Honduras - Days 1 & 2

As I've done in the past, I'll just type up my notes from my journal and then go into detail at the end if there's something more to share.

Pictures on photobucket.com
More pictures (Day 2)

Saturday, August 9th - Early or on time all day! (Includes showing up at the airport, and all our flights.) So easy to get through customs in Honduras with luggage. (Had to wait forever, and we only had one checked bag each this year.) Big group meeting at the airport - several teams all riding together. Not happy about riding on the "jump seat" the whole time. Until I saw the last team in the back of the trucks - sitting on luggage.

Flat tire on the bus (large van) not too far from San Isidro. Just pulled into tire place & got new tire. Quick service and back on the road in 20 minutes. (See pictures below...)

(I love this one - the guys with their opinions)

Vineyard ladies stayed in Esther House - third year I've been in that house. But this time all 7 of us are in the same room. Half were supposed to do showers at night, the other half in the morning. We split up, but then all of us ended up taking showers that night. Did I mention there were no lights in the showers or toilets? (Cold showers feel better after a long day than first thing in the morning - even in the dark.) I think there was a creepy crawly in mine - salamander?

Spam for dinner!

Our group did dishes after dinner. All 13 of us working together, having fun. What a great team! Tomorrow all 3 groups, about 60 people, up on Ambassador Mountain. Wonder how that will go. (In previous years we came in on Friday or Sunday and didn't go up the mountain with other groups.) Our group will probably go slow to stay together. If we're the last up the mountain, will we get to sit on benches or end up in the dirt? (Bad attitude...)

Sunday, August 10th - Hike up Ambassador Mountain with 57 people. We were last group up, but still waiting on Miguel, so no one was waiting on us. We got seats, many men stood, we all fit! Started off with singing - beautiful with so many voices singing together!! Mostly hymns, and ended up "God is so good." Miguel tried to teach us a song, but forgot the words. So much more fun with a bigger group!

Miguel's words reminded me, it's not about me, it's about Jesus. I'm just the ass (donkey) Jesus has chosen to carry him. So this year my rock (that we threw off the mountain) had ego & pride on it. I'm not great, God is.

Tour around village was good - took long even though most of us have been there before. (Half of us have been there more than once before.) Have to share a couple of my favorite pictures...

See the littlest girl? Dr. Michelle (the one taking the picture) did an ultrasound on her 2 years ago. Pretty cool!!
This little boy was getting a drink of water. The look on his face was too cute...

The only way to get over to the dairy - right now. A team will be building a bridge to make transporting milk & cheese so much easier.


Got to see new dairy, skipped the school this year. Took crazy truck ride with German Pinel. Went across creek (in the back of the truck) and had to stop. Guys had to get out and walk up the road. Girls rode in back of the truck and went another (slightly smoother) way. (See pictures below.)
Up to tilapia ponds and chicken farm. Didn't get out of the truck this year (had a headache) but saw them get some fish out - which we later tasted! (See pics below.)


Pineapple for lunch (I believe German got it for us so that we'd have some before we left), peanut butter sandwiches & BBQ chicken, I think. Surprised Deborah about her family's new house, she was so excited! (Deborah is a student at the School of Discipleship. The house we built is for her family.) Just figured out that I can upload the video...

Deborah rode out to El Quebracho with us so she could see her family. (She went home the next day.) Got to hotel & got showers - got ready for church. Our tub filled up (wouldn't drain), the window in the bathroom was open and wouldn't close (it's hot & humid and they were burning trash outside the hotel). When we got there we had no towels and no toilet paper. Frustrating! Got to dinner late with everyone waiting on us. (We ended up getting a different room the next day.)

Deborah wanted to surprise her family so she waited in the van at the church. We got her mom, dad, and sister together and told them we had brought something for them from Deborah. And then she came out of the van. They were so happy to see her!! She hadn't been home for 3 months and they weren't sure when they'd see her again. She only got to stay with her family for one night, but that was enough.

