Tornado

                        At about 4 o'clock today a tornado hit about 20-25 miles from us here in North Carolina.
                        One of our crews saw the tornado on their way home from the work site.
                        Just as we were finishing our supper we got a call for our team to come and help put up

                        plywood and tarps on some homes that were hit because it is going to rain tonight.
                        We drove down to the area of destruction. The women weren't able to do much but the
                        men all were busy. It is now 11:30 pm and they are still putting a tarp on another house.

                        It was almost dark when we got there but I managed to get a few pictures.

This is what is left of the home belonging to a family of 8.  The mother is due with her 7th child
 in a week. They had  a 1 year old set of twins. They barely made it out of their house on time.

People sorting through the rubble looking for anything that survived the tornedo. Their whole
place was dumped on a big heap in their backyard and  a lot of trees where mixed in with the
rubble. They found some toys, shoes, clothes, books, papers etc.



The family van.


We went to a few other homes too. The father of the women in the above home is
the pastor of the URC here. The roof of their home was ripped right off. They had to
move all their stuff out this evening. There are a lot of trees down everywhere and
debris hanging in the trees and lying around. It is quite something to see in real life!


The pastor's deck.

A taste of what we've been up to!!!!!

We had a wonderful two months at home in Langley. Actually, we weren't at home because we rented out our house. Maria and Michael were very kind and generous and moved out of their condo so that we had a place to live. We spent a lot of time with our adult children. Here we are enjoying dinner just before Aren and Deb go back to London. We had a chance to visit with family and friends and it was good to connect with our church family as well. Our trip back to Florida on Feb. 18 was uneventful, however, we unpacked our suitcase to find sugar spilled throughout. I suppose that having a metal bar for a bike rack and a suspicious looking white substance in your suitcase causes a "random" bag check.

"For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother's womb. I praise you for I am fearfully and wonderfully made."  
Ps. 139:13-14


Maria and Michael picked us up in Seattle with a sign that said, "Welcome home oma and opa." What a wonderful surprise. We are so happy for them and pray that all will go well. The baby is due 5 days after Stephanie and Brent's wedding. That should be an exciting week!

INTERIM PRINCIPAL HIRED!

We are pleased to announce that Mr. Peter Roukema has accepted the interim principal position at Centennial for next year. Peter and his wife Mabel are from Langley where Peter spent the last three years as principal at Langley Christian School. We praise God for His continued faithfulness.

CCS School Board

This is the announcement that was in the Centennial Christian School’s online newsletter.

Yes, you read right ---- Peter is starting his first encore career in August. The current principal is taking a one year sabbatical. Although Peter will find an apartment in Terrace, we are not moving our household. Peter will come home regularly and I will fly up to stay with him for some of the time. Peter is excited about this new adventure and challenge. It is an 80% position.

We spent a fair bit of time enjoying
the beautiful Florida beaches.

We saw alligators, sea turtles, vultures, egrets, and many other
birds as well as a variety of plants and grasses in this park.

We drove the 150 mile beautiful drive through the Florida Keys. From Key Largo, we took a glass bottom boat ride which takes you to the coral reef that stretches 210 miles along SE Florida. The reef was amazing. We  took a trolley tour in Key West and toured the house where Ernest Hemingway lived and wrote most of his novels. In the pic below we are standing at the southernmost point of the USA---- 90 miles from Cuba and 150 miles from Miami.

We had a lovely visit with Hilda in Fort Myers Beach, FL for four days.

                                 

RESCUE
On Friday, March 7 something unbelievable happened.
Late in the afternoon we stopped to go for a walk on St. Pete's Beach on the Gulf of Mexico. We had planned to bike but we changed our mind because there was no bike path. We parked at the far end of the parking lot and walked on to the beach. We enjoyed a pleasant walk and we even jogged a bit. On our way back, we noticed two elderly women in the water near where we had left our sandals. At first glance it looked like they were playing in the water but we soon realized that they were in distress. They were lying down in the water, not able to get up. The waves were rushing in, pulling them deeper and deeper. They were swallowing water and desperately grasping at the sand. When we reached them, they stared at us with blank looks and couldn't communicate. We pulled them on to the dry sand and eventually they began to talk. It turns out that they were sisters in their early 70's. Anne is from England and Doreen is from Boston. Anne had walked into the Gulf intending to drown herself. Her husband had died two years ago and she told me later that she had thought about suicide many times but this was the first time she had actually attempted it. Doreen had followed her when she had left the condo. Doreen was not able to help her out of the water, so now they were both in trouble. After we got them out we walked them to their condo with the help of two other guys. Those two left when we got there, but we went in to help them. Doreen's husband, John, was quite shocked to see his wife and sister-in-law walk in sopping wet and sobbing somewhat hysterically, along with two strangers. He helped his wife take a shower and get on dry clothes while I helped Anne. We made them tea (seeing as they were British) and then talked to them separately and together for the next hour and half. They were in shock. Anne sat next to me with her head on my shoulder for most of the time. They kept calling us their guardian angels. Looking back now it doesn't seem real. But it was! We pray that God will give Anne peace and comfort. 

