RVing With a Purpose

Monday, August 12, 2019

Today it was very cloudy all day but we never got any rain. Tomorrow is going to be much like today so hopefully we won’t get rain again. After that the rest of the week is predicted to be really nice, highs 75-80 and lows 55-62. We are really thankful we are not having to endure the 110 heat index predicted for home tomorrow.

As is our custom, we did devotion today, the first day of our lead with this team. We used a portion of the Seedbed devotion for yesterday based on Psalm 46. Tom volunteered to lead music playing his guitar. Such a blessing to have someone to provide music for us. Thanks, Tom! Pastor Deb wanted to sign him up for Sunday’s service but unfortunately for us he and Jenny will be leaving us Friday.

After devotion, Max went with Stel, Jodi and Harry out to Nate’s house. At Nate’s the plan is to remove a wall between a bath and laundry room, remove the shower, replace it with a tub shower combo at a different location in the new room, remove a toilet and repair the rotten sub-floor. Today was demo day and a large part of that was done by the end of the day. They still haven’t removed all the rotten subfloor so that process will continue tomorrow.

Anne went with Norm, Jenny and Tom back to Rhonda’s house.  Remember we are trying to get three rooms complete so the two sisters can move into the house and continue the remodel while living there. They need to move out of the niece’s home. Today Anne worked on sanding and texturing the bath. It will get the remaining texture tomorrow. Tom installed the toilet and some window trim and base board. Jenny stained and finished the base boards, window trim and doors, while Norm built door jams and routed the hinge placements. A busy day for all and everyone is tired tonight. Tomorrow will be another day much like today.

Sunday, August 11, 2019

We had a quiet night last night. A good deal of rain but it was gentle with no wind or thunder. The parking lot was really muddy this morning but otherwise all is well. Today was cloudy all day. Temperatures stayed in the 70’s due to the cloud cover. We keep up with the Alabama weather and we feel for those having to work out in the horrible heat. With the predicted heat index of 103-108 tomorrow, y’all be careful.

We had a wonderful worship service here at Winding Rivers today. There was a baptism and communion – two our our most sacred rituals. This church also does their prayer time a little differently than what we usually see. People can go up front and light a candle from the Christ candle and state the name of the person or situation they are lifting in prayer. The sermon was titled “I believe in Jesus but I don’t want to go overboard.” Pastor Deb used a clip from the movie “War Room” as part of her illustration. BTW if you haven’t seen the movie it is really good and very funny at times.

Tonight the church fed us a wonderful meal of pork roast, roasted potatoes, corn on the cob, deviled eggs and made from scratch lemon pudding. Oh so very good! We had time to visit and get to know Pastor Deb and her husband Larry. Both are passionate for showing God’s love for their community. After dinner we had our opening meeting as leaders of the team with all the usual introductions and paperwork. It was a good meeting with a good team. Looking forward to a productive week for our home owners.

Saturday, August 10, 2019

Today was partly cloudy and a little warmer. Looked like it was going to rain several times but so far nothing. The prediction is that we will get thunderstorms over night. Maybe it won’t be too loud.

We slept in a little this morning and then got a good walk before breakfast. The deer we have been seeing every morning, today decided to just hang out with us for a while. She posed for pics and then sort of followed along behind us for a ways. We wonder about her. Have people been feeding her? Her skin doesn’t look healthy but maybe that’s how deer here look. Max made us some wonderful French toast from some hamburger buns for breakfast. So good. Rich and fluffy.

The rest of the day we did paperwork, accounting etc. while we waited for our team members to arrive. We are back to a full house. Stel and Jodi and Jenny and Tom replaced our team members who departed yesterday. All arrived safely and without problems. Thank you, God!

Today’s flavor of the day was dulce de leche cheesecake at Culvers. Yep, had to give it a try. Quite good. Tomorrow we should get to spend some time with Pastor Deb and learn more about our agency and area. Hope you all have wonderful worship services. Remember to pray for your pastor.

Friday, August 9, 2019

It was a beautiful cool morning. It as 53 degrees this morning. Anne actually had the fireplace on for a few minutes. Calvin and Marsha pulled out early this morning. Max heard their slides going in early – around 5:00 am. We were not up yet. We were up to say goodbye to Barb and Jack around 7:30. We will see them again in September. Safe travels everyone and safe travels to all the NOMADS traveling this weekend. Please keep them in your prayers.

We had a relaxing morning and then left to go ride one of the many bike trails in Wisconsin. We have been surprised at the many miles of trails available. Some of the trails are state supported and there is a permit required to ride the tails. Daily use is $5.00 and annual fee is $25.00. We considered the Omaha Trail but found online that the part we were looking at riding is actually still closed from the flooding last year. We elected to ride the Elroy-Sparta Trail with plans to begin in Wilton and ride toward Sparta a couple of miles and go thru tunnel #2, return to Wilton and ride toward Elroy 6 miles through tunnel #1 and return to Wilton. What we didn’t know is that the first 3.5 miles from Wilton north toward Elroy is also still closed from the flooding. It’s obvious they have been working on the trail section we rode and just as there are a lot of homes still in need of repairs, so it is with the trails. We road about 7 miles from Wilton past Norwalk, a quaint little village along the trail and back to Wilton, for a total of about 14 miles. It was a ride through some beautiful countryside – lush green fields, dairy barns, farm equipment. In Norwalk, right on the trail is a little Mexican diner with really good soft serve ice cream. We toured around the village for a while because they were setting up for a big truck and tractor pull festival starting tonight. It appears to be a big deal for this little town. On the way back to Wilton, Max had a flat tire. God blessed with a really helpful local couple stopping to help us. Their son worked his way thru college working in a bike shop so they could change a tube in short order. We didn’t get to visit with them for very long because they changed the tube for us so quickly. It was a great ride and a very nice day.

On the drive we saw some of the many rock outcroppings this area is known for.