Today’s blog will be short. We may try to fill in some of the blanks from the past week over the next day or two. For now, we want you to know that we appreciate more than we can express, each card, each prayer, call, email, visit, flowers, all of you who came to Mama Ruby’s service and all the food that was provided. It was almost overwhelming. Thank you!
Tonight we are in Crystal River, Florida. God provided us a beautiful sunrise this morning as we prepared for an emotional departure from Tuscaloosa. It was hard to leave but it was the right thing to do at this time. The love and emotional and spiritual support we always receive from our fellow NOMADS makes this where we need to be for a little while. We had an uneventful drive. We planned to make it a two day trip but traffic was light and we just kept driving. We will join our team here at Crystal River UMC for the next two weeks and then we plan to return to Tuscaloosa. Hope you are having a good weekend. Be sure to let those close to you know how much you love them.
This was our longest driving day so far in Fred 2 – 484 miles.
For those wanting to know arrangements for Mama Ruby’s Celebration of Life Service, it will be
Saturday, January 27, 2018 at Memory Chapel Funeral Home, 2200 Skyland Blvd E, Tuscaloosa, AL 35405. Visitation 12:00 noon and service 1:00 pm. In lieu of flowers the family requests memorial donations to First United Methodist Church, Tuscaloosa, AL, Lee Sunday School Class, or Discovery Ministries, Inc, c/o First United Methodist Church, Tuscaloosa, AL, or Caring Days Adult Day Care, 943 31st St E, Tuscaloosa, AL 35405.
Thank you all for your emails, texts, calls and most importantly your prayers. It means more than you will ever know.
We left Enterprise about 10:00 this morning after a loving send off by our team. We are currently spending the night in the Lowe’s parking lot in Troy, Alabama. Anne’s mom had another stroke this morning and is now experiencing the joys of heaven. We are only about three hours from Mama Ruby’s house but are too tired to go any further. This will give us a quiet night together before we have to face everything tomorrow. The blog may be quiet for a few days. We would appreciate your prayers for our family.
God blessed us with a beautiful sunset as we were driving.
It started raining during the night and was still raining when we got up this morning. It also never really cooled of last night. It was 66 this morning. The rain stopped by about 8:00 and slowly the clouds departed and we had another beautiful day. It was 78 when we stopped for lunch and we don’t know the high but it was hot working out in the sun today. Yep, this time last week we were complaining about being too cold. We will not complain about the heat. We are having beautiful weather, even if we are sweating.
Ruth and Mike brought us another great devotion this morning which was based on the story of Shadrack, Meshach, and Abednego. They reminded us that in good times or bad God is always with us and for us. Ruth and Mike always end their devotion time with a little funny. Today’s was so funny we all continued to laugh even after we should have stopped. We will have to see if we can get a copy of that one and share with you.
Max, Anne and Mike started the day cleaning up all the left over wood and supplies at the water treatment plant. After returning everything to the maintenance building we began gathering supplies for our next project. We will be laying some brick at a house that was converted to an early childhood center. A garage door was removed and the garage made into a classroom. We laid the first course of brick today and are letting it setup overnight and will continue tomorrow. Another new skill.
Start of the brick project
Mike and Anne had an audience while laying bricks
First course of brick in place
Jo, Mark and Chris continued to work on removing the old fence and cleaning up around the new fence. This was another big and hot job. They made great progress on that project today. Ruth, Kathy, Carol and Laura were back working on the front porch a one of the cottages. Another hot job today but one we think they completed. Bob worked on refinishing a couple of signs for the picnic pavilion and then worked on lights with Lee. We all again stayed very busy, especially Kathy and Terry, just keeping the 12 of us headed in the right direction, keeping us in supplies and answering calls for assistance. We are making good progress but will continue to have to push to complete everything by noon on Thursday.
Mark and Chris removing old fence posts
Jo, Mark and Chris cleaning area around new fence
Kathy and Laura painting trim on a cottage
After work today we rode back out to check on the eagles. We only saw one of the parents today. We suspect there are babies in the nest based on the various nest cameras in other areas but we didn’t see the parents bring any food back to the nest or any activity other than one eagle sitting in the nest with its head barely visible. We didn’t stay out at the nest very long and then rode back to Green Springs park. This time we decided to visit the park’s namesake spring. Yep, it’s a green spring. Real green, and somewhat smaller than we expected. But it’s a nice little park and worth the stop.
By the way, Mama Ruby, Anne’s mom, is sick and we would appreciate your prayers for her.
Today’s blog will be short. We may try to fill in some of the blanks from the past week over the next day or two. For now, we want you to know that we appreciate more than we can express, each card, each prayer, call, email, visit, flowers, all of you who came to Mama Ruby’s service and all the food that was provided. It was almost overwhelming. Thank you!
RVing With a Purpose 