RVing With a Purpose

Sunday, May 6, 2018

Today was a beautiful sunny late spring, early summer day in Baton Rouge. It was quite warm with only some scattered puffy clouds. Looks like the upcoming week is going to be hot with highs of 86-88 each day and no rain predicted.

We slept in a little since church isn’t until 10:30 at Francis Asbury UMC. The congregation was again very welcoming and thanked us for returning to work again. The church was full today, with very few empty seats. Pastor David’s message was “We Gather Together”, based on Luke 24:30-31, 35 which our leader Dave read, and Luke 24:36-43 and John 21:7-13 read by members of the congregation. After the message we shared in communion. Dave had invited David and his wife Melanie to joined us for lunch. We went to the Jones Creek Cafe, a new restaurant for us. We had crab cakes which were really good. Everyone seemed to enjoy their food and we would definitely return. Fortunately, the restaurant wasn’t really busy today because we stayed there visiting with the entire team and David and Melanie until almost 2:00.

We returned to Fred to relax for a few minutes and then headed to the grocery store. We needed food for lunches tomorrow and fresh fruit and salad makings. Mark and Lisa had arrived when we returned. It is so good to be spending time with them again. We just enjoy them so much. We got to meet their other puppy, Dallas today. Such a beautiful puppy. He is a two year old golden-doodle, silver. Yep, we are missing our Scout. It was also good to see that Annie, their older dog, is doing great since her diabetes diagnosis when we were here before. She looks so much better.

We had team meeting at 5:00 and Carol prepared a light supper for us all. She had home-made sloppy joes and we have requested the recipe. Of course, it was all so good with pineapple cheesecake for dessert. Thanks so much, Carol. It was a good meeting with lots of laughter – surprise, surprise. Looking forward to a good week with lots accomplished for Richard. Please keep us in your prayers for safety, and that we will accomplish in the place what God wants us to accomplish.

Saturday, May 5, 2018

We apologize for not posting for the past three days. Briefly, we continued to do accounting and estate business for two of those days and then Friday was another LONG day, again visiting four banks, the assisted living and Aunt Helen and Aunt Jean. (We did take time to walk back down to Cookout for a milkshake last night.) For those that haven’t heard, Jean and Helen have been moved to long term care at the rehab center and are now sharing a room, 306. We don’t know how that will work and they are both on the wait list for private rooms. Please pass the word along about the room change.

While we were at the banks Friday, we struck up a conversation with the lady helping us. We told her about the work we do with NOMADS and RVing with a purpose. It was then that she told us that she and her husband had hoped to travel in their RV too. They had bought a brand new trailer and in December were loading it out for their first trip when he died suddenly of an aneurysm. Very sad story of a very sweet lady. She is now trying to sell the trailer because she never learned to tow it and doesn’t want to try to travel alone. If you know anyone in the market, we know where they can buy a 32 foot 2018 Keystone Springdale with one slideout for a good price.

Today we are on the road again! We left Tuscaloosa about 6:50 this morning in route back to Baton Rouge. We stopped at the Mississippi and Louisiana welcome centers for a breakfast and breaks and arrived early afternoon. It was a very cloudy drive with an occasional drizzle. We noticed that as soon as we crossed into Mississippi, the magnolia trees had beautiful blooms. So pretty.  Not so pretty – the love bugs are everywhere right now. We were hoping for a good rain before we arrived but it didn’t happen. Max had to wash the windshield and front cap this afternoon before the sun is back out tomorrow.

Our dear friends, Carol and Dave, our leaders for the next two weeks, greeted us on arrival. We went to a late lunch/early supper together and started getting caught up. Looking forward to working with them the next few weeks. Stel and Jodi are also still here in Baton Rouge and it was wonderful to see them as well. Jodi is still weak from her surgery but says she is getting stronger. She still needs our prayers but it was so good to see her out and about. Mark and Lisa who were also here when we were here a few weeks ago will arrive tomorrow afternoon. Dave and Carol think we will all be working back out at Richard’s house all week. Looking forward to seeing the progress that has been made while we were gone. Don’t forget to be in prayer for services tomorrow. We are looking forward to worshiping at Francis Asbury UMC again tomorrow.

Tuesday, May 1, 2018

Today was another day of estate and tax work, but we did see these cute ducklings on our evening walk to get milkshakes.

Monday, April 30, 2018

Max: I stayed at the sticks and bricks to bushhog the fields before we head out again on NOMADS projects. After going for diesel fuel, airing up the tires and connecting the battery it was off to work. Most of our property is in pine trees but about 10 acres is still open field and has to be cut two or three times a year. I sometimes have company when bushhogging. We have a red-tailed hawk that lives close by and we have a sort of symbiotic relationship. I cut the field short enough for it to see prey more easily and it entertains me while I’m on the tractor. The hawk was not there for most of the day, but after lunch a group of 4 crows were repeatedly diving at the top of one of the large oak trees on the edge of the field, so I knew the hawk was on scene. The rest of the day the hawk did its hunting and the crows harassed it.

A surprise visitor showed up later. As I was just about finished with our field and starting over to cut the small lot behind Aunt Helen’s house, I thought I saw our resident red fox on the edge of the field. A few moments later it came out into the brightly lit mowed area and I saw it was not a fox. It was a lone, and bold, coyote. Unfortunately, the good cameras were in FRED in Tuscaloosa so the only pictures today were from my phone. When I came back to our house after finishing the lot at Aunt Helen’s (and clearing some saplings and privet hedges from the blueberry bushes) the coyote and hawk were still busy hunting. They helped relieve some of the boredom of driving the tractor back and forth, back and forth, back and forth…

Looks like we will have another good blueberry crop this year. Anybody want to pick them if they ripen while we’re gone?

 

Anne:  Max gets bored bushogging back and forth, back and forth, but I had him beat today.  I returned to my first profession, accountant, and worked on family accounting ALL day today.  I did take time to work out this morning and walked the greenway again this afternoon but otherwise, it was accounting all day until 9:00 tonight.  That’s about 14 hours.  YUK!  I do remember why my first degree was in accounting but tonight I really, really, remember why I changed professions.  I do thank God for the ability to do this and for the beautiful day we had today.  Sure will be glad when Max can join me in Tuscaloosa again.