Katrina, Kiel & Labor Day

Talk about considering yourself lucky, we certainly do. We feel very fortunate to have not experienced much of Hurricane Katrina's wrath. We got a little wind and rain but certainly nothing compared to the folks in New Orleans or Mississippi. While we feel lucky for not having damage we feel bad for the folks to the west of us. If the storm would have came east another 100 miles or so - it would be a completely different story. We'd be having some major problems right now. Everytime I watch the news I keep thinking that could have been us. Keep these folks in your prayers, they have a tremendously difficult road in front of them. I can't imagine how they are feeling or where they start to pick up the pieces. Unfortunately I'm of the opinion that we're going to see this situation become worse before it gets better. Kathy had lunch with Kiel's friend Liz today. Liz lives in Slidell, LA (near New Orleans) with her parents. They evacuated because of the storm. Liz told Kathy that thier house is flooded, along with her car. All she brought with her was three pairs of clothes. Kathy said even though they face the prospect of losing everything, Liz seemed in good spirits. Pray for her as she has a lot decisions to make regarding her life and this storm.

Spoke to Kiel today, he got sick last night. He was throwing up and had to get some medicine. I asked him if he was hung over or drunk and he assured me he wasn't. Said his throat is sore but he is doing better. He missed his first class of the morning because he was trying to deal with being sick. But like I said he's doing better and is recovering. I still think it's the 'Bottle Flu' - just kidding Kiel.

This weekend is Labor Day, which means three days at Mexico Beach. We'll go out Friday. I should say that Kathy and I will go out Friday. Kathy is off on Friday and will go out Friday morning. I'll go out Friday afternoon after I get off work. My parents however, are going out Thursday morning. So by the time I get there Friday afternoon they'll have the place wired for sound. Which reminds me, anyone who cares to join us at the beach on Saturday is more than welcome. We'll be staying at the El Governor in the annex, which is the low-rise buildings next to the high rise building. We are in the first two units in the annex next to the swimming pool - we get the same two rooms every year. The weather is supposed to be awesome this weekend so we'll be hanging out at the beach and pool all day Saturday. If you come out, bring your swimsuit, towel and a beach chair. We'll even feed you a burger (if you're good). So if you're in the area and you want to come out, please feel free.

I'm really looking forward to going to Mexico Beach. Each year we go is different and takes on a different personality than the previous year. Last year, there was a Hurricane on the way so the play was basically empty and we had it ourselves - which was kind of fun. Don't think that will be the case this year. It's always fun and I'm really enjoy our time there. Hope everyone is well and has a safe Labor Day weekend. Take Care….Ron

Date Night

Well tonight's date night. With Kiel gone and Katlin working tonight that just leaves me and Kathy. So we have decided to go on one of our favorite dates. We'll both get of at 4:00PM and then go home and change clothes. We'll then head towards Mexico Beach where we'll stop at Toucans. We'll hang out on the deck, look at the gulf, talk and have a drink. Then we'll go to the Sunset Coastal Grill restaurant in Port St. Joe which is probably our favorite restaurant in the area. We try to make it over there at least once every summer and have dinner on the porch and watch the sunset. It's a little bit of driving to Mexico Beach and Port St. Joe but it's fun to do once a year. Tomorrow (Saturday) we're going to work on turning Kiel's bedroom into a spare bedroom. Need to touch up some paint, move some furniture, buy a couple of things and then put it together.

There is a Hurricane in the gulf and it looks like it is heading our way either late Sunday or early Monday. Not sure what we intend to do yet but we'll keep an eye on it and react accordingly. Hope it's just rain but it looks like it could strengthen and be somewhat of a problem. Just looked at the latest from the National Hurricane Center and it could be a bad one. We may to leave.

I miss Kiel but I gotta tell you I don't miss him on my computer. I spent the whole evening last night cleaning up our computer with all of Kiel's crap. I worked on it for about four hours. I removed unused/old software - must have been half a dozen Star Wars games. Not to mention all the poker games. Plus there was a ton of Ad ware and Spy Ware on there too from many of the web sites he frequented. So I removed what I could - installed all updates it needed and just preformed some general house keeping. It's running much better now and I can actually get on the Internet without waiting for everything to load. I still have some data files of his to remove but by in large it's running much better than what it was. Sorry Kiel but you did have a ton a crap on there.

Got an email from Kiel this morning and he's doing fine - just really busy and adjusting to his first week at UCF. Hung out with new friends last night and is going to do the same tonight. Perhaps he'll leave a post on this blog or his blog letting everyone know what's going on (obvious hint).

Oh well, keep us in your thoughts concerning this storm. Take care and we'll keep you updated as what we intend to do.

