Tidal Wave Story

From my Brother Kyle:
There was a girl named Crystal who came to our Bible Studies at our house last year and became a friend. She is now a missionary in India who we support. Her mission team was at Phuket Island when the tsunami hit and are all alive with some pretty amazing stories. Jade knows quite a few of the people on the mission team. Crystal was her room mate at UCO. Here is an e-mail Jade got from the team with some pictures they took.

Kyle
--------------------------

Dear friends,

You may or may not have known that we spent Christmas
on the Island of Phuket, Thailand on Patong beach.
Yes, that is the island (and beach) you have been
hearing about on the news. I am writing to let you
know that all 11 of us are ok. We were not harmed in
any way, but have some stories to tell. I don't tend
to like long e-mails, but I will tell our story in
full.

Keep in mind that the tsunamis hit Phuket at 9:30am on
the morning of the 26th (Thailand time).

On the 26th Crystal, one of our teammates, very
generously offered to babysit Soren so that we could
have a day together. We decided to take a
boating/snorkeling tour of the Phi Phi Islands off the
coast of Thailand...

8am: we left the hotel by car (the earthquake
happened, upbeknownst to us while we were driving)

9 am: We leave on a boat for a 45 min. ride to an
island called Bamboo Island

9:30am: The Tsunami hits Patong beach, on the opposite
side of the Island.

9:50am: We stopped at Bamboo Island and were told we
had 40 min to swim and snorkel.

10:20am: We had been in the water for 30 minutes when
we looked up and discovered we were the only ones in
the water and our tour guide was yelling for everyone
to get back aboard. Irritated that our time was being
cut short we and the other 20 tourists got
aboard the boat and motored away just in time to
see another boat become totally beached on the sand by
the water receading so quickly. We
can only pray that everyone aboard that boat made it
okay. The captain knew the tsunami had already had
hit Phuket Island and knew they couldn't return there.
In fact, the home office we had left from had been
totally destroyed. So, our boat started heading
towards Yao Noi Island, which was the closest safest
island, still a 45 minute boat ride.

10:45 On the way to Yao Noi we looked to our left to
see a 15' wall of water coming straight at us. Our
captain immediately sped up and somehow escaped the
wave.

11:15am: We finally made it to Yao Noi Island which
was shielded from the brunt of the waves and made it
to the dock before really knowing what had happened.
We hiked up a hill into this jungle area and waited.
We spent 4 emotionally draining hours waiting on that
island hearing mixed stories about what was going on
back at Patong. At one point, one police officer,
knowing very little english said, "Patong beach is
finished." We knew we were safe there but we had no
way of contacting the rest of the team to know if
everyone else, including soren were okay. One of the
tour guides happened to remember our hotels phone
number and we had met this nice australian family on
the boat with us that let us use their cell phone to
call our hotel and even my mom back in AR. Soren and
Crystal were safe in our hotel. Fortunately, our
hotel was about 3-4 blocks from the beach and was
totally unharmed. (In the begining we were
disappointed to not have a beach front hotel and in
the end we were very thankful we didn't!)

3:30pm: We had reason to believe that the waves had
past so we took the shortest route by boat back to
Phuket Island.

4pm: We arrived safely at a port on Phuket Island
where we waited for 2 hours. We were at a marina with
a TV and starting watching the news realizing what had
really happened.

6pm: We climb on a bus to take us back to Patong
beach... after driving for 45 min we discovered that
Patong had been totally evacuated and all the roads
going to that area had been shut down. (As it turns
out that was only partially true though). So, we were
eventually taken to a police station where we were
given dinner along with many other displaced people.
We were preparing to bed down in a near by school when
we got word that we could go back to Patong Beach.

9:30pm: We arrived back at Patong, were reunited with
Soren and the team, and were thankful to God that
everyone had come through the disaster safely.

The good news is that we are safe. The bad news, as
you know, is that (as of now) over 80,000 people in
this area of the world have entered eternity... most
of them into a Christless one. Please pray that God
would use this horrible tragedy to make people here
hungry to know the true God.

Grateful to be among the survivors,
Kevin, Stephanie and Soren

P.s. If you are interested, you can see all of our
photos at this link:
http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/icthus21/album?.dir=/59c8

Does blogging instead of working count?