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At some point we left the Gulf and travelled on to Titusville to camp at a county campground for awhile. It is a true campground --- all campers/no manufactured homes/families/lots of trees, squirrels and gekkos and only $25.00 a night. We toured the NASA space center on Cape Canaveral. It was interesting to see but neither of us are space nuts so it wasn't our favourite activity.

Does this make you want to be an astronaut?

                                                                       

Celebrating my 59th birthday with my best friend. I had a great
 day talking to our kids, mom and 2 sisters. Our kids sent a
beautiful Shutterfly album with pictures of their adult lives
to the campground. Robyn did an amazing job on it. It was a
perfect gift, especially since we are far away from home this year.

 We are headed North now. Our first miles towards home. We toured St. Augustine, Florida which is the oldest European settlement in North America.  Ponce de Leon arrived there in 1513, in search of the “fountain of youth” – according to legend.  It was a thrill to drink from the fountain (pictured on below) that I first heard about from Miss Slopsema in grade school – actually I think that’s the first history lesson I (PR) remember – must have been in grade 3 or so. 

We spent a full day in Savannah Georgia. Lovely city with a long history dating back to the 1600’s. Beautiful tree lined streets.  The old section of the city consists of about 20 “villages”, each village with a park called a “square” in the middle and three or four blocks of houses in each direction.  One of these, Chippewa Square, had the park bench on which Tom Hanks sat in Forrest Gump.  In one of these squares we heard a tour guide make a huge point of the filming here of Forrest Gump and other movies.  The irony for us was, that he was standing in front of “Christ Church” an Episcopal church and the “mother church of Georgia”.  One of the engraved signs in front of this church says, “To the Glory of God, In Memory of John Wesley, Priest of the Church of England, Minister to Savannah, 1736-1737”.  This is the same John Wesley who returned to England, and started the Methodist movement which resulted in the formation of the Methodist Church – the largest US Protestant denomination.  There were many other edifices of note including Union General Sherman’s headquarters in the last years of the Civil War, and the childhood home of Flannery O’Conner. 

"Mama always said life was like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get."
                                                                                                                                  Forrest Gump

We started off in Charleston, South Carolina by attending a Sunday morning service at the French Huguenot Protestant Church, a congregation which was organized in 1681.  We thought we were early because we gave ourselves extra time to find parking, but as it turned out, it is practically impossible to park an RV in the centre of Charleston with its narrow streets and small parking lots.  We missed the first part of the service, which was too bad because they follow the Huguenot liturgy from 1772.  So we missed the singing of Genevan “Psaume 68” in French and the traditional reading of the 10 commandments.  We walked a lot in Charleston including a beautiful neighbourhood where almost all the homes were built in the 1700’s.  They have been restored and are very well cared for.

              

We visited the Old Slave Mart Museum which used to be one of about 40 private slave markets in the decades leading up to the civil war.  This one was called “Ryan’s Mart”. You can’t visit these places without an emotional response.  We took a guided carriage ride – which was free for us.  (long story – you may just have to ask us about it) – Good, entertaining tour guide.  The horse’s name was “Rob” and Rob’s amble turned to almost a trot as we started to approach the end.  

We also made it to the Vanderhorst House on Kiawah Island just outside of Charleston.  This was the main home of the Vanderhorst Plantation which dates back to the 1600’s.  For obvious reasons (Mabel’s “maiden name”) we wanted to visit this “plantation” but when we got to Kiawah Island we found out that it had been sold to developers and that it’s all private property.  We had come this far and it became a challenge to find the place anyway.  With the help of the “Kiawah Island Golf Resort” map, we found it, and inched our way on our bikes up the private drive to finally snap this picture.  Arnoldus Vanderhorst and his descendents must have been prominent Charleston citizens as there is a Vanderhorst Street (which the locals pronounce “Vandrost”), as well as the William Vanderhorst home in downtown historic Charleston.

Before leaving Charleston we spent a morning at the Boone Hall Plantation and Gardens.  Established in 1681, it is still a working plantation today.  Their Black History in America exhibit is on display in nine original brick slave cabins, and is excellent. These bricks were made by the slaves. They were given all the reject bricks to make their own cabins.

 Fort Sumter---where the first shot of the American Civil War was fired.   

                    

We leave you with this quote from Abraham Lincoln, which was on display at the museum across the water from Fort Sumter.  Surprising words from the man who announced the emancipation proclamation.  Shows how the spirit of whatever age we live in so blinds us from seeing how things are supposed to be.  Makes you wonder in what way(s) we simply do not imagine God’s shalom as it was intended from the beginning.

      

Each day is a gift from God. 
This Saturday, April 5 we begin two weeks of service with World Renew’s Disaster Relief Service (DRS) in Hyde County. North Carolina.   Blessings to you all.