"The time has come," the Walrus said, "To talk of many things:"

[Gerald]

As some of you might have guessed, I have been unable to meet even the very basic obligations and duties of chapter leader for sometime due to family commitments, work etc.  Unfortunately, last night was the straw that broke the camels? back.  As of this post and email to follow, I must step down from my coordinator / leader position in the Chapter.  Rather than retell the reasons I will cut and past the email I have sent to my friends and family (I apologize for the personal nature.)

There are several of you out there (you know who you are) that are more than capable to do a much better job than I and I will help you in anyway I can to take over.

I am greatly thankful to all of you who attended and participated in getting the Gateway Chapter up and running.  Most of all I owe a debt of gratitude to Cal Hobbs, Wayne Watson, Boris Khechoyan, David Conley, Mark Arnold, Kent Adkins, and the late Norm Landry.  Thank you all.

--------------------------------------

At about 2 AM Thursday morning a wall in the kid?s playroom adjacent to the back of our chimney spontaneously caught fire from heat bleeding through the brick walls of the fireplace.  The smoke detectors and home security system woke us up and all of us were able to get out of the house.  With the exception of some minor smoke inhalation, we are safe and unhurt.  Luckily the firemen responded quickly and the fire was contained in the back addition, which is not a total loss but will need to be substantially rebuilt.  The house was completely filled with smoke and will require professional cleaning / remediation, which should begin tomorrow.  

In the meantime we will not be staying at home.  We have spoken to the insurance adjuster and contractor and we may be out of our home for as long as 4 weeks.  It is not healthy to stay home until then.
 
We may be difficult to reach until things settle down and we're able to return home.  We'll have limited access to internet and phone.  

We would appreciate your prayers.  We don?t have everyone?s email address, please spread the word to other family and friends
 
Thanks be to God, our family is safe and our home is standing.