down the road to view the damage.

Julie, Karen & Ken at the Boat House for dinner before the ballet

Switchbacks on the "W"

Ken standing in front of the rock slide on the "W"

Julie & Karen pausing in front a waterfall

Ken & Karen pausing in front of a waterfall while on a hike

Karen and our 'grandpuppy' "Goose"

It is hard to believe all the miles we have already put on the RV and our bodies since we left less than a month ago…Girard to IL to Bradenton to Naples to Cape Canaveral to The Villages to Greenville, SC to Chattanooga, TN and now to our real reason for coming down – Tuscaloosa, AL

Keep posted for updates on our mission work.

Blessings,
julie & ken

Southern Trip update #1

2012-01-18T15:48:00.000-08:00

January 2, 2012

Happy New Year to all – I pray it was a safe one and everyone has a prosperous new year.

It looks like we have made it out of PA before the snow hit.

We took a side trip from PA to IL to visit with my mother, sister and family. Mom is the same-- stubborn and not wanting to do anything for herself. However, after the second day, I got tired of her laying in bed and told her that she would be wheeling herself down to the cafeteria. We would be with her, but she would be ‘wheeling’ herself down without any assistance and she had a half hour to get there. The aide looked at me like I was probably the cruelest person on earth, as did her roommate. Mom’s rehab has stopped so she gets no exercise. If this is her only exercise then so be it, but she was not going to lay in bed. She didn’t fight with me about it, just complained that she couldn’t do it…she was too tired. Explaining to her that the reason was no activity and she chose to be this way, she needed a little more exercise. It took her about 15 minutes and she was able to do it. She stopped a few times to rest, but she got there! What an accomplishment for her. So, my sister, Helen will time her visits near meal time and force mom to do the same thing, without the assistance of any aides. According to IL state law, if the patient does not want to do something, they don’t have to and this includes any type of rehab or exercise. So we are taking drastic measures now – we will make sure she gets some type of exercise even if it is only for 15 minutes a day.

We have a tradition when we visit my sister, that the parents-in-law, my sister and her family and Ken and I go out to Monical’s Pizza before we leave. This is still a ‘tradition’ and we have kept and had a great time.

Ron & Nancy Smith
Helen's in-laws

Blake, Helen & Julie
at Monical's

Campgrounds were sporadic, limited winter facilities (which means only electric) and far and few between, so we had to make sure when we drove it was to where a campground was open. The further south we got, the better it was.

We wanted to go out for supper one night when we camped and saw a sign - here it is - but, it was closed.

Big Bubba Bucks Belly Bustin BBQ Ribs

We spent a marvelous warm week in Bradenton – relaxing, but busy with camp activities, Ken washing and waxing the RV. I had to make an unscheduled trip to a chiropractor here in Bradenton – my fingers were going numb and so was my right leg – a definite indication of a pinched nerve. It was my sister-in-laws chiropractor and although he was older than I, he was good. However, I have been sore from the deep massage he gave me, but my numbness is gone – hopefully until we get home.

My brother, George, mentioned that he had set up a tour for Ken & me to see George Steinbrenner Field in Tampa, the Yankee's spring training camp. Needless to say, I was ecstatic! We got to see places where a person off the street could not get to. I have been a die-hard fan, through good times and bad times, and this was a life-long dream of mine. Stepping out onto the pitcher’s mound and catcher’s mound made me feel like I was a part of the Yankees. And to be able to walk down the “hall” where all the old timers have been was another thrill. If only the walls could talk. Our “tour guide” also gave me some mementos that I will cherish! I can cross this off my “bucket list”.

Julie & Ken on the pitcher's mound at
NY Yankees' spring training camp in
Tampa, FL

We went to church on the Sunday we were in Bradenton and what a surprise we had – the guest speaker was Rev. Lou Pomrenke! We couldn’t believe it – he says he has very fond memories of Asbury and said to tell all hello.

Lou Pomrekne & Julie
Previous pastor of Asbury UMC

Our last day in Bradenton, we had dinner with a childhood neighbor and classmate of Ken’s. We met Robin, after her day of golfing, and went out to dinner at an Italian restaurant in Lakewood Ranch. We laughed and reminisced and got to see a new home she is bidding on.

We spent a couple of days in Naples with Dixie & Rea to celebrate Dixie’s birthday. Another tradition we continue. Dixie is such a great cook – she spoiled us with her cooking. We played ‘hearts’ and relaxed in nice warm weather. Our first night, we went to their “family night” evening at church. Their dinner was catered by Cracker Barrel. Friday, the 13^th was Dixie’s birthday – a big one that she wasn’t handling well – we took her and Rea to a restaurant and had pizza. That night we went to a very exciting hockey game. The Methodist Church they belong to had a mini bus and took 15 of us to the game. This is the way to go – no driving, no parking, leave the driving to someone else. Although it was a minor league of Minnesota, it was quite exciting! And they won! A fun time was had by all. We had to say goodbye to Dixie and Rea until they come home in May.

Dixie & Rea Atwell

We are currently in Cocoa Beach, FL at a condo we are sharing with our friends, Gregg & Betsy (from PA). We are renting it from a very near and dear friend of mine from my days at King's College. Thank you Janet! More on this part of our trip on the next update.

Stay warm - we are - it got up to 80 today!

Julie & Ken

Our Assignment for 2012

2011-12-13T15:23:00.000-08:00

Hello to all our followers,

It is getting near the time we will be leaving.
We will first visit relatives and friends along the way to FL and then will proceed to our assignment in TUSCALOOSA, ALABAMA!

Tuscaloosa was hit with the same F5 tornado that Joplin was, but Tuscaloosa (like Moss Point and Galveston) did not receive the money or help needed. It seems that everyone went to Joplin - money, people, etc. Therefore, Ken and I will be going to a very needy area in the NW area where 5 Methodist churches were totally wiped out and about 23 were severely damaged. It looks like we will have our work cut out for us. We are looking forward to this challenge.

Keep checking on our blog to see what we are up to and where we are.

Have a very Merry Christmas and safe New Year.

julie & ken

Last update

2011-03-18T15:48:00.000-07:00

Hello all,

We left KOA in Abilene, TX and 39 degrees on March 6. It took us THREE (3) days to finally get out of the state of Texas.

We revisited my niece, Alyanna and her family, made home-made lasagna, played with the children. They convinced us to play Kinect(X-BOX)where we played white water rafting. Ken and I felt like we had been to exercise class. They are tougher than they look – but fun. The kids sure enjoyed it.

Leaving AR and heading to Chattanooga, thunderstorms were predicted for our travels with hail in some areas. The cold front hit that evening. It is quite beautiful – the trees are just trying to bud out, the crocus are out and daffodils and my allergies are in full swing!

Received news from a friend of our in Wilkes-Barre and she had to be evacuated because of the rains in NY. There is a creek near her house which has begun to flood and it will come to the point where she will be stranded so she headed up the mountain for safety. Prayers for her (Barbara).

A pleasant stop was to visit with our daughter while in Chattanooga. It was beautiful on top of Signal Mountain. Karen is now on her way to Baja, Mexico.

A co-worker that was involved in Event and Party Planning with me when I worked Fluor Corp. was on our visitation list. We did our annual “Carrabas dinner” and had a great time catching up with her and her little boy.

Ellen & Julie

Ides of March brought us to my sister, Helen’s, house. Many of you remember Helen when she was the Nursery Attendant at the church and her son, Blake, who was in Sunday School and her husband, Mike. We were quite busy. We visited Heritage Woods where my mother will be living and got things together so she could be there in May. Helen volunteers at The Angel Closet, which is a thrift store, and I went for the morning which was quite nice – the people that came in were a delight to talk to. All purchases are done by donation. The lady who runs it only needs enough to pay the rent and electric of the building. A great service to the community.

Helen, Blake & Julie

We spent St. Patrick’s Day by celebrating our anniversary with my sister and her family and her in-laws. We went to a great pizza place called Monicals.

We plan on being home on late Saturday, March 19. HOORAY!

See ya'll soon,

julie & ken

long over due update - Vacationing

2011-03-06T06:36:00.000-08:00

Hello to all (while I have a good connection, I am going to update),

We can now say that we have traveled all the time zones in the U.S.

Judy & Julie

Judy and Fred

If you are a ‘reader’ of our blog, you will remember from my trip to the Ukraine and Slovakia I had a “roomie” named Judy. We were invited to her house in Phoenix for a visit and were introduced to her family. It was Presidents’ Day so she had her family over for a buffet. What a feast she and Fred had. It was so nice to see Judy and share with her family our fiascos in Europe. Ken said he could see why we hit it off so well – we were so much alike! Scary that there is another Julie, right?

We stayed a couple of days at the Black Canyon, AZ KOA. They had ‘rock finding’ trips, so I thought, why not. When I inquired, they said they would give me a bag of dirt and a sifting pan and take me out by the chicken coop and I could sift the dirt and I was guaranteed to find some type of “rock”. This was not what I had wanted to do. I wanted to go out to the field and sit in the dirt and look for my own rocks with a shovel and pick. Oh well.

We had stayed the extra day so that we could visit Sedona and its red mountains and tour the area around Sedona. Overnight it had snowed and we found out that some of the areas we wanted to visit were closed because of the snow. One of the towns, Jerome, had received a lot of snow and they had the road closed.

Sedona's red mountains

Sunset

On our way west, there were so many mountains, formations, cacti, and many “Kodak moments”. I took many, many pictures of all these delightful sights. And many of you who know me, when I take pictures, I take LOTS of pictures.

We originally were going to go to CA to visit with Tim and Kat but Tim thought it would be a better idea if he and Kat met us in Las Vegas to avoid the ‘mountain pass’ and high gas prices. We are so glad that we did not have to drive the 11% grade. We had an 8% grade and although the “Admiral” made it, it was hard on the RV. Besides, they had snow and were closing down some of the highways – not a place we wanted to be in an RV. Although we climbed to 7000 feet and the ‘Admiral’ did quite well.

