Catching Up and First Week at FUMCH 2023

Sunday, February 19, 2023

It’s been a couple of weeks since we posted anything so let’s get caught up.

After our unplanned trip back to Alabama to visit the dentist we returned to South Carolina to spend more time with Randy and Debra and prepare for our next NOMADS project. We visited and did a little more work on the deck. All was fine until we discovered a roller had come loose under the same slide on Fred that was worked on last year because a motor had come unplugged. That meant another unplanned trip back to the Tiffin Service Center in Red Bay. We arrived there on a Sunday afternoon and waited until they called us into an Express Bay on Wednesday morning. They put the roller back in place in less than an hour and we made it back to South Carolina that evening.  Anyone want to buy a slightly used Gumby? He’s beginning to annoy us.

After a few more days there we loaded up BB and headed to the Florida United Methodist Children’s Home in Enterprise, Florida for our third NOMADS project here. The drive down was not uneventful. It rained hard for the much of the drive. We are so glad God was with us and protected us as witnessed by this dash cam video captured while Anne was driving:

Click the link below to see the video:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/XeGdqcSggDSegchy5

As always, we are working with long time friends and making new friends. This year we are sprucing up one of the group homes and so far that has meant cleaning and painting. We have completed two bedrooms with bathrooms and the kitchen. On Thursday we started second coating and touching up the rest of the rooms that were started by another group.

This weekend we hiked around the area, did our shopping and laundry, worked on the van and rested. This is a beautiful campus with the usual assortment of Florida wildlife. We have seen ospreys, gators, and one eagle. Of course, most of the time we see them walking back and forth to work so we don’t have the good camera.

We look forward to another two weeks of warm winter weather in Florida, while we work to improve the infrastructure here at FUMCH.  Please remember all the children all around the world in facilities such as this one.  The young people have experienced so much trauma –  much more than any child should ever experience – and now are receiving help putting their life back together.  We are hoping our work makes their lives a little better.