Friends & Family

While in North Carolina, we connected with friends from Roscoe, IL that have moved to Hickory NC. Ed & Linda Jones have 3 girls, and they went to school with our kids in grade school at Prairie Hill. Small world to travel somewhere and run into folks from the past. I forgot to get their pic, but we met at the Billy Graham Library outside of Charlotte. The library is a great tribute to the Grahams,and all they did.


We then went to Georgia for Thanksgiving with Mel's folks. First of all, in case you forgot who sends this blog out, we do.

Then there is Marissa, our niece, Rich and Kerry, Mel's sister & brother-in-law, and Mel's folks.

We then drove to Greenwood Indiana to Shelli's, to see the grand kids, and her and Caleb. She is due to have our third grandchild any day, and if not before Monday, she goes in at 8:00AM. Grammy was busy sewing in NC, and made little Caleb a Cars quilt for his bed.

She also made little Abby a quilted coat, and doesn't she look adorable? just say yes.

It was great to see them, and know that we will be in and out a lot between now and Christmas. We will be here to help with the little ones, and the new one as well. More pics to come.

Hello from North Carolina

Well, for all you gear heads out there, this is what a retired auto parts salesman has to play with. The picture doesn't do it justice. It's fully restored with most original stuff. I'm not a gear head, but it is really pretty cool looking, and he says it's really fast. The fellow that owns this was one of the crew that helped with the roofing job.




We have been in NC for 2 weeks on a roofing project. We are redoing retirement housing on the JAARS center. The apartments are for retired missionaries. These shots are the guys that were here helping, some from PA, IL, and local guys.


This photo, taken from the roof, is of the cutter that was used for the shingles. They were steel, and lot's of cutting was needed. It was like a large paper cutter.

The last shot is our RV site at JAARS. It was very pretty with trees, and some changing colors. Mel said she could stay here that it is were tranquil. Sh has spent most of her time sewing Christmas gifts, and stuff for the grandkids. We set up our 5 ft picnic table inside, and she had a ball. The only problem here is that it got COLD. One night it got down in the teens, and froze our water supply, and cracked the water hydrant. Maybe we need to move a little further south.

Now we are off to other places.

Pic's

Here are a few pics of Melody's trip to California. The first is her boss at Laguna Beach,which she said is beautiful. The second shot is taken the other direction from the beach, showing the hillside of homes.

Th e 3rd and 4th pic are of the famous Crystal Cathedral, which was built by Robert Schuller.

I forgot to relate a story of something that happened to Mel in LA. She was sitting down, have a commune with nature, and noticed a pile of pooh in the corner of the bathroom. She thought the hosts cat had had an accident, and went for paper towel to clean it up. As she bent down to pick up the pile, she noticed what looked like a rat tail sticking out from behind the toilet. After further investigation, she found a possum hiding there. She went to get the homeowner, and asked if she had another pet she didn't tell them about. The lady said no, why?Well she was informed of the new friend that was found. The lady said that it had happened before because she leaves her door open for her cat. So the two of them, armed with brooms, went back to get rid of the new pet. Ardie (hostess) went straight to the bathroom while Mel jumped up on top of the bed with her broom. Ardie took one look at Mel with her jammies on and broom in hand and started to guffaw, all the while standing only inches from the possum. Ardie started to prodthe possum saying, "move on there, come on, get out of there...oh my, who knew possums could climb up the wall backwards!" Mel started laughing uncontrollably as the possum ran into the bedroom and tried to run behind the bed. Mel played a little hockey to get the possum outside through the sliding glass door. Mel now ALWAYS looks behind the toilet when she goes for a sit down and when things got tense in the CA audit she would stop and say, "Well, at least I don't have a possum behind the toilet!" Great fun.

Travel-no pics

Since we last posted, Melody went to California 2 weeks ago, to help with the financial audit for WA. She spent the week doing number stuff, and as she put it-they ate their way around LA. Then last Monday, she flew to Dallas, and met me and about 40 others for an America's Area Conference for WA. It was a time of sharing with reports from all aspects of the Americas, as well as a time of praying and preparing for the future. We then flew back to Orlando on Sat, Nov 8, packed up the coach, and headed north. We are at a rest area near Jacksonville for the night, and will travel on to Waxhaw NC on Sunday. We will be there for 2 weeks working on a re-roofing project at JAAR'S. I should have some pics there.

Ken