I have a ton of work to get done today, but I also haven't posted anything on here in a few days. I guess keeping people up to date on my not working is more important than actually making money!

We had a great (and VERY busy) Christmas! We had 7-8 Christmases to go to between the two of our families (8 if you count the one with just Abby and me)! We had a couple down in Houston the weekend before Christmas, then came back in town just in time to go to a wedding rehearsal and wedding in Oklahoma City on Wednesday (Abby's birthday!) and Thursday. Then, we had a day to ourselves Friday -- minus the Christmas Eve service that evening at our church and the annual reading of "The Polar Express" at Abby's parent's house. And then there was the wrapping of Christmas presents until 4:00 in the morning -- so it really wasn't a "day of rest" like it was supposed to be!

All the real fun started Christmas morning at 9:00 when we had breakfast and Christmas at Joe and Candy's (Abby's parents) first. From there, we came home to have our own Christmas -- and for Abby to do some last-minute present wrapping. At 2:30, we went to my grandparent's for lunch and Christmas, then straight from there to my Mom and Dad's for another Christmas. We left Mom and Dad's a little early (7 ish) to head out to Abby's Memaw's house for dinner and one more Christmas! Man, that was a busy day!

We were so wiped out that we slept until NOON on Sunday -- and boy, was that nice!

With Sunday came our 8th and final Christmas. We got together with the extended Cantrell family for snacks and Dirty Santa. We were so exhausted at that point that I don't even think we knew what gifts we were getting, but we did manage to come home with some fun stuff, somehow!

All in all it has been a busy, but wonderful holiday season so far, and we are so thankful for the many blessings in our lives.

I hope everyone else had a great Christmas!

Cheated Death

So I almost died riding a 4 wheeler today.

Today instead of working I took the afternoon off to take Abby's brother Daniel shopping and to go ride 4 wheelers with him.

Whilst riding, I saw a small kitten about to be crushed by a falling boulder. So in a brave moment, I hopped my 4 wheeler up onto the boulder, jumped to the other side, quickly fashioned a rope from some vines that were hanging over head, then I made a lasso and roped the boulder. Once I had the boulder wrapped up in my lasso, it kept rolling! The boulder just rolled up my vine roap, and ended up tossing me and the 4 wheeler several hundred feet in the air, then stopped 10 feet short of the small kitten. I landed funny and heard a lot of popping in my knee, it feels kinda like I hurt something. (Ok, so maybe there was no small kitten, and the falling boulder was actually a steep bank from a creek. The 4 wheeler started to flip, so I jumped off and landed funny) I can walk fine, but it hurts really bad if I put my knee in certain positions.

I decided not to go to the doctor as long as I can walk fine. If I wake up tomorrow and it is swollen a lot I will go, otherwise if it still hurts after Christmas I'll go!

Happy Birthday to my dear sweet wife Abby who turns 25 tomrrow, and who also thinks I am a complete moron and has no sympathy for my injuries because I was "being and idiot".

Oh yeah, we're back from Houston!

More Christmas Fun!

We're in Houston, so not much time to write. But there's always time for a game!

http://jakeabby.com/flashgames/penguinswing.swf

We'll just post high scores in the comments, no screenshots this time. So, go play and post your high score!

JAKE

PS. Tiffany, congrats on your present, hope it's not something else wrapped up in that box!

Intentions

I had every intention of working really hard today. I even had 2 things that I wanted to accomplish. I had to finish the front end of a photogallery for RootMaker, and I wanted to get a head start on the Ada Cougar Athletics site. Funny thing, nobody told my computer that.

Started out the day by turning on my computer and seeing that I had 4 viruses. I still have no idea how that happened. The entire morning was spent exorcising my computer leaving very little time to actually work. I finished the exorcism right at noon, giving me 30 minutes to finish the front end of the photogallery before I had to be home to meet Abby for lunch.

After lunch I met Dad at the airport to pick up his, Kevin's and Granddad's new airplane. I sat in on Dad's bi-annual flight review, then flew with him and the instructor back to Enid to drop off the instructor, then came home!

Spent the rest of tonight delivering fudge and candies that "Abby Homemaker" made.

We leave for Houston at 9am tomorrow, but I'll post something when we get there.

