You ain't from around here are ya?

I have lived in 9 different states in my life. Most of my life I have lived in the south. I have lived in North Carolina, South Carolina, Colorado, Wyoming, Oklahoma, California, Tennessee, Kentucky, and Minnesota.

We will start with California. Californians don't have much of an accent. Actually their accent is pretty flat if none at all. The same goes for Colorado and Wyoming...in my opinion. This is a hard accent to copy.

Minnestoa obviously has the mid-west sound to it. Long o's and all. I really liked this accent and it is pretty easy way to speak no matter where you are from. You can't do it all the time or you sound silly if you aren't from there, but you pick up on ways to say certain things.

Now the southern accent is the easiest accent to copy and to pick up. Everyone can say Hi ya'll and sound southern. My sister in law who lived the majority of her life in California has picked up a southern accent living in Kentucky. My other friend, Wendi, who is from Florida (which by the way is NOT a southern state!!) had an accent from living in Kentucky for a few years. She eventually lost some of it after living in Minnesota. It is just an easy accent to pick up as well as make fun of.

The one thing that I hear every where I have lived is "you ain't from around here are ya?" Or, "O dear gyad (god), I betcha you aren't from here are you?"

Even though I have lived mostly in the south I still hear this. What is it with the way I talk? I heard the other day, "You aren't a local are you?" I promplty told them that yes I was and in fact I graduated high school here. I didn't mean to get defensive, but geesh. I don't even sound right to the southerners.

Lets see...on a lighter note, Ronnie and I took the kids to the pool today. Veronica hit her head on the bottome of the epool and went home a little early. While the kids were swimming Ronnie and I played Cribbage. Of course...as always...he won both games. Yada Yada Yada.

After that Ronnie and I went on another date. We went down to the end of Cherry Grove which is at the north end of North Myrtle Beach. It is where the water comes in to the channels. It was low tide and we went walking through the wade pools that form there. It was a perfect early fall day. We saw hermit crabs, blue crabs, minnows, birds and some dumb drunk people. Oh and a bassett hound that came to visit us. It was a perfect afternoon to walk along the beach. I am so glad that it was low tide.

Earlier this morning my mom and I painted my office at work. We had a good time making each other laugh while making fun of our painting skills. Thankfully it didn't take to long to do it and we were on our way within 2 hours. It really looks nice and fresh. I guess you could say that I have made myself at home and taken ownership. Poor people. They have to deal with me all the time. :)

Well I hope that everyone is having a great weekend. It is beautiful here. Perfect days that I hope last a little while and don't turn cold too soon.

Ebby Ray

Conversations with Ebby

These are two converstaions that I had today. The first was with my mom....

"Mom, what were you and Cole scheming last night?"
"Nothing"
"Yes you were what was it?"
"It wasn't anything."
"Mother, tell me what you were talking about!"
"I told the boys that if they kept their rooms clean this week that I would give them $5.00 each. They were letting me know that they had done it and I was telling them that I would give them the money at the end of a weeks time, which is Friday."
I said, "Well they did keep it picked up."

Now here is the conversation with the boys later on this afternoon...
I started out with, "So boys...I heard that you were going to get paid for keeping your room straight this week."
Both boys at the same time, "WHO TOLD YOU THAT????"
"What does it matter who told me. Why are you getting paid to keep your room clean?
Cole said, "Well we aren't anymore."
I said, "Why not?"
"Because you found out. We would only get paid if you didn't find out."
Ronnie chimmed in with, "Yea, that was the deal. You couldn't find out."
I said, "Well how do you know?"
Hunter said, "I was told not to let you find out so I told everybody else, but you!"
I said, " Hmmmm...well you are still going to get paid. Beth-mom told me so she broke her own pact."
Both boy had this big sigh of relief on their faces after near panic attacks on how I found out.

This is probably one of those you had to be there stories, but I thought it was cute.

Guess What Today Is!?!?!?!?

In case you didn't know--I mean, since I haven't told anyone--TODAY IS MY BIRTHDAY!!! I am having an awesome day so far. No fireworks or extraveganzas, just an awesome laid back day.

Thank you to all of the people who have commented so far. And for those who have not yet sent your birthday greetings...WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU!? :)

I just got back from taking my mom to the airport. She is on her way to Bowling Green KY, to visit my sister. We had an awesome time while she was here. I am the official Cribbage Champion of the World. I won 4 games to 3. It is also still a mystery to me how I managed to not gain a single pound. But hey, I'm not griping.

