Finally-Pictures

This picture is of the greenhouse
that they have made to keep the
grounds looking great. They work
with about 350 acres.

Below is the new building I have been


working on. I used a 50ft man lift to


take the picture.









This picture is of the large main office here in Orlando. It houses staff for Wycliffe Bible Translators, as well as Wycliffe Associates, which is the volunteer arm of WBT.

It's a great Memorial Day Weekend, and here we sit doing nothing. It feels kinda good. We actually both work a short time this morning, Melody painting, and I was doing more electrical work. I tell everyone that I'm an electrician, but I use the term loosely. The experience has been very rewarding. Doing work that is needed, not getting paid monetarily, and paying to live here while doing the work. some would call us CRAZY, but we both feel blessed to be able to be a part of Bible Translation from distance. We both would recommend that you all could be a part of this ministry. Many people say they have no skills to do this kind of work, but the number of different things that are done here, and at other facilities like this, take grounds keeping, maintenance, computer, financial, janitorial, phone work, etc. Any and all could be of help. If you, or someone you know, would like to be a part of this, let us know, and we'll help get you connected. Well, enough selling, we hope all of you are doing good, and keep in touch as you can.

A note from Melody; it's really great to hear from so many of you, either on the phone or through email. We try to answer as soon as possible and at this point our evenings are fairly uneventful so Ken spends a lot of time on the internet and I read or sew. This afternoon we sat by the pool and just vegged. Actually, I was trying to soak some feeling back into my joints after painting 10' ceilings and trying to see through my bifocals. I am sure if someone took a video it would be worthy of America's Funniest Home Videos. But I get the job done and I don't see a hoard of people lined up to paint with me. We are slowly making friends and have been keeping up with our new friends from RVICS. It is amazing how small the globe gets working here. People are coming and staying then going overseas then coming back. Someday I would like to go overseas for a stint but at this point haven't been led to do that.

I hope you all have a safe, fun, and productive summer.

Ken & Melody

A Weekend to RETIRE

Ken and I used this weekend to "retire" from our chosen retirement. We went to the Tampa/St. Pete area, spent some time on the beach and acclimating ourselves to the area. The kids and grandkids are all coming there in June for a week of beach/golf and relaxing. Ken is looking forward to castle building with little Caleb. Speaking of sand castles, there was the coolest sand image on the beach. This family "carved" out about a 6 foot image of a woman lying on the beach, curves in all the right places and they used seaweed for her long flowing hair AND they collected sea shells to create her bikini! I wish I had my camera. Pretty creative!

We also went to Tarpon Springs this afternoon and took a sponge diving boat tour. It was interesting and then we dined on Greek food. My favorite is baklava but a piece of that with a cup of coffee at 9pm is probably why it is almost 4am and I am still awake!

My funny for the day began this morning at McDonald's for breakfast. The McDonald's in Madeira Beach is next to the intercoastal waterway and actually has a long pier for boaters to tie up while they are patronizing the restaurant. There was seating next to the dock so we sat there and enjoyed watching a particularly hungry pelican dive bomb for food. I was so distracted that I left my purse sitting under the table when we left. I know, this is getting to be a nasty habit. We realized it was missing about 1/2 later, ran back to McDonald's and sure enough it was there. Some nice (honest) person had turned it in. What I didn't know was that the manager had found my cell phone and started at the beginning of my contact list calling my friends and family members until he got to the c's and finally found someone at home, Connie Ruden. So Ken's phone rings and it is Connie saying Melody left her purse at McDonald's! What a hoot! But even funnier was all the rest of the phone calls I got throughout the day from people who had my number as a missed call on THEIR phones! Shelli even saw my number as she checked her phone after church let out and she told Caleb, it must be bad if she called me during church! Oh well, just another adventure.

Keep coming back, there's never a dull day with us! and that's the way we like it.

If you want to see something really funny you should see Ken and I huddled around the laptop to watch "24" (tv program) the day after it airs because we can't get a clear picture from the local Fox affiliate. I am so glad the season ends tomorrow, er, tonight!

I think I'll try again to sleep since the alarm is set for 6. Have a great Monday, it's a new start.
Melody

End of An Era...

