RVing With a Purpose

Monday, June 11, 2018

Today was a mild early summer day. It was cloudy a lot of the day and not nearly so hot as last week. The forecast is for more rain this week, 40-60% each day but only one day with a high of 90. It will be nicer to have a little cooler temperatures.

We started the day at 0800 at the dentist office. We both had cleanings scheduled this morning. Anne really doesn’t like teeth cleanings, but thankfully we both got good reports and nothing needed for 6 months. YEA! After arriving back on the mountain we worked with Randy and Debra on taking care of some of the things at Aunt Helen’s house. Years ago whenever we had a bumper crop of cucumbers and there was nothing else to do with them, Aunt Helen made pickles. Pickles, pickles and more pickles. And she kept making them. Then she stored them in the basement and never thought about them again. And each year she made more. Over the years, we all ate a lot of pickles and they were very good. Well, we discovered some liquid in the basement floor with a vinegary smell. So, sadly, today we had to discard some of the older ones – 18 gallon jars of bad pickles.

At first we thought, “How sad that the fruit of so many hours of labor were left to go to waste.” But was it really a waste if she received hours of joy making pickles?

After working in the basement for a while we all went to Oneonta to spend some more times with the ladies. They seemed to be doing well. We are sorry they can’t be at home but since they can not, they seem to be at a good place. Tomorrow there’s more business to handle. Hope your week is off to a good start.

Sunday, June 10, 2018

Today was another pretty summer-like day in north Alabama. High in the low 90’s. However, this evening we have had a couple of thunderstorms roll though and the temperature dropped rapidly and is now 72. We like to listen to and watch the storms, if they aren’t too bad.

It was Sunday and today we got to worship at our home church, Lester Memorial UMC in Oneonta. Loved being back with our church family. We had a really good worship service with almost a full house at the early contemporary service. Music was really good and then Barry brought us the message. Today’s scripture was Matthew 10:1-8. Barry shared with us that Jesus is clear; his followers are sent out to engage in God’s business. Everything we do should be filtered through our charge, to be disciples and to make disciples. We all need to live our lives remembering that truth. Today was Pastor Barry’s next to the last Sunday with us. He is retiring and we will all miss him very much. Of course, Barry is also our cousin so we will still see him, especially since this past year he built a house about 2 miles from our house.

After church we went to visit Aunt Helen and Aunt Jean again. They seemed to be doing well today. Both were in good spirits and were glad to see us again. We met Randy and Debra (Max’s brother and sister-in-law), for lunch at Zaxby’s . We had another of their grilled chicken salads and it was great to visit with family. Then we all went to the retirement reception for Barry. There we got to see more family and friends. It was a fun afternoon. We are trying to talk Barry into joining NOMADS, too. They have lots of questions about RV’s so we will be getting together in a few weeks.

After the reception, we went back to visit with Helen and Jean with Randy and Debra. Randy and Debra came back to the mountain and will be hanging out for the next few days. Good times. So glad to have time with them. It was a good day!

Saturday, June 9, 2018

Not much to blog today. We drove from Tuscaloosa to the “sticks and bricks” and then to Oneonta to check on the aunts. We are pleased with how well they are getting along together and adjusting to the facility. We cooked a frozen pizza for supper and had watermelon for dessert. Anne is having some severe pain in her arm and doesn’t know what is causing it. She thought it was from using the power miter saw so much this week, but now is not sure.  Pray for her.

Friday, June 8, 2018

It was another gorgeous day. We had a few clouds as we drove which is not a bad thing for a driving day. No rain. The high today in Tuscaloosa was 96, the exact same as Hattiesburg. It was still very humid.

We did not set an alarm clock today but did get up so we could see our team members off. This week was the last week of NOMADS work in Hattiesburg. They don’t think they will need us anymore until they have another disaster which is a good thing for Hattiesburg. Therefore, the entire team except for Nula left today. Nula is staying another week as a regular volunteer. Hattiesburg was a very satisfying place to work and R3SM is a wonderful agency doing very good work.

First out this morning were Wayne and Debbi. They had the longest drive today and left a little after seven. Carol and Dave left about the same time we did, shortly after 10:00. They were driving a little further than us but they didn’t have a long day either. Del and Peggy was close to ready to leave when we left. They had some black tank problems that Max helped them resolve before we left and we know they are now home safe and sound.  We don’t know when Phil left since he was leaving from R3SM but we just heard he arrived home safely.  His wife should be home by now too.   We heard from Nula and she had a good day after everyone left. She worked a while at James’ touching up paint and the like. Just heard Wayne and Debbi are home so everyone has arrived safely at their destinations tonight.  Thank You Lord!!  Such a great team!

 

 

After arriving in Tuscaloosa we talked with some of Mom’s neighbors, did some work and then walked to Cookout for milkshakes. Contrary to what someone may write in the caption, only one of the milkshakes was for Anne. One was for Max and the other for a sweet neighbor. Hope everyone has a great weekend. We will be heading to Blount County tomorrow.