Month: November 2018

Saturday, November 17, 2018

A cold start to the day, 35 degrees. But it was another sunny day and by this afternoon it was perfect walking weather.

We had another slow start to the day. Even though it was a travel day, it was a relatively short one of about 4 hours driving, so we rolled over and went back to sleep. Luxury. And when we got up we finished packing up Fred at a fairly leisurely pace. Before leaving we mixed up some split pea soup in the thermos (click here for details) so we could have lunch when we arrived. We pulled out of Lumberton about 10:30, a really late start for us. It was an easy drive on I-95, I-74, US 74 to 485 to I-85 to Gaffney, SC. Traffic became heavy and slow around Charlotte but otherwise it was easy.

We are at the Freightliner Service Center in Gaffney to have Fred’s annual maintenance performed on Monday. We also have a couple of recalls to be done. The service center has connections in the parking lot with 50amps and a dump station and water available. We come here every year and have always been comfortable here. After our lunch of split pea and smoked sausage soup, we walked to the community college and back a couple of times to get our exercise. After the exercise we drove to Cookout for chocolate malt and blueberry cheesecake shakes. It was a good day and we really thank God for giving us safe travel.

 

Friday, November 16, 2018

It was cold this morning, but with a gorgeous sun shining brightly. First time we have see the sun in about a week. No rain today and none in the forecast. Nice! The Lumber river while still over 4 feet above flood stage has started receding.

No alarm clock this morning. We started the day slowly. Cindy and Bruce left last night after dinner for a weekend get-a way. Carol and Dave left this morning to make a long drive to Pennsylvania. They will be spending the week visiting family and friends. Glad when we heard from them a little while ago, that they have arrived safely. Carol said traffic was pretty bad and they saw lots of snow. Mike and Susan left for Michigan a little later in the day. Praying for their safety as they make their way back to the snowy north. They had to winterize their rig before they left this morning.

 

Max prepared us another wonderful breakfast of eggnog French Toast. Oh, so good. Then we spent most of the day doing laundry, doing some book work, sorting out our tools and cleaning out the truck. Don’t know how we get our tools so disorganized. Truck looks better now and last load of laundry is in the dryer.

 

This afternoon late we finally got ourselves motivated to go to the gym. We had really been planning to go earlier but after we both got sick we decided we needed rest more than exercise. Today it felt really good to get a good workout. Nice gym! So now we have our membership card and maybe we can get back there several more times before we leave Lumberton. We really enjoy our Silver Sneakers membership. It was a nice relaxing day.

Thursday, November 15, 2018

It continues to rain in Lumberton. Weatherman said it would be out by noon but he was wrong. It’s still lightly raining tonight. The river was considerably higher this morning than last night but is seems to have crested sometime during the day.

As is our custom we had devotion today, our last day to lead this team. We used a YouVersion Bible App devotion series “A Time Of Opportunity” based on the scripture Ecclesiastes 3:11. It seemed to be well received and we had some good discussion. We all then headed back to continue our work from yesterday. Today the cabinet installation was completed. The final base and crown molding was installed. All doors are now painted and hardware was installed today. Lots was completed. However, there is about a page of things still to be done. Out at Mary and Jim’s, Bruce and Gene got the new shower plumbed and the base installed today. They will be working on flooring next week. Very pleased with what our team has accomplished.

As is our tradition we all went to dinner tonight. And as seems to have become a tradition as well, we went back to Pier 41 for another very good dinner. Everyone seems to enjoy our meals there. The owner is always very welcoming and usually comes to the table and thanks us for the work we are doing in his community. Pier 41 is definitely a favorite with the locals. It always has a crowd. We have again enjoyed our time in Lumberton. Our team was such a joy to work with. We enjoyed lots of laughter and were blessed by their servant hearts. We wish them all safe travels until we meet again somewhere down the road.

We are taking a week off and then will return to help Mary Ann and Gene finish out the NOMADS time in Lumberton for 2018. When we return we will be team members so we will have a little more time to play. Hopefully we will have some weather conducive to playing tourist. Really tired tonight. Time for tea and then bed.

Wednesday, November 14, 2018

(Once again, we just realized our post for last night did not upload, so here it is.)

It continued to rain last night and this morning until right before we drove to the church for devotional. We now have new flooding in Lumberton. We walked down by the river this afternoon after work to get a few pictures. Fortunately, for now anyway, the flooding is only in areas they expect flooding and doing no new damage. It is of course many many feet below the flooding of Mathew or Florence. It’s not so much the rain we have received but what is flowing into the Lumber river up stream from here. It just has no where to go.

 

Susan brought us our devotion today using an Oswald Chambers reading to start. Based on Mathew 20:28, we discussed servanthood and that our motivation for service is love of God. We then had a great discussion on being “All In” with Jesus. Are we really “All In”? When do we have the most trouble being “All In”? Good discussion and good music. Really good start to the day.

We all went over to Jackie’s and started painting, calking and installing trim. Max and Gene went to assess another home in need of repairs. This house is about 30 minutes south of where we are currently working. They got to meet a really sweet horse that the team will enjoy feeding apples when we start working there. The house is a farm house that had a leaky roof. The ceiling is about to fall in the living room and dining room. We will be removing the ceiling and insulation and replacing it. It will be a lot of overhead taping and mudding. They put a temporary brace on the ceiling to keep it from falling on the lady who lives there. There are some other items to repair there as well. We won’t be starting this week but soon.

 

The rest of the day Gene and Bruce worked at Mary and Jim’s. They did the rough in of the plumbing and completed the sub-flooring. Tomorrow they will be installing the new shower. Jackie’s house is coming along. All the crown molding is now installed. The living room and family room are complete. Two bedrooms are complete. If it will ever stop raining we need to do some outside work.

Tonight, most of the team gathered in Fred for pecan pie made by Cindy. Wow! Cindy is quite the cook. She brought us delicious blueberry muffins one morning before breakfast and tonight she brought over two pecan pies. Thanks Cindy. Now it’s time for everyone to get a good night’s sleep.