One of the areas we climbed was Humphreys Peak at an elevation of 12,570 feet. Beautiful!

Tim & Kat arrived late Thursday evening and went to dinner at Longhorn –steak, potatoe and salad deal - $5.99 We were very fortunate that Tim had our weekend planned – we didn’t have to think of anything to occupy our time.

Our first morning started out by bowling, right after breakfast. The first game was warm-up; the second, the girls beat the guys.

Girls beat the guys

The early morning bowlers

In the hotel where Tim & Kat stayed (across from the RV park we were at), I believe there was a Santa Clause convention. Everywhere you looked, there were Santas.

Santa convention

After our bowling, our Full day with Tim & Kat began. When you are with Tim you have to have your walking shoes on. We walked EVERYWHERE! By the end of the first evening our feet and knees were sore.

We did a lot of free exhibits: lions, tigers and bears, oh my! Greek mythology exhibit, volcano display, various animated water displays, Japanese flower displays, rabbits (in observance of Japanese new year), glass flowers, vortexes and best of all the largest chocolate fountain!

Japanese glass tree

Glass flowers

Year of the Rabbit

Tim & Kat

World's LARGEST chocolate fountain-YUM!

Kat and I could have just layed down and just drink from the fountain.

We saw a “Fat Elvis” show – his voice was so close to Elvis, but his weight was not, and he had lost 300 pounds over the past four years. I am guessing he probably weighed close to 600 pounds because he looked like he still weighed 300 pounds.

We purchased a 24 hour Buffet pass for as many buffets as you could eat in 24 hours. We had three – it was so much food, and desserts, but Tim was able to eat as may crab legs at each buffet. He is a crab leg addict. To me, they are too much work.

I was disappointed as we crossed over the new bridge, both to and from Hoover Dam. I was expecting to see the Dam (like we were able to with the old bridge) but you could not see it at all. Lake Mead’s water was low but beautiful, with the snow-capped mountains in the background.

Hoover Dam from new bridge (I held the cameral over my head to get this shot (not too good either).

As I am writing this, we are leaving the West and starting our trek home. On the highway, there are many RVs heading west – it is Nascar Race week in Las Vegas.

We overnighted in Case Grande, AZ, not too far from Al & Char Richards. They are members of our church and are visiting their son in Chandler. (I took my camera along and did not get a picture taken). Char, as always, made a terrific meal (Bolainnise), salad, garlic bread and strawberry shortcake for dessert. She said she had just seen it on the tv and wanted to try it. It was perfect. Thank you Char! Even though we only live ten miles away from each other, we find that we are able to visit with our friends as we travel (and they are vacationing) than we can at home. Our schedules get so busy at home.

We are making an overnight stop in Van Buren, AR to visit with my niece and her family one more time – hopefully they will come out during the summer. We miss so much with them being so far away.

NOTE TO JUDI at MIJB: We are still at least three week from getting home.

We will visit Karen in Chattanooga before she heads out to Baja, CA for a two week vacation, my friend, Ellen in SC and perhaps an aunt and uncle in MD (all depends on the weather).

Blessings to all and see you soon,

julie & ken

it has been some time since my last post

2011-02-20T18:19:00.000-08:00

Hello to all,

Our internet connections have been sporadic, therefore, we have not had an update recently.

So, I will try to put a lot into this one.

We said good-bye to Galveston and the people we met on this mission trip. You always grow attached to those you work with. We are looking forward to seeing how far John and Denise have gotten next year.

The weather in Dallas and Arkansas had kept us stranded in Houston for four days AR had over a foot of snow, Dallas had snow and ice – we thought we would stay where we were until it warmed up a bit. If we were only driving the SUV we would have ventured up, but the ‘Admiral’ RV does not do as well as a car in the ice and snow…it is a moving accident looking for a place to happen.

We visited with my nieces (the two on the right) and their families. It was great to see them - we spent three hours in the restaurant getting caught up. I wish they lived closer and we could see each other more often.

Cook family reunion - my brother, Butch's daughters and
their families, including baby Ty

We visited Fluor Daniel, my former employer, and found that most everyone I worked with was either sick, retired or left the company. Roz and Shirley were out sick, Patti (my previous boss) was in meetings all day and Marilyn was working on a deadline. We visited with her for a few minutes and went into visit Joannie who worked in the next office to me, until the new CEO came in.

Marilyn - my co-worker at Fluor Daniel
Marilyn is an excellent graphic artist

Had a lovely dinner with my friend, Sally, her husband Donny and daughter, Heather. Sally is currently working part-time and has been running a few marathons and keeping up with Heather and her soccer team while Donny continues to put in long hours at work.

Ken, Heather, Julie & Sally
Sally & I worked at Texas Children's Hospital together and
have been friends since.

Donny, Heather & Sally Valentine

We were able to connect with a friend I worked with at Fluor and had lost contact with for twelve years, JuJu,. We caught up on the past twelve years – she has had quite a lot happen in her life since we worked together – including being on the Judge Judy show!

Julie & JuJu - co-workers at Fluor Daniel

A surprising sight are the FEMA trailers that have appeared in the car lots. I do not understand how they can sell them when they were to be destroyed by FEMA because of the formaldehyde in them.

FEMA trailers - condemned by FEMA
now being sold to the public

As we left on Thursday, the temperature was 28 degrees with a chill factor of 19. It promised to be colder in Dallas and it was.

Another “word of wisdom” in the RV technology. After it rains and you know it is going to get cold (below freezing) make sure the awnings have no rain water that has accumulated on them. The slides have a difficult time coming in with the awning frozen with rain water on them. Fortunately, the awning was in the morning sunlight and after an hour it had thawed enough to fully retract.

We then headed to Dallas (Rockwall) where Ken’s previous secretary, Jackie and her family live. We visited with them for the evening and head to AR. Sarah, Jackie’s daughter, is due to have her baby in two weeks. So preparations are being made for an additional house guest. As of this writing, Sarah had her baby a couple of days after we left. Jackie and Steve were thankful that it didn’t happen during the last snow storm.

My niece, Aly, called to make sure Ken and I had our flu shots (I do, Ken doesn’t). Their two year old (Airyãnnã) was running a temperature of 105.5 and the doctor wanted to make sure anyone over 60 was aware of the dangers. The only thing Airyãnnã had besides the temperature was an enormous appetite and very cranky. They have put her on medicine to bring down the temperature.

We arrived in AR and had a terrific time with my niece and her husband and our great-niece and great-nephews. We went to a beauty pageant with Airyãnnã - even though she was not feeling good, she wanted to go. She loves to dress up. Her brothers are troopers too and sit through the pageant. They are so proud of their sister. We went to a valentine’s party in both boys’ class and helped serve the ‘goodies’ and then we sent them home to their parents all with a ‘sugar high’. Both boys (and I) wore our wild, tie-dyed shirts from Asbury's Music Camp - they love those shirts.

Airyanna getting her hair
done before the pageant

Airyanna with her
Valentine's dress in
the pageant

Ken and I played basketball with Austin. I was beating Austin and one of his friends was sitting watching us and said: “Austin, your grandmother is beating you!” Ken informed him I was his great aunt and the little boy said, “She has white hair like a grandmother”. Anyway, I beat Austin at basketball. Ken did too. Ken took Airyãnnã and her puppy, Hercules, for a bike ride and came back exhausted. Besides, pulling a small trailer behind his bike that weighed about 30 pounds and then Airyãnnã who weighed 36 pounds, pedaling up hills – he was dragging. Ken enjoyed it.

Airyanna & Hercules

Ken bicycling/towing
Airyanna & Hercules

I surprised Aly with a scrapbook
of all her baby pictures - Michael,
her husband is looking on

Ken & Airyanna (she loves her
Uncle "Kenny")

Austin playing cards with me

Keifer wearing our Music
Camp t-shirt which he
loves!

Unhappily, we left AR and headed to the Davis Mountains where we will spend a couple of days and then visit with a friend from our church (Kathie Shappeck) in CA before we meet up with our son, Tim and his wife, Kat.

It was so desolate in the Davis Mountains/Big Bend Area. There is actually a college here in Alpine, Sul Ross State University. Surprising.

We stopped at the Marfa Mystery light sighting point. It is a famous area where they cannot seem to explain mystery lights the occur occasionally. Many theories are: swamp gas, phosphorescent mineral displays, ball lightning, UFO’s or secret chemicals left by the US Army or even spirits of Apache ancestors. Let your mind wander. We did, however, see that the US Airforce in Marfa had a research stations outside the city limits. Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

We spent the day at MacDonald Observatory, one of the major astronomical research facilities in the world. We explored the “decoding starlight” exhibits, various astronomical presentations, the solar viewing program where we viewed sunspots, flares and much more.

We then took the guided tour where we were able to view the research telescopes up close. I even was able to ‘move’ the 104” telescope – such power moving 11 tons of equipment with the touch of a finger.

31" mirrored telescope that we
were able to maneuver.

Our day concluded with a “Star Party” where we were able to view various stars, constellations, planets and much more not visible to naked eye through various sizes of telescopes. Also, the space station went whizzing by. It was quite awesome even though the moon was a full moon.

We will be leaving the Davis Mountains, TX on Sunday to head to AZ and CA and visit with Judy, Kathie & and our son and his wife.

We were driving through El Paso, TX and into NM were we encountered quite treacherous driving…dust storms and winds that could move the RV into another lane.

Temperatures when we were in the Davis Mountains were in the mid 80's. We are in Willcox, AZ and it is in the 50's.

Stay safe and warm,

Julie & Ken

update

2011-02-09T07:12:00.000-08:00

Hello all from the cold south,

Since we have an internet connection, this will be a lengthy update.