Again, thanks for the cards, calls, and comments so far. Have a wonderful day.

Oh Yeah! I Almost Forgot!!

BIrthday Update: TOMORROW IS MY BIRTHDAY!!

VERY FUNNY, MOM!!!

So let me give you a little Ronnie-Ray history. When I was 17 I was dying to get my ear pierced. I asked my mom and she said, "We'll see," or "We'll discuss it later." Something to that effect. So, one afternoon Deanna and I were at a mall in West Hollywood and I convinced her to sign for me to get my ear pierced, since she was 25-ish and I was only 17. After all, my mom had never said, "NO."

Deanna signs the consent form, I get my ear pierced, done deal, no problem. UNTIL...I got home. Oh my! I had never seen my mom that angry. I was a little scared. She totally blew up at me. Then she called Deanna and gave her the business. "How could you do that!! I told him NO...BLAH...BLAH...BLAH!!"

Skip forward 18 years. Yesterday I had to work so my mom takes the kids to the mall. I get a voice mail on my cell phone that goes like this: "Hey son. We are at the mall at Claire's and just wanted to let you know that we are going to get Hunter's ear pierced. Love you. Bye."

My heart jumps in my chest. She is just the lady to do something like this. I call them I immediately. She answers the phone and says, "Ha ha!! Gotcha!!"

She later remonded me of the old saying, "Pay back is a b****!"

Much to my relief, no ears were pierced in the making of this story.

Good one mom. Kudos.

A Visit from Jan Part 1

Ronnie's mom, Jan, came into town on Saturday. Here are some highlights from the visit so far:

• Saturday - Ronnie getting lost to and from the airport in Raleigh, NC. Jan flew into Raleigh by accident, but it is only a couple of hours away so Ronnie and the kids drove up to get her.
• Saturday - Ebby worked until 12:15 a.m. for SOS, therefore she missed out on the fun of getting lost to and from the airport. Actually we wouldn't have gotten lost if Ebby had been with us. (Ebby wrote this...Ronnie doesn't agree!)
• Sunday - A little sleeping in followed by an afternoon at the beach. Everyone, including Jan, did a little swimming in the ocean...until we saw a small shark and EVERYONE swam for the shore. No one was bitten, and all children made it home safely.
• Monday - While Ebby was slaving away at work and the kids were stuck in school Jan and Ronnie went out on a 5 hour Casino Cruise. South Carolina doesn't allow gambling so you have to take a boat 3 miles out to international waters to do any gambling.
• Monday night - Eating a little to much (ok way to much) food at seafood buffet restaurant. Very delicious...very stuffed.

That is most of what has happened this weekend. Lots of laughing...some cribbage (Jan and Ronnie are tied at 2 games each)...lots of food...more laughing....great time had by all! I mean, come on, it's Jan after all!

We will let you know what happens later over the next two days later.

BIRTHDAY UPDATE! 3 more shopping days until Ronnie's birthday.

Every one thought Ebby was obnoxious about her birthday. Ronnie is ridiculous!!!

Quick Post...

Time for a quick post before I hit the sack.

The kids and I just got back from picking my mom--Jan-- up from the airport. It was a fun drive. We enjoyed several episodes of Adventures in Odyssey. That radio program is pretty amazing. Anyway, we all stopped on the way back in a small coastal town called Calabash for dinner. We ate at The Boat House. It was a neat place and the food was awesome. Our server Andrew was spot on. Calabash is well known for preparing seafood a certain way. I'm not sure what that way is but I do know that it is DELICIOUS.

It is so good to have my mom in town. THis is sure to be a fun week. 15 months is way to long to go without seeing your mommy. We have several tenative things we want to do while she is here. No major set schedule though.

We got back and Jan got settled in and we are all bedding down for the night. "Good night Maryellen...Good night John-boy!"

Other exciting news: I am no longer a "trainee" at HOB. I am officially part of the security staff. I aced the test last night at the show and they announced it over the in-house radio system so all of the other staff members could hear it. They are all out of yellow shirts ((((BOOOO!!)))) So I will have to wait for a couple of weeks until they come in.

Ebby had to work tonight at one of the SOS events. Sadly she did not get to join in the festivities. We missed her. Thankfully we will all get to do stuff together this week.

I'll post some pictures of Jan's visit as soon as I get them.

