M-I-S-S-I-S-S-I-P-P-I !!!!

Ok, I know we have been back for over a week now, but I am just now getting back into the groove of things enough to post about this awesome trip. And due to the length of the trip and number of pictures I have, maybe we should take it only a couple of days at a time.

So in this post I am going to cover Friday and Saturday (July 13th & 14th)

We met at CBC at 3:50 a.m. on Friday and left at 4 a.m.

Considering that it was 4 a.m., this picture is pretty good of most everyone.

Our journey took a total of 14.5 hours so that we arrived at F.O.A. (Friends of Alcoholics) right around 6:20 p.m. if I remember correctly. The ride was definitely interesting in a 15 passenger van with 14 passengers. Between talking, music, and silliness it was a fun ride.

Oh yeah, I forgot about all the digital photos being taken in the van. Some very interesting ones to be shared later. Maybe once I get done posting about the week, I'll have to just post crazy pics, because our group took plenty of them!

I couldn't resist including this silly pic of Ryan playing dress up in the van.

Before we got to F.O.A., we stopped at the wonderful, beautiful, and hospitable MS Welcome Center.

Our last hour of driving involved heavy rains, but when we finally reached our destination, the rain had stopped. And everyone was glad to be out of the van. I mean if I had heard "Hi, I'm Kevin Jonas and I'd like to sell you a caaarrr" one more time, my head may have exploded. So as soon as we got there we let everyone get situated in their living spaces.

Welcome to F.O.A. We'll talk about that white fence in a future post.

This is the FOA sign...I'm sure there are fire ants lurking.

This is the building the boys stayed in, and...

This was the girl's house.

After getting settled we walked around the staff side of the ministry and some of us visited Mamaw who although she didn't say it wanted to "WA PSH" "WA PSH" us with her cane. Ok, maybe I just made that up, but it was still fun to "WA PSH" all week. I actually am doing it out loud now as I type. "WA PSH" So much fun!

Since we were "fixin" to eat "supper", we headed back to the Philemon house (boys dorm and meeting hub) where we had burgers, chips, and "Cokes". After getting used to all the roaches, we met together to discuss some rules and regulations as well as the next days activities, and then dispersed for the evening. Most of the girls went back to their house to settle in and sleep. The boys and Alison and Melinda headed to the living room for a nice game of Risk (which was played all week during free time - not that 1 game but like 3 or 4 games).

However, on this first night the Risk game took an interesting turn. Why you may ask? This is why!

To some, this looks like an ordinary picture. To those who were there, this picture needs no explaining. But for those who were not, brace yourselves for this. In Mississippi there are roaches. At F.O.A. there are many roaches.

This picture hung in the living room where the Risk game was taking place. Someone saw a roach come out from behind it. Then another. So I walked over to the picture, pulled a corner towards me to see behind the picture, and many roaches began coming out from behind the picture. I do not lie when I say there were probably 30 or more roaches behind that one picture. Can I get an "Amen" from someone present.

So little by little I would move the picture and smash a roach or two. Then we found some roach powder, and Mr. Sadler put some of that around the picture frame. But then we decided just to have a roach killing. So Alison got the video camera, and the boys took off their shoes and waited for Ryan to remove the picture. We then quickly smashed the remaining roaches (by this time only about 10-12 were left). What a great memory! Lucky for us, those roaches were just little baby ones. They couldn't have been more than an inch long a piece. Now the 2-3 inchers are the nice ones.

Ok, looks like I'll have to do one day at a time. This post is already long. Well, that is a good start. So next time, I'll cover Saturday. Until then see "y'all" later. "WA PSH!!"