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Merry Christmas – 2024

December 25, 2024

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO All!!!

We hope you and your family have had a wonderful Christmas season. We pray that in the middle of all the hustle and bustle you have taken time to remember what is really important. And it’s not just that it’s Jesus’ birthday. We are celebrating the Wonderful Counselor, Almighty God, Everlasting Father and Prince of Peace coming to earth. It’s the beginning of The Story, the fulfillment of prophecy. If you have been too busy, this evening would be a great time to sit down, take a deep breath and maybe pick up your Bible and read the Christmas story again.

We have spent our “vacation time” resting, reading, catching up on some work, working puzzles and watching Christmas movies. There have been lots of beach walks, and bike rides, eagle sightings and lots of good food. Most importantly God has blessed us by allowing us to spend this time listening to Advent devotions and enjoying the beauty He created here.

Our campsite this year

This heron has been a daily visitor to our campsite

We have taken several walks on the beach even though some days have been quite cool.

For most of last week the purple flags were out at the beach meaning that venomous sea life was present. They really weren’t needed because it was too cold to get in the water.

The pier is open again so we can walk on it any time. Since we are staying in the park, we don’t have to pay to walk it.

We see sharks every time we walk on the pier.

We attended a park presentation on raptors and got to see Archimedes the screech owl.

Of course, we have made several trips to the eagle nests. Yesterday we finally caught both of them on the nest at the same time.

On one of our hikes we stopped to watch this osprey eating a fish.

These grilled steaks fed us for a couple of days.

One day we took the afternoon to make Aunt Inez’s Tea Cake cookies.

We made them bite-sized this time because they are easier to eat on travel days. They probably will not survive another whole week to our next travel day.

Believe it or not, we actually worked our Advent puzzle the way it was intended – one small section at a time. We have really enjoyed it.

We tried a new recipe for for breakfast today – cinnamon rolls baked with eggnog.

Our traditional Christmas dinner of snow crab legs

As we have the last few years we took the time to watch our favorite Christmas movie again.

Catching Up Again

Sunday, November 24, 2024

Sorry for the long absence. We have been busy, just haven’t told you about it yet. In addition to regular RV maintenance and repair, we spent one week in Alabama for our annual medical appointments.

While in Alabama we attended a hilarious production of “Exit the Body” by the Covered Bridge Players in Oneonta.

We have continued to clean up trees in South Carolina.

It took about half a day to get this cedar stump out of the ground

One of our debris piles by the road

The day before we headed back to Alabama for our annual medical appointments, the state contractor came by and picked up one load of debris. The rest is still there.

We spent a few days with our friends from 1 Strange Adventure at our favorite RV Resort, Talona Ridge. We always enjoy our time at Talona in Elijay, GA. The trees were not at peek but it was still a very nice and relaxing visit.

We enjoyed getting together with our RV friends and learning about solar power.

Sunrise at Talona Ridge during the men’s Bible Study

We visited the RiverBanks Zoo in Columbia, SC.

We got to watch them feed the sea lions.

Still cute but not like seeing them in the wild.

This tiger got up and posed when we walked by.

A komodo dragon is not something you want to run into if you are afraid of lizards. This one is about 6′ long.

And we spent part of a day at the Pioneer Days in Lincolnton, GA.

The owner of this tractor was also born in 1929.

The sawmill demonstration was very interesting.

We hope you all have a great Thanksgiving week. Be careful out on the roads and just remember to be thankful everyday for we are all truly blessed.

Week Two of Disaster Rebuild in Selma, Alabama

Monday, October 14, 2024

Last weekend was shortened due to working on Friday with the Fannie Mae employees. Saturday became our usual Friday meaning there was laundry to do and groceries to purchase and the team went to Hancock’s Barbecue for an early supper. Excellent barbecue! It was worth the schedule change to be able to work with the FM people. On Sunday, we welcomed one additional team member, Dave, for a total of nine Nomads. We began the work week much like we ended last week, working with the Fannie Mae employees. The FM folks from last week left on Saturday and a new group of about 25 arrived on Sunday. They were just as enthusiastic and fun to work with as our first group last week. At the request of our construction coordinator we again divided the team to four houses and accomplished much more work than if we had only worked in our traditional role. On Tuesday evening the NOMADS were invited to the closing dinner of the Fannie Mae SERVE360 project. The FM leaders were very appreciative and complimentary of NOMADS assistance and are interested in possibly pursuing additional joint projects in the future. The NOMADS members were also very complimentary of the working partnership, and we were sorry to see the FM members leave. It was such an amazing way to meet new people of different cultures and be able to share our life and faith stories.

This is the finished siding from last week.

… and laying out a new piece of paneling for the bathroom …

Our Serve360 friends were eager to take on any task, such as patching a hole in a wall …

We had a great time Tuesday evening telling the Serve360 folks how Christ works through NOMADS to help others.

On Wednesday morning the team resumed normal operations with members working in two houses. We continued to work at Marie’s home and were pleased to present our first Selma Bible to her on Wednesday afternoon. Bible presentation is always a highlight of the week. There were just a few small items to be completed on Marie’s home – items that couldn’t be completed until the paint was dry. Next week’s team plans to complete those items Monday morning. Since we worked last week on Friday, Wednesday was our last workday and we turned leadership over to Carolyn and Gene and departed Selma on Thursday morning. Please continue to remember the Selma team in your prayers as there is still much work to be done.

While we worked on Ms Marie’s house, other team members installed laminate flooring at a house two block away.

Dave spreading adhesive for the bathroom flooring

We will be back in South Carolina for a few weeks and hope to have some fun adventures to share. Until then, stay safe and always remember to try to make someone’s day a little brighter by showing Christ’s love.