RVing With a Purpose

Saturday, December 11, 2020

This has been a very busy week.  We have had a great team and accomplished so much.  The only downside of the week was that we were in two locations all week which meant some of us didn’t get to work with our new NOMAD Dave. All week, we had Max, Stel, Dave and Jim at the Wesley Foundation.  Anne, Jodi, Betty and Tom were at the house.  Really proud of the Wesley team for putting their heads together and developing a plan for diverting water from the Wesley building and hopefully solve the water incursion problem.  Jim and Dave did a great job implementing the plan and now we are forecast to get some rain tomorrow and Sunday so we will probably be making a trip to the Wesley to check on the diversion.  The door that Stel and Max built into the upstairs hallway at Wesley looks really nice.  It needs a little trim paint and it will be job complete.  After completing the “aqua duct” as the Wesley director has name it, Jim and Dave started on the removal of the carpet squares from the “The Big Room”.  With water stains and food stains they really needed to go away.  The squares were really stuck to the concrete and the work seemed somewhat overwhelming until a machine was rented and the Jim and Dave amazingly completed the job Thursday afternoon.  The very sticky glue remains on the concrete and that will be a project for next week.

Meanwhile back at the disaster house, it was also a busy week.  The front door repair was completed by Tom and the entry now looks so much more inviting.  Tom also installed all the threshold transition stripes.  As we are accustomed to seeing, there are several changes in the floor level throughout the house. It took some ingenuity to custom build some of the transitions.  Now things are much safer and less of a trip hazard.  After Jodi completed the painting of the bi-fold doors, a lot of base, and the priming and painting of the laundry room, Tom got the doors hung late Thursday and that room now just needs a couple pieces of base installed to be complete.  Betty and Anne have completed the work in the family room after repainting all the walls and trim.  It looks very good.  Betty is amazing with the fine work of trimming out the baseboard and ceilings. There was a lot more painting completed including priming and painting the living room and half bath and priming the main bath.  There were many more problems solved and smaller projects completed at the house and we think we will be able to finish the house this next week.

This morning we had to say goodbye to Betty and Tom and Dave.  The team accomplished so much this week with their help.  We will miss them and hope to work with them again in 2021.  Today we took the bikes to the Longleaf Trace, a rail trail in Hattiesburg, and rode for 15 miles.  The entire trail is about 40 miles but we were not that ambitious.   We rode a “wilderness” section that was beautifully wooded.  It was a quiet, peaceful ride with just a few others on the trail.  Of course, keeping with the rules and traditions, as established by our dear friend Donna, at the end of the ride, we had ice cream!  We stopped at The Hub City Creamery to have Hershey ice cream, something we don’t recall ever having before.  It was delicious! We will see what tomorrow brings.  Have a great weekend!

Monday, December 7, 2020

Hope you all had a great weekend.  We did our usual shopping and cleaning.  We had to say goodbye to Mary Ann and Gene but plan to work with them again soon.  We also rested and prepared for two more RVs to arrive, a single and a couple.  Unfortunately, the couple has had to quarantine due to a family friend becoming ill.  Hopefully, they will remain healthy and join us at the end of the week.  We miss them but certainly appreciate their concern for our health as well as their own.

Max and Anne led devotion today with a reading entitled “Christmas Card Prayers”.  The question presented was, what do you do with all the Christmas cards you receive after you open, read and enjoy the note or picture enclosed.  The suggestion was made that we should save them and then pray for the senders.  You could put them in a basket and then pull one out each morning and pray for that person/family throughout the day.  Something to consider.

After devotion, we all headed out to work.  The entire team went to our job site and then divided up.  Max took Stel, Jim and Dave to the Wesley Foundation and Anne, Jodi, Betty and Tom continued to work on the house.  At the house a lot was accomplished today.  All the drywall finishing is complete including the texturing.  Darrell worked with us today and did all the texturing for us.  Jodi worked hard all day painting doors, closet shelves and trim.  Betty first worked on sanding some of the drywall and then completed all the painting in the kitchen.  The kitchen is complete except for some paint on one drywall patch.  After that, Betty began cutting in the wall paint in the family room.  Tom and Anne completed the second coat of mud on all the drywall patches and main bath.  Tom also worked on the transition strips and will probably complete those tomorrow.  After completing drywall work Anne began painting the family room walls.  More to do but we are getting there.

At the Wesley Foundation, the morning was spent evaluating some water incursion problems.  With everyone putting their heads together and mulling it over they came up with a plan that we think will help.  After trips to the store for supplies, Jim and Dave began the work to divert part of the water away from the flat roof.  Max and Stel began the work of installing a door by first repositioning one of the light boxes in the suspended ceiling.  Mondays are usually a little slow but all projects are well under way.  It was a really good day!

Thursday, December 3, 2020

Today began as a cloudy day but quite a bit warmer.  It was another great day for work.  Didn’t need four layers of clothing.

Stel and Jodi brought our devotion today using Galations 6:1-10.  They reminded us that God’s expectations are not overwhelming.  When he gives us an assignment he also enables us to complete that assignment.

After discussing our work for the day we all headed back to our job site.  Today Anne, Betty and Mary Ann were back at finishing the drywall.  Daryl came by an helped us too.  Great progress was made.  Max and Tom worked on transition strips today and did a great job.  Betty primed and first coat painted the major transition from the kitchen to the den – a new addition to the house.  Stel, Jim and Jodi worked on more trim work for the bath.  Gene worked on some closet shelving and rods.  We all stayed very busy and productive.  We also did some color matching for some of the walls, cleaned and made plans for next week.  It’s been a good week.  We have to say goodbye to Gene and Mary Ann and then take over leadership next week.  We will miss them and their humor.  And now it’s the start of our weekend!  Hope you have a good one.

Wednesday, December 2, 2020

Today Betty and Tom continued the theme of servanthood with their devotion about serving God by serving others.  They reminded us that we are all ministers and God calls us all to ministry.  NOMADS is our ministry and we all agreed we are definitely living retirement with a purpose.

We all went back to our job site to continue working on our various projects.  Anne spent most of the day finishing drywall – lots of tape and mud.  Max and Tom installed the dryer vent and installed the trim for the kitchen counter as well as completing the installation of some bi-fold closet doors.  Jim and Gene completed the carpentry portion of the bath, and Mary Ann began finishing the drywall.  More tape and mud.  Betty also played in the mud with us today, working in the laundry room, closets and living room.  Stel, Mary Ann and Jim all worked on installing base at different times today.  Stel and Jodi also worked on doors and Jodi, as always, was there to help everyone with whatever we needed.  We have gotten so much done.  We still need to complete the drywall – maybe tomorrow – and then lots of smaller items.  When the drywall finishing is complete, Daryl, our construction superintendent, will spray an orange peel type texture to make all the new drywall match the rest of the house.  Then we will be painting and cleaning.  We really need to get this homeowner back in her home.  In January she will have been out of her home for three years!  It’s really sad that long term recovery takes so very long.  We are hopeful that she will be in her house before Christmas.  The volunteer portion will be complete by then, but the final electrical and plumbing will also have to be completed by the subcontractors and final inspection by the city.

BTW, in case you are wondering, the weather forecaster missed the mark again.  Our low last night was 33, not 24.  Happy dance!  For the non-RVers, we RVers don’t like temperatures below freezing because we have to start worrying about freezing hoses and pipes.  No worries about that for the next 10 days.  Life is good in Hattiesburg!