PoKE Day 2

Today was better than yesterday. Well for me anyways. Kathy had to relieve this weekend with her customers and co-workers - makes it difficult to get past when you constantly have to explain it to people. But tonight we laughed more, smiled more and played around more. The three of us had a great dinner together and of course the bottle of Merlot didn't hurt. But normally or what is going to be normal from now on could be felt.

Then at about 8:30PM we spoke to Kiel. Which is great, I love to hear of his adventures of what he did and who he met. I love hearing about his classes and what kind of projects he'll be working on. Even the challenges and obstacles that arise easy to swallow. This whole experience is kind of like watching him learn to walk all over again and take his first steps on his own. It's very cool but much bigger. I can't tell you how happy and excited I am for him. That far out wheighs any anxiety I may have from missing him. And I do miss him...and I always will. But watching his life unfold is amazing to be apart of, even if I do have to hear it over the phone. But it's gonna be okay. Today was much better than yesterday. And hopefully tomorrow will be better than today.

PoKE

Today is the first full day of what we will now call 'PoKE' (Post Kiel Era). And I must say we haven't been afraid to branch out and try new things. Kathy actually cooked something she's never made before. For some crazy reason she decided to make some Thai type of dishes. Which is really strange considering she's never ate Thai before (I have) - I thought it turned out pretty good. But that's what happen's in the 'PoKE' you try new things to keep your mind occupied.

Kathy is actually working on Kiel's room already, I don't have the courage to go in there. I walk down the hall and peek my head in and see what she's doing but that's about it. But I can't stay for long. I also realize that I can't write about it either. This doesn't count, this isn't writing - this is rambling. I'm talking about seriously writing down how I feel and think. I tried and it was the worst I felt since he left. Or maybe it was because the air conditioning was on the blink. Regardless, I'm not ready to go there yet. Must of picked up the phone a dozen times to call him today and I did twice. He sounds good and he's excited - who can blame him. Kat's working tonight too - so it's pretty quite around these parts tonight.

It's gonna be okay - it's just gonna take a little time to adjust.

Move In Progress

Sorry about the incoherency of my last post. The past weekend really was something else, I guess it caught up with me Sunday night. I told my friend Rob earlier today that you should never post on your blog when you're overly emotional or if you've been drinking. He said he that if his wife sees him walking towards the computer after he's had a couple of beers she tackles him. I thought that was pretty funny. The visual on that one is awesome.

We all went to dinner with my parents tonight to Po Folks. Kind of a last supper/goodbye thing with Kiel and his grandparents. Kiel is going to finish packing tomorrow and leave for Orlando real early, like 4:00AM on Friday morning. We're not going to be quite as ambitious and will leave after we've had our required 8-10 hours of sleep. Actually we'll leave around 8:00AM or so and get into Orlando in the early afternoon. Kiel can check into his apartment beginning at 9:00AM and that's what he intends to do. More power to him. We'll come back Sunday afternoon after we go to church.

We have plenty to do when we get to Orlando - books, parking permits, buying software, getting additional stuff (food) for Kiel's apartment etc. So it's defiently going to be this bittersweet thing happening. I guess if I thought last weekend was emotional - I ain't seen nothing yet. Oh well - it's time and it must be done. We will surely miss him though.

I've been writing quit a bit lately - I just haven't finished anything. I'll be working on something then think of something else to write and then I'll go work on it. So I have about six works in progress but none are done. That's so me I guess. Frankly, half the stuff I write I never post anyways. Alot of it is just for me. This way I get to say what I want and get stuff of my chest without offending or hurting anyone's feeling. Strange I know but it's cheaper than therapy.

Hope all is well with everyone. We'll let you know how Kiel's move goes. Gotta go 'Over There' is on.

"God, give me the courage to risk, for I know that I start to die when I stop taking risks. I must remember that I don't need to prove anything; I only need to obey You."

I woke this morning to my wife reading this to me. This from one those inspirational flip things that we keep in our bathroom. Sometimes you just need to hear what you need to hear. This is what I needed to hear - on this day, at this particular time.

This past weekend has been one of the most interesting and amazing weekends I've had in a long time. I am totally and completely exhasuted - I am wiped out. But at this weekend was so (and I hate to use this word) - rewarding. I know that sounds so much like a cliche' but every second of the past three days was great. We had a birthday/going away/poker party at our house Friday night. About 20 kids showed up - it was alot fun.

Then on Saturday we canoeing with they youth group from our church. About a dozen of us went and it was a complete blast. I'm sore from head to toe. I'm even sporting a small black eye that I got from my canoe paddle. The kids had a great time and I enjoyed hanging out with them.

