RVing With a Purpose

Thursday, October 3, 2019

Trains and rain overnight last night. What is usually a single train was multiples last night with what sounded like multiple track switches. We usually aren’t really bothered by the trains but last night they were going back and forth for way too long. It was the first topic of conversation at morning devotion. The second was the continuing rain. The forecast indicates today was our last rainy day and we will be glad to see some sun. Tonight we are getting lots of wind.

Bruce and Jackie led devotion this morning with Bruce talking to us about patience and his lack of patience. He shared several scriptures on the subject and the group discussed how we don’t want to pray for patience because God just might let us learn some patience in a not so fun way. Bruce and Jackie also gave each of us a really nice cross necklace that Bruce made. The nails that make the cross are race horse horseshoe nails. The black represents sin, the red the blood of Jesus and the white, salvation. Thanks, Bruce and Jackie.

Back to work, Anne went back to taping and mudding drywall. Max and Tom and Mike completed installing all the drywall they can do until the bathroom plumbing is completed. Reid continued to work on that plumbing today. Bruce, Hillary, Jackie and Jenny all began the day working in the cold mist installing the siding. They made great progress – finishing all but the top row on the south side and starting the two remaining sides. The drywall in the bedroom was not dry today. It’s just been too humid, so Dave, the maintenance manager, brought a fan and then later a couple of heaters for the cottage. That seemed to help and by this afternoon at least a portion of the bedroom could be sanded by Suzanne. Jackie also worked on finishing drywall this afternoon. We have all worked very hard this week and are looking forward to getting some rest this weekend.

Tonight, Tom and Jenny walked into town with us. It is “Moonlight Madness” in downtown Sebewaing. They closed some of the streets and had various activities. There were inflatables for the kids. Music in the park. Several food vendors and craft vendors. There were also specials/sales at the downtown businesses. The Rotary gave away bean soup which was very good. There was popcorn and apple cider at the library. We all, of course, had ice cream from the antique store. Tried the root beer float tonight and it very good. We also ran into Hillary, Mike, Jackie and Bruce while strolling downtown. We were interested in seeing the fires on the river and waited until they lit the floating fire rings before we called it a night. As we were leaving we had a really nice sunset and stopped on the board walk to get some pictures before returning home . It was another good day.

Wednesday, October 2, 2019

It rained all night and it continued to rain today. We remain under a lakeshore flood advisory and the water in the bay was visibly rising toward the back road of the camp. It was strange to see water rising in such a huge body of water. Along with the rain and all the run off into the rivers which drain into the bay, the wind was blowing across the bay and pushing the water toward shore and “plugging” the water at the mouth of the rivers. Winds which are still quite high have now changed to northerly and the water is receding. Totally different weather than we have in Alabama – and its 93 in Alabama and 53 here. Definitely seems summer is over in upper Michigan.

Reid led devotion time today. It was of course back inside due to rain. He talked using Galatians 5:13-14 as his basis to discuss servanthood and love for others, reminding us God calls us to put others first, not “me first”.

We then all headed back to the cottage to work. Since the weather was bad, most of us were working inside most of the day. It was a little crowded. The cottage is roughly 550 sq ft and when all ten of us are in there working it gets pretty crowded. Today Hillary and Jackie, our insulation queens, completed the very last of the insulation and joined Anne and Jenny with finishing the drywall. Jackie also worked outside part of the day, with Bruce, who spent almost all day working out in the rain. He made great progress on the side of the cottage. It’s looking good. First coat of mud was completed in the bedroom. Max, Tom, and Mike hung drywall in the living room so all that is left is the kitchen area and bathroom. The blue board was delivered for the bathroom today. Reid continued to work on plumbing. It’s really beginning to look like a house.

No playing ping pong today. There are a group of quilters using the building that houses the table so we walked today. Suspect we will have to run the heat pumps tonight. Hope Alabama gets a break from the heat soon.

Tuesday, October 1, 2019

Another great day in Michigan. It was nice this morning and after gathering at the cottage, we decided to have devotion time out on the boardwalk that goes out into the bay. We gathered at the far end of the boardwalk sitting on the benches provided there. We had already been out on the boardwalk earlier to see if we could see the eagles that have a nest nearby, but saw nothing this morning. We shared with the team today discussing what it really means to ask God to tell you what He wants you do, remembering the hymn “I’ll Go Where You Want Me To Go. What if He asks us to do something really hard; something really outside our comfort zone. We had good response and conversation. “Acknowledge the God of your father, and serve Him with wholehearted devotion and with a willing Mind.” 1 Chronicles 18:9. During devotion an eagle flew by so we could all see and appreciate its beauty. Great way to start the day.

After devotion it was back to work. Today Max and Bruce continued to install the siding. Most of the day they worked in the rain.  They had help from others throughout the day but they were very wet by the end of the day. They have really changed the appearance of the cottage. We also had help today from some work release inmates from the county jail. Don’t know exactly the arrangements but a deputy brings them out one or two days a week to help with various work around the camp. Today they helped us with hanging drywall. It was great. Most of the guys were tall and had some experience hanging drywall. The deputy also was very knowledgeable with drywall and how the camp usually does things. The inmates and deputy went right to work and with their help it was short work to drywall the bedroom ceiling and walls. We really appreciate the help and they may be return later in the week to help us and/or help the camp setup for the fall family festival this weekend. We now have all the walls shimmed as needed and insulation installed so we will be working on more drywall tomorrow. The plumbing is continuing to progress as well.

We were all really tired at the end of the day but a lot was accomplished. It was raining this afternoon so we went back to the rig and settled in for some rest. Please continue to pray for our safety and that we accomplish what God wants us to do in this beautiful place.

Monday, September 30, 2019

It rained some more during the night last night and was very cloudy and a little drizzle when we got up this morning. 50 degrees. We are using the fireplace to knock the chill off.

Today’s devotion was led by Tom and Jenny with wonderful music and a devotion about the TEAs in our lives. All these things we need to drink in order to live our Christian lives to the fullest. These will all add up to our Spirituali-TEA. How we live reflects Who we serve and when we begin sipping on those “teas” in our lives and concentrating on those areas, we begin reflecting Christ more. These “teas” will help put us in the right frame of mind just like our morning cup of tea or coffee. Reflecting on these areas of our lives will give us a boost in our spirituality. We all got tea bags too, with the TEAs and scriptures attached. Great job, Tom and Jenny. Thanks so much for sharing with us.

Also today I would like to ask all of you to start praying for our dear friend Carol and her husband Dave. We received a call from Carol last week and she told us that she has stage 3 colorectal cancer. Since she has now told all our NOMADS family, we feel free to ask you to join us in surrounding Carol and Dave in prayer. We also think about yesterday’s sermon and know that God can handle this giant too.

We all headed back to work picking up where we left off on Thursday. Today Tom, Reid and Mike made great progress on the plumbing and the shower is now installed. Reid and Tom had to spend some quality time in the crawl space today. As you can tell from the photos, that space is not very large. Max and Bruce spent quality time on the scaffolding today. They completed the house wrap in the front of the cottage and began the siding installation. Hillary and Jackie continued to work on installing insulation and the front bedroom is now ready for drywall which should start in the morning. Jenny and Anne continued to work on straightening walls, installing shims as needed to prepare the living room area for drywall. They hope to have that area completed by lunch tomorrow, hopefully before. And, Suzanne, as she does so well, assisted us all by answering questions, offering encouragement and kept us all supplied. By lunchtime, the sun was out and we had a beautiful afternoon.

We played ping pong again after work today. We haven’t played in ages but have been enjoying afternoon games since arriving at Bay Shore. Thank you God for another good and safe day.