Okay, my thoughts are no longer contiguous or coherent. So I am going to go for now.

BIRTHDAY COUNTDOWN: 4 DAYS, 20 MINUTES. Shop 'til you drop people!

Birthdayed!

Ronnie referred to a praticle joke we played on a friend of ours in Rochester, MN earlier this year. Ronnie, Hunter, Cole and I used 10 rolls of tin foil and wrapped Brandon Ganz cubicle. I have been told that this was on the TV show "The Office", but I haven't ever seen that show.

This trend of playing jokes on people in the church office on their birthday continued, and John Carlson coined the events as being "birthdayed".

Below is a picture of the wonderful job our family did on Brandon's cubicle. If you have any other ideas for practicle jokes please let me know. I am at a new job here in North Myrtle Beach at a church and have some unsuspecting people here that I can play some jokes on.

By the way.... did I ever let everyone know that I was the one that put all the shredded paper in Heather Schuster's car? I can't remember if I ever told her that it was me. Oh well.

Just so you know...

7 shopping days left until my birthday.

A least living this far away I can't get paid back --a.k.a."Birthdayed" --for what I did to Brandon Ganz's office.

A Little Ebby Story

My husband isn't going to like that I am writting this story, but I just HAVE to.

Now I have written a couple of times that Ronnie and I have very different schedules. I wake up at 6:00 am, leave to take Cole to school at 7:25 am, get to work at 8:00 am, get off of work at 5:00 pm and get back home at 5:15 pm. Ronnie on the other hand goes to work at 4:30 or 5:00 pm most days. When I leave in the mornings he is still in bed asleep, and when he gets home after midnight I am asleep. Two ships passing while asleep. (Don't worry I know that didn't make any sense.) So there is our schedule for you. This is exactly why we try to have to have lunch together a couple of times a week.

So here is the story...

This past weekend as most of you know, Ronnie went to Minnesota to play a little music at our church there. He left on Friday morning and returned on Sunday evening. Friday afternoon I received a phone call asking for prayer for an extended family member. Something big was happening and I felt it necessary to get in touch with Ronnie. I called his cell phone asking him to call me back. This he did when he arrived in Charlotte and I relayed what was going on. I told him that I would call him later on that night to let him know what else I found out so he would be in the know. From when I talked to him in Charlotte until I tried to call him back on Saturday morning his cell phone battery went dead. Therefore, I tried to call the home where he was staying. I phoned the Howe's residence and asked for Ronnie. Dan talked to me for a while starting with the story at the very beginning and at the end I finally realized that Ronnie was NOT staying at their house. WHAT?? Where in the world is he staying then? He is at the Kundert's. Well when did this happen?? Sometime during the week. Ronnie didn't tell me that he was staying somewhere different.

Well....I never!!

That's right...I never "talked" to my husband before he left. I just shipped him off and said goodbye.

I guess the moral of this story is that when we are eating lunch together we should talk about some important things and not just gab about nothingness. I did finally find him and was able to talk to him for a little bit. Also, just to let you know I wasn't upset by all of this. I knew that he was having a good time and that he was being well taken care of.

I hope you all have a good day tomorrow.

Ebby Ray

I'm Not Dead!!

I haven't posted in a couple of days so one of our faithful readers called me on the phone to see if I was dead. The answer is: no I am not dead. There you go. Just in case there were any vicious rumors swirling about my death...let's put them to rest right here. I am still alive. Thank God the rumors weren't true.

I got back from the whirlwind trip to Rochester late Sunday night and hit the ground running on Monday. Since I hadn't seen my wife in a few days, I took her out to lunch. We went to a park and sat at some tables and visited and ate. It was nice. After the cop broke us up from making out in public, I took Ebby back to work. JUST KIDDING!! There was no cop...okay no making out either...at the park anyway...unfortunately.

Later that night I worked at the House of Blues. Tesla was the headliner and a couple other bands opened for them. Listen, the musicians from Tesla were AMAZING! The lead guitar player was phenomenal. I was waiting for his fingers to catch on fire at any minute. The drummer was outrageous too. All together they were really tight too. You can tell they have been playing together for over 20 years.

I worked in a different section of the venue that night. I got to work the V.I.P. section. It was pretty fun. BAsically the ticket costs more so it comes with other benefits. It is upstairs on the balcony so the view is the best in the house. You get a waitress that comes to you, rather than having to get up to get food and beverages. In general they just get a higher level of service. Monday night the guest had a special treat as they got there...me escorting them to their seats. I am sure they found that alone well worth the extra ticket cost.

