LaDonna Armstrong:  

As with everyone else, so much has happened in my life since high school. I married in 1966 and had two wonderful sons with my first husband. We were married for 13 years. I married my soulmate, best friend, and true love, Bill Armstrong, in 1979. He had four daughters. His youngest was the same age as my oldest. And his oldest was just 12 years younger than me. So at 34, I became a grandmother. I have 5 grandchildren through my stepdaughters; and 3 grandchildren through my sons. BEING A GRANDPARENT IS WONDERFUL!!! My husband and I are in the publishing/printing business. Our 30 years of marriage have flown by. I am hoping that is because we have kept so busy. I certainly would like the time to slow down a bit. I don't want the next 30 to go by quite so fast. My biggest passion is my mission work. I have gone every summer for the last 15 years to Zambia and worked with a medical mission. I am actually the Administrative Coordinator (which just means that I handle the paperwork, deal with Immigration Officials, take care of the money and whatever). We take 250 people out in the bush to treat those who never get to see a doctor. I could go on and on about my experiences doing this...and I may put tidbits in here occasionally. I will share a story I wrote recently about "My Summer Vacation." It was supposed to have some humor to it so hope you will enjoy it. Would love to hear from everyone! -- LaDonna Every July for 15 years, I have gone to Africa on a medical mission. We go into the remote bush and treat people who never get to see a doctor. We work from sun-up to way beyond sundown and in 6 days of clinics, we treat over 16,000 people. My husband always refers to this as "my summer vacation." After working so hard, we do take the time to do fun things...like white-water rafting down the mighty Zambezi River...right below Victoria Falls...one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World. Now...rafting the Zambezi is a white water rafter's ultimate dream because most of the rapids are graded 4 and 5. You can't go down a 6 because it is too dangerous. In a weak moment...let's say a VERY weak moment, I agreed to raft the Zambezi. Mind you, I had NEVER rafted in my life and I agreed to do what many experts just dream about. We started at Rapid 3 better known as Morning Glory. Why? Because most rafts usually flip dumping everyone into the water - so it is a "wake up to the glory of morning." Thank goodness we had a great guide in our raft! We were the only raft that didn't flip! By this point I am questioning my intelligence, or lack thereof, to agree to this. That morning all the rapids were graded 4 and 5. We even made it through the White Bottom Rapid - so named by the native guides because it is a 15 foot drop and the force from going down and back up will sometimes pull swimming trunks down revealing the white bottoms. We came to a Grade 6 and had to get out and walk around it. We were waiting on some others so I took the opportunity to go over and lean against the gorge wall to rest and to try and figure out if I was having fun yet. In a few moments, a guide to my left was trying to get my attention and a guide to the right was doing the same. I then realized there was a crocodile sunning himself about 10 feet from me. Luckily, he wasn't hungry...or maybe he was just as tired as I was. That afternoon was much calmer with only Grade 3's and a few 4's. But by the time we got out of the raft, our legs were weak and felt like jello. Or maybe that was just ...Expand for more