We began our trek to Galveston with trying to meet with Pastor Billy & Dawn Graff (who now reside in Beaumont, Tx) for lunch. Many of you who have been reading our blog, remember Pastor Billy as our initial contact in Galveston after Hurricane Ike hit. What a blessing he and Dawn were to us and to the community of Galveston. But, as circumstances would have it, the Beaumont Bridge was under construction and a semi tractor trailer accident had occurred and closed down the interstate. We were only 4 miles from meeting them and it took over an hour to get to the exit, but when they exited us it was through areas that the RV would not fit, so we had to take an alternate route and were not able to meet with Dawn and Billy. Bummer.

So we headed to our next location: Galveston where we would be staying at Island Community Church where we were last year. "1 Mission Galveston" is the last volunteer group in Galveston that has any money left for volunteers.

We spent Monday getting acclimated with 1 Mission Galveston, how they are operating and getting to know our skills. Ken is more talented in the physical area than I am, so he was a great help to them. They mentioned they needed help getting their office organized…they picked the right person. By the end of Tuesday, they were organized and ready for the rush of spring breakers that were going to swarm the Island for spring break.

We met a nice couple, Denise & John and took a tour of what needed to be done in their house. They are originally from Tucson, AZ and bought this house, hired a contractor who came highly recommended from the previous homeowner, who ended up stealing $42,000 from them and told them he was fixing up the house and they could move into the house in October and it would be 90% completed. When they got here, it was more like 90% unfinished and he took everything…money, fixtures, flooring, etc.

John, Denise, Scoobie-doo and Coda

After they fired him, Denise & John left to go to the motel and that night, their house was broken into. They feel it was the contractor since he had been casing the house and waited until they were not at home. They could not live in the house because it was in deplorable condition, no heat, no electric, no plumbing. A really sad story – and there is so much to be done on their house.

Ken has been helping at John and Denise’s putting in fixtures in the whole house. Their house still has no heat (except the room they are sleeping in) so the temperature was in the 30’s working there. Quite cold.

Outside lights Ken installed

One day, I helped out Ken putting in electrical covers. It took me the rest of the evening to get warm. I went out to pick up lunch for everyone and asked Denise to come with me to get warmed up – she was appreciative and just hovered over the heater. She was chilled to the bone.

Julie installing electrical covers with Scoobie-doo

Ken also tore down a wall in the office because it had gotten wet and mold had set in. It was like the beginning again.

A view of the drywall that was part of the wall.

The wall after torn off

More of the wall being torn down

Ken tearing down the wall

There will be 180 volunteers coming in the end of February so we put bunks together, mopped floors and cleaned up and organized the kitchen. It was quite funny when we looked at the bunks. They were the same ones we used at University Baptist Church two years ago. The same ones that came from New Orleans that the college kids sand blasted and painted. It was no mistaking them – they left an indelible mark on the memory banks – and the box springs were those funny wild colors!

Dormitory beds from University Baptist - 2 years ago

Ken also installed a door in the dormitory room to keep the noise down from the heating unit.

While Ken was working with John and Denise, I continued working in the office filing, organizing the office, setting up files on the volunteers and composing inventory check off list for all the tools so that volunteers signed out the tools they would be using and they would be accountable for. Tools just disappear after a volunteer group leaves the camp, so we have instituted a new system to prevent this from happening.

We thought we left PA to get out of the cold. What a surprise we had. On Wednesday, we woke up to 25 degrees and a chill factor of 9 degrees. WOW!! This is the south!!!

They predicted snow, sleet, ice and more freezing temps. We did get the ice on Thursday evening and Friday morning. In fact, they closed the Galveston Causeway down at 3:00 p.m. on Thursday afternoon.

The Causeway is the only bridge that connects the Island to the Mainland. When they re-opened it on Friday, late morning, they were only letting one car go over at a time.

One day we served meals at StreetScape, an outreach that feeds the less fortunate and homeless. We served rice and bean soup (left over from the previous day) and veggie soup to 41 people. All the people that came raved about the veggie soup, so Ken and I tasted it. I have never made veggie soup using spaghetti o’s as the base and adding corn and beans and rice. Someone had donated 150 pounds of rice and we talked with the director and he said that until the rice was gone, every pot of soup would have it in it. We met some very nice people who were grateful for the service of StreetScape…some of them broke our hearts. One man ate his bowl of soup, fell asleep in the chair and shivered the whole time. With temperature so low and the wind blowing fiercely, they came into the building to get warm, only to find out that StreetScape did not have any heat inside the building, which was like being outside without the wind - about 30 degrees. So there were many refills to keep warm.

Volunteers left their mark with their t-shirts

I had made Tortilla Soup (thank you Sandra & David for the donation) for Denise and John to keep them warm. They had decided to come over to the church to do laundry and to warm up, so fortunately we had enough for the staff to join us even though I did have to stretch the soup for 7 people (yes, Ron, I added an extra can of broth, not water). Ham and turkey sandwiches were also added to the meal. No one went away hungry and we had a great fellowship time. This time is also important when working with people who have been devastated – they need to talk to someone and want someone to listen, this is so important to them and us.

We packed a lot of visiting in one day. We met with my nieces (my brother, Butch’s daughters) and their children in Kemah for lunch. What a pleasant lunch we had. I sure miss them – I wish they were closer.

The "Cook" family reunion in Texas
Baby Ty, Bobby, Julie, Amanda, Jolin (Butch's daughters)
Mike, Montana, Ken

That evening we met with Pastor Tim and Jenn Schwartz. Tim and Jenn were part of our ‘family’ when we worked with Pastor Billy when we first came to Galveston 2 years ago. Pastor Tim is the pastor we have been praying for who is recovering from brain cancer. They recently added a baby girl – Emma, to their family. They were working with UMCOR Disaster Recovery until Pastor Tim had brain surgery. Pastor Tim now pastors the Spanish church here in Galveston, part-time and stays at home with Emma while Jenn works as a physical therapist.

Pastor Tim, Jenn & Emma Schwartz

Until next internet connection - keep warm.

Julie & Ken

two weeks worth of informational update

2011-01-30T06:49:00.000-08:00

Hello to all from the cool southern part of the US.

It has not been easy finding internet access to post to our blog, so this one will be for two weeks so I will be doing two weeks' worth of information.

Words of Wisdom: When bringing slide-outs in on your RV after a rain storm, one should make sure hubby is not under the awning – one could get drenched! Ken did – I did not realize he was under the awning pulling out the blocks from under the jacks and he was totally immersed by cold rain water. I did not know the slide-out awning could hold so much water.

2011 Linda & Julie - annual picture

Visited my best friend (since 1970) who just moved into The Villages. She and Tom have a lovely home – in fact, with what she has decorated it could pass as a model. She has done a great job. Since it is a golf cart community, Tom purchased a new golf cart, bright yellow (tractor yellow) and we rode around the area looking over the new homes. Quite an active community. We had looked there before at homes. Tom and Linda will be making FL their permanent residence in a year or so. It was so good to see them.

While in The Villages we stopped in to see members of our church, Patty & Thom Snyder but they were not home – they were still in PA and due down til February.

Arriving at Dantzler UMC, Pastor David saw to it that we were kept busy. Isn’t that why we are here?

Here are some of the projects Ken and I worked on...a new security system for the church, framing an existing window and painting, wiring an electrical outlet.

Ken installing a security system in the church

Window before framing

Ken cutting to fit window

Ken measuring to make sure it fits

Almost fits

Just about done

Julie putting finishing touches by painting

Completed!

How many Methodist men does it take to change a lightbulb?

Two...the Pastor and a volunteer (Ken). Ken had to add an extension to the wire to replace the light bulb.

We visited with Callee and Ernest while we were here – they were the couple whose house we worked on the last three years. Callee’s breast cancer is still there, she is not going through any radiation or chemotherapy – she is taking morphine for the pain to keep comfortable. Her faith is quite strong and she said when the good Lord is ready for her, she is ready. She does not feel that chemo or radiation are for her. So please pray for her and for Ernest. Ernest fell off a ladder and hurt his hip and is now walking around with a cane. They are both in their late 70’s.

Pastor David & Sandra - as we say good-bye

An interesting decorating concept Moss Point has is decorating trees for the holidays with bottles. Here is a picture of one of the more elaborate ones.

Bottle decorations

We are on our way to Galveston. There is one volunteer mission group left in Galveston so we will be working with them.

Until next week (hopefully).

Keep warm and safe,

Julie & Ken

Last week of 'vacation' before our Mission Work

2011-01-16T15:47:00.000-08:00

Hello to all,

Most of you are suffering with the cold and we are so sorry.

We had a wonderful day (13th) to spend with our friends, Dixie & Rea. This was another birthday we were able to celebrate with Dixie. We have been doing this for many years – a tradition.

On Friday, we were out doing some shopping and noticed an RV with 4 black vehicles, 2 in back, 2 in front. We later learned Jimmy Carter was vacationing in the Keys, so we think this may have been his RV with secret service staff. We went to Key West for their Seafood Fest but never saw him.

We will be leaving the Keys on Monday and heading to MS with a stop in Ocala, FL to visit my best friend (since 1970). They just bought a house in The Villages and we will visit with them and on to our mission work.

The weather today (Sunday) was 83 degrees! What a change from what we had last week. But next week it will turn cooler again. Stay tuned.

Keep warm,

Week ending January 9, 2011

2011-01-09T12:19:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year to all,

We spent New Year’s Eve at Olive Garden and came home to the safety of our home-away-from home. We did not even make it to see the new year arrive. Are we getting old, or what?

Our travels this week has been relatively calm with the exception of some rain outside of Nashville. The temps, however, have been in the 20’s. Our only challenges are where do we find the cheapest gas.