So wonderful to be at the church again! We remembered so many kids' names. They remembered us too. (A few remembered my name, which was just awesome!) The kids wanted so badly for me to take their pictures. I got them all against the wall and got some pictures. They wanted to see the viewer & so many had their hands all over my camera. I was completely surrounded by kids and I wanted to talk to some of the adults, so I got their attention and said "sientense" - and they all ran and sat down! Amazing!

Church started and they brought out kids holding a sign for us that said "WELCOME SISTER CHURCH"

Then 3 kids did a dance to a song on a CD (that ended up skipping, so they had to end it early). We did some worship (they've improved so much since last year!!) and then Kevin preached. Many came up for prayer. Then they had offering & announcements. After church we went back to the hotel and crashed.

Pics & Overview

Okay, they're just some favorite pics and don't really show you what we did, but that's another post.

At the Heart to Honduras compound - first day. (We all wore matching shirts.)

Jason working hard.

Holding down the boards. (They were warped and they didn't fit together.)

A must for sun protection - a big hat that protects your ears, neck, and FACE. (In the background is the house we built.)

In the hotel after church one night. (They had matching shirts on.)

Baby tarantula. We didn't see the mother, thankfully.

At the cathedral square in Comayagua. (You can see the spider bite on my leg.)

Yes, that's a tractor on Jason's shirt. And the blue thing is my pedometer.

Kissing on the other side of the fountain. :)

Jason and Junior before church

Lake Yure - beautiful!! This is where they're putting the kids camp - International Extreme Camp.

Last day, ready to go home.

Honduras Overview - Just really quick -

Saturday (the 9th) - at the airport at 4:30 am. (Yes, seriously.) Flights were on time, maybe early, and everything went smoothly. Got to Honduras and had to wait for last group to show up - three groups were traveling together to the Heart to Honduras compound in Canchias. Had a flat on the way, fixed within 20-30 minutes. Rest of the day was relaxing, lots of time to sleep.

Sunday - breakfast then hike up Ambassador Mountain. Then tour around village and then off to Comayagua to check into the hotel. Got ready for the evening, had dinner and then went to church. Wonderful to see everyone again. (Jason got hit on by a couple of girls who could speak some English. Hee!!) Discovered I had a bug bite - thought it was a mosquito bite. Wrong.

Monday - started house in the morning, and by the time we were done for the day it had walls and a roof. The staff guys were amazed we got it up so fast. We had a great team and we had a fun time working together. Decided it was a spider bite, NOT a mosquito bite.

Tuesday - made doors for the windows and doorways. Got those "installated" (Kevin's word). Put awning out back for kitchen area behind the house. Church service where we prayed for the church members, and then they prayed for us. Kept the kids occupied with coloring books & crayons. Spider bite was looking really bad, doctor on our team gave me antibiotics.

Wednesday - added screens to windows & framed them to cover edges. Built & put up screen doors. Didn't open very far, so had to figure out how to put them on the house. Then "reinstallated" screen doors. Area affected by spider bite now huge and purple. Also very swollen, hot, and painful. More antibiotics! That night went to see cathedral in town and then hit a Baskin Robbins for ice cream. :)

Thursday - did prayer walk through town. Women had to wear skirts - fun fun with the muddy roads. Got to pray for just about everyone and invited them to church. Very hot day, even the Honduran people complained about the heat. Spider bite was smaller, swelling went down, pain gone. Still purple though. Last night at church and several we visited came to church. So sad to see everyone for the last time.

Friday - Went to Lake Yure (2 hour drive) to see site of new camp. Amazing!! Several of our kids from El Quebracho went last year. Here's the video:
International Extreme Camp on youtube.com Then went to Power Chicken for lunch, food was delicious as usual. Then to the market where I got some great finds. Then checked into the bed & breakfast for the night. Beautiful house!! Dinner was wonderful!! Played Uno and two of the kids who lived at the B&B played with us. The 3 year old sat on my lap and was a force to be reckoned with!! (As Grace found out.)

Saturday - at airport by 7:45 am, flight took off at 11:55 am. Got to Houston for 4 hour layover. Flight to Dayton then delayed. Got in at 1:30 am Sunday morning. Spider bite turned pink - things are going to be okay.

