My name is Kim Drake and I am from Fort Wayne, Indiana.  I will be your Group Leader for this "Cruisin' the Caribbean 2007" cruise.  I am SO looking forward to it!

 

This cruise was my 4th cruise.  I was on the Southern Caribbean in April 2005, Western Caribbean in October 2006,  California Cruise in February 2007, and now the last part of the Caribbean is the Eastern portion, which is this cruise.

 

I am profoundly deaf, but I have very good speech.  My signing consists of both ASL and English -- a combination that spans 40 years!  Nevertheless, I function as well as can be, whether I'm with the hearing, the hard-of-hearing, or the deaf world. 

 

I have been married for 27 years to a wonderful man, Mike.  We have 2 beautiful daughters - Melissa, age 20, and Mandy, age 18.  Melissa is currently a student at Indiana-Purdue, Fort Wayne (IPFW), and Mandy, who is in the Air Force. I also have 2 dogs (Max & Misty)  and 3 cats (Callie, Rocky, and KC).

 

I'm a stay-at-home mom with too many things to do and not enough time to do them all!  :-)  I write a monthly newsletter for the deaf community, titled "What's Up!", and I also maintain a website by the same name.  When I have free time (a rarity these days!!), I like to do scrapbooking and working on quilts.  I am also involved in Korean martial arts, called "TaeKwonDo', and just recently earned my 1st Degree Black Belt on July 15, 2006.  My husband and daughters are involved as well, and this activity takes up quite a bit of my time. 

 

I am looking forward to meeting each and every one of you on this cruise.  I can promise you that you will have a great time!