We have gotten as low as $2.94 and as high as $3.15 per gallon.

Brother, Jim and wife, Melissa

Nephew, Jeremy

We stopped overnight in Manchester, TN to visit my brother and his family (see photos).

Niece, Jessica and boyfriend, Juan (John)

and the next night we stopped overnight in Chattanooga, TN and had dinner with our daughter, Karen.

This was at the campground in Manchester, TN - they were not afraid to put this out there for everyone to see!

We are currently camped in Palmetto, FL where we celebrated Russian Christmas with my family…lots of food (no meat, all veggies).

We will be leaving here on Wednesday to celebrate Dixie’s birthday with her on the 13^th. Stay tuned.

Have a great week.

COUNTDOWN!

2010-12-27T07:41:00.000-08:00

Hello again to all - it is cold and bitter and blustery and lazy snowflakes are falling as we begin our packing for our southern mission trip and vacation...2011. We pray you all had a blessed Christmas and please be safe in the new year - we will be beginning our trek on New Year's Eve. Our mission trip will take us back to Moss Point, MS as the federal government did not approve additional funding for relief volunteers in Galveston, TX. Keep checking for our updates which we will do weekly (hopefully if we have internet connections).

Return

2010-06-30T05:38:00.001-07:00

Hello all,

I have returned home! I have never been so glad to touch American soil.
My trip home was not uneventful...first I had no ticket, then the immigration people said I was not the person on my passport....by the time we got through immigration/customs they were boarding our plane and we were the last to get on. Landed in Washington, DC, got on the plane, had to get off because of lightening, got back on (one hour later) then had to sit on the tarmack in Pgh because there was no gate for unloading.
WHEW!
Now to catch up on my sleep.

Watch for our next mission trip to the Applachian mountains and Red Bird Mission.

4th email from Julie

2010-06-20T10:13:00.000-07:00

Sunday 20-Jun

Just got out of a 2 1/2 hour church service - all in Russian! Believe it or not, I was able to understand some of it - we did have an interpreter.

We had breakfast at the church...ham, cheese, tomatoes, cukes, juice and coffee...lunch was better...we had rice and beef, tomatoes with mayo and cheese, cukes with dill and sugar water, mushrooms with cukes, eggs and mayo and blintzes for dessert...they also gave us these beautiful handcrafted pottery.

Got to bed last night about 10:30 and up at 6:30 this morning. We will be leaving to catch the train at about 6:00 tonight and will get to our destination at about 9:00 tomorrow morning and then through immigration/customs which they are telling us will be about 5-6 hours...it is a bit unrestful right now. They are talking about us having to walk across the border to get to Slovakia because the people who are coming to pick us up cannot get over the border.

We did a little touring yesterday but I had to go back early with two other people because it was really tough on our knees.

See you in 7 days.

email from Julie

2010-06-19T08:53:00.001-07:00

Here is the third email I received:

It is Saturday morning 10:22 a.m. I made breakfast for everyone today - eggs, toast, kielbasi, poppy seed rolls, coffee, juice and yogurt...they were all very appreciative and did not go away hungry. Today is a 'free' day...we are supposed to go to a cultural play this evening (in Russian)...it should be interesting. Tomorrow we are going to the church of Hope to People and then get on a train to go to Slovakia...overnight sleeper and car...some unrest going on...we have been told it will be about 4-5 hours to get through immigration/customs and me with a passport that they weren't crazy about when I entered into the country. Our next week will be almost total isolation...the nearest village is about 40 miles away...we shall see. Souvenirs are quite expensive.

I am getting tired of chicken and buckwheat! We have had it every day, every meal for the last four days! When I saw it last night, I lost my cookies and had to leave the table...YUK! My stomach is killing me - leaping frogs! I never remember BABA serving so much of the same thing. And that blasted juice they served was cleaning out my system...which makes it ache! So when I hang up here I'm going back to my room and lay down...I have not slept well in the last five days either.

One of the women here came into our bedroom wearing strong perfume which also did not help. So between my head and my stomach I am feeling pretty lousy.

One of the men fell down the stairs this morning, I blew out three fuses making breakfast and today it is raining.

I will be glad to get home...but of course, we have an extra two hours of flight time we will be traveling.

email from Julie

2010-06-19T08:52:00.000-07:00

Here is the second email I received:

A group were heading down to the internet cafe so I tagged along - it is 21:38 (9:38)...we just got back to the dorm from working all day...today I got dishpan hands...shrivled...washed down all the walls in the kitchen and ante room and dish room...ugh! Then washed down 3 cabinets, scrubbed the floors. I got to work with the kids for a bit yesterday trying to teach them English...it was quite comical...I was using my Slovak and their Ukraine was similar and we had some chuckles because of how I pronounced the word...came out wrong way and they laughed...they love having their pictures taken...everyone loves to have their pictures taken...as you can imagine I have used a lot of pictures.

Breakfast was buckwheat meal with chicken and gravy over it...yuk! Lunch was potato soup which was excellent and noodles and ground fine pork and hamburg. Supper was mashed potatoes and fried bologna...interesting meals. Needless to say my stomach has not been too good...oh yes, kielbasia at every meal and fresh green, red and yellow green peppers and tomatoes for EVERY meal, breakfast included. No soda or milk...just this juice called 'birch juice' which is sap from a birch tree...interesting...they say it is good for the digestive system...I'm not sure, but I just cannot acquire a taste for it...I'm hoping to stop at a store on our walk home and get a soda.

We don't get to bed much before 11:00 and are up by 6:00...it is an hour ride to the camp and we don't leave until after 8:30 to get home.

The scenery is beautiful...just like home...the people are quite nice...my 'roomies' are a hoot...one is very bossy. Karen and Judy are the others in my room. There is a boy here who is our interpretor and he calls me "Yula-anna"...I thought you would get a chuckle out of that.

Well, gotta go walk back to the dorm with the group - it is about a 15 minute walk.

Email from Julie

2010-06-19T08:50:00.000-07:00

Here is the first email I received from Julie:

We have arrived - not sure how many other times I will be able to use the internet...so do not respond back unless you can take a chance with our roadrunner where I can check.

Had a rocky flight from Pgh to Dulles...to Munich it was very cramped...I was 3 rows from the back...and squished and uncomfortable...then a puddle jumper from Munich to Lviv where I was having trouble getting through immigration...my picture was too light to their satisfaction...they said I needed a hotel address not a church address...everyone got through except me and the policewoman argued with the officer that it was ok...she said no...spent 20 minutes to get through...my luggage was not with the rest of the group...but it did arrive before we left the airport...I peeled 3-20 pound bags of potatoes...washed dishes for 60 people, three meals...so far chicken has been served every meal...even breakfast...corn for supper with sauerkraut...it has been interesting...our restaurant yesterday afternoon was good...military men with guns, guarding the door and then giving you a shot of honey vodka...piroghy, mushroom soup and kielbasi...weather was dreary today...rain

I'll Fly Away

2010-06-13T12:30:00.000-07:00

That was the song we sang in church this morning - I think it is quite appropriate as I will be flying off to the Ukraine & Slovakia tomorrow (Monday, 14th).

I won't be able to update anything on the blog while I am gone as there will not be any internet connections. But, I will post when I return.

I ask for prayers for both Ken and I (Ken will be at home) - I will be gone until the 28th of June.

Blessings to all,
julie

We are Home!

2010-03-27T05:07:00.000-07:00

Hello from the cold north!

Heading home from our daughter, Karen’s home, we hit snizzle(drizzle + snow) for about an hour outside of Chattanooga, TN. After visiting Karen, our original plan was to head to Illinois, and visit my sister, Helen. While there, my brother George was to come up from Florida and we were all going to help pack up my mother’s ‘stuff’ AGAIN and move it back to FL but George’ wife, Sherry had vacation time a week earlier than we had planned to be in IL.

In the process of moving the ‘stuff’ into the van, Sherry slipped and broke her wrist in several places…OUCH! She was checked by her ortho doctor, she had surgery Friday where they put in a plate and a couple of pins and a soft cast for a couple of weeks. She then goes back to get a hard cast for probably about 4-6 weeks. This is so reminiscent of what had happened to Ken when he fell down the stairs. What a way to remember this trip. And my brother had a bad cold so he was not feeling up to par either.

Despite Ken suffering with another cold, he was determined to get us home. We made it home late Tuesday evening and have been unloading the RV every since – along with taking down the Christmas tree.

Here is what greeted us when we arrived home!

Our updates will be fewer as we become involved in our volunteer activities.

I will be going to Slovakia and Ukraine in June for two weeks to teach English as a second language. As many of you know, English is my second language - Slovak is my first - so I am quite excited to be doing this. We will be doing some construction work and also working with the Roma gypsies. Ken, however, will not be going with me - he said he had enough flying overseas.

Blessings to all and have a very blessed Easter,
julie & ken

almost home

2010-03-21T11:48:00.000-07:00

Hi all,

On our way out of Galveston, we stopped to visit with Jackie & Steve in Rockwall, TX. Jackie was Ken’s secretary for many years at TI. It was a good day for a visit and we met friends of theirs who were also RVing from Illinois. Jackie made a very tasty supper of roast.