Overview - wonderful team, had so much fun, I don't think I've laughed so much in a week. Spider bite was scary and put a damper on my trip. I'm okay with not going next year. Went to Urgent Care and got more antibiotics and as long as it looks better by Wednesday, it should be fine. Jason fell in love with Honduras, he gets it now. :) Building the house was the most rewarding thing I think I've ever done. Saw glimpses of God working everywhere.

Unlike previous years, I don't want to sell everything and move down there. This year I just want to sell everything and send the money down there. I feel like I own too much, that I've wasted so much money on stupid things. I've taken so much pride in what I've acquired and it really counts for nothing. The lives that are touched is what's important. Not just in Honduras, where the need is obvious, but here in Dayton. I help physically, but am I touching emotionally, spiritually? Do I serve people and then walk away not remembering their faces or their needs? Do I really CARE or am I just helping out to make myself feel like a better person? There's a difference. Not sure why I didn't think about this before.

Becoming a Parrothead

Thursday, July 17th... a date Jason and I have been waiting for four months. Jason stood in line at a Ticketmaster at a small Krogers in Kettering and was the 4th person in line to buy tickets. I was at work, trying to buy tickets online. I never even got through to pick out tickets, so we made the right choice to send Jason to that Krogers. The 20,000 tickets sold out in 10 minutes, and we got two - front row of the 2nd section, right in the middle.

We got to Riverbend a little after 7pm; concert started at 8pm. We wandered around a bit and went to find our seats. Definitely what we were expecting, but right behind the sound booth. We had to stand the whole time if we wanted to see the stage, but Jason said that everyone stands the whole time anyway.

Walking around I see thousands of people with Hawaiian shirts, leis, grass skirts, coconut bikini tops (half were guys) and hats with everything from parrots to shark fins on top. I felt out of place in my light green t-shirt with khaki pants. Jason fit right in with his Jimmy Buffet t-shirt, jeans and sandals.

Jason has been playing Jimmy Buffet CD's so I'd be familiar with the music. (Jimmy Buffet has over 30 albums, and Jason has 9 of them.) Jason also explained how the crowd participates with the different songs so I'd understand when people started waving their arms around. I had my camera ready and I was set to go.

The concert started a little late with thousands of people still pouring into the concert area. No one opens for Jimmy Buffet, and there's no fanfare when he comes out. They all just walk out in their casual Hawaiian clothes and the music started. I recognized most of the songs and Jason and I sang with the thousands of others enjoying the music. It was amazing that as loud as the music was (though not too loud), I could still hear everyone singing along with him. I did video tape bits and pieces, even though you're not supposed to. I wanted to capture the moment somehow, so I'd point my camera at the stage and steal 30 seconds of music here and there. I'll try to upload them to youtube.com and post them below for your enjoyment.

Towards the end "Fins" came on and Jason gave me a heads up about the arms waving around for this one. During the part of the song that goes "fins to the left, fins to the right and you're the only girl in town" the entire crowd would put their shark fins (arms) in the air and LEEEAAAAANNNNN to the left, then LEEEAAAAANNNNNN to the right, and then move their fins around. I took pictures, but had to put the camera away so I could join in with the fun.

By the end of the concert, I understood why Jason was a Parrothead. I finally got it. I'm definitely a parrothead now and I can't wait until the next time we go see Jimmy Buffet. Until then, I might start looking around for a parrot tattoo to match Jason's. :)

Pictures below - click on pictures to get larger version...

The view from our seats...

Parrotheads...

People still coming in at 7:45...

Trying to take a picture of ourselves...

With help from guy behind us...

Jimmy Buffet and the Coral Reefer Band...
(note the 4 beach balls in the picture)

Close up of Jimmy Buffet...
(I like the zoom on my camera)

Showing us how to do fins...
(or clapping maybe?)

Fins to the left...

Jimmy Buffet with pirate ship hat on...

The full set of pictures...
http://www2.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=238784879/

Videos... (just a taste of our favorite songs...)
For better viewing: http://www.youtube.com/user/buttercup2272

First song of the concert
(note beach balls everywhere)


Cheeseburger in Paradise


Come Monday

Our first camping trip...

