OK, now the truth.......Tuesday, we had breakfast with Jo and Johnny and then we left for home......we didn't tell anyone so we could surprise them. We drove to Santa Rosa, NM and stayed the night. Watched a little Olympics.

Wednesday....we left Santa Rosa and headed west. We drove to Needles, CA. We almost headed home instead of stopping but the sun was in our eyes and I had already driven over 600 miles. Watched a little Olympics.

Thursday...finally home at 11am. Good to be home. We did surprise a few people.

This was another great trip. It is good to see how St. Bernard Parish is slowly coming back and how Randy's church is progressing. We had a special time with the Millets both during our time in New Orleans and afterwards in Arkansas and Missouri.

It was good seeing all our friends and families. Some celebrating (wedding) and some somber moments (funeral of the Father of the bride). We had some special times with all and even some that we had not seen for twenty plus years.

We are going to be home for awhile......a time to watch our grandkids play football and other sports, like soccer and gymnastics plus a time to see our kids.

Before I leave you, some of you that had been to the area and have worked on the church have requested that I post some pictures of the Church today, three years after Katrina. There is still a lot of work to be done but a lot of work has been done.

New Sign
Foyer
Hallway Bathrooms
Bookstore view from Foyer
Remaining bookstore - was the Operation Blessings office

Hallway to classroom (where the food was stored)

Nursery
Office area (where the tools were stored)
SanctuarySanctuarySnowball Stand (partially where the car dealer was)
Fellowship HallKitchenComputer Lab (Used for Government grant through City of Hope)Computer Lab (Used for Government grant through City of Hope)"Blood-Stained" Skate Park (car dealer area)"Blood-Stained" Skate Park "Blood-Stained" Skate Park "Blood-Stained" Skate Park Office and future rooms
for the Missionette and Royal Rangers. Also, courtyard for
picnics, BBQs, etc.Snowball stand....almost complete

Thanks for traveling with us......The blog will be silent for awhile until I travel again.

Love you and God Bless.

Dad and Mom
Papa and Mema
Jerry and Barbara

Wednesday, August 13 (continued).....After finishing the blog, I headed back to Jo's house to see what was happening. Barbara had caught up with all her ironing (she was ironing for 3 hours) and Jo Ann and Johnny was getting things ready for the evening meal. We watched a little afternoon Olympics. We all dozed a little before dinner. We had a great meal and settled in for the night of more Olympics.

[NOTE: Let me say something about our viewing the Olympics. We LOVE the Olympics. Every four years, we try to watch as much as we can. We thought we would not be able to see much this year since we were traveling BUT we have see a lot and really enjoying the competition.....swimming...gymnastics....beach volleyball....tennis...etc. Aren't they great? While we are at my sister's house, we will watch it in the evenings as much as possible.]

Thursday.....After a late night watching the men's gymnastics, we slept in a little, had breakfast and headed into town. My sister's weekly hair appointment is due and we dropped her off and headed to our favorite wholesale businesses. We bought a few things and picked up Jo Ann. I talked to my son, Tony, and he is getting his strength back but the blood pressure meds is messing up his body a little. He has been put back on a very strict diet for his kidney. The doctor suspects his remaining kidney is fragile and could start shutting down if he isn't careful with his diet....he has closely monitor his intake of protein, potassium and sodium. Please keep him in prayer.

We had lunch at BJs, did a little more shopping at Stein Mart, Hobby Lobby and Sam's. Jo Ann bought a mirror that she had been wanting for about six months.......it had been reduced by 66%... We returned home, hung the mirror, had dinner and, yeah, you guessed it, watched Olympics...aren't you proud of the gymnastic girls? and, of course, the swimming superman....Michael Phelps! A cool front came through the area bringing a lot of rain, thunder and lightning. It cooled things down a lot.

Friday.....These late nights has a direct effect on how early we get up in the mornings....isn't retirement and relaxing wonderful? We didn't do much today. We went for lunch and then we went into town and Barbara bought one of those mirrors on sale. We returned home, settled in for the evening watching Olympics.

Saturday......I got up early and went with Johnny and Jeff to deliver some of their wood products to a dealer two hours away. We had a good time and got home in time to go over to my niece's home for lunch. Candy and Lee live about 15 minutes away and they have several acres and a beautiful home. In the backyard is a large pond, stocked with fish. we sat around and talked, had lunch and talked some more. Candy's daughter, Amber, came over with her husband and Candy's grandson, Hunter. We visited most of the afternoon, touring the property (they have 5 acres across the road) and eating a good lunch. It was good family time....yeah! Later in the day, we headed back to the house. We settled in, had dinner while we watched the presidential candidates talk with Rick Warren. It was a great......debate? It really gave me confirmation on my thoughts about the election and verified my vote. We need to pray for the election coming up and that God's desires will be accomplished. We finished the evening by watching Phelps get his 8th GOLD METAL!

