Busy Tuesday

Tuesday, October 30, 2018

This morning was even cooler than yesterday. But again like yesterday, we were sitting outside for breaks and lunch enjoying the wonderful weather. The next two days are suppose to be even warmer.

Bill led us in devotion this morning using 1 Kings 19 for his scripture. We discussed why insurance companies and society in general call tornadoes, earthquakes and fires “acts of God.” In 1Kings, God was not in the wind, earthquake or fire. But, God is always with us. We were all natural disasters, saved by Christ.

After devotion, we discussed our work plans and all headed back to work where we left off yesterday. Dave and Mike completed the trim on the windows in the main living area of the house and the master bedroom. There are a couple of more windows in rooms we haven’t completed the painting so those will have to wait a few more days. So they started on base board in the master bedroom, completed that and then moved on to a short hallway. The house looks much better trimmed out. Carol and Anne worked on painting crown molding and then this afternoon Carol worked on window trim. She is doing really well managing things with her broken arm. Anne also did some more work on drywall and closets today. Max worked on another door, ran errands to Lowe’s and the warehouse, and worked over at Cheryl’s for a while. Bill, Susan and Reid completed everything except the new ceiling in the bedroom. They primed the boards for the ceiling, and installed about ¾ of the plywood. They expect to complete that project tomorrow. Max will plan to do a walk through with Jeff, the construction superintendent, to see if he needs to add anything else to the work order. We met with Jeff this afternoon at Jackie’s house to layout the kitchen cabinets and get them ordered, and review additional items to be completed there. We all worked very hard today and are very tired tonight but work is going well.

For those of you who have been following the blog, you may remember when we were here before during the hot summer of 2017, we worked extensively on a home owned by Mary Elizabeth. We have been very concerned about her and her home because the NOAA imagery we found online shortly after Florence indicated her home flooded again. We have been hoping that information was wrong. Yesterday afternoon we finally drove over to her house to see for our self the condition of Mary Elizabeth and her things. We were pretty blown away. We turned off the main highway, driving by the Board of Education property about a block away and there was obvious flood debris everywhere. It was obvious that there was many feet of water in the area. Debris was hung in the barbed wire fence at the top of the eight foot high fence. As we approached the house we again began seeing piles of personal belongings and home fixtures on the sides of the road. Mary Elizabeth’s house flooded again, worse than in Matthew. The emergency response team has removed all the flooring, drywall and cedar paneling that we installed last year. Last time, there was no damage in the second floor. This time several ceilings on the second floor are also having to be removed because the severe winds caused the roof to leak. So sad. We didn’t get to see Mary Elizabeth but will try to return and see her another day. Maybe it was better for us to see the damage and have a few days to process those images and thoughts before we get to visit with her. Please pray for all the people of Lumberton who have been through so much these past three years.