We've been talking about going camping for a long time. We registered for camping gear and received a tent, rechargable pump, and other items as wedding gifts. (Thank you to Mary Joy, Joe, Nancy, and everyone else who gave us Target gift cards as wedding gifts.) We hit Walmart and stocked up on everything else we thought we'd need. And then we were ready to go!! Or at least we thought we were. ;)

We chose Top o' the Caves for our camping site. http://www.topothecaves.com/ (warning - annoying music plays when you open the website) We made our reservation several weeks ago and asked for a site with trees. Little did we have any idea how much it would rain and that trees wouldn't really matter.

So we left Thursday around 4pm and headed to the Hocking Hills area. It's about a 2 hour drive and it rained most of the way there. We kept praying that the rain would stop long enough for us to put up our tent, otherwise it was going to be a wet night. We checked in at the campground and got out site number - 49. We drove around to find it and realized it was down the hill from the road and therefore, nowhere to park near our site. We drove around looking for a better location and finally decided to go get dinner and wait for the rain to stop.

We found a little restaurant at a lodge and when we walked in, no one else was there. We ordered the neighborhood special ($10 for stir fry) and an appetizer. The food was very good, but a bit pricey. (There wasn't a lot of places to eat around there, so we were surprised at the prices. But I guess that's the law of supply and demand.) The rain let us while we were eating and other campers started coming into the restaurant. We left quickly hoping we'd have enough time to get our tent up.

We got back to the campground and decided to go with the site we were given. It was on a hill, but there were two flat parts - one to put up a tent and the other for a table. Perfect. And we didn't have neighbors the entire weekend. We got the new tent put up, and we completely unloaded the car (since we had to park up the hill). Then the sun came out and we got brave - we decided to have a campfire. Jason did an awesome job chopping up the wood into small pieces in order to get a good fire going (with damp wood).

Sometime around 2am the rain started again. This time it was a thunderstorm with a constant downpour for hours. Then around 4am Jason realized there was water inside our tent. We turned on a light and realized the seam where the floor (tarp material) met the walls was leaking! This was a water-proof tent with specially reinforced seams to prevent leaking - that's how much it rained! We mopped up the moat on the inside of the tent and moved everything away from the walls. In the morning it wasn't as bad and we did more wiping up the water. The trick seemed to be to keep anything from touching the walls and then the leaking wasn't so bad. We decided that we'd try to find a camping store or a Walmart and get the hugest tarp ever and just cover up our tent. We weren't leaving, but we weren't settling for a wet tent.

Knowing that the 4th of July would be a wet and rainy day, we bought train tickets on the Hocking Valley Scenic Railway in Nelsonville. http://www.hvsry.org/

We made breakfast (scrambled eggs and cheese sandwiches in a camping iron) and attempted coffee, but the water never got hot enough (old-style percolator style pot). We headed into Nelsonville and found a Subway for lunch. We made our way to the train station and found our they upgraded our ticket to first class. It was the perfect treat after a very rainy 24 hours! The views were wonderful and we sat around the most interesting people. After about 2 hours we were back at the depot.

We couldn't find anything around Nelsonville, so we headed to Logan. Where do you find a Walmart? We just took the main road through Nelsonville and then made a wrong turn - and we found a Walmart!! We got our tarp and some lighter fluid - hoping it would help with the wet wood problem. We then ran across a BBQ place that we saw in a travel brochure, Millstone BBQ. http://www.millstonebbq.com/ Our server was Amy and she was the best waitress we've ever had. She didn't have many tables, so she had time to chat with us. She's been married 3 years with 2 kids. She and her husband honeymooned in Gatlinburg too. Her husband is from Troy, but somehow they ended up in Nelsonville. (We're thinking she's from there.) We told her about our trip to Honduras and she said she'd be praying for us. We promised we'd be back and let her know how our trip went.

