Author: rvingwithapurpose

Thursday, November 1, 2018

Today started out cloudy and we had some sun during the day but it was come and go. Temperatures were definitely warmer and humidity definitely higher. Not a bad day but not as beautiful as the rest of the week.

We, of course, started the day with devotion and today was led by Susan and Mike Katona. Scripture was from was Luke 9. Susan then read a writing of Oswald Chambers, a challenging writing questioning if we really follow God when it doesn’t make sense, when what God wants us to do doesn’t agree with our common sense. It is then that we must take a leap of faith. Once we will risk everything and leap by faith, we will see the common sense in God’s calling. A wonderful benefit of having a couple of pastors on our team is that Susan and Mike asked Bill and Cheryl to serve us communion this morning. We really like to close our time with our team with Holy Communion. It’s a special time for the team. Thanks so much Susan, Mike, Bill and Cheryl!

After discussing our goals for the day, we all headed back out to the job sites with everyone returning to where they left off yesterday. At Cheryl’s house Susan, Bill, Reid and Max worked to finish up the details. Max located an outlet on the new kitchen wall and got that operational. That meant there was a little work to be done to the drywall as well. Susan and Bill painted the kitchen ceiling, while Reid reinstalled the fan in the bedroom. Then of course there was cleanup work to be done. Everyone was back over at Jackie’s about lunch time. Max did the walk thru at Cheryl’s with Jeff about 2:00. There were a few little items on the punch list like a little additional painting and trim work. Essentially the job is finished but we will send some folks back on a while on Monday to complete the few items. Otherwise everyone is now working at Jackie’s. Today we finished the closet in one of the bedrooms including shelving. Jackie salvaged the wire shelving when all the drywall was torn out. That same bedroom got a coat of wall paint and the window painting is almost complete. Anne and Carol worked in that room most of the day and it is looking better. Bill installed the closet shelving just before we quit for the day. Looking good! Mike and Dave put together a new pressure washer and then resumed their baseboard installation. They have it all down except for a few areas where other work has to be done first. Reid used the new pressure washer to clean the front and back porch in preparation for painting next week. He also pressure washed the siding as needed. Susan, the caulking queen, started caulking the windows and baseboards. It looks so great! We will of course have touch up work to do on the walls as we get closer to complete.

We accomplished a lot this week! A great job by our team! The team went back to Cheryl’s late this afternoon to do a Blessing service and present her a Bible. Even though we are going back Monday to finish a few touch-ups, we decided to to this presentation today. Some of the team had never seen the Bible presented and Bill and Cheryl and Reid are leaving tomorrow morning. Bill led us in a service of blessing the home culminating in Max presenting the Bible to Cheryl and prayer. Cheryl was so happy and excited. She loves her home.

After completing the home blessing we all returned home for a quick shower and the we all went to dinner at Pier 41. Jeff and Ann joined us for dinner. Ann brought us a cake for dessert as well as a bag of candy for each family. So much for loosing weight. While we were at Pier 41, the District Superintendent for this area came in for dinner. We were able to meet and visit with him for a while. He is very interested in spending his retirement as a NOMAD and asked for a pamphlet which of course we gave him. Always recruiting. Everyone enjoyed their dinner and dessert. Today was a really good day.

Wednesday, October 31, 2018

It was another picture perfect day and we again enjoyed sitting outside for morning break and lunch. The sun was so bright by afternoon break we stayed inside out of the sun.

Reid led us for our morning devotion time this morning using Bob Goff’s book “Love Does”. He read an except of the first chapter and from that excerpt it seemed it might be a book we would enjoy. The church we attended while in Oxford, MS had Mr Goff speaking there last week. It was probably very good. Reid encouraged us to remember that God is waiting to take our smallness into greatness and that He is always with us.

We discussed yesterday’s work and then headed back to the jobs we left yesterday. Susan went back to Cheryl’s house with Reid and Bill to work on the bedroom ceiling. They completed the installation and got everything painted and caulked. The only thing left to do there is to reinstall the ceiling fan – unless we get something added to the work order tomorrow when Max and Jeff do the final walk-thru. Cheryl is so happy and excited about the work we have done there.  We could get to do a give a Bible to Cheryl tomorrow. Would love to get to do that before Reid and Bill leave.

Anne, Dave, Carol and Mike were back at Jackie’s and Max again worked at both locations helping wherever needed, and kept us all in the needed supplies. Dave and Mike continued to cut and install baseboard. There is a lot of baseboard in this house. They are close to having it installed in all the rooms that are complete enough for base. There will also be some additional to install when we get the cabinets installed. Carol and Anne worked in one of the bedrooms making some repairs to the drywall and preparing for paint tomorrow. Anne also painted the closet in that bedroom. Carol worked on priming the windows this afternoon. The house is coming along but still lots to be done.

Tonight Bill and Cheryl (NOMAD Cheryl) went to see their grandchildren who live about an hour away, for trick or treating. We didn’t have any kids trick or treat us at the campground. Hope you had a great day. Tomorrow is NOMAD Friday. We will be ready for the “long” weekend.

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.

Monday, October 29, 2018

It was a beautiful fall day today in Lumberton. It was quite cool again this morning but it warmed up quickly and we had breaks and lunch outside in the sun. Nice.

We, of course, started the day with devotion and as we normally do on projects we lead, we had the first day. The devotion was based on Psalm 119:105 and Psalm 32:8. We use a GPS receiver to guide us to our destination and we should be using GPS – God’s Positioning System – the Bible to stay on the right track while we are on this earth. The Lord says, “I will guide you along the best pathway for your life. I will advise you and watch over you.”

After devotion we discussed the two houses, Jackie’s and Cheryl’s, we are still working on and headed out to the job sites. We walked the team through the houses discussing all that’s left to be done. For most of the day, Anne was with Carol, Dave and Mike at Jackie’s. Reid, Susan and Bill were at Cheryl’s and Max spent time there and running to get supplies and the returned to Jackie’s.

By the end of the day the flooring was complete at Cheryl’s and the wall was sanded and more mud applied. That project has now been expanded to include some additional work on one of the bedroom’s ceiling so we will now be there several more days. At Jackie’s, some final coat painting was done on crown molding and several windows were trimmed out. We also filled nail holes and trim and did some more priming in a couple of closets. It was a good day even though it was a Monday which is always the slowest day of the week – Mosey Monday.