Have you been having trouble viewing the pictures here? I don’t know why, but for some reason they haven’t been showing up (or are just partially downloading). As I try to figure out why it’s been doing that, here’s what I do -
Right Click on the (missing)picture, and click on “show picture”.
Anybody know how I can fix the problem?

One of the fun (and optional) things that happens during a Sower project month is a Ladies Day Out. The ladies get together and plan…well, a day out! It doesn’t happen every at every project, but when it does, it usually involves shopping and eating. This time was no exception! We were joined by the director’s wife (Mary) who showed us the sights of downtown Talladega and the surrounding area. We had lunch in a delightful cafe, checked out a couple of local thrift shops, a Burke’s Outlet (never been there, but my, oh, my, great bargains), drove by the Alabama Institute for the Deaf and Blind (which includes the Helen Keller School of Alabama), Talladega College, and saw many beautiful Antebellum Homes. Yes indeed, there is more to Talladega than The SuperSpeedway! After our exhausting shopping and touring, we ended the day with a fru-fru coffee (you know, the kind with the whipped cream and drizzles on top!) and some amazing cake. It was a very lovely day!

We shared the cake. Honest!

And they really need rain! We drove by the lake today, and all of the boat ramps are pretty useless. They end in the dirt. It was pretty sad. But it was great weather for Race Weekend, where a quarter of a million (more or less) folks descend on Talladega to go to the big Ford 500 Race. The trucks raced on Saturday and NASCAR was there on Sunday (Jeff Gordon was the big winner in case you didn’t know). But the information I thought was the most interesting was if you were camping on the grounds (it’s free!), you could have your own porta-potty for a mere $105.00 for the entire weekend! What a deal. Just bring your own padlock (I think the TP was included)! We stayed pretty close to home during the comings and going time of the races, but the entire town was pretty much caught up in race fever. Two of our guys were given tickets for the truck race on Saturday – it was quite an experience from what they said. Here is a shot one of them took – it looks like they had pretty good seats!

I can’t imagine the traffic tonight and tomorrow as everyone heads home. Or the amount of trash that will be left behind.

But we’ve had a good first week on the job. We girls did do one day in the office, but mostly we were in the laundry folding and folding and folding. I don’t think the laundry staff has been quite this caught up in a long time! And since there were plenty of guests here this weekend, I’m thinkin’ we’ll be folding sheets most of the week (or putting them on beds!). We all work together and it makes the time go quickly. The guys have been working on those 7 rooms, plus a couple of them are rebuilding some decks. They are a bunch of hard working of guys!
Some of the other highlights of the week…..
Fast Food Progressive Dinner
You start out at Sonic with a half price burger and a yummy limeade, and you finish off at McDonalds with a $.99 hot fudge sundae. $8.00 for the two of us. Pretty sweet, eh? And we just found out that the Mexican restaurant in town has $5.00 specials on Tuesday night. I think it’s a no-brainer!
Geocaching with friends
We took Lee and Esther out with us on Friday and worked on getting them addicted to geocaching. It was fun to explore the area with them, and they really enjoyed the hunt. As they were hunting in the woods for a cache, I was busy snapping pictures of the beautiful morning glories by the side of the road -

Worship at The Church at Brook Hills
A group of us drove into Birmingham to worship at The Church at Brook Hills this morning. The director of this conference center (Shocco Springs) and his family drive there every week (it’s about 40 miles each way). I’m not a huge fan of Mega Churches (and this is certainly one with about 3500 in attendance every Sunday), but this was an amazing service. Everything about the service – the worship, the baptism and testimony time, the message was all so very Christ centered. It really IS all about Jesus. I brought home a sermon CD – and I’m looking forward to listening again. By the end of the service we could see why the folks here make the drive. I think we’ll be making it again next week!

On deck for this week…..
Well, besides the trip to the Mexican Restaurant, we’re also planning a miniature golf tournament and maybe a hot-dog roast! You never know what just might lie around the corner!
Here are a couple more pictures of our location. I took these on my early morning walks around the lake (all 4 of them!) – that’s our campground up on the hill. (You can almost make out the orange truck)

In this one it’s a little harder to see the “campground” but I love the reflection in the lake.

I’ll keep you posted on how that golf tournament goes!

Well, it’s about time!
Tammy just sent these darling pictures of the girls. Ellie started pre-school this fall. From what I understand she is LOVING it! Plus it gives Tammy some one-on-one time with Hayley before Baby #3 arrives. (Just 7 weeks to go!)

Looks like they’ve been out shopping for pumpkins!

And finally a trip to the zoo – and even Dad got to come along for the fun!

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And our first day on the job? Well, everything went very well. The office wasn’t quite ready for us so we worked in housekeeping. Some of us were folding towels and sheets, and some of us were making beds and distributing clean towels. Hey, I’ve been training for this all my life!
The guys gutted 7 hotel rooms, getting the ready for a major overhaul.
We have a pretty interesting gang this month. All of us are full time RVers and we come from many different walks of life. In their previous lives these folks have been (among other things) big-rig truck drivers (I made beds with one of them today!), an Army veteren who also worked for Sears in their appliance repair department, someone who owned a Christian Bookstore, a retired UPS driver (he drove for 25 years), and a mechanical engineer. And we come from all over the country – California, Wisconsin, Virginia, Florida & PA. I love it when the Family grows!