Author: rvingwithapurpose

Monday, November 12, 2018

It was a cloudy morning and then around mid-morning the rain began and it is still raining. There is a flood warning out for the Lumber River again. We have rain forecast for the rest of the week. The soil here is still so saturated from the previous floods that the water is just sitting on top of the ground with no where to go. Fortunately, we are not suppose to get enough rain to cause significant problems.

Today since Gene and Mary Ann are here we had Gene playing is guitar and leading us in music for our morning devotion time. Thanks so much, Gene. Carol and Dave brought us another good devotion – this time from the book “If You Want To Walk On Water, You Have To Get Out Of The Boat.” Thanks, Dave and Carol, for sharing with us.

Today Anne, Mike and Susan, Dave and Carol and Cindy worked at Jackie’s. Gene and Mary Ann and Bruce went back to Mary and Jim’s house. At Jackie’s we continued to work on cabinet installation, crown mold installation, caulking trim and painting trim and doors. There was also some continuing drywall work. We are making a lot of progress. At least with certain items, we have the end in sight. Over at Jim and Mary’s, work was hard because of the rain. Cutting sub-flooring had to be done between downpours. Part of the work was just done in the rain. Mary Ann worked on covering the water spots on the ceilings. She also had time to really visit with Mary. It was a good day for all.

 

Tonight we all headed back to the Texas Steakhouse for dinner. They had some free meal specials for the veterans. Good food again and a great server. A nice way to end our day.

Sunday, November 11, 2018

It was cold this morning. 32 degrees. It warmed up quickly but remained cool and mostly sunny all day.

The team went back to Chestnut Street UMC for worship, another great service including special recognition for veterans. Afterwards we all went to Ruby Tuesday for lunch where veterans were given free appetizers. We all then ran our errands which for us meant Lowe’s and Walmart. We were checking on some items for Jackie’s house – mundane items such as pan for the water heater and a water heater. Lowe’s also gave us flags in recognition of Veterans Day. We didn’t have a team meeting tonight since we all already knew everyone. We did meet with Mary Ann and Gene to give them some general information on the project as we start the hand off week. We then had some other team members drop by and then had a quiet evening of watching Christmas movies. Restful day. Nice! Now time to get ready to start the work week.

Saturday, November 10, 2018

Today was a brisk sunny day. Interestingly, the same cold front that has Tuscaloosa, Remlap, Johnston, SC under a freeze warning tonight also has Lumberton under a freeze warning. Remlap has a predicted low of 31. Lumberton, 32. Everyone needs to dress warmly for church tomorrow.

Today most of the team went to a Kiwanis pancake breakfast this morning. Tickets were given to the volunteer coordinator by Lumberton mayor and she passed them on to us. They had a great crowd, fast service, and good food. They had obviously done this before because they had their system down. We all had fun and then the team did various things the rest of the day. We came back to Fred, rested, took care of LOL business, rested some more, and ate some more of Susan’s wonderful chicken noodle soup.

This afternoon Carol and Dave joined us for a walkabout of the downtown Lumberton historic district. Unfortunately, some of the places listed in the pamphlet aren’t there any more and there was not much information about some that were there. We did find a few treasures including a place “Exploration Station”, a children’s museum of sorts, that was very well done. Inside were several learning stations sponsored by various businesses and groups around town. They certainly knew how to spark a child’s imagination without computers or game systems.

 

There were other historic sites and very old buildings to enjoy including the very old first fire station and the site of the first rural health department in the US. It wasn’t a very long walk and we basically just strolled a long but it was nice on a chilly autumn afternoon. We came back home and watched part of the Alabama game while enjoying chocolate chip cookies Carol made and shared with us. We are enjoying being spoiled by our team!

 

It was a good day. We are both improving from our upper respiratory illness. Don’t forget to be in prayer for services tomorrow, that we all may hear the Word preached and receive the message with open ears and hearts.

Friday, November 9, 2018

For those who are not familiar with NOMADS Disaster Rebuild (DR) projects, they are also known as Rotating Teams Projects (RTPs). The total project is usually scheduled for 12 to 13 weeks, but NOMADS sign up for one week at a time. Some NOMADS might sign up for one week and others might sign up for the whole project. We just completed our third week here and will be here next week then leave for a week and come back to stay till the end of the project on December 13th. Yesterday Mike and Lee rotated out. Today Jo rotated out and Gene and Mary Ann rotated in. We are always sad to see new and old friends leave but always happy to see friends come in.

Since both of us have been suffering from upper respiratory illness for a few days, dear sweet Susan brought us chicken noodle soup for supper. It was the best chicken noodle soup we have ever had.