Some Sun-on-the-Beach

Attention: Posting will be nil or little for the next two weeks as I will have no regular access to the internet --only at Starbucks or the public library.

Thanks to friends, Gale and I will on vacation at their beach house in Indian Rocks Beach Florida taking some much needed vacation. We took only a few days here and there over the summer so this is our "summer vacation". We fly out on Southwest (my new favorite airline) and arrive in Tampa at 10 AM. -- we will be gazing at the Gulf of Mexico from the screened in porch before noon!

I will drive Gale to the Tampa airport at noon on October 6 to fly to New York where she will meet our daughter Hannah. She and Hannah will fly overnight to Paris. They will vacation in Paris until October 10 and then fly to Florence and stay until October 15. Hannah will be working in Florence and Gale will be sightseeing. Hannah is a senior fashion designer for Ralph Lauren and she conducts business in Florence for Ralph this time every year. With Ralph everything is five-star, so they will be pampered. This trip is Hannah's birthday gift to Gale. Both Gale and I had a milestone birthdays this year -- and it wasn't our 50th!

Son Greg and fellow school teacher and friend Amanda will be landing in Tampa on Thursday October 6 mid-afternoon and staying with me at the beach house until Sunday early evening for an extended weekend getaway. And from Sunday night through Thursday October 13 it will be just me and the surf, the sun, the suds and the sand.

Also on the home front, last week we signed a contract to sell our house in Kittanning -- finally after almost two years of it being on the market. The home inspection was last night so we are praying that no major defects were found. The inspectors are paid to be nit-picky so we expect some stuff but we hope nothing hugely expensive that could be a deal breaker. When the closing comes on November 4th it will close that chapter of our life as we moved on in ministry in June 2008 to the greener pastures of St. David's in Peters Township. Amen