We're definitely writing the restaurant a letter and thanking Amy for the wonderful service. She offered to bring out the two dressings I couldn't decide between for my salad. She heard me say that I'd make my tea sweet, she brought out an ice tea spoon. (I didn't even think restaurants had those anymore.) The food was great, and when we had left overs, she brought out two containers - one for Jason's dinner, and one for the mini-muffins we didn't finish. And then she gave us drinks in to-go containers for the ride back to the campground. After a rainy, damp day, it was so nice to be pampered quite a bit.


We went back to our campsite and saw that a large branch had fallen right next to our tent. There was no damage to our tent, but it was still unnerving that it came that close. We had several people see the branch from the road and stop and make comments. Definitely a close call. That evening Jason got a great fire going again (once again, with wet wood, lots of chopping wood into smaller pieces and this time with lighter fluid). We had smores - right before the rain started again. This time with the tarp over the tent we stayed very dry!


Saturday morning was dry and promised to be just an overcast day. Jason got the fire going and this time we had coffee. Pretty good, with a bit of a smokey taste to it. (As you might expect.) We got on the road and headed to Old Man's Cave. We could not believe the amount of people there. We had our hiking boots on, along with maps and water bottles. We saw so many people walking around with flip flops, complaining about the humidity, and just going everywhere you're not supposed to go. Not at all what we were expecting. We took our time and I took a lot of pictures and savored the moments when we weren't surrounded by people. The water falls and the rock formations were beautiful! The most fascinating thing was all the trees and other vegetation that could grow on top of a rock. (Lots of unusual pictures of trees on top of rocks, and those that had fallen off!)


Afterwards we got lunch and then headed to Rock House, about 10 miles away. This was a much better location. The rock formations were beautiful, and we really enjoyed walking through the cave. I didn't realize how beautiful the colors were inside until I started looking at the pictures I took with flash. It was so dark inside the cave that you couldn't hardly see where you were going. Once again, crazy people going down the side of the cave or walking around the edge of rocks. However, a lot less people made the experience so much better.


We headed back to the campground and while I took a shower, Jason made a delicious dinner of chedderwurst, baked potatoes, and corn on the cob. Later we had smores again, but this time we tried them with Reece's cups instead of Hershey bars (Jason's idea). Very yummy!! We stayed up until all the wood was gone and went to bed exhausted.


The next morning we got up to sunshine! We got the tent taken down and the car completely packed up. We headed to Athens, so I could show Jason around Ohio University. I was an engineering major there from the fall of 1990 until the spring of 1993. After walking around the campus (and not recognizing a few parts), we headed to The Ridges. OU's site is informative - http://www.ohiou.edu/athens/greens/theridges.html, but this site has better pictures - http://www.forgottenoh.com/Ridges/ridges.html. We went inside the art museum part and they showed us a room that had some history about the building. We then drove around and found the old cemetery. Oddly enough, it's part of a nature walk with a very noisy HVAC unit nearby. Not what you imagine with all the pictures you see.


And then we headed home to unpack and clean everything possible. We have to let everything dry out and then refold everything. Fun fun. But that's part of camping, right? :)


Next "camping" trip will be Honduras. We'll be recycling a lot of stuff we used this past weekend. And for the record, we didn't end up not having enough (minus that one tarp), and we didn't pack too much. The secret, the perfect camping list: http://www.lovetheoutdoors.com/camping/Checklists.htm


I know this was long, so thank you for bearing with me and reading this to the bitter end. Now for a few of the 400+ pictures I took....


Our campsite (note the mud everywhere)






















Foggy after the rain - with the sun trying to come out.






















At the train depot - raining!





















The car we should have been on (note open sides)





























The 1st class car we ended up in:
























Old Man's Cave























Rock House






















The Ridges
















The cemetery at the Ridges

Life in the Parsons house...

(repost from myspace)

life in the Parsons house...

Current mood:amused

The 3-month mark. Some days it seems like more than 3 months, sometimes less. But everyone says that.

Went to Kentucky Memorial Day weekend and stay at the cabin the whole weekend. It was so peaceful and relaxing. Hit the drive-in Saturday night and saw Indiana Jones. The *perfect* drive-in movie. Loved it!! People asked if I'd recommend it. Sure, everyone who loves Indy should see it, but lower your standards a bit or you'll be disappointed. It rates third out of the four Indiana Jones moves. (Temple of Doom being the worst. And yet, I had to watch it again recently...)