Steve, Jackie, Pat & Delaney
We then visited with my niece, Aly and her family in Van Buren, AR. Our newest addition, Airyanna, who is now 2 has Ken wrapped around her little finger…just like her mother did when she was living with us. She is blond, blue-eyed and has Angelina Jolie lips and uses them to her advantage. Airyanna is 3’ tall and for being two years old, the pediatrician says she will be 6’ tall when she grows up! Aly says she is spoiled, but it is because she the last one and her brothers adore her and take care of her, even to the extent of playing dolls with her and having tea parties. She is quite intelligent for a two year old. Austin, our nephew who was the little one I helped delivered at birth, is up to my shoulders and wants to be a football player for the Dallas Cowboys. Keifer, the middle child is just a cuddly, loving and sensitive boy and not growing as fast, but still a cutie and want to be a football player with the Chargers. Keifer is quite artistic (takes after his aunt). They have moved into a new home which is quite nice and roomy. Mike, Aly’s husband, continues to work with Haliburton on the oil rigs…goes out onto the rigs for 7 days and off for 2 days. Quite a tough schedule for a young family.

family photo

Alyanna, Mike, Keifer, Airyanna & Austin

Airyanna & Uncle Ken - adorable

Aunt "Sis" & Airyanna - can you imagine this identical pose - Ken caught it perfectly!
We took a day and went ‘diamond’ hunting. We were wondering why there was not much traffic going to the Diamond Crater and found out that the second biggest diamond was found the day before we got there and everyone was there hoping to find another. It was packed! We did not find a diamond but did find a ‘conglomerate’, barite, jasper, volcanic rock and a geode with crystals. It was just like a kid – digging in dirt!

We visited with our daughter, Karen, near Chattanooga, TN. She took us hiking to some beautiful waterfalls. Karen and Ken are too adventureous for me - they both thought it would be great to hang of the side of the cliffs to take pictures. Karen lives on top of Signal Mountain which is quite curvy and many switchbacks! I was a bit nauseated when we got there. Karen had made up a “daddy-do” list. Her house she is renting is an old log cabin built in the 1800’s…quite rustic and very nice…anyone that knows me, knows that I have always wanted a log cabin.

One of the waterfalls Ken was hanging over the edge to take

Another beautiful shot of the waterfalls

Karen 'hanging' over the edge before she got a picture of a waterfall

Karen's new home - built in the 1800's

Family photo

An end to a wonderful three months in the 'warmer' weather.

See ya'll soon~

Our last week in Galveston

2010-03-16T17:53:00.000-07:00

Hello ya'll ~

Our last week proved to be successful – we completed 3 houses to the point where the homeowners could move in.

Prior to Mr. Abraham’s moving in, Ken was checking the grout on the kitchen floor, grabbed the stove handle and got shocked. After checking, he found there were 100 volts to ground so he had to take the stove out and correct the wiring problem in the socket. That was a shocking situation.

A happy Mr. Abraham

Ken had another plumbing job – just to finish out the six weeks here. He has been trying to get a handicapped shower installed for Mr. Abraham. The plumber did not do a good job – the shower knobs would not fit into the shower so Ken had to ‘fix it’. My suggestion has been to get rid of this plumber and find another one who is more competent.

Then the door on the other shower was creating havoc – it just would not line up. Quite frustrating. As Ken was trying to finish up, I was cleaning Mr. Abraham’s entire house of sawdust and dirt. One of the Mennonite boys was helping doing odds and ends and helped Ken move Mr. Abraham’s furniture into his rooms…it looks quite cozy now and he is so excited!

Ken adjusting the problem shower

Ken had been running around doing deliveries for 3 homes. The other couple which were also Construction Supervisors left for Michigan via the desert and CA. So we were the ones doing most of the running around.

As is customary with each group that comes through the doors at Crockett UMC, we made a poster of our travels from Girard to Galveston.

The weather was rainy, chilly and foggy...to the point that you could not see more than 50 feet in front of you. Quite dangerous driving. In fact, it was like that for 3 days straight.

One foggy morning this was all you could see!

This is a sight we saw every morning on our way to work ~ trucks bringing in rocks to shore up the damaged Seawall.

Our ‘boss’ gave us a very nice ‘agape love’ gift…a cross in the shape of a hammer and saw – because Jesus was a carpenter and that is what we were ‘carpenters’.

We met many people, made many friends and found out new religious beliefs – they are really not much different than ours – we believe in God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit and the Bible. There are a few different ideas, but basically we are all believers.

We are in transit to home and baring any weather problems we should be home before Easter.

Our last sunrise in Galveston – the promise of the Resurrection.

Week #5

2010-03-07T15:02:00.000-08:00

The weather has turned chilly again – we had a nice weekend of the 60’s.

We spent Sunday in Kemah, TX about 30 miles north of Galveston and met our nieces (the ones we have not seen in over 25 years) and had a great time getting to know each other again.

Ken, Julie, Jolin (back row); front row: Moe & Amanda
Well, we were told we would be getting new assignments. The only change was that I worked two days in the UMCOR office organizing the ‘big boss’. Note to Judi: We were offered a job to stay here.

Ken has been working at Mr. Abraham’s house concreting, putting knobs on cabinets, insulating, putting up studs for the shower and helping out the plumber. Ken also put over 250 miles on the SUV delivering materials and checking on the other job sites. There are approximately 10 active job sites in various stages of rebuilding. This week, we finished up on one of the sites. All we need now is the final inspections and then we can turn over the keys to the homeowner. This will be the first house completed since we arrived in early February.

We are having a Mexican buffet put on by three churches in the area this week. They planned on feeding about 150 people! Needless to say, there were about 100 of us so we had leftovers the next day for supper. The temperature was chilly again - in the 40’s. BRRRRRRRRRRrrr.

Ken continues to work on Fridays & Saturdays with the pastor we worked with last year. They have been working on tile in the bathroom and shelving in the closets.

One of the things Ken remembered about Galveston, when he visited several years ago, was the 1000’s of Live Oak trees that lined the boulevard that formed a canopy as you drove into the city. These were planted after the devastating hurricane of 1900, so many of these trees were a century old. When Hurricane Ike flooded the island with salt water, it killed these old oak trees. Last year when we were here, the city was trying to save them by flooding the soil around the trees with fresh water in an attempt to flush out all the salt from the soil. In the end, the city had to cut down all these trees. They have been grinding the remains into mulch continuously while we have been here. Here is a picture of the mulching operation. Now the streets are lined with tall Palm trees, I guess it is more tropical, but certainly not as picturesque.

Live oaks being ground into mulch.

A picture of our RV park where we are staying with the NOMADS, a Mennonite family, an UMCOR 'boss' and us. Quite packed.

We will close this update with a beautiful sunset we witnessed a few nights ago.

Ken & Julie

2010-02-27T08:02:00.000-08:00

Hi y'all,

Week #3 began with temperatures in the low 30’s – is this TX? This is not normal, but can you believe this sunrise?

Although we are “Construction Managers”, Ken has been getting his hands dirty with solving electrical problems in a couple of houses we are working on. We make many trips in a day to the lumber yard. I am coding all the invoices, with UMCOR numbers, that we charge at various locations, along with the supervisor’s invoices.

This week we had a team of 50 Mennonites from PA Lancaster area. Since we have several houses waiting for inspections, UMCOR decided to send half the team to the Port Arthur / Orange area, about 2 hours North East on the Texas Gulf Coast. Each morning at 5:30 a.m., they would be bussed over to the sites and then return about 7:00 p.m. to Galveston. We had hoped that the team would just stay in Port Arthur, but they wanted to stay together with the whole team in Galveston.

The other half of the team that stayed in Galveston mainly worked on two houses. On one house, we did electrical rough in and exterior painting. On a second house we finished texturing the drywall in two rooms, primed, and finish paint. One of the houses needed a handicapped ramp...when all was said and done it looked like the lines in Disney World...five (5) levels!

5 levels of handicapped ramp

We have one house that is waiting for a professional plumber as it has old cast iron plumbing that needs to be relocated. The owner of this house is living in a little one bedroom FEMA trailer next door. This week he got a letter from FEMA saying that starting in March, they are going to start charging him rent - $852 per month. This is hard to believe. We heard that these trailers have Formaldehyde problems and will be destroyed. We plan to meet with our supervisors next week to see if there is any way we can complete his house and get him moved in before the deadline.

Ken continues to help Pastor Billy at one house doing plumbing (not one of his favorite jobs), but at least it is the ‘clean’ plumbing…hooking up all the fixtures, etc. He came home for lunch Saturday not having a good day. He had a plumbing leak somewhere, got a screw in the sidewall of our SUV tire, went to Home Depot to get the stuff for the plumbing leak and it didn’t work…so his day did not go well at all.

Ken working on a shower

McCoy’s (a lumber company we do a lot of business with) put on a BBQ for the volunteers as a thank you for helping here in Galveston. There were about 50+ people in attendance. Food on a charcoal grill just has a great flavor – even though it was quite chilly out. Volunteers were playing volleyball and enjoying themselves.

We got to visit Pastor David and his wife, Maria. The team from our church that came down in May worked on his house. He has it just about completed. His wife’s health is much better and she is enjoying being in her house and decorating.

On a sad note a friend of ours, Pastor Tim that was part of our ‘community family’ here in Galveston was diagnosed with a brain tumor. He was hauling flooring to one of the houses they were working on and his right side of his face and right leg went numb, his speech became slurred, he was nauseated and had a weird smell in his nose. After many tests, the doctors have told him there is a lesion/tumor on the left side of his brain that is 1” x 2” and close to the area that controls speech and motor function. They are not sure if it is cancerous or not so they must remove it and biopsy it.

Pastor Tim Schwartz, Ken & Julie (at Mardi Gras parade)

Tim was a pastor from Philadelphia, PA who felt God leading him and his wife, Jenn, to Galveston to help with the hurricane recovery. They arrived here in February of 2009 and stayed at University Baptist (where the rest of us were housed). They left their family and jobs behind to minister here in Texas. Jenn is twelve weeks pregnant with their first child so this is especially difficult for them and us. Please pray for Tim’s healing and for comfort and peace. Tim is planning to be healed so that he can run a 5K for the American Brain Tumor Association in Chicago on May 22. Tim will be having surgery in April.

