Author: rvingwithapurpose

Wednesday, January 23, 2019

Today started as a very overcast day, and with the 25mph sustained winds, it felt much colder than the 47 on our thermometer this morning. It was 11 degrees cooler for our high today (70) and we are going to be back down in the 30’s tonight. It’s really not suppose to be this cold here. We came to south Texas to wear t-shirts and shorts and today we all looked like the Pillsbury Doughboy we had on so many layers of clothes. Guess we aren’t quite far enough south. The wind was so bad today that Rita, Dave, Max and Anne got wind burned working outside all day. By the way, if anyone is interested, the Lumber River in Lumberton, NC is still not below flood stage. It was almost there at 13.4 (13 is flood stage) but now with the storms it’s going back up again. Still hasn’t been below flood stage since the floods of hurricane Florence last September.

Roger and Bev led us in devotion today. Bev read the story of the author of the hymn “It Is Well With My Soul” and then we all read the works together rather than singing. Sometimes when simply reading the words we listen more attentively and think more about the meaning.

Stel asked us all to be flexible today and switched things up a bit. Rita, Dave, Max and Anne went to Josefina’s to install more of the trim on the exterior of the house and build the back porch and steps. The trim is completed and we built the deck area and steps but have not quite completed the hand rails nor installed the pavers at the bottom of the steps.

 

Roger and John stayed at the church to work on the bathrooms, installing water lines and the lavatory. Stel also worked in the bathrooms and installed a new light fixture in the ladies room. Bev and Jodi worked on the bathroom doors, giving them a little sanding and then some polyurethane. The doors look really good. Tonight we all went back to Strickland’s for dinner and of course there was lots of great conversation and even more laughter. We have such a good team! It has been a real pleasure to work with this group and as usual we will be sad to say our “see you down the roads.”

We will have to really push tomorrow to finish everything up but hopefully things will go well and we can make it happen. We would like to finish a little early so we can begin packing up but if not we will just leave a little later on Friday.

Tuesday, January 22, 2018

Today was another gorgeous day. The high was in the 80’s, bright and sunny. The wind was 25-35 again so we were again under a fire warning but still a nice day.

John lead us in devotion time this morning. He used 2 Corinthians 12:9 for the scripture. He postulated that it is good for us to have troubles and adversities. Every trouble has some use. A crisis has two components, opportunity and danger, and it depends on how we respond. We need to understand what the pain is trying to accomplish in our lives and let the pain be instructive. There was some good conversation and thoughts.

We then all went back to work. Rita and Anne began working on the flooring in the bathrooms at the church that Stel had started. Max, Diane and John went back to Gilberto’s to do the caulking and install the remained of the trim. Dave and Roger went back to Josefina’s and Max joined them after completing his work at Gilberto’s. Gilberto’s house is now completed and we know they are be glad to have their home back. Several of us went back to Gilberto’s to do the outside cleanup after lunch but the wind was blowing so hard we decided to wait and return tomorrow. Things kept blowing off before we could get them secured. Back at the church Rita and Anne completed the flooring in the bathrooms and then John installed the toilets. Max help Rita and Anne and then worked on the shoe mold. There is still a lavatory and more shoe mold to complete tomorrow. We didn’t go back out to Josefina’s this afternoon and don’t know exactly what is left to complete there. Roger and Joel were working on the back porch when Max and Dave left for lunch. Things are really coming together and we should be able to complete all the church has asked us to do. A week ago we weren’t so sure about completing it all but it’s looking a lot better now. Two more days. Then we will be on the road again.

 

Monday, January 21, 2019

It was another cold morning – relatively speaking – 36 degrees. Cold for south Texas! We had ice on the windshield. That’s not suppose to happen when you go to a project in south Texas. Oh well, it warmed up to be a beautiful day with a high temperature of 76. Nice!

We really didn’t want to get up this morning. Some of you probably know why. Yep, we had to see the lunar eclipse last night. Got some pictures. Love the super blood moon. The last one we photographed was in Kalamazoo, MI at annual meeting a few years ago. It was a little more photogenic but this one was still good.

Stel and Jodi brought us our devotion today. It was Psalms 13. Stel reminded us we can worship God with our questions. Good point.

We then all went back to work pretty much where we left off last week. Rita, Max and Anne headed back out to Gilberto’s. We started the day with the hopes that we would finish the flooring tomorrow. Unbelievably, we have the floor finished. In spite of having to move the refrigerator, stove, washer, dryer, and freezer and work around all that stuff, somehow, we got all the flooring completed, and all the trim back down that we have. We will have to buy a couple of pieces tomorrow. Stel, Jodi and Dave came out late this afternoon and helped finish up and move all the appliances back in place. We really appreciated their help.

Jodi, Bev, Stel and Diane worked at the church today. There was trim to be cleaned and painted as well as flooring to install. Not sure what else was done. We will find out at meeting tomorrow. Dave, Roger and John went back to Josefina’s and continued work on the siding for the house. Hopefully we will be over there tomorrow to get some pictures. We are tired but it was a good day.

Sunday, January 20, 2019

Yesterday, was a beautiful, blue sky, sunny day. It was cold and windy all day. The winds were 25-35mph sustained with gusts to 40mph. We were so glad we were not moving Fred yesterday. We did drive to Mercedes, TX, about 70 miles south of Falfurrias and 10 miles from the Mexican border. We went to Mercedes to attend a NOMADS gathering and lunch meeting. The wind pushed the truck around but we had no problems. We met a number of NOMADS we did not know so it was a good visit. We met people who have been NOMADS a good while, come to Texas every winter and haven’t been to an annual meeting thus we had no opportunity to meet until yesterday. We also met some of our new members that joined last month. We had a wonderful meal of green enchilada chicken casserole, rice and beans, a wonderful salad, a fruit salad with some of the best blueberries we have every eaten and, of course, very tasty cupcakes for dessert. On the way home a few miles south of Falfurrias we had to stop to go through a Customs and Border Patrol checkpoint. We noticed a long line at the checkpoint when we headed south so were prepared for a wait but there wasn’t much of a line by the time we returned. It appeared that they run your tag and by the time we moved forward to the officer, he asked if we are citizens, did we have anyone in the back of the truck and where we were going. He then told us to have a good day and we thanked him for his service and returned to Falfurrias. It was a fun day.

Today started off cool but ended as another bright and beautiful and warmer day. We worshiped with our friends at First UMC Falfurrias for our last time today. They invited us to stay and have brunch with them in the fellowship hall. It was another great meal as covered dish meals always are. This afternoon we rested and did a little work on Fred. We are starting to get ready to move on Friday. It will be a very busy week this week because we so much work to complete. Suspect we will put in some long hours this week. Hope you all had a great weekend.