Today was the big moving sale and after talking to Dennis,Deana and Carolyn tonight I hear it was a huge sucess. Thank you to everyone who attended, purchased and carted away large amounts of stuff. I was touched to hear about the people who "just wanted something to remember the Ruge's." I am so glad people had a good time. I cannot thank Deana (and Dennis) enough for the hours and hours of time spent moving our belongings outside and pricing and promoting the sale. I am also so grateful for Carolyn and Kari and Debbie and Larry for all their help and support.
When I was talking to Carolyn I had such a feeling of melancholy come over me. The finality of this phase of our lives hit home hard. It is good though because some of the decisions we have to make about service and where to land may be difficult. We are forced to look ahead because everything is gone. I have never felt so free in my life. Thanks to Pastor Bob for all the sermons about simplifying. Thanks to Carolyn for the years of our weekly fireplace prayers. Thanks to Dorene for knowing everything about me but still loving me. Phew, I am just sitting here thinking about all the people that have impacted my life and saying thanks here just doesn't do justice...guess I have a lot of letter writing ahead! I haven't bought into "it takes a village to raise a child" but I will acknowledge that it takes a community of Christian brothers and sisters to help us grow, sharpen us and give us courage to keep on keeping on.
Thank you, for if you read this you are a friend and you may not believe this but you are a thread in the tapestry of our lives, the splash of color just when we needed it or a strong thread that pulled all our frayed ends together. We cherish our friends.
Keep watching. Only God knows what we will get into next (and I am so glad He doesn't tell us ahead of time because I think there may be snakes in my future and I don't want to think about them until the time comes!)
Patiently waiting,
Melody

Back in Florida

No pictures today, just news. We are back in Orlando at Wycliffe Associates. Ken is being an electrician on the new office complex and I am crunching numbers in the accounting office. Ken said yesterday that he finally FEELS retired and volunteering. I guess something just clicked for him.

We spent a few days with our kids/grandkids, my parents and sister's family before we went to Myrtle Beach for Ken's annual golf outing. Since we are living in the rv Ken found a campground at the ocean for me to stay while he was golfing with the guys. Wow, was I stunned to see the ocean from my rv and have only a 2 min. walk to the beach. My sister-in-law Peggy heard I was going to be there so she came to camp with me. She calls the rv our little condo on the beach. We had a good time sitting and walking on the beach, shopping and eating scrumptious pecan pralines we found at a little candy store. We realized after buying their 2# special that we probably should have just bought 1 piece for each of us and savored each bite. I personally don't want another praline for at least a year! It was a good time to catch up and reconnect.

We still aren't clear where God wants us to plant ourselves. I was hoping that either TouchGlobal or Wycliffe would have filled the bookkeeping jobs that are open so it would be clear where I was needed but both places still need help. Actually the summer time is the worst time for finding volunteers. Ken and I can't encourage you enough to consider volunteering just once. We don't get passionate about anything until we try it and the job you try may not be your cup of tea but we ARE called to serve SOMEWHERE. Ephesians 2:10, "For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do." So put on your working shoes and get going. You will be blessed far above your time and effort. There is no shortage of work to be done.

It's windy here today and there are fires burning just north of us so the air is smoky. There is some kind of tropic storm brewing off the east coast so we could be in for some rocky weather. We'll see how much wind the Keokeo Honu can take.

So, for the answer to our license plate. Actually the answer is pretty dull after some of the guesses you guys submitted. The one that really made us laugh was from Ken Brooks (Ken and Melody Exterminating Armadillos!) and the most tender of all came from Doug and Vera Juhlin, who googled KAMEA and came up with a Hawaiian girl's name that means "the one and only", how cool is that? So now for the answer...everyone got the Ken and Melody, it was the EA that stumped people. It is Ken and Melody's Excellent Adventure. Thanks to all of you who submitted ideas.

And last, anyone in the general area of our house may like to check out our moving sale on May 12. Deana Lee (and Dennis) have been working for weeks to pull together all of our belongings for a huge sale. I can't thank them enough for this fantastic act of service. Deana and Dennis have the volunteer thing nailed down. Stick close to them for a few days and you will see an amazing array of tasks that need to be done. They would love help! OK, I will get off the service theme.

Until there is more to say,
Melody

We have landed again

We left Myrtle Beach on Sunday, and drove the train to Orlando. It was a long day, with wet pavement some of the time, but no real rain. That was the good news, but the bad news is that all the spray from the coach got the bike and Trailblazer really dirty. We arrived safe, and after a number of set ups, we were done and ready to live in less than 30 min. We have friends here from Roscoe, and will be here till Thursday. It's great to be back at Wycliffe, and ready to do whatever work they have for us. Sorry I didn't get a picture of the train, because of the lousy weather. Maybe next time we connect everything together. We'll be here for about 5 weeks, but we'll update often.

Ken & Melody