We met with my friend, Sally, Donny and Heather (their daughter) on Sat. night. Sally and I worked in the Neo Natal Unit at Texas Children Hospital in the 80’s. We caught up with all we have missed being apart. She just ran a half marathon in Austin last week and during the summer she went to Mexico twice on a mission trip.

Heather, Donny, Sally, Julie & Ken

On Wednesday, our ‘community family’ that we formed last year while working at University Baptist, got together and had a tureen. Tim was missing because he had a day full of tests at the MD Anderson Cancer Center. We had a fun time talking over old times, what has happened in our lives in the last year and re-acquainting with each other again.

Jenn Schwartz (Tim was absent), Dawn & Billy Graff, Ken & Julie, Janice & Rex Bruton, Gisselle, Punay & Bing

Ken has been working on plumbing and electrical this week at Mr. Abraham’s home. We have had two Mennonite ladies with us all week (along with a few others that pop in) who we have become attached to and are quite the worker bees. One lady, Martha, (from the Bible, the worker) has become quite friendly with Mr. Abraham – she even calls him “Pop”. We sang to him on their last day and he was crying and saying how much he was going to miss each and every one of them. Martha had gone those extra miles and done some extra things for him…stripping and staining a night stand, cleaning up some knick-knacks for him that had Gulf muck on them. Amanda and Rosemary helped wash all his dishes and put them away and cleaned up his water stained chairs. He said they looked like new! He is so easily pleased and grateful.

One of the teams started work on a different house (there are over 2500 homes on the UMCOR backlog) this week. When they started repairing the roof deck they discovered several on the roof rafters were severely charred from a previous house fire. The owner of the house had purchased the house before Ike and the previous owner had not disclosed that it had been fire damaged. The city inspector came and told us the house cannot be repaired and the team will now have to destroy the house. The property owner only got $20,000 from his insurance, so now UMCOR is trying to get him a new home through the local agencies.

Today, Friday, Ken is helping with laying concrete so the plumber can come in and finish plumbing. We have been waiting for over a month for the plumber. Quite frustrating.

Next week we will be getting new assignments since Jenn & Tim are on temporary leave, until after Tim’s surgery and doctor appointments. (Please keep Tim and Jenn in your prayers as they go through this stressful time in their life.)

We are not sure what we will be doing starting Monday. Stay tuned.

Blessings and stay warm!
julie & ken

Week #2 in Galveston

2010-02-13T16:32:00.000-08:00

Our last visit in Houston was with the group I worked with at Fluor Corp. I could not believe I have been gone from there for almost 12 years! We had a great time reminiscing.

WE HAVE ARRIVED IN GALVESTON!

We are now camped at the Island Community Church RV Park. Last year, Julie worked with the City to have them create this RV park specifically to provide accommodations to the volunteers who come to Galveston in RV’s.

Saturday, Sandy, our construction manager threw a big, all-day party to celebrate Mardi Gras. He parked one of the UMCOR flatbed trailers on the Seawall and brought a grill and picnic table from Crockett Church. He told us he was there at 5:00 a.m. setting up. It is quite difficult to get a parking spot on the Seawall during Mardi Gras. Tons of RVs lined the Seawall. From the flatbed and picnic area, we had a great view of the three parades, the Gulf and the fireworks. Sandy cooked hot dogs and sausage for lunch and chicken for dinner. Everyone who came brought a side or dessert, so there was a variety of good stuff

In the parade were 10 Clydesdale horses pulling a carriage. What amazingly beautiful and powerful horses! The costumes of all the people on the floats were bright, wild and crazy and there were many beads thrown! We avoided it last year because we had been working on that day. Overall, there was a lot of family fun where we were parked. It was neat just to be there, taking it all in.

We spent a little time with Billie Graff and his wife Dawn. Billie Is the Baptist Pastor that we worked with last year. Billie is the pastor of record, but no longer does any pastoral duties at University Baptist Church. He was working there without a salary for 18 months and can no longer continue “pro-bono”. He is currently involved with a construction project at a Baptist Church in League City, and he has his house in Galveston for sale. Please pray that Dawn and Billie can find new careers in this area.

We have been assigned as “Construction Supervisors” which entails picking up and delivering supplies to the sites and making sure all is done the right way. This week we have 22 volunteers (a group of 10 Amish from Iowa, and 12 Mennonites from PA) from the Mennonite Disaster Service. At one house, an elderly man (Mr. Abraham) who is 87 years old and a widower, lives in a FEMA trailer next door. We are painting the rooms in his house and installing kitchen countertops. He is so funny – he usually waits until we are there late in the afternoon, pulls one of us aside and asks if we can do something additional that another group has missed. He just wants to have it like it was. One afternoon he complained that his electric dryer was not getting hot. Ken had to repair the receptacle wiring and also the dryer cord was wired incorrectly. After that, Ken had to install a new Dryer Vent.

Another house (Mrs. Dobson), we are refinishing the wood floors on the second story and painting the exterior siding and trim. We have 2 other houses where we are finalizing the electrical and plumbing. Once it passes inspection, then we will be able to have a team do drywall.

Each morning we have breakfast with the team at 6:30 and are learning a little more about them that we didn’t know. They have been a joy to work with. Next week, a new group of volunteers arrive, this will be a larger group, approximately 40 Amish and Mennonites from Lancaster, PA .

We are working closely with Denny and Sandy, another husband/wife team from Michigan, They will be leaving at the end of the month and they are showing us all the things they have learned so we can continue when they leave. Denny and Sandy have been here since early January.

The weather since Monday has been cold, rainy, and windy. On Wednesday, we even had a little sleet. We are hoping for a little sunshine this weekend, but it still will be unseasonably cold. Tonight (Thursday) the wind is howling, and the RV is really shaking.

A note on the relief monies: Galveston still has not seen a penny of federal disaster relief money almost 18 months after Hurricane Ike. It is still caught up in the bureaucracy. The latest fight is in the Texas legislature about how to distribute the money. Instead of allotting more money to the counties that were most affected, the legislature is wanting to distribute it evenly around the state. That means that a county in north Texas that had a couple of roofs blown off in the storm would get similar funding to Galveston County. Crazy and illogical – but it is an election year.

On Friday, the Iowa and PA teams departed, on Sunday, a new group will be coming in from Lancaster, PA, unless delayed by all the snow storms across the country.

Ken decided to help Billie Graff on Friday and Saturday. The house he is working on is built up on piers about 10’ in the air. Most of the drywall is completed and painted. We are now getting ready to lay tile in the bathrooms, and kitchen. On Friday, Ken installed a temporary toilet for use by the workers. On Saturday, he completed the “rough-in” plumbing in the shower stall, It is now ready for cement board and ceramic tile.

The connections here are very limited but will try to keep it updated.

Update for month of January 2010

2010-02-03T08:14:00.000-08:00

Hello to all,

Since our last update, we vacationed in my friend, Janet’s condo, in Cape Canaveral, a week before the shuttle take-off. We were under thunderstorm alerts and tornado alerts. In fact, a tornado touched down a few miles south of our location.

Our son (Tim) and his wife (Kat) came over for a day before they left for CA. He has a new job that he must start on February 1 and they were driving over.

Kat, Tim & Ken

Our friends (and Ken’s best friend from 4th grade), Gregg & Betsy, stayed with us at the condo. We left after a relaxing week and drove back to my brother’s in Bradenton. We were going to IL to take my mother to her new home near my sister. But plans changed- Mom decided she was not ready to go to IL, so she is currently staying with my brother, George and his wife, Sherry for a few months.

Betsy, Julie, Ken, Gregg (seated)

We visited with a friend (Linda) of mine (since 1970). Linda and I worked together at Greenleaf Corp. in Saegertown. We have so many stories we reminisced about...party planning, dragging her daughter, Gina, everywhere with us (in a little green VW bug)...no seat belts and Gina is still with us! We can never seem to get together up north (she lives in Meadville), but we do manage a few hours here in FL. It was great to see her and Tom. It is funny how you start traditions…we went to the Belleview Pizza Restaurant when we began meeting in FL and continue to do so today.

Linda & Julie

While in Moss Point, Ken built a beautiful TV cabinet for the church. A previous church member donated the TV and it had been sitting on a table, just waiting for Ken to build a cabinet for it. I helped Sandra in the office setting up a couple database programs and inputting data. It was a great time. Dantzler will always be our family.

       Ken & Pastor David with the
       finished product.

      Ken drilling holes into cabinet

We also visited Callee and Ernest Young. They were the couple that was our last project a couple of years ago. It is always a pleasure to see them. They were so excited to see us. Ernest told us the next time we come we are to let him know ahead of time so he can deep fry a turkey for us. They are very Christian people. Callee was diagnosed with breast cancer last year and has decided not to undergo surgery or radiation or chemo. She said the good Lord will take care of her and if it is her time to go, then she will meet her Maker with open arms. Keep Callee in your prayers.

We are on our way to Galveston, with a stop over in Houston. More when we get there.

Blessings and peace,
julie & ken

Russian Christmas 2010

2010-01-10T09:15:00.000-08:00

Hello to all,

We celebrated Russian Christmas yesterday and had a very pleasant surprise. My niece, Jolin, who I have not seen for 25 plus years came over to celebrate…that was a celebration!

Left to right (back): Mom, brother George, Jimmy, Niece Tonya, Brian, JOLIN (surprise).
Front row: Sister-in-law Sherry, Sheridan and Jordan (Jimmy's daughters), Niece Tricia, Nicole, Sandra (in back of Julie) and Ken.

Another new addition to our family is our new (used) RV. Some of the campgrounds that we go to will not let you stay there if your RV is older than ten years and ours is fifteen years old. We have been looking for the past couple of years and finally found one that is a 2008 and has only 1600 miles on it. It has never been used – so essentially we are getting a brand new rig. We will be driving it down on Wednesday to Naples to visit Dixie and Rea to do a ‘shake-down’ before we head to TX.