Sunday....Today, we went to service with Jo Ann and Johnny. After service, we met with Tony and Robert for lunch at a cafeteria. we had a good lunch but a great time of visiting. We got caught up on Tony's kidney problems. Since he has only one kidney, his levels of potassium, protein, sodium and calcium needs careful monitoring. So, his diet is extremely important. Any of these which exceeds "normal" level can effect not only his kidney but can affect his blood pressure. So, keep him in your prayers. After our time of visiting, we went back to the house
to relax and rest. Of course, we watched some Olympics.

Monday.....Today is a day for Barbara. A few months ago, Barbara was able to connect with an old friend from her teen years.....Ruth Ann Young. We visited them once in the mid 80s and that is the last time they have seen each other. When they connected, they set up a time that each would be in Oklahoma, so today, we will be going to visit her and her family. It is a drive of about 2 and 1/2 hours so we left at 9am. We were going to meet at Robber's Cave in eastern Oklahoma. This is the place where they went to Church camp a few times. We arrived a little after 11am and found them. Not only was Ruth Ann and her family was there, a sister (Rita), a brother (David) and her 94 year old mother(Mary)! So, it was a good reunion. I hiked up to the cave area (Barbara didn't go with me as she was too busy visiting). After my little hike, we went to the camp area (where the cabins, snack shack, dining and meeting pavilions) but on the way....a rattlesnake was sunning in the middle of the road and we stopped and took some pictures. We went on a tour of the campsite, even going down to the "polliwog hole", where swimming and all the baptisms took place. After the tour, we all went into the church pavilion and all did a little reminiscing. The all had a good time. After this, we went down to the lake and visited some more while some went on a paddle boat or canoe rides. More reminiscing. After this, we were invited to Stigler to Mary's house (Ruth Ann's Mom) to eat and visit some more. It was a great time for Barbara and she really enjoyed this time with all her friends. It was great sitting around listening to them say, "Do you remember such and such?..."Did you know what happened to such and such? and so on.......We loved it. We arrived back at Jo's house around 10pm...a little tired but we had fun.

Tuesday.....I am now updating my blog.......

Love you and will write later.

Dad and Mom
Papa and Mema
Jerry and Barbara

OK...I will have pictures in this blog and they will not mean much to some of you as they are all family pictures....I get busy visiting and forget to take more pictures. Sorry if I missed anyone....

Friday....up early and off to Ada for the funeral. We arrived with about 15 minutes to spare and arrived at the funeral home. We were able to see Penny and her girls before we went into the service. We also saw all the other relatives.

JO & JOHNNY (sister and brother-in-law)

WADE (nephew)

PENNY AND PEANUT (neice and her dog)
KIM & CANDY
LEE (Candy's Husband)
JEFF (nephew)
MARVA DAWN (sister) and ROBIN (her daughter)

Rev. Mickey Keith performed the funeral. He is the same minister that performed the wedding just 6 weeks ago. It was a good service. It is so much easier to celebrate a believer's life than a non-believer. After the service, we went to the cemetery for the grave-site service. Penny works for Cable One and when we arrived at the cometary, there were several Cable One trucks lined up going into the grounds. That showed how much the company thinks of Penny. It was short and we visited a little with those that attended. After that, we went to Penny's house where the family gathered for a time of fellowship and, of course, eating. A lot of people brought a lot of food. We had a good time, under the circumstances.....a time of sharing and talking about Larry or just catching up. We stayed until 2:30pm and headed back to Tulsa. We arrived in Tulsa and went back to Diana's house and visited and watched a little of the Opening ceremonies of the Olympics. We went back to the RV and finished watching the ceremonies until late.

Saturday.....We slept in and got up late. We started watching some of the Olympics and then headed over to Diana's house. We had a light lunch and didn't do much except a little TV. Byrl came home and we then went out to dinner with all the kids and grandkids....at a Thai restaurant.

ROD and TAMMY
TAMMY, JAKE & JACKEY
DIANA & BYRL
RODNEY, MISSY & ALEXI

This is the first time we saw our nephew, Jackey. The food was good and we ate a lot. After dinner, we went back to Diana's for dessert. We also played a game and had a great time. We went back to the RV, watched some more Olympics and retired for the night. Very heavy rain tonight and it was so strong and some wind that I got up to check the weather....remember, we are in tornado alley.....just a lot of rain.