JAKE

4 Truths and a Lie Revealed

1. I am a major chocolate freak -
This is the lie. I don't hate chocolate, but if someone put a candy bar and a pack of Starbursts in front of me I'd pick the Starbursts every time. I like milk chocolate only when it is by itself, and chocolate pie. That's about all the chocolate I will eat. (No Cakes or Ice Cream) CONGRATULATIONS BOADIE!

2. I worked on capital hill in DC -
In the summer of 2001 I spent a month as an intern for Wes Watkins, it was a really great experience.

3. I have my pilots certificate -
Yes Boadie, a Certificate and License mean the same thing, it actually is a certificate not a license. Tiffany, we haven't had a plane that I could fly since right after I got my certificate but Dad, Kevin and Granddad are getting one next week that I will be able to fly with a little more training. We'll go up in it sometime this spring.

4. In the second grade I got up in front of the whole school to play the piano at morning ceremonies, but I didn't really know how to play the piano so I just banged on the keys. -
Yep, true story.

5. I walk around barefoot as much as possible -
That is the key reason I wear sandals all year round, and even my dress shoes don't have backs to them. First thing I do when I walk into my house, office, my parents, Abby's parents, anyone that is more than an acquaintance really is kick off my shoes.

Kami, this wonderful marvel of modern society is called Box Video Rental, and is located in Arlington Center next to 3 Monkeys. (The South-East corner) It is a drive through movie rental machine that works very similar to an SCS machine. http://boxvideorental.com check out the website to learn more!

Christmas Fun!

One of the best things to do to keep from working is to play games!

http://jakeabby.com/flashgames/slingshot_santa.swf

So it's a contest! Everyone post your high scores in the comments, and get everyone you know to play!

If you want to take a screenshot of your high score hit Alt+Print Screen, then open up Word (or something like it) and paste. The you can email me the word document, (jake@jakeabby.com) and if you score is one of the top ones, I'll post your image!

My Top Score is 350.4

Matt Pippenger Scored 350.4 Also! Congrats!
Abby Cantrell Scored 350.4 Also! Congrats!

Boadie Anderson Scored 350.4 on his "First Try"Ok, thats enough of the screenshots. Matt, Abby and Boadie you all get 500 Blog points for tying for first place in the Slingshot Santa contest.I'll be posting more contests here later, with real prizes even!

4 Truths and a lie

Today is a really busy day at work. No time for slacking off, so here is my list:

1. I am a major chocolate freak

2. I worked on capital hill in DC

3. I have my pilots certificate

4. In the second grade I got up in front of the whole school to play the piano at morning ceremonies, but I didn't really know how to play the piano so I just banged on the keys

5. I walk around barefoot as much as possible

Good Luck!

Who works on a Sunday?

Apparently I do! Not much to say today about not working today, because I actually did. Blake is starting to run radio spots for his movie rental machine in Arlington Center tomorrow, so I had to get the website up and running (well, mostly. We will finish it tomorrow morning). Check it out: http://boxvideorentals.com.

We really lazed it up tonight for dinner and had Papa's Pizzeria deliver us some salads, fettucini alfredo and a pizza. Sometimes it's nice to act like we live in a big city where everything can be delivered to your door!

I considered playing the 4 truths and a lie game to take up some space, but I'm not creative enough to come up with enough stuff. I'll keep trying and maybe I'll get in on round 3.

Tomorrow should bring better tales of dodging work, but I do actually have a few things I have to get done this week before we leave for Houston on Friday!

JAKE

Work on Saturday?

Started out the day with a call from the Mother-in-Law (Woman Hitler - Mother In Law with the letters rearranged) at 11am. After a fairly convincing performance of being awake I handed the phone off to Abby for a much less convincing performance. I picked up this skill when I was working out of the back room of our house. If you are going to have clients calling you during the hours when "normal" people are sleeping (anytime before 10am) you had better be good at sounding like you weren't asleep!

After coffee, talking, and watching TV this morning, we went to visit my parents for a while. They were doing good, mom was getting ready for their Sunday School Christmas party tonight. We left there at about 3:30 so Dad and I could get in a round of golf before dark!