The weather here has been chilly – in the 20’s and 30’s – not normal for here. They are promising the weather will be getting better in the latter part of the week.

Ken & I are slowly getting better, but it is a slow process.

That’s all the news for now.

julie

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

2010-01-03T16:12:00.000-08:00

January 3, 2010

Welcome to twenty-ten or two thousand ten…which ever you choose – happy New Year and may it be a safe and happy one.

We began our trip in between snow storms. Left on Tuesday morning and I was not feeling all that “perky”. By Wednesday, my temp had gotten up to 103 and kept fluctuating between that and normal. New year’s day Ken had decided that I must be out of my mind (not to want to get better) so he took me to the hospital in Spartanburg, SC at 2:15 p.m. (Happy New Year’s day – what a way to start). We were at the hospital until 12:30 a.m. of the next day where I spent an extreme amount of time in an uncomfortable wheel chair that had metal bars on my seat, Ken’s seat wasn’t any more comfortable. They masked me (might have been the coughing I was doing) and hooked me up to oxygen…and then we waited til 6:00 p.m. before we got into the emergency room and saw a doctor (we were sitting in triage waiting room first). Then the gurney they had me on was worse than the wheel chair…Ken’s chair was also worse. I felt like we were in the torture room. After all was said and done I ended up with a steroid shot, a breathing treatment and a diagnosis of asthmatic bronchitis. Ken had already had it diagnosed himself, they only confirmed it. But, I have never encountered such a poor system of emergency handling. Even the doctor was surprised we had waited so long. It seemed that since the medical clinics were closed, the people were using the emergency room as the medical clinic. One young woman came in after us (about 3 hours) in excruciating pain – she acted as though she had kidney stones – I told Ken I would willingly give her my spot just to get some of the happy juice to get her out of pain. We both know how that feels. So I am taking more steroids to get rid of this gunk. I have almost lost my voice – I’m now more squeaky thank perky. I received a call from the hospital and they told me if I wasn't feeling better in two days I was to find another medical clinic or hospital. If I don't feel better - I WILL GO and not wait.

The cold weather has been following us down here – we have had temperatures of down to the teens at night and in the 20’s-30’s during the day. But, Erie is a lot worse off – snow, snow, and more snow – and COLD!

While in Spartanburg, SC we visited a good friend of ours, Ellen and her son Andrew. Ellen and I used to do meeting and party planning together when I worked in TX. We caught up and had our annual get together at Carrabba's (one of our favorite eaterys).

We are on our way to Bradenton, FL to spend Russian Christmas with the family on the weekend.

Stay tuned for further updates.

Julie & Ken

countdown begins

2009-12-07T11:42:00.000-08:00

December 7, 2009

Our countdown begins...we will soon be leaving snowy PA to head south.
First a little r & r before we begin our hurricane recovery work.
We will be spending Russian Christmas at my brother's home in Bradenton, FL; then on to visit our friend, Dixie and her husband Rae (we have been celebrating Dixie's birthday on the 13th of December each year since 1999); then we will be staying at a condo we have rented from a very dear friend (Janet) in Cocoa Beach while our son and his new wife of six months will be visiting us along with a couple of friends of ours, and then on to Moss Point, MS and Galveston, TX.

Stay tuned for more updates.

julie & ken

Our final days

2009-05-08T14:48:00.000-07:00

May 8, 2009

The blog is really having difficulty today so I am just going to identify all the pictures as they appear.

Ken painting Pastor David's facia.

Bob 'peeking' through the door checking to see how much more there is to be done.

Joel, Pastor David & Chuck (resting?)

A railing needed to be finished.

Joel seems to be caught 'sitting' a lot of the time.

Our final days have been filled with some really innovative building of condos and high rises. It is amazing how long it took to build!

Chuck studying the color of the paint.

Pastor Billy and Pastor Jeff wanted to do a mass baptism in their baptismal...some of the men had to step into it.

Bob enjoying his work.

Yesterday, we celebrated Ken's birthday with dinner the previous night at Pastor Billy's house...topping it off with cake last night.

Our last supper tonight consisted of pork roast, mashed potatoes, carrots and green beans. A feast to send everyone home...with a few extra pounds.

As you can see - we left our name on Pastor David's house (they did cover it before they left).

Stay tuned for our presentation at church in July for more pictures!

We are a tired bunch of volunteers!

Julie, Ken, Rachel, Joel, Willis, Chuck, Bob

2009-05-06T19:15:00.000-07:00

Hello from a group of tired workers!

12 gallons of white ceiling paint...17 gallons of champagne wall paint...and one bathroom and 2 closets left to do tomorrow...a total of 10 rooms...then the beginning of the outside painting!

The temperature was 89 with a heat index of 98! Plenty of water has been distributed for the thirsty bodies of the mission workers.

Ken painting one wall.

Joel taking a break from the heat.

Bob and his painting skills...cutting in is always a treat.

Joel painting.

This is why Rachel has so much paint in her hair...Willis cutting in.

Chuck standing next to his project.

Ken and Chuck put this door up in Pastor Billy's home as a divider...beautiful...and finished.

Here we are at Pastor Billy & Dawn's home. We BBQ'd angus burgers on his new grill.

Everyone had a great time...stories were BOUNTIFUL! We laughed until our tummies hurt.

The men are exhausted...they seem to be going to bed early each night. They also think they have gained weight...I have told them they are sweating it off.

More tomorrow.

julie & the team

Cinco de Mayo

2009-05-05T18:29:00.000-07:00

Happy Cinco de Mayo day to all,

We had a very productive day today. The group went to Pastor David's house to paint rooms...10 rooms! They finished the ceilings and 2 rooms. Bob & Willis came back first - exhausted! Their comment was that they were not used to painting for 8 hours a day.

As you can see, Rachel is really enjoying herself. She had quite a bit of paint on her hair. The guys are saying she is a good worker and like having another wo-"man" on the job.

This was one of the rooms that was a 'before' picture.

Willis and Rachel taking a 'lunch break' on Monday. Don't they look comfortable?

Of course, the heat is affecting all.

Ken and Chuck did some painting but spent most of the day at Pastor Billy's doing some fine-tuning of a door with waterfall glass...a very precise and delicate job.

And I am still working with Billy 'coordinating'.

And, today is Cinco de Mayo, (5th of May) so we celebrated by having a Mexican dinner of fajitas, rice and beans, guacamole, chips, tamales and brownies and ice cream for dessert.

Pastor Billy & his wife Dawn in the rear of the picture enjoying their Mexican dinner.

Pastor Tim and his wife, Jenn, also joined us for the celebration before heading off to a meeting. We had mentioned Tim and Jenn in our previous blog in February. See below.

AND - HERE WE ARE (minus Ken who was taking the picture)!

Asbury UMC Mission team!

Keep referring back for more nightly updates.

julie, ken and the rest of the team

2009-05-04T18:20:00.000-07:00

Hello from the southern, tropical south (Texas).

Here is the group before they begin their day and assignments.

Bob, Willis, Joel & Rachel head off to do a day of gutting!

Chuck is on his way to Pastor Billy's house for a special project.

Ken and Pastor Billy went to another church to check out a plumbing project.

Here is Rachel - ready for gutting!

Doesn't she look like she is going into a war zone?

Or to attack bugs - "Ghostbuster Rachel"

Here is the group at Ms. Thompson's house - after a day of gutting - note how tired they all look!

And, of course, here I am at my post, with a pile of papers that Pastor Billy has saved up for me since we left in March.

I am NOT in an a/c office - the a/c is broken and it is HOT!

Tonight we had Rigatoni meatballs (thank you Asbury) for dinner.

Tomorrow is Cinco de Mayo Day and we will be having a Mexican dinner.

Tomorrow the group will be painting the inside and outside of a house near the church.

Will send more photos tomorrow.

Blessings and peace to all,

Julie, Ken, Willis, Bob, Chuck, Joel & Rachel

2009-05-02T16:52:00.000-07:00

May 2, 2009

We have arrived in Galveston, TX...after 1500 miles and 2 1/2 days! The weather is in the mid 80's with a gentle breeze.

Pastor Billy was thrilled to see us and welcomed us with open arms.

The rest of our team has landed and are about an hour away. We have them set up in the dorm on bunk beds (all lower ones).

Ken has gotten our assignments for Monday and we will be busy. It is promising to be very hot this week...in the high 80's and 90's. Welcome to Texas.

Will keep you posted.

julie & ken

Day #2

2009-05-01T17:27:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone!

The morning started out with a mess of rain and hail and just a nasty day.
But...the afternoon turned out quite lovely. We stopped at a rest stop and it was 86 degrees with a mild breeze. The Southern Magnolias are blooming out and are quite huge and fragrant. We are currently in Jennings, LA (near Lake Charles, LA) staying overnight.

We are almost to Galveston...we have about 250 miles tomorrow (Saturday). The rest of the group will be here in the evening and we will have things set up and ready to go for them.

More later.

julie & ken

Asbury Mission Team going to Galveston , TX

2009-04-30T17:52:00.000-07:00

Hello all,

We left at 7:30 a.m. today (Thursday) and have encountered rain all day, some quite heavy!

We drove 650 miles today and it is now 7:30 p.m. and it has been a long day. We are in Dickson, TN (just outside Nashville, TN). Tomorrow is just as long and we will be in Galveston on Saturday afternoon.

The 'flu' has been all over the tv and they have closed some schools here in TN. Kind of scarey along with all the rain we are encountering. Hopefully, we will encounter better weather conditions in TX.

Will keep you all updated. Pray that the rest of our group who will be flying out on Saturday, will not encounter any storms along the way.

