In Loving Memory

Today we received some sad news .. a dear friend of ours passed away unexpectedly this morning.  Kevin had just turned 45 on December 17.  Kevin had been suffering with severe headaches for several years.  His wife said he had been having them more often and more severe and had been up most of the night with one.  When she got up this morning she found him dead.  Our hearts are heavy with sadness as we will miss our dear friend.  Kevin was a great person to be around, he was lots of fun and made everyone around him laugh, he had a heart that was so huge and would help anyone in need.  Kevin was our neighbor for many years and we raised our kids together.  He was more like family.  We are sadden that we are so far away and can not attend his service.  Please remember his wife and family in your prayers.

I got the phone call around 11 AM and after that i just couldn’t bring myself to do much as our hearts are very heavy.  I am so thankful that hubby and I are getting to enjoy our time traveling as our friend Kevin and his wife Jeanette wanted to travel so much.  By the time they got their dream truck and 5th wheel Kevin had come down sick with COPD.  He was doing better and looked like they may get to travel .. now that dream will never come true for him.

Times like this make you really appreciate what you have and are getting to do with your life.  We think we have it ruff at times but there is always someone who is suffering more then you.  I can’t and do not ever want to go through what my dear friend Jeanette is.  Losing your soul mate and the love of your life can not be easy.  Jeanette is going to need her family more then ever as Kevin was her world just as hubby is mine.  He was her rock, her strength, her silver lining.

We need to always remember that we should cherish today and we do not know what tomorrow may bring.  It’s horrible to lose a loved one but it’s esp hard this close to the holiday.  My heart, thoughts and prayers are with Jeanette and her family. 

Not much going on

Yesterday i spent the day doing cleaning and laundry.  I’m doing laundry again today .. i’m on my 3rd load today.  I had let my laundry get behind the past few days. When this load gets done i will be caught back up and then i will begin washing bed sheets, dog covers and rugs so that they are all clean. 

As you can see not really much going on with us yesterday and today.  We are just relaxing and trying to recoup from a busy few days.  The weather has been very nice in the 70’s!  We did have a few short rain showers this morning but the sun has returned and it’s nice outside.  I have been spending my afternoon’s outside reading a book.

Later in the afternoon i needed to make a trip to Wal-mart for laundry soap.  We went to a local grocery store called Jerry Lee’s.  Sale prices were not too bad but everything else was expensive.  We purchased a bag of chips and a loaf of bread and then it was on to Wal-mart where i finally remember a head set for my IPod, ice cream and laundry soap .. actually $32 worth of stuff … i made pancakes for lunch so i wasn’t in a mood to cook so we fought the traffic and went to Wendy’s for dinner.  Man O man the crazy people are out!  We just about were hit 2 times from idiot drivers.  One ran a red light and came flying through the intersection about 40 mph .. luckily hubby saw him before we collided and another car turned when it wasn’t his turn.  Needless to say i was thrilled to get home and away from all the crazy shoppers.  The stores were packed.  I’m so glad that i don’t have to be out shopping in all the craziness.  I got the items i need to make a cherry cheese cake to take for Christmas Dinner.

We have plans for Friday, Saturday and Sunday with friends for the holiday season.  So the rest of this week we will be spent getting things cleaned, packed and ready to roll the day after Christmas.  Right now we are not sure if we will be heading to Georgia or Florida.  Plans are in the air at this time.   We are debating on a Corp of Engineer park at Lake Seminole.  Lake Seminole borders both Georgia and Florida and has 37,500 acres of water and over 18,000 acres of surrounding land or Gulf Seashore Fort Pickens in Pensacola, FL. 

We are both ready to move on .. we have enjoyed our stay in Mississippi, but it’s time to move again.  We have stayed parked in one spot for almost 3 weeks and I'm ready to move about.

Leakesville Christmas Program

We got up this morning and went to church and then later in the afternoon we took over an hour drive to Leakesville.  We’ve been invited to attend the Christmas Program for their church.