Sunday...Happy Anniversary, Barbara.....Today is our 37th wedding anniversary...One of the best things that happened to me....marrying up and marrying Barbara...I Love her "more than yesterday, less than tomorrow!

Up early....get ready and headed to meet Diana and Byrl at their church. They go to Carbondale AG and Barbara had a Bible Quiz meet here years ago. We met them in time to go to Sunday School. It was good and then to Church. The service was good.......worship good and a good sermon. We were able to see a couple that we knew many years ago when we lived in Tulsa. After service, we went to eat with Di and Byrl. We sure enjoy being with family here in Tulsa. After lunch, we went to Di's house and, of course, watched a little Olympic TV. For dinner, we all met Rodney and Missy at Cheesecake Factory to celebrate our anniversary. Jackey called and came by to see us again. We had a good time of visiting and eating. Thanks,
Rodney and Missy for a good dinner. We said our goodbyes and went back to Diana's house and got the girls. Diana, I think, could get real attached to Cuddles and Peaches. We said our goodbyes and left. We got home, Barbara cleaned a little, getting ready to leave tomorrow.

Monday....here we are now getting ready to go to Oklahoma City. It is still misty raining a little....We had a great time in Tulsa....We are becoming very close to this part of the family....We Love You Guys.

We left Tulsa and headed to Oklahoma City to my sister's house. We arrived and found a gas station (Wal-Mart) for $3.39 and filled the RV. We stopped in Noble to do a little laundry. I walked over to Subway, got our lunch and finally finished and we headed to Jo's. We arrived and setup , hooked up and settled in. She had just arrived after picking up my older sister. They had a nice dinner for us waiting and so we ate and then watched the Olympics. We visited some and then retired to bed.

Tuesday......I needed to take my Saturn Vue into the dealership so we all piled into the car and headed into Oklahoma City. I am tracking my mileage on this hybrid and I am only getting an average of 23MPG......should be getting at least 27-35mpg. We got a loaner from them and did a little shopping, met Wade and Jeff (nephews) for lunch, did some more shopping and then headed back home. Again, more Olympics and then to bed.

Wednesday.....Today, my sister, Marva Dawn, heads back to Washington so she and I head to the airport. I dropped her off and then went to the dealership. They had finished with the car.....finding nothing wrong.....maybe the ethanol in the gas is hindering the miles per gallon.....yeah..sure... I will drive it more continually checking the mpg and then head back to Saturn if the mpg does not improve. Now, I am at Penera Bread finalizing this blog.....

Love you and will write later.

Dad and Mom
Papa and Mema
Jerry and Barbara

OK, it has been awhile since I updated and we have been busy....So......there is a lot of text BUT also a lot of pictures......enjoy!

Monday, August 4, 2008....We got up early because we were meeting Pastor Randy and his family in Eureka Springs. It is about an hour drive. We arrived and went close to the Passion Play entrance and called them on the phone and they pulled up in their car beside us. We drove into downtown and they wanted to stay in town so they settled on a old hotel and checked in. We all went to eat at a sandwich place. We then headed to the Passion Play grounds. Barbara and I was here 20+ years ago and all that was here was the Play. Now, they have a Holy Land tour, a bible museum, an earth history museum, religious arts museum, small vignettes of David and the Potter, a detailed tours of the Tabernacle, and, of course, the Play. We had brought the whole package.

So we arrived and went through the Bible museum....it was very interesting. They give you a detailed history of the bible, with different translations, including Greek and Hebrew. They had some original including a Gutenberg Bible. They did a great job of telling us about how the progression of Bibles and translations happened. They were very open to questions.

After the Bible tour, we made the 2pm tour of the Holy Lands. All the people we saw while on tour were in costume of the biblical times that was represented. There was a replica of the eastern gate that we entered on a tram. On the way to the first stop, we passed by an altar similar to the altars of Moses, wine presses, wells, huts....all representing the way things were in biblical times.

I have to say......It is HOT, very HOT with high humidity.....the heat index was 115 degrees! So, all the time we were in the tram, we had little personal fans blowing hot air on us. We welcomed the shaded areas and later, the air conditioned buildings.

Our first stop was the Tabernacle. This is a full scale model of the Tabernacle of Moses. We were met by a priest and escorted to a briefing area. Then we entered the Tabernacle, saw the alter, the laver and the main part. We viewed the insides through a glass partition, seeing the inner sanctuary and the Holy of Holies. WOW!


