It was cool this morning but the day was beautiful and back to shirt sleeve weather. Cool nights and mornings with 73 degrees for work. Perfect.
We led the team in devotion this morning and Max talked about how to stop a hurricane and how we can help stop the spiritual hurricanes of hopelessness and despair of our homeowners. Afterwards we headed to this team’s first day of work at Dennis’s house. Dennis was very pleased to meet and get to know the new team. He enjoys showing everyone all the plants in his yard such as the papaya trees, and art work he is has in process. He does a lot of work with granite and certain woods. He has some beautiful pieces.
Today the team first tackled the texturing of the back bedroom, closets and hallway. There was texturing and then knockdown and then the cleaning of all the equipment. Once that was completed we began teaching the team to install laminate flooring. They picked up on it quickly and we ended the day with about a fourth of the flooring installed in the living room and kitchen. We enjoyed teaching how to texture and install flooring. A productive and fun day.
Wanda installed the bezels on the new kitchen lights
Since we didn’t post to the blog yesterday we will catch up today.
Glenita and Steve headed back north
Yesterday was a beautiful morning again. We had to say goodbye to Glenita and Steve as they left for their next project. This was our first project with them and we really enjoyed getting to know them. Hopefully we can work with them again soon.
For a little while the campground was empty except for FRED. Unusual. We did some work and laundry and then walked over to the flea market. It seems to have more vendors each week and as the keys have filled up with snow birds the people walking around looking at all the “treasures” have increased dramatically. It was crowded yesterday. We didn’t stay long and came home with all our money. By 10:30 Wanda called to say she was on Big Pine and would soon arrive. She is a new member of NOMADS and this is her first project. So great to meet her and look forward to working with her. By early afternoon Karen and Greg arrived and we helped them get parked. We have never worked with Karen and Greg before so we look forward to getting to know them better, too. Unfortunately, we received a call from Sara and she was having car trouble. She got back to Big Pine after dark and we helped moved her RV into it’s parking place so she could get some rest. The wind continued to blow all night at about 25 mph. This morning was another gorgeous but windy day but… according to the TV weather people, it was COLD! The high today was 69. Really funny listening to them. It is about 20 degrees cooler than last week, but we just can’t bring ourselves to say it’s cold.
We enjoyed another Sunday of worship with the congregation at Big Pine and of course the brunch afterwards. Tonight we had our opening meeting with the team and it sounds like we are going to have another great group for the next two weeks. Thankful everyone arrived safely and looking forward to another week for working for the people here in the Keys.
We brought in a cake to welcome our new team tonight
We were ready for our off day today. We slept in a little but friends were leaving so we had to be up for hugs. Kathy and Larry were first out today, followed quickly by Elaine. They didn’t have long travel days so they both waited until after the morning meeting crowd had left the parking lot.
Kathy and Larry pulling out
Elaine getting ready to leave
Inside George’s house on Marathon Key
Max had to say his goodbyes early because he went to Marathon Key to look at a possible job site with Jim at 8:30. Anne had a much needed hair cut appointment at 10:00. After we both returned to FRED, we decided we would do a little exploring on our day off. Our first stop was Bahia Honda State Park on Bahia Honda Key, mile marker 37. It was pretty crowded today. There was a line of cars waiting to pay the $9.00 entry fee. There is currently a lot of sea grass on the beaches along with Portuguese man of war. We were careful. There is always some sea grass but based on pictures in the nature center, today was much more than the norm. We didn’t let that deter us and had a nice beach walk and visit to the Nature Center. A lot of the park is still not repaired and open from Irma damage but we enjoyed what we could see and do. We drove on north over the 7 mile bridge to Marathon and had a late lunch at Sunset Grill and Raw Bar. Interesting place and we were fortunate to have a perfect table looking out over the ocean and under the bridge. Beautiful sea today. After a few errands, we returned to FRED to relax. It was a very good day.
The beach at Bahia Honda State Park
A basket sponge that washed up on the beach
Apparently sometimes the beach is nicer than it was today.
The harbor at the park
View from our table at Sunset Grill
We saw this beautiful sunset over the church during our evening walk
Today was another beautiful but busy day. Elaine led us in devotion time sharing from one of the daily devotions from “Right From The Heart“, a devotion on courage based on Deuteronomy 31:6. She asked us to consider the questions; Are you living a courageous life? How do you define courage? In what areas of your life is Jesus asking you to live courageously? It doesn’t have to be in some big, important way. We need to live courageously in our every day stuff of life. Thanks, Elaine for sharing with us.
After devotion, we began saying goodbyes, which then continued throughout the day and will continue through tomorrow. We have grown close to this group in a short period of time. It’s unusual for your entire team to change out the same weekend. We will miss them. But God has more NOMADS on the way.
The team all went to Dennis’s this morning and then after Jim let us know the door had been delivered, Steve and Max headed back to Sugarloaf Key to install a new front door at Bob’s. Of course it wasn’t exactly the same size as the old door they removed so they just framed it up and put some temporary trim around it to keep some of the critters out. Next week we will have to return to remove the temporary trim with the correct trim. But the door looks nice. After lunch they returned to Dennis’s for the final clean up.
Replacement door and old door
This little fella watched us working on the door
At Dennis’s house Larry and Dennis got started on completing the priming of the walls and ceilings in the bedroom, closets and hall. Elaine also worked on cutting in the corners and edges in the same area. We were very pleased to see that the blue paint in the living room and kitchen areas dried nice and evenly. Glenita and Elaine did some touch up on the areas painted yesterday while Anne and Kathy completed rolling out the walls. After getting all the painting done we began cleaning up. The next two projects will be texturing the bedroom, closets and hall, and starting the installation of the flooring in the kitchen and living room. Before starting those two projects it was time to take a break, and do some serious cleaning. We needed to move the supplies we won’t need for a few days back to the trailer, and make room for the flooring. We also swept, vacuumed, and mopped the floors in the living room and kitchen to try to eliminate as much of the drywall dust as possible. The bedroom and hall were also emptied of unneeded tools to make room for the texturing. Very pleased with the way the house is coming together, and it’s now ready for a new team to begin work next week.
Getting the floor ready for new flooring
Two highly educated NOMADS trying to untangle a mop head – instead of actually mopping
Many, many thanks to this team for answering God’s call to serve the people of the lower keys. Please join us in praying for their safety as they move on to other projects next week. We look forward to the new team members arrival Saturday and also pray for safe travel for them.
RVing With a Purpose 