Well, we did pick up the car and it is nice. However, the onstar did not work so they added another 3 months. I drove it to Jo's home and we settled in for the night. It drives good and I am looking forward to driving it and getting good gas mileage.

Thursday, a time to leave. We hooked up and left at 8am and drove to Dallas to visit Shawn. We arrived around noon and visited with him and Tim. We then headed for a good lunch and a very good visit. We returned back to their house and visited some more. We decided to head out tonight as there was no where to park the RV (they are resurfacing the street) and we would have had to drive several miles the wrong way to find a place to park. Shawn was busy the next afternoon so we told him we would come back through and visit a little more. So, we drove almost to the Louisiana line and found a place to stay.

Friday, we drove on into New Orleans and arrived at the church at around 4:30pm. We had a lot of thunderstorms on the way down. In fact, we had to almost stop a couple of times because of the high winds and driving rain. But it was clear when we arrived at the church. We both commented that, as we drove into Saint Bernard Parish, we didn't see much of a change....a few new businesses and new work on the Jackson Barracks. A lot more empty lots where houses have been torn down BUT more homes occupied in the neighborhood around the church. So, there are some changes. Pastor Randy drove up the same time we did. It was good seeing him again. He immediately showed us around the church to see all the things done since we left a year ago. For those that have not been here, these pictures will not mean much. The others will see a lot of changes. The biggest new thing was the skate park. It is up and running and has a lot of kids most days. The next was the steel building (both Randy and Paul was surprised we didn't remember the building - but it wasn't started until after we left last year). The building houses the skate park office, the arcade room, additional classrooms and storage. There is also a large outside patio area with benches for eating. Just outside the park is a new small building that will become a snowball stand! Then the sign on the front of the church is new. There are many changes inside. The foyer is now painted. The sanctuary floor has been painted....looks better than the raw floor. Also there are new chairs in the sanctuary.

The offices have been redone plus a computer lab and classroom being completed but I don't have pictures of those yet and things were locked up.

We had a visit with Paul Remick and caught up with what is happening with him.....still working long hours and do a lot of work for the church...He is an amazing man. We parked the RV and hooked up at our old spot.....Home sweet home.

Jill, Pastor Randy's wife, met us at the church and we went out for dinner and rekindled our relationship. We love them a lot and enjoy being with them. It was as if we had never left. It was a good time. Back to the RV for the night.

Saturday, a day to relax and rest. Barbara cleaned and relaxed. I spent 3 hours on the onstar and phone to get the onstar up and running. Finally, it worked and for my troubles, onstar added 200 minutes and 3 months extra time. We relaxed and retired early to get ready for our first Sunday service.

Here is for the animal lovers.....this is what we have to contend with when we sat down to eat..Peaches always begging......she is too cute.... And this is where their favorite place to be...up in the window so they can see out and get a few rays, sleep and bark!

Sunday....ready for our first church service on this trip. We saw a lot of people that we had known from our previous trips....Tami - Adam & Melissa - Greg & Cheryl and their kids - Pastor Earl and a few more that I can't remember the names. Church was excellent......no preaching....just worship, prayer and testimony service...very powerful! After service, we went out to Landry's to eat with Pastor and his family. Here is a picture of the Millet Family. Good Looking, aren't they?

Now is the time to update.....

Will blog later.....Love to all


Dad and Mom
Papa and Mema
Jerry and Barbara

Hi all,

Well, our adventure continues. I left you off the night we were getting our carpet cleaned. We did and the carpet turned out cleaned and good. And we had a good night's sleep. The adventure continues.

Up early next morning and we had a 10:00am brunch date with our son, Tony (Antony). I got in the Vue, put it in reserve and it sounded like a BLENDER! I suspected that my transmission went out. I had just used the car the day before to get some coffee. So, it happened during the drive from Albuquerque. However, not my fault.....I had made all the checks before and during the trip and everything was OK. I called the Saturn dealership and they sent out a tow truck. He arrived about 15 minutes before we had to leave and he backed up to hook up the car, lowered his bed and his hydraulic lines blew! Our adventure continues.....We had to leave the car there and go meet Tony. We parked out RV at Cracker Barrel Country Store and had a great brunch with Tony and Robert, catching up from the last time we had visited. While we were there, we got a call from the Saturn dealership and our car had made it. We said our goodbyes...we would see him again before we go to New Orleans. After we left the restaurant, we headed to the dealership. We arrived and found out that the transmission had indeed blown up and needed to be replaced. And, the adjuster had approved a new transmission without coming out (a miracle). They said the transmission would be there the next day and I could pick it up by the weekend. I jokingly told them if they could make me a deal, I would let them have the car. They started showing us their cars from the Sky to the Vue and all in-between. Long story short (sure!), we made a deal on a 2007 Vue Hybrid with less than 8000 miles! Who would have thought! My deal included a car that would have all the tow equipment to tow it away. The car had to be sent out for all the equipment to be installed. So I had a loaner for the weekend. We left and went to the airport and picked up my sister, arriving from Washington state for her granddaughter's wedding. We went back to the dealership and Barbara and Dawn went to my other sister's house and I signed all the papers.