And today...well today was defintely different to say the least. Today was everything that I fear and love all the same time. For me (not for some) it was challenging, risk and difficult. But when it was all said and done it was wonderful. I forgot how kind and understanding people can be they see you step out of your comfort zone and try something different. It was simply awesome to be shown that kind of love. Then tonight we went back to church for youth group. Again it was great - watching the kids and hanging out with them.

This past week (not just the weekend) has been this incredible journey. I've went from the feeling completely useless to feeling like I was on top of the world. And just about every feeling in between. But when you step out of your comfort zone and risk doing something different that happens. I was feeling so low earlier this week that I just about threw in the towel. But then something interesting happened - I quit relying on myself. I was in so deep - in so far over my head that I there is no way I could get out by myself. So I let go - I had to. I realized that if I was going to do this thing that I felt God was leading me to do, he was going to have to show me how to do it. I had to let go of every thought and notion I had of how I thought it should be done. It wasn't until then that things started to turn around.

This weekend was not perfect by any strectch of the imagnination. There were alot of miscues and mistakes on my behalf. I was so exhausted this afternoon that I layed down to take a nap. As I laid there I thought about the day. I started thinking of all the things I had done wrong - I started thinking of all the mistakes I made. But then a voice inside me told me that it was Okay and that everything had went as it was supposed to it. Things went how they were intended and it wasn't meant to be 'perfect' like I had wanted. Because if things would have went perfect - no misktakes, no miscues - I would have thought that I made them that way. I would have felt compelled to take credit for something I didn't do. But it wasn't perfect - today had many, many flaws - but at the same time it accomplished what God intended. And because of that I don't deserve nor can I take any credit for anything good that happened today. Well, on to the next challenge. Kiel leaves Friday for college - which is four days. I think I see another interesting and hopefully rewarding week in front of me.

God is good...He really, really is..

Another Trip Around the Sun

I'm another year older (whoo hoo). Had a good day and better evening. Happy Birthday to Gail - Kathy's Aunt. We share the same birthday - I knew there was a reason I liked her. Sorry I haven't post much lately - got a lot happening right now. Maybe we'll have Kiel post one of his Czech stories. Hope everyone is good. Take Care.

Czech This Out

Here is Kiel's post about his trip to the Czech Republic.

Well I've been back for a few weeks now from the Czech and I suppose its time to let you all know how it went. As most of you know we left on the 4th of July and it was all good because we actually left a few hours then we were suppose to so we didn't have to wait around and be bored all night. The Flight was good, I really enjoyed the Atlanta to Paris flight because every seat had a dvd monitor so we could watch movies and such. I fell asleep and slept most of the night and when I woke up I realized i had missed breakfast but it was no biggie.

Once we got into Prague we were picked up and taken to the Klika's (Sponsors) house. There were a few students there waiting to meet us and we ate dinner with them which was cool. We had about 3 days before camp to prepare our cirriculums and do a little sight seeing. We went into Kutna Hora which had a church made completely out of bones. It was pretty neat to go in and see it and all. We also went through some cathedrals and castles as well looking at all the old paintings and altars were pretty cool too. When it came time to go to camp we left a night early to do some last minute preparations to the grounds so we left and got up to the camp around 10:00 Friday night when the kids would arrive the following afternoon around 4.

That night Brandon, the band, and I all worked on some of the worship songs until like 12:00. We made some progress but knew we needed to work alot harder at them. We woke up the next morning and went straight to work. When the kids arrived around 4:00 they got room assignments and what not. They moved us from these awesome rooms to these cabins where the beds were like 3 foot long and there was no way I was gonna be able to do that. Luckly there was an extra bed in one of the rooms so I nabbed it as soon as I could. We all ate dinner and did our evening program then did some night time swimming and then put all the kids to bed.

The next day we had breakfast then started our lessons. After our lessons we ate lunch then had free time till around 4:00. During the free time they had arts and crafts going on or some sort of athletic activity going on such as volleyball or football (European Football that is). The first day I was in charge of the games so we played some old camp games I was familiar with from my days at Wiregrass camp. We played Hold on to your brother (Or Hold on to yer Mate) where the object is for the guys to all get on the floor and interlock arms, hands, legs, and bodies. Once situated the girls had 10 mintues to pull the guys apart from one another. It was a great bonding experiance for the guys as you could see them holding on for dear life to there friends. We did the evening thing again just like the night before.

The rest of the week was pretty much based on the same schedule with a some really funny highlights. One night we had an indoor "snowball" fight. We had taken balls of newspaper and wrapped them with packing tape before we got to camp but Mrs. Klika would not tell us what they were for. Basically it was a 30 minute free-for-all with these brown balls of destruction tearing through the halls of the rooms. I got hammered one time as all the kids turned on the Americans... unfortunatley.. Me and Janelle were the only ones playing. After getting hit by like 300 balls I stood up and regained composure. Another fun night was when we had the disco because none of the kids had any rythm so me and ben had to teach them how to dance and that was pretty funny. One of the worst things about camp was that after playing in the hott morning sun we had lunch which is served with hot soup everyday and the only thing to drink is hot tea so here we are sweating in 85 degree weather then on top of that we have to drink hot tea AND eat HOT soup... talk about trying to get you as hot as possible.

