Baptized new SCUBA outfit

Just got home from baptizing my new SCUBA outfit. It was exciting.

See big photo and specifications at Beuchat.fr

The wind died down today, after blowing up a storm yesterday. There were no white caps visible from the street, when we walked home from church. We thought we'd give it a try.

Not a good day at all for snorkeling. Better than yesterday, anyway. The sea was flat, except at the shore. The waves were big enough to body surf.

It took me a good 30 minutes to get everything ready and put on my body. So we felt it was OK just to take a quick swim in the cold Mediterranean Sea. There were about seven fisherman nearby. They seemed amused to see anyone get into the frigid water. My new cold water wetsuit is a 5mm thick class B Beuchat Moorea vest with hood and Farmer-John pants. It is made for diving in water that is 50° to 64°F or 10° to 18°C.

I was happy to stay warm and mostly dry. I was wearing diving socks and gloves as well as the hooded wetsuit. I walked backward in my fins into the waves. When the water got deep enough, I laid back into it and swam out about 60 meters/yards. The waves were very strong. The visibility was zero under water. Air temp was about 60°F/15°C and the water was much colder.

Since the view was zero, I rode a couple waves back into the shore. Sue was relieved to see me on solid ground. Before I got in the water, ☺ I told her to save me, if I got in trouble. As she watched me swim, she was trying to decide which clothes she would throw off and which she would keep wearing.

One thing about a good wetsuit is that they float you on the surface of the water, unless you wear ballast to weigh you down.

I don't like getting into the sea or ocean anymore without a wetsuit. Especially with the jellyfish and other wildlife we encounter.

Very little water got into my wetsuit. When I took it off, it seemed to be sweat. Now I'm praying for a sunny calm day off, when Sue and I both can put on our wet suits and go for a snorkel together. Want to join us?

I'm a CMAS 1 Star - Qualified open water diver since 2005, when we were refuges in Dakar, Senegal from the civil war in Cote d'Ivoire.

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Camel Ride in Douz Tunisia

Mike on his camel

Mike and Sue after our camel ride

Mike, Sue and Joshua

Name that car 2!

☺ Saw this old beauty on our walk this evening. Can you guess the brand?
Sue is walking past the rear of the car.

Sue Leading Christmas Carols

Josh is next to the TV

Singing Christmas Carols

Abidjan Zoo elephant

John is feeding Cany the elephant

Abidjan Zoo

This turtle is over 60 years old.

Cany the elephant is 16 years old

Mike, Sue, Josh, John and George Assouf

George arrived to tour the zoo with us. This is a large Silk Cotton tree or Kapok (Ceiba pentrandra). Notice how the trunk branches out into supports. In French it is called a Fromager. Fromager is French for cheese tree, because the ripe seedpod smells like cheese.

John and Sue

The others were all on this bench that was on two piles of dirt a foot above the ground. Erosion had worn away the surrounding dirt.

Josh, John , Sue and Mike

As I joined them, the ground crumbled and it tipped forward. John caught the bench as we jumped from it. Then we took this photo.

Singing in Bambara

John, Joshua and Sue with the CCC 808 team singing a song in Bambara for the Modeste C&MA Bambara congregation. They also sang a song in English.

Tunisian Camel ride

Camel ride clothes

Mike, Sue, Joshua camel ride clothes in Douz, Tunisia

John's motorcycle

We're in the parking lot of the SAC Air and Space Museum near Ashland, NE

Oceans of Fun KC, MO

After swimming all day in the various pools, we took this photo.

Boating with Fred Link

Des Moines Science Center

The Center had these huge models of insects. Joshua was running so fast from insect to insect, that I couldn't get a photo of him.

Sue, Mike, Joshua

We're at a mini-missions conference at Rosemont Alliance Church

Luncheon at FFC

Sue and John Porter are standing behind Joshua and Roy Porter

First Federated Church hosted a luncheon for us to share our ministry. Sue sang and spoke while we showed videos of our ministry on the TV screens. This was the last time that Roy was able to attend church before he died on May 22, 2007

Ringling Brothers Museum and Mansion

We visited the Ringling Brothers Museum and Mansion in Sarasota, FL with a large group of of homeschoolers.

Disney World

Here we are in the Magic Kingdom, thanks to Wendy, who took this photo and provided our day passes. We had a wonderful day!

Paris Eiffel Tower

Mike, Sue, Claire, Philippe and Joshua

We're standing across the street from the Eiffel Tower, at Place Trocadero Square. I put my Kodak Z7590 on 1.6 second exposure to get the tower all lit up and the flash to light us.

Marrakesh round point

Night photo at the round point by the train station in Marrakesh, Morocco. In French it is written Marrakech.

Christmas 2005: Sue Singing

Las Vegas Ski Area

- It was a rough drive up the mountain, with the heaviest snowfall of the year. Security chains or 4wd were required to continue past a certain point. We parked on the side of the road and searched my brother-in-laws pick-up for chains. Someone came looking for help with a problem. We helped him, and he showed us our 4wd button low on the dashboard.

We were curious how this sports car got up the mountain.
Do you know what it is?

We assumed this was the home of some employee of the ski slope.

Joshua decided he would use a snowboard, rather than skis for his first attempt. He'd done snow boarding on video games, so he thought he could handle the real thing. His hands were frozen after our first descent. So that was all we were able to do the whole day.

That was OK with Sue, as she was content to hang out in the warm ski lodge. Our Africanized blood freezes below 80F. We never saw John, he was off skiing with his cousins, who left ahead of us from Las Vegas.

Vegas Christmas

Back row left to right: Jimmy Porter, Jan Porter, Joshua Farho
Middle row left to right: John Porter, John Farho, Joseph Porter, Jay Porter, Roy and Rhonda Porter, Jim Porter
Front row left to right: Jason and Christina Porter, Sue and Mike Farho

Adeventureland Ferris Wheel: Mike, Sue and Joshua

Mustang Convertible Lake Tahoe

In the California mountains at Lake Tahoe

Lake Tahoe California

Farho Family, Roy and John Porter

John's graduation party

John, Sue, Roy Porter

John's Graduation Party

John's graduation

John's High School Graduation

John graduated from Westside High School in District 66, Omaha, NE on May 22, 2004