After that, things brightened up. The next morning, Barbara and I took my sister to her daughter's (Penny) house in Ada, OK. During out trip to Uganda, we had found out that three of the orphans had been adopted to a couple in my home town of Ada, OK! We had gotten their name and number from Mandy and we called them and they were excited about us coming by. We arrived at noon time and met the kids and the new mother. The children had been there for a little over six months and have adjusted very well, using their eating utensils easily, saying things like "excuse me" "thank you" and "please"! They are beautiful. We had a nice visit and promised to keep in touch.

We spent the weekend visiting relatives and going to a wedding. My niece's daughter, Amy, got married on Saturday, the 21st. Her sister, Robin, had arrived with all her family (well, except her son-in-law, Billy) for the wedding. We had not seen most of this side of the family for several years and it was good to see them. Of course, the bride was beautiful and the wedding went off without a hitch and was also beautiful. The reception was at East Central University (my alma mater).

We returned home and settled in for the night. Got up the next morning and went to church. Had a very eventful week.

Monday morning and waited to hear to pick up our car. We waited, waited, waited and waited some more. I even called a few times. It was supposed to be finished on Saturday and ready to go first thing on Monday. Finally got a hold of the salesman and he said that it would be ready on later than 2pm. I unhooked the RV and drove it up to town to be ready to hook up the car and test it once he called. 2pm came and went, 3pm came and went and finally at 4pm, he called and we went to the dealership. It was in the wash rack when we got there and we had to wait until it was finished. I was starting to get a little frustrated because of all the missed deadlines. Finally, we pulled the car behind the RV and hooked it up and, PTL, everything worked the way it was designed to work. So, I tried on the windshield "bra" and asked where the front "bra" was and I was informed that the bra would not be there until tomorrow (Tuesday). Also, a new hybrid battery had been ordered and had arrived but had not been installed. Now it was starting to get a little irritating to say the least. I was not going to drive the RV back there tomorrow so we had to make other arrangements. And I spoke to the General Sales Manager and let him know my frustrations on the missed deadlines. Jokingly, I told them that an installed GPS system would make all the frustrations better. He said he could not install a system BUT he had a portable GPS system left from a promotion that he would give me to help me........was I surprised.....If you are ever in OKC and need some auto service, Saturn of OKC is the place to go.....Paid Announcement ;-)

So, another day without the car. I drove the RV home and re-parked it and hooked it up again. Johnny had our dinner ready and we had dinner and settled in for the night. I charged up the GPS unit and set it up.........and it didn't work. Oh well, par for the course.

Tuesday...today, we are going to pick up the car (hopefully). I called the Sales Manager and he told me to bring in the GPS system and he would make it right. Well, you guessed it - the bra didn't come in and we have to wait until tomorrow. But they did replace my GPS unit and it works fine. We also took a picture of our family here.....My sisters, brother-in-law and us. We went into town and met my son Tony and he got into the theater where he is one of the Assistant Managers. We saw IRONMAN - it was good - and then he gave us a behind-the-scene tour of the theater, including the projection room. It was very interesting to see how things work. We also had a good time visiting with Tony. We came home and retired for the night.

Wednesday. This is the day my older sister flies to Washington. A short note and a prayer request. My sisters son-in-law, Larry (father of the bride at the wedding we attended) is having headaches and he had some tests done today. During the tests, they found some lesions on his brain and one of the tests had them suspect cancer somewhere in his body. On Friday they will perform an MRI to determine if, in fact, cancer exists. Please pray. Today, I will get my car....the bra came in and they have to install it.

Our plan is to go in and pick up the car, have lunch and take our sister to the airport. Tomorrow, we will leave for New Orleans but stopping first in Dallas to visit with our son, Shawn. I will try to get this blog off and update you later on our adventures.

BTW, Peaches and Cuddles are doing just fine for those of you who are interested.

Will blog later.....Love to all

Dad and Mom
Papa and Mema
Jerry and Barbara

Well, we are off again. This time to New Orleans to help the Millets with the relief efforts.

BUT FIRST....we are headed to Oklahoma.

At the beginning......we actually left on Sunday night after a party honoring Ryan (our grandson) for his graduation from California State University at Irvine. We are so proud of him. We left at 10pm and went to Barstow, CA and rested at a rest stop for the night.

Early Monday morning, we started driving and stopped for the night in Albuquerque, NM at a RV park. We hooked up and settled in for the night. I heard some water running and checked the bathroom......the toilet was overflowing with a 1/2 inch of water on the floor and running into the carpet in the hall......Egads...I had hooked up the water to the wrong connection and it filled the black tank (sewer) and it overflowed. I quickly shut the water off and drained the tank. However, the damage had been done. Barbara grabbed all the towels, wash clothes, dish towels and started cleaning up. She finally got it cleaned up....I apologized and apologized and, well you know, apologized again and again. So now, all our towels were dirty. We collapsed into bed. We were going to leave at the crack of dawn.....but we had to wait until 8am 'til the laundry room opened. We got up and Barbara washed and dried all the towels and we left at 9am. We traveled all day and arrived in Oklahoma City at 7:30pm. I then got on the phone and called a carpet cleaner service. We found one and he came out at 8pm and extracted the water, cleaned the carpet and disinfected the carpet and scotch-guarded the carpet and finally we could relax. We watched the Celtics win and finally to bed.

NOTE: I will not be sending out daily updates....only the significant things........So, keep checking back when I send out emails about the updates.

Dad and Mom
Jerry & Barbara
Papa and Mema