Tuesday I went back in to HOB and finally finished up all the training materials. All I have left is two more show and then I earn the covetted YELLOW SHIRT (((((CHOIRS OF ANGELS SINGING)))))). I will no longer be a trainee.

My mom comes to town on Saturday. I am so excited. We haven't seen her in about 15 months. Thakfully my work schedule is not TOO busy while she is here. We are going to have some fun.

Anyway, that's about all for the update.

FYI: 8 shopping days left until my birthday.

Do you have a blog?

If you have a blog and it isn't listed on the right side, please sent me your blog address. I want to keep up with people and this is a fun way of doing it.

Sarah C. was giving me some helpful hints on how to do bullets and it hit me that maybe she has a blog. She should since she is expecting in February. She should make a blog telling me all about the twins she is having and if they are boys, girls, or one of each.

One thing that I do is glom off of Wendi K.'s blog. I go into her blog and then read the one's that she has listed. We should just put them on our own instead of me logging into her's 100 times a day.

So please le me know if you have a blog. I would love to keep up with what is going on and leave comments when I can.

Thanks,

Ebby Ray

Back in MN

Well, faster than I thought, the weekend to come back to Minnesota has arrived. I have arrived...back in Minnesota. The trip was smooth and quiet. No major events occurred. I got to Becky's at about 7:30. They had dinner ready for me and it was freakin' delicious. Lasagna...garlic bread...salad...chocolate chip pumpkin cake...oh my! We played mexican train dominoes for a while and then went back to Don and Angie's and crashed.

This morning Don and I went to Perkin's for breakfast. I love Perkin's. I LOVE BREAKFAST!! I could eat breakfast food three meals a day for the rest of my life. This includes cereal.

Don and Pete Rietveld asked me if it felt wierd to be back or if it was like we never left. It is kind of a strange mixture of both. Things looked familiar, not foriegn. Things feel the same. But I have to leave tomorrow. So it is a strange mixture of like-we-never-left, and I-live-somewhere-else.

I am incredibly excited about getting to play drums for God, for the choir, and for the congregation. It is sure to be a blast. The songs we are doing are amazing and so are the singers and musicians.

I am also pretty pumped about seeing friends and "chosen family members." Catching up will be nice. Even though we have only been gone for six weeks.

I will be video taping the choir and messages from friends to take back to EB so she can sort of enjoy this weekend too.

I guess that is all for today. Have an awesome weekend.

Using Bullets

I see other people's blogs and they use bullets. How do you do that. I want bullets!!

1) This is the only thing that I can think of to use instead of bullets

2) One of my favorite things about living here at the beach is that my mom can call me and ask me to go somewhere and she comes by and picks me up. When I lived in Minnesota we spoke on the phone just about every morning. Now I see her just about every other day. A couple of days ago she called me and asked me to out to eat lunch with her. It was awsome!!

3) Ronnie leaves tomorrow for Rochester, MN. He will be gone for the weekend. He gets to do his most favorite thing...play the drums for the Christ Community Church worship team. He will return on Sunday.

4) Veronica gets to start working out with the volleyball team on Monday. I don't think that she is on the team...yet....but she is going to work out withe them and learn more about playing the game. I am excited for her. Great way to work out and continue to make friends.

5) Hunter starts jazz band practice on Tuesday. Like father like son!!

6) English will be out for Christmas. I am very excited that she will get to spend the holiday with us. She is doing good in her schooling and is back to exercising after being off of physical training for about 10 months.

7) Tomorrow is my last day of training in my new job. I am extrememly worried that I am not going to succeed at this job. I can handle doing some things worng and look for correction and instruction from people...I can not handle failing at a job.

8) Cole is learning the art of doing homework. This is something new to him. It would be a shock to my other children to have to do homework. Veronica is in two honors classes and still hasn't had any homework. Next year I am going to make her take some AP classes and get a little taste of college classes. AP classes will be a sure way to make sure she has homework. Cole on the other hand has a teacher right now that will give him detention for so many missed homework assignments. Now some of you may wonder why he isn't doing his homeowork...why aren't I making him do his work. We do check to see if he has any homework, but the kid is only in 3rd grade so he didn't have much homework in 1st and 2nd grade.