Their program was about a school and the Christmas program they wanted to have

It was cute and they said things about if social service came in and found a baby in a feed trough they’d take the baby
 
The kids have grown so much in a year’s time .. it was a cute program and ended …

with Jesus rising .. we really enjoyed it and after the service we stayed for refreshments (i forgot to take pictures then) and visited with several friends.  They were all so surprised as we hadn’t told anyone we were coming.  Not even our friends Sylvia and Sonny who told us that they were having it and invited us to attend.  We pretended we didn’t know if we couldn’t make it.  It was great seeing the new addition to their church and esp seeing friends we hadn’t said good bye to.

We got home around 10 PM and it was time to retire as we were both tired.

Journey to Bethlehem

The church here is putting on drama for the Christmas season

When you came in there were guides who took you through your journey
    
along the journey there was a woman with her children begging

Of course the Roman soldiers were present
   
then came the wise men
 
Sheppard's were tending their flocks

the angel

and the breath taking display of Mary holding baby Jesus and Joseph watching over them
 
after the journey there were servants serving refreshments

It was amazing and wonderful experience and reminded us of the true meaning of Christmas
 

Hubby and I enjoyed being able to participate .. he was a wise man and i was a servant

A Day at the Beach

From this
  
to this … I got up and got dressed as wanted to get over snap a picture of the finished work .. Alligator Alley is finished.  Looks and smells so much better.
 
After rinsing the truck and camper off we decided since it’s such a beautiful day that we’d head to the beach.

We saw an accident looks like a pretty bad one.  There was a man on the ground being secured on a stretcher.
 
some areas on the beach they are letting the dunes go back to their natural look.

Doesn’t the beach look so inviting?

We had another wonderful day enjoying the sand between our toes

before long it was time to head back home .. traffic was getting heavier
   

Getting ready for Christmas Program

I went over this morning to see if i could help out any and i got to see the kids practicing for their Christmas Program.

The kids love the camera and it was so much fun watching them

they enjoy getting into the rhythm

Temps have been in the 70’s and absolutely beautiful .. since i wasn’t needed i came home and decided to work on cleaning up my own home.  I’ve been keeping up with my laundry now that i finally got it all caught up.  I usually do a load or so a day and this way i stay on top of it.  We have changed our departure date.

Looks like the cement flooring is slowly coming along
 
It’s going slow .. but coming along .. once it’s done i will post the before and after pic’s .. smells so much better already.

This afternoon friends from Illinois came to visit us .. YES you read that right ... we haven't seen them for several years and we were excited and really enjoyed seeing them. Dave and Pam came over and we had a great time catching up .. were hoping to get to see them again before they head to LA and we head to FL.

Originally we’d plan to leave December 22nd and head back to Ocean Springs but we’ve been invited to the Christmas program and it’s December 22nd at 7 pm.  So we’ve decided to head out after Christmas when we will be heading to Florida.  We haven’t set a exact date.

Bethel School

Another beautiful day here in Mississippi.  I decided to get out and take some pictures.  I explored the church yesterday and today i explored the inside of the school
 
This school is a unique school … the ages of the children are from 2 weeks old to 8th grade.  The school has around 150 kids.  Kids start arriving around 5.30 AM until 5.30 PM.

Lunch time at school .. of course after lunch is recess!

they have a very nice fenced in play area.  There is a tall privacy fence around the entire outside playground and then inside is another fenced off area.  It’s very nice.
 
These kids were waiting to get their blankets for nap time .. the smaller kids have nap time from noon – 2 PM

they have a Christmas tree in the lunch room

Lunch room workers getting things ready for the next group of kids

There are several rooms that have these mats .. this is where the little kids take their naps at.  They have a TV and DVD player for those kids who do not sleep.

The nursey is so adorable!  I love this table and look how cute the rest of the room is
 
Here are some more of the rooms .. i snapped some pictures as i toured through .. looks like the kids are ready for Christmas too


This gym is very cute .. i love all the murals painted on the walls
 
Yes I am so enjoying spending time with these kids .. i’m such a pushover when it comes to children.  God has really blessed us to be able to spend time volunteering and witnessing to children through out the USA.