Blessings and peace to all,

julie & ken

2009-04-25T06:05:00.000-07:00

April 25, 2009

Here is a beautiful sunrise taken from our side yard...red sky at night, sailor's delight...red sky in the morning, sailors take warning. Although being a beautiful sunrise, it was not a good day for the fishermen.

Our update is now including our church group. There are seven of us heading to Galveston. Keep posted for the pictures. Five are flying and Ken and I are driving with tools and things they cannot take on the plane.

We are excited and have found out from Pastor Billy that we will be working on some of the houses we started when we were there in February.

Keep posted.

julie & ken

final trip

2009-03-14T15:57:00.000-07:00

Happy Spring!

This was to be my last entry a couple of days ago – but there were no wireless hookups when we camped, along with limited facilities (no water).

We left Houston on Sunday, March 8 with 77 degrees at 10:00 in the morning. Highs were to get up to the mid 80’s.

Our days in Galveston are now behind us, until next year. It was bittersweet leaving our new friends, but I am hopeful to be going back in May with our church group. The next two weeks in Galveston will be the busiest time as they will be expecting close to 1800 students to come down to help during the two weeks of spring break. Added onto that, Pastor Billy is trying to put together a rally for the volunteers at the Convention Center filled with worship leaders, skits, drama, music…so exciting! I would love to be there.

As we headed to our next visit in Caldwell, TX we encountered many bluebonnets and some Indian paintbrushes! The bluebonnets are such a lovely blue/purple flower with a white coned top and they were at their prime. I was so excited that I took many, many, MANY pictures! It is such a beautiful and friendly flower.

Bluebonnets galore!

Sunday we spent the evening in Rockwall, TX with Ken’s previous secretary, Jackie, and her family Steve and Sara. It is amazing how kids grow up so fast. We remembered when Sara was born and now she is graduating from high school. Even though we have seen her growing up it is just amazing how time flies. We had a very enjoyable visit and a wonderful dinner. The time passed so quickly and we had to bid adieu until next year.

We then visited with Audra & John. Audra is the daughter of a very long time friend of mine (Charlie) from King’s College. Audra and John have a ranch, appropriately called the A&J Ranch. They moved from the rat race of Houston to the country and have 57 acres, where the cattle and horses roam, along with the wild critters of rattlers, wild hogs, etc…the type you would find in the country/hills of Texas. They converted their garage into their house and are living amongst oil derricks on their property. They are really enjoying it.

If someone would have told me Audra would be doing this I would have told them they were crazy. Audra has always been a small town girl (from Forty-Fort, PA) living in the big city of Houston. She has adapted quite well. A pleasant surprise was Audra’s aunt Shirley & her friend, Fred who came for a visit.

In Crowder, OK, on our way to visit our niece, we saw a ‘cow rescue’. A helicopter was hovering over water, lifting a cow up! You don’t see that every day.

We headed out very early on Monday morning to Van Buren, AR to visit my niece, Aly, and her family.

Mommy Alyanna Daddy Mike

As many of you know, I was in the delivery room when my great nephew, Austin, was born. He is such a grown up little boy. And his brother, Keifer, is just a cuddle bear and then there is Airyanna. What a little princess. She is such a handful for her mom. But what a pretty little girl…and she loves her Great-Uncle Ken. Ken rocked her to sleep one evening …it was such a beautiful sight.

Julie, Keifer & Airyanna Airyanna giving Ken that devilish look

Austin on left

Keifer in center

Airyanna with pacifier

We left AR and it was in the low 30’s. BRRRRRR. The cold front was fast approaching. Branson, MO was our next stop and we had snow flurries with the prediction of sleet. We decided to stay an extra day to see a few shows and wait out the weather. Our first night we saw Dolly Parton’s Dixie Stampede. It was quite a sight to be that close to longhorn steers and horses.

Our next night we saw the Liverpool Legends…a group that looked and sounded like the Beatles in their early years. We were quite impressed and really enjoyed the show. Along with the show they had George Harrison’s sister who put the group together and showed video clips from the 60’s when the Beatles were up and coming. It is quite a tribute to see them. Especially when both Ken and I could not afford the $5 back in the 60’s to get a ticket. $5 doesn’t seem like much now, but back then, it was quite a lot.

We are now heading towards St. Louis, Indianapolis, IN and then home. This will probably be my last entry into this year’s blog.

See y’all very soon and we miss all the friends we left in the south!

Blessings to all,

Julie and Ken

2009-03-06T12:43:00.000-08:00

The News from Galveston...via our blog,

KEN’S WAS ON LOCAL TV AND GOOD MORNING AMERICA!

Ken has become a celebrity down here. His team was on the local news, Channel 13 (ABC) out of Houston.

He was supervising a group of students at the University Baptist Church where we are staying, sandblasting some old bunk beds in preparation for accommodating hundreds of students for the next several weeks. He is in the video briefly, his back is turned from the camera, unloading sand, and wearing a green sweatshirt.

They interviewed Pastor Billy who explained about all the devastation that is still down here. We had sent the link to a few people and they sent us an e-mail the next morning saying the church (and Ken)were on Good Morning America! Everyone here was excited that we FINALLY got some news coverage about the devastation here. The link is http://www.abc13.com/, then look for the video titled: "Students rebuild instead of relax". It might be in the archives.

This is Pastor Billy's normal day - on the phone making arrangements for teams coming in and assigning work for all the volunteers, along with pastoring and running for supplies.

We have had many people here this week. There was a group of 46 students from St. Bonaventure, outside of Buffalo, NY that happened to be without a place to stay (their reservations got messed up) so they called Pastor Billy and he told them to come over and that we would find a place for them. They were even willing to sleep on the lawn (right!)… these kids did not know about FIRE ANTS!

So, the Sanctuary became a dorm along with the other parts of the Education wing. It was quite cozy, but the kids were thrilled they had a place to sleep. This has been a learning experience for all involved.

There were two other church groups that were also here - one group that really wanted to include all the college students in the their meals and make them feel like part of the family. The second night was originally scheduled to be sloppy joes, but a restaurantier brought what we thought would be a meal. ..turned out it was only spaghetti sauce. Fortunately we had extra uncooked spaghetti, so I asked Tim (one of our community family 'kids’) to go out for salad and garlic bread. The meal was scheduled for 6:30 pm., but because one church group did not get out of the kitchen til after 6:30, this put everything behind. Jenn (our other community ‘kid’, married to Tim) helped get dinner ready for 75 people! Tim helped out by washing the dishes Jenn and I got dirty, which was a great help. There was a bit of a miscommunication, but we did get everyone served by 8:10 pm. Talk about feeding the multitudes!

The next night we introduced the college kids to BBQ brisket…most of them had no idea what it was, but once they ate it they were in love with it. They couldn’t believe we would prepare such a meal for them. They even had left over BBQ sandwiches for lunch, which they devoured. The following night we had taco salads which they also enjoyed. They were so thankful and just couldn't believe we would include them and even cook for them! It was so neat to be able to minister to these kids by using the tool of ‘food’. Many of them said they didn’t know such hospitality existed. They were expecting sandwiches most of the time, peanut butter and jelly.

The one church, who had kind of taken them under their wing, served them breakfast. One morning of sausage and gravy over biscuit another morning, egg and sausage burrito. We tried to make them feel welcome so far away from home. I became known as the “den Mom” because I did bed checks on them every night. It got to be a joke when I would walk in, some of the boys would hide to make me look for them. They were like little kids playing pranks on their parents.

There was one college girl from Erie, PA (Lauren Adams) knew our Ben Sperring, Meredith Neel and Rachel Unkle! What a small world. Then there was a boy whose relatives owned a financial business in Erie and he visits Erie during the summer.

I got to sing in the Praise Band on Sunday! I was so excited. Pastor Billy is next to me singing. I really enjoyed it! Lee, the Worship Leader,is on the left).

Ken took me to see "Menopause, the Musical"at the 1894 Opera House on the Strand...we really enjoyed it. It was at the recently renovated Strand, which had been completely covered with water. Ken has a new appreciation for my "personal vacations in the tropics".

Our family community here at University Baptist is slowly dwindling. Rex & Janice left on Thursday. It was sad to see them leave. The 'kids, Tim and Jenn, FINALLY received their RV and finished unpacking their belongings from the van to the RV. It is parked in the yard of a Methodist parsonage in Fish Village. Each street is named for a fish. We call Tim and Jenn the 'kids' because they are the youngest here.

From left to right: Dawn (Pastor Billy's wife), Ken, Julie, Tim & Jenn...stopping for a Ben and Jerry's ice cream.

Punay & Bing & Lee will be moving into their home by mid-March, Ruth won't be moving until May and Pastor Billy and his wife, Dawn, hopefully will be moved in by mid-March also. Ken has been spending the last week fixing up Pastor Billy's house , connecting plumbing to vanities fixing plumbing that was too high, a kitchen vent when the ceiling was opened to put it into, there were two supporting beams. One from the old roof and one from the new roof. Just little stuff that is aggrevating when you are trying to get into the house. Dawn told Billy she would not move into the house until it was completely done for fear that once in, it would not get finished. Moving him along is the fact that they are living with another couple with four children and another on the way. We are the last of our little group that would be leaving.

Ken has also been working on Hazel’s house. Here he is drawing up floor plans for how the house should look when

finished. He decided to do this for the upcoming groups to make it easier on Billy. Hazel has no money and we (the church) are trying to get money from donations and grants to finish up her house. We heard last night that she will be receiving a FEMA trailer.

We left Galveston Thursday Afternoon, Mar 5.

We are currently in Houston, heading home with stops in Caldwell and Rockwall, TX and Van Buren, AK and Branson, MO.

The weather yesterday turned cooler, but as I am writing this today, it is 85! We had 80 degrees a couple of days ago and a cold (cool to us Pennsylvanians) front has come in and stalled. Looks like we will be dodging the storms again this year.

See y'all in about 2 weeks.