Camp was fun though I bonded with alot of the students and learned some czech as well. After camp was done we had a few days left before coming home so we spent them shopping and sightseeing. The flight back was good and everything went well. I have a few funny short stories I will be writing about so that My dad can have something to post in these "dry spell" periods.. lol jk dad. But Thank You to everyone who helped either with funding or Prayers they certainly helped us alot. Thanks Again...Kiel

Drive Thru

I don’t do well at the drive-thru. Actually, I suck at the drive-thru. I’m not kidding, just ask my family. They’ll tell you that I wilt like a week old bouquet of flowers when I pull into a drive-thru restaurant. I know it’s not a difficult task – you pull up to the little speaker, tell them what you want, pull forward, give them your money, get your food and leave. Sounds simple doesn’t it? But for some reason, when I pull up to the drive-thru it becomes an adventure in stupidty.

It all starts when I hear the words “Hey, let’s pickup something to eat!” At this point I’ll start to make excuses about how I’m really not that hungry or that we should go and have a sit-down dinner. My family will immediately see through my ruse and lets me know that we’ll get through this ordeal together. But once I pull into the drive-thru lane my palms get sweaty, my heart starts racing and I have difficulty breathing. That’s when all hell breaks loose. As soon I pull up to the little box I can’t understand what they are saying through the speaker. Whoever is in that thing might as well be speaking in Chinese, and maybe they are, because I can’t understand what they are saying. While I’m trying to concentrate on what the guy in the box is saying, everyone in the car starts yelling out what they want. “I want extra pickles, mayo and no ketchup on my burger” “Yeah, me too – no wait a minute I want extra ketchup and no pickles and mayo on mine” “I want a small order of fries with that – Hey will you split some with me? You will? Okay change that I want my fries Super Sized” “I want a small Coke with no ice” “Not me, I want a large Coke with extra ice”. All the time these instructions are being shouted at me, I too am trying to decide what I want. But I can’t think because there is too much information coming in and not enough going out. Then my mind starts racing …Do I have the enough money? Can I get rid of some of this extra change? Am I make the guy behind me mad cause I’m taking to long? Be careful when you pull ahead don’t rear end the guy end front you. Then the guy in the box starts in again “Sir, may I take your order?...Sir…Excuse Sir but may I take your order…Sir!!!”.

It’s at about this time that veins start popping out of my neck and I feel like I’m ready to explode. A stroke is not far behind. It’s the stinking drive-thru for goodness sakes, it shouldn’t be this traumatic! So now I do the only thing I know that will bring this entire situation under control – I yell. And I don’t mean I yell – I mean I YELL. “Everyone Shut Up! Just Shut Up and tell me one at a time what you want! And you in the little box, I better not hear a single word out of you or I’ll crawl in there and kick your ass! I’ll let you know when I’m ready to order…You got that?” Now that I’ve scared the crap out of everyone no one wants to speak, including the guy in the little box. Slowly mumbling begins from the back of the vehicle but nothing coherent. My wife now senses a nervous break down is imminent. She gently pats my leg and says “Honey, maybe I’ll just order for everyone. You just sit there and relax”. With my jaw open wide, I nod in agreement because I can’t speak because the left side of my body is numb. She then proceeds to order everything in about six seconds, pulls out the exact changes, gives me a fake smile and tells me to move forward. What the....how in the world did she just do that?

Now I’m embarrassed. I pull ahead to the window. This is where the guy in the little box lives, actually more like the fourteen-year-old-with-a-work-permit in the box lives. I can’t even look this kid in the eyes because I think I used to be his soccer coach. I glance over to look at him…yep...it’s him, I was his coach. I give him the money all the while looking straight ahead. I don’t want to make eye contact with him but I think I’m going to have to. I pay him and he gives me our bags of food and asks if we want extra ketchup or sauces. I don’t know what to do so I turn to my wife who just nods her head up and down. I think that means yes. I turn back to the kid and imitate my wife's nod. I flop my hand out and he fills it with various condiments all the while he’s probably thinking…”Wow coach is a real idiot”. I give the hand full of condiment packets to my wife who in turn disperses them to the rest of the family. Then we leave. Wow - that sucked! If that scenario has happened once, it’s happened a hundred times. I fall apart every time we go to the drive-thru, I simply can’t do it. I guess that’s why I like to order pizza so much…because they bring it to you.