9) I am going to stop now. This number thing is too much work.

Hope you all have a great day tomorrow!

Ebby

Good Lord!! Check this out!! It is incredible! (watch the whole thing)

I think this guy is blind, which makes it even more incredible. This is REAL talent. I got nothin'!

Raul Midon "state of mind"

Add to My Profile | More Videos

Church Search Update

THis past Sunday we checked out church #2 on our quest to find a suitable replacement for the amazing, awesome, wonderful, dare I say, perfect church situation for the Ray family we left at Christ Community Church in Rochester. Seriously, we left the perfect church situation for our family. We all know that there will never be a situation quite like CCC--unless we go back to CCC. We have come to terms with that. So now we have to find a suitable alternative in the meantime.

Anyway, the church we visited last Sunday aroused our curiosity. It will definitely be a church that we visit a few more times. I think we would like to dig a little deeper and look at the teaching style, worship style, and volunteer oppotunities a bit further.

THe building that the church is in used to be a perfomrmance theater. It was a venue for several different stage shows. One of the shows was called Legends and it featured impersonators of a bunch of famous and renowned artists such as Elvis, Dolly, Garth Brooks and so on. THe inside of the building has obviously not changed much. I am sure they added some fresh paint and changed the lobby a little, but it is still a theater-style building inside.

When we walked in we were greeted warmly. We were a little late, which is not like us at all, but we got there in time for the music. It was pretty good but not enough songs. The sermon series title is currently "All Out War". So the stage looked like a bombed out section of town with fake brick walls that had holes in them, an actual wrecked, burned out car that smoked at the beginning of his sermon, a mocked up artillery bunker complete with sandbags and cannon tubes, and dramatic back lighting. It was visually interesting. They went all out. The sermon wasn't half bad either.

So, our interest was sparked. I think Ebby and I both want to see if it is all flash and show or if there is some substance to it. We'll keep you updated.

Back Online...

The guys came out and fixed the internet today. Now we can continue this craziness.

I have double duty today. Let me explain. I go to wok at Ultimate CA Pizza at 5, work until it slows down then I go to HOB at 10pm for a show that doesn't even start until 11pm. Which means I won't even get home until the wee hours of the morn'. It's Reggae night. We'll see how that turns out.

The Mandy Moore show the other night was incredibly tame. Not lame...tame. She was actually pretty good and she had a good solid band behind her. It was not that bad. Apparently her "internet stalker" was there. Me and another guy had to hover near him and make sure he did not go for the stage. The other guy was disappointed that the stalker didn't move all night. He wanted to tackle someone. Because of crazy- stalker dude we had to walk with her while she signed autographs. She seemed very nice and genuine toward the fans. The next show (after tonight) Alice Cooper! Every one at HOB gets excited when he comes to town. Apparently he is a really nice sweet man. We'll see.
Hello Mr Cooper!

It's the Weekend

I am so glad to be into the weekend. This was a long week! Ronnie got a cold and then decided that he sould give it to me. I am tired, achy, runny nose, sneezing, sore throat, fever and a head ache. That is all I am going to say about that.

Today Ronnie came and got me for lunch and surprised me with where we were going to eat. He took me to the pier in Cherry Grove (Northern part of North Myrtle Beach) and we sat out at the end and had a nice time. The breeze was blowing and it was very sunny outside. We sat under the 2nd floor gazebo in the shade. It was wonderful. He is such a romantic and I'm.....not. I don't think of doing those kinds of things, but I sure am glad he does.

At first I didn't like his schedule. Made me a little jealous that he was at home while I was working and couldn't hang out with him. Now that he comes and gets me once or twice a week for lunch I am really enjoying his schedule.

Veronica is at the football game tonight. She was invited by a couple of people from school. Veronica cracks me up. She got up this morning at 7:00 and the bus leaves at 7:25. Today was picture day! She gave herself 20 minutes to get ready for picture day. That is so funny to me. Most girls freak out a little about picture day. They pick out their out fit 6 weeks before hand (ok, I am exagerating....a little), put on tons of makeup, and fix their hair 4 times before walking out the door. Veronica not only didn't get up early enough to fix her hair 4 times she didn't even wear any makeup. Cracks me up.

We are staying at my mom's house this weekend. They went out of town and we are keeping the dogs. My mom said that the 3 hour trip wore Walt out, but at least he was willing to go. That is a VERY good thing. He had blood work done on Wednesday and will find out the results this next week.