Sunday was a reunion of sorts with Jason's family. I got to meet some new people on his mom's side. All very nice people. They all talk in low tones and they're very laid back. I took this as an opportunity to not have to chat with people and just sat and listened all afternoon. There are times I feel obligated to be "on" and entertain the people around me. I figured that afternoon I'd have to be "on" but thankfully didn't need to be. Jason did most of the talking and I just shared wedding pictures.

Monday was quite the adventure with taking Jason truck to his parents' house get their lawn mower. The truck is old, and for some unknown reason is caked with mud on the inside. Yes, INSIDE of the cab. I got my neat sheet (water proof picnic blanket) out of my car and set it on my seat. It didn't have much cushion left, so this also helped. I couldn't believe the truck ran, but it did and got us to about 10 minutes before his parents' house - then we had a flat tire.

We have AAA and within half an hour we were on our way again. Amazing, huh? Another perk of a small town. The guy that came to rescue us even invited us over to their family's truck washing. He said the kids were happy as long as they were getting wet. Do kids wash trucks in Dayton? Probably just take them to the local car wash. Wait, do they have car washes in Olive Hill? I don't remember seeing any...

In our driving back and forth we drove through the area hit by the tornado. We could see the path by the damage left behind. It apparently crossed the road, but then stayed along the road for awhile. There were tree stumps everywhere - from the trees that had falled across the road being cut down. I tried to count the stumps along the road - more than 50.

I wish I had my camera, but maybe an out-of-towner gawking and taking pictures of the damage would cause more pain for those who were hit. People were still cleaning up their yards on Memorial Day. The greenhouse had plastic back on the frame. And the debris was still in the trees that were standing.
Lastly in the adventures of the Parsons house, we got a hot tub. It's my dad's old hot tub that he wanted to get rid of. The hot tub itself is about 17 years old, but the electronics is only 5 and the motor and pump are 3 years old. We got an incredible price (Dad was just happy to have his back patio clear) and there is now a hot tub on our back patio. Yay!!

Huge thanks to: Tim (and Sarah), Rob (and Heather), Jonathan (and Becca), Charay, Ralph, and Don. And of course Jason who got the truck and put up with me changing my mind as to where the hot tub should go... Thank you guys!!!

I got home from work Friday night and started cleaning the tub and then rinsed it out. I couldn't figure out how to drain the tub. We looked for the plug, called Dad's cell phone and left voice mail. Crawled around some more and then called Dad's home phone and left voice mail. Poked and turned things and still nothing, so I called Claire's cell phone. She said Dad always used a hose and if there's a plug, they're not aware of it. Oh. No wonder we couldn't find it. So Jason used a bucket to drain it. We'll get a siphon with a pump and a long hose next time we want to drain it.

I had plans with girl friends and I left around 7pm. (Actually, Jason was supposed to come, but REALLY didn't want to. Used the excuse of working on the hot tub to stay home.) I got home after 11pm to the report that the hot tub was full, but the jets weren't working. The motor was running but nothing was coming out of the jets.

The next morning Jason got brave and got into the water (63 degrees - he was singing soprano for awhile) and took the top of the intake off. He cleaned it off and the jets started working! We went to bed Saturday night with the temp in the 80's. So a little over 2 degrees/hour. We figured out that with the wind, if we would have put the top on, it probably would have warmed up faster. (We left the top off so we could keep checking the temperature...)

Sunday morning we checked and the temp was 101. (I think we set it at 102, but have reset it for 98.) I did the spa shock before we went to church and then added chlorine and the ph/alkalinity stuff after lunch. It took a couple applications to get the levels right, but by 4pm we were good to go. We noticed that when the top was off the temperature dropped from 102 to 99 and it didn't go back up until we put the top back on.

We've decided we need a floating cup holder (do those things even work?) and some kind of steps up to the spa (can double as a table if we don't find cup holder). We also probably need to get a new lid, though putting it back on the hot tub has been a good exercise in communication. (We need more practice... "push it my way, MY way" and then I get squished between the lid and the wall.)

