RVing With a Purpose

Thursday, October 12, 2017

It was very cloudy this morning. Not a bad thing when you are going to be driving. It was a little cooler but still humid. We were again up early and at assisted living to have breakfast with Mama Ruby at 7:00. The new chef is doing a good job. Today we had pancakes with strawberries and whipped cream and sausage or bacon. Very nice way to start the day. Good breakfast and nice visit. Anne then got her hair cut and then we were on the road again. Yea! We are really enjoying FRED 2.

We arrived in Cedartown, GA without incident, parked, set up and picked up a pizza for a really late lunch. We are so thankful for another uneventful travel day. Several years ago Murphy-Harpst Childrens Center installed six RV sites with the help of NOMADS and volunteers from Due West UMC and maybe others. The campground looks out over some beautiful pastures with the Silver Comet Rail Trail just beyond the pastures. We really enjoy this campground. It’s private, quiet and we usually see deer and turkey, cows and horses most days. We will be here for the next three weeks. Our first team members will arrive mid-day tomorrow and then others on Saturday. This time we will be rebuilding the horse barn along with some other items. The Center has a therapeutic equestrian program for the children. We are sure to learn more about this over the next few days. We are scheduled to meet with Randy, the facilities manager and NOMADS contact, first thing in the morning. We are looking forward to a productive and fun three weeks.

This evening shortly before dark we got our bikes unpacked and road about 4 miles on the Silver Comet. It was a really hilly section so a bit of a challenge but lots of fun. Love riding the paved rail trails and being in the quiet peaceful setting. Hope you are having a good week. Please remember to pray for Max’s cousin Janet as she has surgery tomorrow.

Wednesday, October 11, 2017

The clouds finally cleared out. Today was mostly sunny, but still hot and humid. They keep saying it’s going to cool down and dry out but it hasn’t happened yet.

Brief blog today because it has been a long day and it’s already bedtime. We loaded out the rest of the things we thought we would need in Cedartown and headed out. We stopped by to check on and say goodbye to Juno and Helen. It was then on to Trussville to deliver supplies to Aunt Jean and check on her and Noodle (Aunt Jean’s almost 50 year old box turtle). Noodle has been out of worms for a while so he was obviously very glad to see Max and the four worms he was fed. After a stop at the bank it was on to St Vincent’s East to see Max’s cousin Janet. Please add her to your prayer list. She has a GI bleed and will require surgery Friday. We were glad we got to see Donna and Tim while seeing Janet. Please remember the entire Lingo family.

From the hospital it was on to Tuscaloosa to reunite with FRED. We were glad to see that he was in good shape from weathering Nate in Tuscaloosa. Then we went to see Mama Ruby. She has had good reports from all three doctors she has seen this week. The orthopedic surgeon discharged her stating the bones in the ankle are healed. Thanks be to God! The MD did extend the therapy for one more month for which we are very glad. The PCP made no changes and set a return check for December. Finally, the cardiologist noted, “You have ankles today.” Prior to the hospital stay and IV diuretic she had so much swelling you couldn’t see her ankles. Her walking is continuing to improve and the breathing is obviously better. She is getting around well with just a cane inside her apartment. The therapist still won’t let her walk outside the apartment without the walker unless he or staff or family are with her. After visiting and when Mama Ruby went to supper, we ran her errands. We then decided to get some exercise by walking the Tuscaloosa City Walk, Forest Lake portion. It is a really nice, wide, well lit trail that begins not far from Mama Ruby’s house. There are plans to extend the walk in both directions so that eventually it basically follows the course of the 2011 tornado through Tuscaloosa. Wish we had something like this close to our house (of course without the tornado track). A good, but busy, day and we got to see all four of the LOLs again.

Tuesday, October 10, 2017

Today was much like yesterday weather wise. Cloudy in the morning and then some sun in the afternoon. It threatened rain but never did. And yes it is still so humid! Then it clouded over completely just before dark. Sounds like it is going to stay that way through tomorrow. YUK!

Early this morning we did some work around the house, then mid-morning took Juno to Oneonta to take care of some business. Max got a much needed hair cut, too. Throughout the morning we were staying in contact with our dear friend and Max’s cousin because her mom was in the ER. She has a GI bleed. Please be in prayer for Janet. However, because Janet was in the ER we got our puppy fix. We went to Janet’s house and walked and played with her sweet puppy Chance. He started chasing a chipmunk around a storage building. Too funny. After spending some time playing with Chance, we spent some more time with Juno and Helen then back home to try to get organized for our next NOMADS project in Cedartown, GA. Busy day but not much that was blog worthy.

Monday, October 8, 2017

Today started as a very cloudy day. Later in the day it cleared off and the sun was out but it was still cloudy at times. The humidity from Nate is still hanging around. Hopefully by the end of the week it will move on out but right now it’s really muggy.

This morning we drove to Sumatanga to attend morning devotions with the NOMADS team working there this week. We were really glad to also see Roger and Hiram were there to assist today as well. We couldn’t stay to work because we had too many LOL (little old lady) errands to run but we did take time to visit a few minutes in the office and with maintenance. After that it was off to Dollar Tree and Walmart. Today was a three basket day at Walmart. Our brains must be slowing down because it is getting harder to keep four grocery lists going as we walk through the store. Fortunately for us our own list was very small today. It was still quite the tiring shopping day.

Update on previous work projects:

Rosalie Baptist Church, our Constructors for Christ Project for 2017, has started having worship in the fellowship hall of the new building awaiting completion of the sanctuary and the outside brick work. It is looking really great. Can’t wait for them to have their first Sunday in the new sanctuary. They have been working to be in the sanctuary by November 30, the one year anniversary of the tornado. Hope we are in the area so we can be there.

Also, today is the one year anniversary of the flooding in Lumberton, NC from hurricane Matthew where we worked in the summer. The North Carolina Conference of the UMC is still working there getting people back in their homes. They have had help from over 770 teams with over 8100 volunteers from 29 states and Canada. This year volunteers have completed 22 homes and are currently working on 88 homes of the 205 homes still in their system. The UMC has vowed to be in North Carolina until all are complete and all the families are back in their homes. We plan to be back there working next fall. So much work to be done. May God guide our steps to where He needs us to work.