Much better day for golfing today, very little wind (not that it helped my game) and quite a bit warmer than yesterday. Dad beat me like a drum today, he had to redeem himself from the thumping that I gave him on Wednesday. I guess I'm not really a very good golfer. In the words of my dad, "If you can't shoot par you have no business playing golf. If you can shoot par, you have no business." My business is doing really well at the moment (even with the apparent lack of work) so I guess its ok that I'm not a great golfer!

When I got home from the golf course, I walked into the smell of cooking onions. Abby's newest masterpiece in the kitchen is homemade chicken noodle soup. She made it up a few weeks ago when we decide to try out Chikens (The new little place at crazy corner). We got a whole rotisserie chicken and ate about half of it for dinner one night. She used the rest of the chicken the next night to make her soup, and a masterpiece was born!

Now its time to finish Harry Potter and be lazy for a change!

JAKE

New Blog Title

I was talking with Abby about what I would write in my blog when we decided that instead of my blog being all about my "work day" it should be considered "What I did instead of working today."

I'll actually probably leave jakeabby.com as the title of the blog, but the theme will be "What I did instead of working today."

So, here goes.

My day actually started off much earlier than usual. I left the house at 8:15. I started the "work day" off with some actual work for a change. I had a meeting with Heartland Cup in Allen talking about doing their new website. We agreed on a few things, talked about the contract and they decided they were ready to go. Man, that was some tough work.

On the way back in to town, I called Kyle. He was still in town. After a little coaxing I talked him into playing a quick 9 holes. As an afterthought golf might not be the sport of choice on a coldish day with 40mph gusts of wind! We had a good time, he beat me and wasn't ashamed to tell everyone in the family that he beat me. The part he seemed to leave out everytime he mentioned it was that neither one of us finished hole #18 because we both came dangerously close to hitting cars. (The wind blew my perfect down the middle shot out over the street but he actually sliced his that bad.)

After golf we drove around looking at some of the more eccentric homes in this great little town we call Ada. (The castle on the corner of County Road where it turns left to head out towards Lakewood, and the castle on Tower Road between Monte Vista and Country Club. ((Interesting side note: Monte Vista is spelled both Monte and Monta depending on which sign you see for the street.)) )

Got back to the office around 1:45, where Kevin and our cousin Blake were still hanging around talking after our Friday Noon Bible Study that Kevin called to remind me about when I was on the 13th hole. We talked about Blakes business for a while (The Drive through Movie Rental Machine in Arlington Center) then I left to come home to dear sweet Abby!

We rounded out my "work day" by going and picking up some food at Taco Mayo, then we watched Dr. Phil and a little Oprah after getting our daily caffeine fix at The Waterboy (The best convenience store in town!).

Pizza and two movies tonight rounded out a great day of doing things other than working!

JAKE

First and Last Post!

This will probably be the first and last post on our blog! I really just wanted to sign up for a blog so I didn't have to post as Anonymous on Tiffany's blog!

My blog would be boring anyway, it would pretty much be a recap of my day at work, then talk about sitting down in my chair with the laptop and watching TV!

Example:
I made it to work around 9:30 this morning, and got absolutely nothing done! Kyle (My Oldest Brother http://kyleandjen.com) was in town today, so he came out to the office around 10. He and Kevin (My other brother http://kevinandkelli.com) and I sat and talked about Ada High Football for about an hour! Who cares that much about football?? Apparently everyone in this town but me!

I came home for lunch, and Abby and I ran some errands. I had to make it back to the office by 2:30 for a 3:00 meeting with Mickey Thompson, the president of OIPA (Oklahoma Independent Petroleum Association). Thats not nearly as cool as it sounds, I was working on his new cell phone trying to make it send email for him. (But he did say that he wanted to talk later about me rebuilding their website)

Finished up with Mickey around 4:30 and rushed home only to decide that there wasn't enough time before dark to play golf. So my "work day" ended on a bad note!

Probably the most interesting thing I did today was go to Arlington Center and rented a movie from the new Movie Rental Vending machine. My cousin Blake owns the machine, and hasn't officially "opened" it for business yet, but it is there so everyone should go check it out! You can't beat a drive through movie rental machine! All the benefits of Netflix (which rocks too by the way) without the hassle of waiting a week to see the movie that you want to see!

Now I must retire to watching TV and playing games on the laptop while telling anyone who calls that I'm actually working on the laptop!

Told you I would be boring!