Tornado in Kentucky

(repost from myspace)

Tornado in Kentucky

Current mood:indescribable

Jason and I are in Kentucky this weekend. We spent last night at the cabin, about 20 minutes away from his church. We figured we'd leave at 10am, get into Olive Hill around 10:20, hit McDonalds for coffee and breakfast and make it to church early for the 10:50 service. (We brought our wedding pictures to share.) So that was the plan. The morning didn't quite turn out as we planned.

We walked out of the cabin around 10:00 and we were talking about a noise we heard that sounded like a truck on a highway. There's no highways around there (there's no roads out there) so we figured it was thunder from the clouds that were rolling in. We get in the car and start down the road. About 5 minutes later we start noticing trees down and up the road a bit there was tree across the road. We turn around and head another direction. Another 10 minutes down the road there was another (larger) tree down across the road. We pulled over and waited for the storm to pass before trying a third way into town.

After sitting a few minutes the rain stopped and we could see blue skies peeking through the clouds. We headed back in the first direction, thinking maybe the trees had been cleared. (And also to see if maybe it was a tornado that brought the trees down.) As we approached the first tree down it became clear that a tornado had gone through. We could see down into a ravine, where there were trees and structures blown apart. The houses seemed untouched, but a large greenhouse and a couple of other sheds (or other small buildings) had been destroyed. With the number of trailors around that area, it's amazing that none of them were touched. We saw some firetrucks so we're hoping that there wasn't destruction further down the road where we couldn't see.

So we headed off in another direction and after an hour and fifteen minutes of driving, we finally made it to church around 11:20. The service was almost over, so we dropped off a few things and headed to Jason's parent's house. As we drove we talked about the sound we heard when we headed out of the cabin. We're thinking we heard the tornado tearing things up. I have to admit, I was quite shaken up. Funny thing, we had been discussing all the amazing things we've seen God do lately, especially in our own lives. I guess we can add this to the list.

Here's the only report we're finding so far...
http://www.wsaz.com/news/headlines/18843534.html

little vents... big praises!!

(repost from myspace; some content has been removed)

little vents... big praises!!

Current mood:adventurous

Little vents first.
Funny how people come into our lives and right back out sometimes. Some you stay aquaintances with, some you completely lose touch with. A friend posted a while back about the Michael W. Smith song "Friends are Friends Forever." The line he was debating was "friends are friends forever, if the Lord's the Lord of them." He said this was wrong and I disagreed with him. After my brief email encounter this morning, I guess I agree. You can be Christian brothers and sisters, but that doesn't mean you have to stay friends. I think it's okay to let people go and place your focus on others. (Others who don't raise your stress level.)

Another little vent - work. We started a new software for the database I docket on. (I'm the only docket clerk right now. Everyone else just views the information I manipulate.) It just amazes me how people get so dead set against something that once it's staring them in the face, they can't accept it. My mom once said that my gift was explaining things that are complicated. I would agree with her until now. I can't seem to explain our new software. I've tried and tried, but there's people who just don't get it. I've lost my knack of explaining the complicated. Or maybe I've just lost my patience.

Really, I just want to do my work and not have to explain things over and over.

And for the record, I LOVE the new software. I've turned into a complete geek and I've had so much fun playing with all the gadgets and gizmos that I've never had before. They're threatening to take away my Admin status, but no one else understands it enough to have that status. Heh. (Technically I shouldn't be the admin since I'm a clerk. My supervisor, or someone in IS should be Admin.)

Other little vents - Jason's cabin not selling, not having the money to fix up the house like we really want to, gaining weight (I went off the diet), working long hours, the weather... blah blah blah.