The next stop was Bethlehem and we were met by Jacob, the inn keeper, at the local well. He gave us a tour of a carpenter shop, showing us the tools made from wood. Next was a tour of a weaver's shop and then to his inn....showing us the housing of travelers, his home and finally, the stable where Jesus was born. Mary was there and talked of the night that Jesus was born in the stable.





Next, we boarded the tram and went to an area that was supposed to represent the Sea of Galilee were we met Peter. He gave us a talk of his time with Jesus. He was funny but was to the point with his message.




Next, we went to the upper room and met John and he told us of the night of the Last Supper and how the disciples were arranged at the table and how everything happened.

Next, we went to the tomb and cross area where we met Martha and she told us of the that fateful weekend when Jesus was tried, crucified, put into the tomb and arose on the third day.

Next, we again boarded the tram and ended our tour, after 2 and 1/2 hours. It was great. At each of the stops, the people were given an opportunity to talk with the person about knowing more about Jesus. A couple of the people shared about people accepting Christ after their talk. This place is amazing. There are ample opportunities for people to become Christians.

After our tour, we visited the Earth History museum and it had 45 different "stations" on a self-guided tour of the creation, flood and other interesting things, including dinosaurs, early man, ice age, etc......all from a biblical perspective. It was very well done.

We then went to the Religious Arts Museum and viewed some of the paintings and artifacts. After that, we went to the buffet and had dinner, included with the price of the tickets, and was serenaded by the Texans, a southern gospel group, while we dined.

Then, the Passion Play. The Play covered the last week of Jesus' life and is performed in a large outdoor setting......with scenes of the last supper, garden of Gethsemane, Pilate trial, Crucifixion, tomb and Ascension.....among other things. The Play is two hours long but the time passes quickly as you are so captured by the sights before you....legions of Roman soldiers riding thought the streets...mobs, and triumphal entry into Jerusalem to the Mount Olive Ascension with Christ going up 100 feet in the air! It was wonderful and moving. We left and drove back to Branson, after dropping the Millets off at their hotel, and arrived after midnight.

Tuesday, we slept in. We had breakfast and went on a little tour of downtown. We shopped a little, had some ice cream and finally hooked up with Randy and we met them at their hotel in Branson. It was still HOT! Barbara and Jill stayed in the air conditioned room while Randy, Collin and I went down to the pool area. Randy and Collin jumped in the pool for awhile and then we went back to the room. We later headed over to the area where Randy and his family will be attending a family camp this week. It is a very nice area for the whole family....water slides, climbing rocks, canoeing, archery, zip lines, pool....just to name a few of the things. After that, we stopped and got a snack and then headed to a theater to see Noah, the Musical. A fantastic show......We would love for our entire family to see it. It tells the story of Noah with massive sets and, at one time, you are inside the ark with cages of animal surrounding you....both live and animaltronics. It was an amazing two and one half hours. After the show, we looked at all the exhibits and gift shops and even had a picture taken outside the theater.

When we left the theater, I had a phone message from my sister and Larry had passed away at 9:25pm. We is no longer in pain and in a much better place. The funeral will be at 10am on Friday.....please pray for the family as they go through this difficult time.

We took the Millets back to their hotel and said our goodbyes as we would not see them again this trip. We then retired at our RV.

Wednesday....We got up and headed to Tulsa. We called the Timmons and they met us at a Cracker Barrel in Joplin, MO for lunch. We had another good visit with them. We continued on to Tulsa and arrived around 3pm and set up our RV at a park and headed over to Diana's home, Barbara's sister. Tammy (Barbara's niece) and her children were there also. Later, Rod (Tammy's husband) and Byrl (Diana's husband) arrived and Diana fixed dinner. We had a good visit, catching up as we had not seen them for a couple of years. After the visit, we went back to our RV for the night.

Thursday......We got up and headed back to Diana's home. We wanted to see where Rod works.....he is the CAD designer for custom furniture and cabinets.....high end stuff.......beautiful work....all hand carved in Mexico. We also went by Byrl's office....Frontier Records, a place to buy old country/western CDs, albums, memorabilia, etc. We then had lunch and went back to the house to visit. Rodney, Diana's oldest son came by and dropped off Alexis for awhile. She is a cute little girl and has a great imagination. We had tea and "sprite" cake. Rodney picked up Alexis and we went out for BBQ and it was pretty good. We came back to the house, got the dogs and went home to retire early so we can go to Ada tomorrow for the funeral.

Love you and will write later.

Dad and Mom
Papa and Mema
Jerry and Barbara