Lake Wales Care Center

Today for lunch they had a nice ' good bye " for the Sowers. They served a delicious vegetable soup, crazy Cuban bread, ice tea and cheesecake with fresh strawberries!!! Then they Thanked us all and gave each couple a bag filled with all kind of ' goodies '... It was a very fun place to work and you felt like you were doing some good for the needy people in our lives.... We will probably return to this project... But we are looking forward to the next week off... as we plan to spend 3 days over at Daytona relaxing with my sister and her husband from Michigan and then a few days at the new house buying furniture and fixing it up... maybe even take a few swims..... We have not owned a house in almost 10 years ( 9 years 11 months ).. Forgot what a utility bill is....ha ha....

Our New Home!!!

The Sower project is over for 10 days and then we start a new one at HEART in Lake Wales.... We had a VERY busy day yesterday as we left and drove down to Ft Myers to buy the house. We really think that we will enjoy it and invite you all to come and visit us here in southern Florida.... It is very livable as is but we want to change some things and add our " touches". It has 3 bedrooms/ 2 baths.. one is a pool bath ( as we have a beautiful pool and spa... ) Then you can come straight into the bath 2 ways so you don't drip water all over the house from the pool... It has a lot of palm trees, flowering bushes and vegetation.... We have met 2 of the neighbors and they were both nice. We still plan to be on the road and enjoying Sowers.... but MAY slow down a bit.... We have already moved a few of our things there but came back home to our m.h. last night so we could finish this project.. The picture yesterday was me holding a box from the Realtor filled with gourmet cookies, coffees, candy, popcorn, etc. It even had potato chips dipped in chocolate!!! YUMMY!!!!!

Today, We bought a home in Cape Coral, Florida!!!!

Oh Lord, our Lord .. How Majestic is Your name in all of the Earth!!! Today is a lovely day in the Lord!!! The sun is out and it is WARM!!! Probably about 80*..... Sorry to those that live up North.... Only 3 more work days left and then a 10 day " break"... before we start our 61st. project just 5 miles down the road.. at H.E.A.R.T... It is on a college campus where they do missionary training.... We will be parked back off the paved road a mile and then there are villages where the students live to prepare them for jungle and village living.. I'll tell you more about it... sounds like it should be interesting... Only 4 couples next time and we know our group leaders.... Another day of working " on the floor : and helping customers..... Then we had a BIG Surprise Pizza party for the boss's birthday.... delicious cake!!! We are having pizzas tomorrow night for the Sower's birthdays here and 2 more " good bye " parties for us on Thursday... We may meet our son Mark on Wednesday for his birthday celebration at Apple Bee's as he will be in the Orlando area....at lease I won't order Pizza!!!!

Another good week end... Just got back from Ft Myers... Plan to attend church and rest on Sunday as neither Tim nor I are feeling that good... Only 4 more work days and then plan to spend a few vacation days over at a lovely condo in Daytona with my sister and her husband... On 2/2.. Tuesday is my birthday so I have been debating if I should go to Disney... You can go there FREE on your birthday... The weather is warming up so that is good too!!!

I am thankful for the CROSS today!!! Another work week is finished and there were some disagreements in the Thrift Shop working so it will be good to get away from that for the week-end... We plan to leave right after Tim's work today and drive down to Ft Myers ... our daughter Kristy flies home to Michigan, in the morning, after 3 weeks so we will see her to the airport.... My sister Donna and husband plan to come to Fl. next week and spend a month RELAXING in the sun!!!! We have decided NOT to buy the house at this time... Too many RED FLAGS... GOD knows best and we leave it all to HIM..... We were a little disappointed ... as were our children.....We were given LOTS of good breads, cakes and cookies this week... which I do NOT need.... The Thrift Store is very organized and a joy to work at... except the last 2 days it has been VERY COLD!!! The weather is suppose to warm up to the 70's by tomorrow... Guess some of the citrus crop was frozen....Always nice to hear what YOU are doing... As our son Mark always says " Don't count the days... make the days count!!! Carole

This is a Florida sunset!!! We really enjoyed the week-end with our kids in Ft Myers.... We also enjoyed the Reunion in Lakeland with Spring Arbor College on Saturday. Today was another busy day at work at the Care Center... We sure have helped them sell lots of clothes and " junk " The weather has been nice in the 70's but they say by Thursday we will have cold weather again... All the t.v. is full of M.L.K. and tomorrow's inauguration..... Plan to play games with some friends tonight..... Our daughter Kristy will fly back to Michigan on Friday.. She had a great time in Florida but is anxious to be home again.... It has been fun having her down here for 3 weeks....

Today we got to price all the children's clothes and work the floor with the customers. That was lots of fun. Then the ladies all went to Wendy's for lunch as our husbands carry their lunch and work until 3:00.. When Tim gets home from work, we plan to drive to Ft Myers and help Kristy babysit our 4 grand kids on Friday, have Dr. appt., go to the flea market, do laundry and on Saturday go to the Reunion for Spring Arbor College in Lakeland.. Also tentative plans to meet the Sowers at Olive Garden and attend a Gospel Sing at Lakeland.... So a BIG week-end planned!!! Guess I'll be glad to get back home and back to work on Monday.... It has been colder here... but not as COLD as the t.v says it is in Michigan so I will not complain..... I have now joined Face book and are getting news from people I have not heard from in years.... a lot like blogging only usually only one- liners.... Can't really say much in one sentence.... Would like to start buying furniture, etc. but still not SURE about the buying the house..... I'll let you know...

I hear that it is winter and snow and cold up north. Actually it is also cooler here in Florida.. We are getting rain today and for that the people are thankful as they need it. Today we worked in the thrift store. They really have it organized!! 2 other ladies and I sorted bags and bags of donated clothes... For lunch, they gave us paper bag lunches and we all met out on the patio before the rain came. Tonight is game night so that should be fun... They have a real nice fruit market just down the road... everything fresh.. peppers 3/$1. tomatoes $2./ box and bananas for 27 cent/ #... also everyone gives us oranges and grapefruit. So we should eat healthier... right? Love all your blogs and comments!!!

We are now beginning our 60th Sower project at the Care Center in Lake Wales... There are 7 couples here and we know 6 of them... We are 113 miles from Mark's.... We are with- in walking distance from the Wal Mart and only a few miles from Bok Tower.. ( highest elevation in Fl. ) We have had some beautiful weather since we got back from Mi. We left our daughter Kristy to visit with Mark and Tab while we are at the project... We get 29 channels on the tv.. just from the roof antennae... We are still not sure about buying the house.. will probably know more by Monday... Plan to attend the Spring Arbor Reunion at Lakeland on Saturday. Should know a lot of people as we both went there... Wanted to keep in touch... Carole

What a vacation up north!!! We saw more snow, ice, wrecks, fog, and car problems than we ever want to see again.. but had a GREAT Christmas with our 4 children's familes....even spent 3 days with my sister Donna in Cheboygan and saw my brother in Mancelona... God protected us ALL the way there and back... almost 4000 miles..... Still not sure about the house.. lots of glitches with banks and insurance, etc. Back to work on Monday.. We brought daughter Kristy back with us to Ft. Myers for a few weeks. She will fly home later as we go back to a Sower's project. Will catch up later...