Big praises...
Jason's new job. First I was asking everyone to pray for wisdom for Jason. The next day he put in his 2-week notice at his old job. I had a minor heart-attack at first, but then just let it go. I felt peace about the situation and knew things would be taken care of. Three days later he had a job offer for an awesome job! I'll let J give you the gory details, but basically, it's doing what he was doing in Kentucky, what he enjoyed doing at his last job. It's M-F, 8-4:30. (Wooo hoooo!!!!) And he has 2 weeks vacation the first year. He already has off for Honduras. I wanted to cry when he got the job - it was just so amazing and so quick! And I have my husband back. :)

We went to Kentucky last weekend (J's first weekend off since January - other than the wedding). We had a great time hanging out with his parents and all the dogs and cats. (J's 5 dogs, and 3 cats.) We spent Saturday night at the cabin. I suggested we watch some old scary movie before going to bed. I thought it would be fun. We watched "Night of the Living Dead." Dang that was scary!!! They may not have had the special effects that we have now, but the mentality was still the same. As we were falling asleep Jason kept saying "they're coming to get you Cyndi." (If you've seen the movie, you know why.) And then he wonders why I didn't get any sleep.

We don't have a mattress in Kentucky, just boxsprings. We took an air mattress, but noticed that when we went upstairs after the movie, the mattress was already half deflated. Great. (Cats must have gotten to it when it was home.) So we went back downstairs and pushed the loveseat and couch together and put the sheets down. Jason slept great, I didn't. (See above.) When you turn off the lights out there, it's DARK. Seriously black. No lights from anything anywhere. Glad I had my flashlight.

Other little praises... Honduras. Yeah, I know, don't get me started. :) First, 116 days until we leave. (You knew I'd do the countdown again.) We're going from August 9-16th. Since there's 2 of us going this year, it'll be almost $4,000. We have almost half of it from income tax returns and I'm sure the rest will come in, no problems. (I keep telling Jason to just wait and see... it's the coolest thing!!) We're doing construction this year, so if you have any hammer and nail type projects that you want some help with... let me know. :) (I'm a bit rusty on these sorts of projects... pun intended.) Just need to get the last name updated on the passport and I'll be already to go.

So excited!!! :)

Other praises... warm weather coming, hanging out with so many friends this weekend, the first outreach at Dayton campus this year... and so much more, but my lunch is almost over.
Feel free to share you little vents and big praises... :)

Hoping I did the right thing

(repost from myspace)

hoping I did the right thing

Current mood:hopeful

First let me tell you that my (detached) garage is off the ally behind my house. I was pulling up to my garage tonight and after hitting the opener, noticed someone going through my trash. The older man looked up kinda startled and I noticed he had a wagon with cans in it. I rolled down my window and asked if he was collecting can. He looked like he was expecting me to yell and seemed grateful that I didn't.

I told him our recycling bin disappeared and I have a bag of cans in my house that I didn't want to throw away. So I asked if he could hang on a moment. I parked in my garage and then leaving the garage door open, walked into my house. The kitchen is right off the back door, so I came back very quickly with the Kroger's bag full of crushed cans.

I handed him the cans and he thanked me. I started chatting with him, asking how often he came by and he said usually twice a week. I told him that we'll start leaving the cans on my fence for him to pick up. He thanked me again and explained that he does this to supplement the social security that he and his wife live on. I was about to walk away, but turned and asked what his name was.

Frank. He and his wife live in a duplex almost across from my house. Their son lives on the other side of the duplex. He then told me that a neighbor a block down caught him looking for cans and yelled at him to stop going through his trash. He seemed hurt by this. The guy probably didn't realize this man was a neighbor, someone who's trying to provide for his wife. Part of me wanted to go down and talk to that neighbor and explain.

Besides, it's very suspect that our recycling actually gets recycled. By giving our cans to Frank, they're definitely getting recycled and he's making a bit of money for it. Nothing but good can come from this. Right?

Part of me worried that maybe I shared too much with this man. After all, I'm still living alone and Jason will be living 15 minutes away. (For another 6 weeks.) I said "our" and "we" but if he lives just across the street, he knows I'm alone a lot. Is he a safe person? Maybe he made up the whole story to get sympathy. Part of me wondered if he smelled of alcohol. Did I do the right thing?

I then did the craziest thing I've done in awhile. I actually dug through my trash and got the cans out that I had thrown away because my recycling bag was over flowing. I filled another half a Kroger's bag. I want to believe the best about my neighbors. I have to to feel safe.