Introducing Zeke!

Here is the newest addition to the Hagan family...Zeke! My dad has ALWAYS wanted a Labrador and finally he has one. Dad and Austin picked Zeke out a few weeks ago and he has grown even more since these pictures were taken. I think he is going to be pretty big. I can't wait to meet him!

Love,
A.

Americus Tornado Pictures

My Aunt Dawn who lives in Americus sent me these pictures of the damage the tornado caused. My grandparents (on Mom's side), Aunt Dawn, Uncle Mike and their 2 boys live in Americus and although their homes didn't receive any substantial damage Uncle Mike's businesses and Papa's church did. Papa's church is being used as center for the Red Cross and the GBC as it is quite a large building and didn't receive any structural damage. Please continue to pray for everyone living in the community as we are VERY fortunate that our family is safe but many people were not so fortunate.

You can see here where all of the trees were chopped down by the tornado. This road used to be lined with huge pine trees.

I think this is the Winn-Dixie shopping center that was destroyed.

At first I thought this was FBC Americus but the more I look at it the more I think I might be wrong. Either way you can see where the steeple of the church was taken off by the tornado.

This I believe is Sumter Regional Hospital in the middle of Americus. You can see where it looks like all of the windows were blown out.

I don't know whose house this is.

To me this looks like another shopping center that is completely destroyed. I think it is the other side if the Winn-Dixie parking lot and if I am reading the sign right it is where the Cato Women's store was. My Uncle Mike owns a gym near here but I am not sure how much damage it took.

Grocery Shopping

In light of the fact that I have promised myself that I would post on here at least once a week I thought I would share my grocery shopping experience yesterday. I typically shop once a week for most of what we need and during the week Chris will pick up more perishable items for me. We like to shop at this small vegetable / fruit stand owned by a family of local farmers - the produce is so good! Yesterday I picked up the following - 4 bananas, 2 med. white onions, 4 carrots, 2 heads of broccoli (enough for 3 meals), 2 large lemons - and we only paid 2 pounds = $4.00! On Wednesday Chris will pick up some other fruit, possibly apples or strawberries or more bananas and also milk and bread to last us until next Saturday.

You would think this is a good start to my grocery experience but it started going downhill fast! After leaving Robinsons (the produce shop) where you can only pay in cash I headed to Waitrose (the English version of Publix). Here we usually buy canned goods, meats, sauces, frozen things, etc. After about 45 minutes and with a pretty full cart I headed to the que (line). After all of my groceries had been bagged and ready to go I slid our UK bank card through the machine and proceeded to completely forget our pin code and effectively embarrass myself. Of course this one Saturday we had decided that I would shop by myself while Chris went to the library so he was nowhere around to help me out. The pin codes here are set by the bank and you have no control over what it is and can't change it and I can never remember it. Needless to say I went blank and didn't have any cash so I had to leave our groceries and send Chris back an hour later with the correct pin to pay and pick up the groceries. I was SO embarrassed!!!

From now on Chris will either go with me or send me with cash!! Other than the grocery fiasco this weekend has been pretty normal. Many of you will probably already know about the tornado that hit Americus, GA where my grandparents and aunt, uncle and cousins live. Although they are okay and their homes are okay so many other parts of Americus are destroyed and many people from Papa's church were affected. If you could keep the whole town and especially my family in your prayers in the coming weeks it would mean a lot to me. Thank you.

Love,
A.