I just realized that I am rambling so I will end now. I am very tired and I tend to ramble when I am tired. Good night Ebby.....good night everyone!

Ebby Ray

No Internet!!

I apologize for the lack of recent blogs. Our internet just stopped working on Weds. afternoon. We are staying the night at EB's parents house while they are out of the town for the weekend. So, we will be able to post some blogs over the next few days.

I just finalized some of the details for my trip to MN next weekend. I can hardly wait. It will be so much fun. I only wish EB and the kids could come to see friends and loved ones. It will be choir weekend and that is always AMAZING. I will practice my butt off this week so that it is musically solid too.

We'll post morer stuff later. Stay tuned...

Out of the Closet...As a Metro

It has been a while since I have written. I am officially a busy man. SO here goes.

Apparently, the consensus is that I am "metro". You know what, I am okay with it. I like who Ron Ray is--including all his metro-ness. Pink shirts, chick flicks, color matching, fashion savvy, domestic duties...it is what it is. I can't change it. I don't want to. I like it. I AM METRO! HEAR ME ROAR!! Enough about that.


I have worked two shows at the House of Blues so far. It is fun, hectic, crazy, and cool all at the same time. The first night I checked ID's and gave people the appropriate wrist band if they were over 21 or not. The other "Door Hosts," a.k.a. security, said it was one of the craziest shows in a long time. It was a group called Slightly Stoopid. Also G-Love w/ Special Sauce opened for them. It was a college aged crowd and they were pretty wild. Later in the night I got to "wand" people. I used one of those metal detector wands (like at the airports) to search for any contraband. It was fun and interesting.

Last nights show was Bucky Covington from American Idol. THe show was okay. It was redneck heavy, but mostly calm. He played some of his own songs, but mostly did cover tunes. The crowd still had a great time. Bucky's twin brother plays drums for him in his band. I thought that was interesting. Bucky also seems a lot more seasoned and comfortable on stage now than he did on A.I. The opening act was a full on Tim McGraw rip off band. The lead singer even wore an outfit that was incredibly similar to what I have seen Tim Mcgraw wear--including the shiny black cowboy hat. It was LAME-O!

My next show is Mandy Moore...yay. We'll see how that goes. Those teenage girls can really get out of control.

Yesterday was a pretty long day. I had to switch shifts wit a guy so I could do HOB last night. So, I got to the pizza place at 11 a.m. worked until 5:20 then went straight t HOB and didn't get home until 1:30 a.m. I didn't start to feel it until after the show. I was pooped when I got home. Thank God I don't have to do that on a regular basis.

I have ALL DAY OFF tomorrow. I am excited.

Hope you had a good Labor Day weekend. Summer is almost gone. That is sad.

Our Oldest Daughter

I think that everyone knows that we have two daughters and two sons. Our oldest daughter is in the Air Force and stationed in Monterey, California. Pretty tough place to be stationed isn't it. :) She is a linguist studying Korean. That is all I can tell you. Because of her security clearance in the Air Force if I told you any more (which I can't because I don't know) she would have to kill us both.

After Engish finished basic training in Texas and was in Monterey for a month or so she went to the doctor with some hip pain. They ended up doing an MRI and found that she had a stress fracture. She has pretty much been in constant pain ever since. She had to use crutches for quite a while...well let me rephrase that....she was SUPPOSED to use crutches for quite a while. She wouldn't use them some because of her underarms. It gets really sore there after using crutches.

Two weeks ago she went in for another MRI because the pain wasn't getting any better, and if was effecting her school work. This past Wednesday she went in for the results and the doctor told her that the stress fracture was healed. She then asked the doctor why she was still in so much pain and he blew her off and sent her on her way. She was very frustrated. She will also have to start physical training again this week even thought she is still in pain. She hasn't had P.T. since about October.

On a good note she passed the most difficult test of her schooling this past week. She was very excited. This was a make you or break you test. Stay in the program or get kicked out.

We are very excited that she will be coming here for Christmas this year. I miss her so much. One of the things that I miss the most was when she and her sister, Veronica, would get laughing at something stupid. I would hear them from another room and would start laughing myself. It was such a great sound. Another thing I miss is English's story telling. She sent me one the otherday about a girl and 3 racoons. It was hilarious.

I hope you all have a great week!

Ebby Ray