Home Sweet Home!

This was on the way home. Instead of a mini-van, Julie got to drive a new black Chevy Suburban. So, of course, we had to make sure she had the outfit to match!

So, I'm not entirely sure if anyone will see this last post, but I'm hoping at least some folks check in. I'm downloading my pics right now and will try to get a few up, so that you can have a sense of where we've been and what we accomplished.

The new back porch and skirting on Daryl's trailer. Oh, and Alison in her "fort!"


Kayley cuts the skirting as Gary, Julie, and Faith supervise. Thankfully, they later found an easier way to accomplish this.

The view from a rest area in Maryland that we stopped at on the way home. So beautiful!

The house we painted. I don't care what anyone thinks...I love this color!

Part of the front porch crew at Daryl's, hard at work, with Avis supervising. Daryl loved this deck so much!

So that's just a very small sampling of what our week was like. Stay tuned to the FBC webpage for more information about Mission Sunday, when you'll here some reflections and get to see more pics of our time in WV.

Thank you, faithful readers, for following us and being encouraging. I imagine we'll start fundraising pretty soon for our next trip, due in 2 years. We hope you'll continue to support us in prayer as we faithfully try to live God's word in the world. God bless!

Almost Home...

This will be a short entry as we are on our way to dinner. The largest portion of our group is currently in Parsippany, NJ, after having said goodbye to Liz, Gloria, The Vosselers, Karl, Jean, The Buschbaums and Lisa Stoneham, who are all traveling to different destinations. Hoping to upload some pics tonight. In the meantime, here are some random thoughts:

* Today's ride gave us blue skies and white, puffy clouds with hawks making lazy circles over the green rolling hills of PA and MD. A great day to travel.

* The black suburban, sandwiched between the 2 white vans, looks either like a very important government convoy or a prisoner transport...I can't decide which!

*I remember driving through WV on a high school band trip. Bus #2 kept breaking down and had to stop and rest at the top of every hill. So instead of asking Mr. Novack, "Are we there yet?" we started saying, "How many more hills?" The answer...too many.

* Driving a pick-up truck pulling a fully loaded trailer is tiring and scary, particularly going through construction zones next to an 18-wheeler when the lanes are only 10-feet wide.

*No shower ever felt better than the ones taken after working 8 hours in 95 degree heat and about 90% humidity. This is when one really appreciates water.

*We have no idea how truly blessed we are to have clean running water, a room over our heads, air conditioning, etc... Thank God for it all before you go to bed tonight.

More later.....

The End Is Here...

I apologize in advance for any spelling or grammar mistakes...I've been crying and my contacts are all blurry.

So, our last day has come to an end. We finished what we could, went to Dirty Ernie's for dinner, had a tour of the sites, and just had our closing communion service. The sharing in our circle was wonderful, even though a few were absent. Appreciation of gifts was shared, as well as what we would be taking home from this experience.

Seeing the works sites after they were completed was really special. I'll admit to being pretty skeptical earlier in the week as to whether or not it was possible to make a difference in a few short days. But our few hours of work seems to have accomplished at least 2 things: 1) The homes and trailers really look so much better for the new things that we were able to build and old things that we were able to repair. And 2) We gave some hope and love to folks that may not have had a lot of that lately. I keep thinking about Daryl at the trailer, who blessed us each evening when we left for the day. He didn't come out of his trailer much and when he did, he mostly just rolled and smoked his own cigarettes, but is face lit up with the best smile whenever anyone addressed him.

*Sorry...distracted by the dance party taking place in the basement of the Methodist church. We're here because there is aprivate function in our living quarters and we can't return until 11pm*

We've just been told that we can return home, so I"ll sign off for now and try to put down some last thoughts tomorrow from Parsippity, NJ.

Good night!

"I got the horse and she got the saddle.......

We like to ride side by side. I got the horse and she got the saddle. Together we'll ride, ride, ride."

These were the lyrics playing on the radio on the only station I could get that plays music. I liked it, the tune was catchy!

So, the second deck got finished at the trailer! It looks fabulous. Props to Alison and Adam, who completed the project without Dave, who got moved to another site, or me, out on medical leave. They're a great team. So good, in fact, that we are getting moved to a second staircase tomorrow. I've dubbed our team The Stair-Masters.

I got to see one of the Whipple houses today. Whipple is an unincorporated town, built to house coal miners. It's now basically a shanty-town...very poor, with a pitbull chained in every yard. We saw a sign for free puppies...couldn't even imagine what breed they might be. Really sad. They stand at the end of their chains and bark and bark. Just a commercial for spaying and neutering.

I haven't yet heard what the other groups were able to accomplish today. We did have another thundershower after lunch, causing us to take a brief interlude. That's all for now....

What Rainy Day?

Hi, Blogosphere. This is Pam blogging tonight. There is Red Velvet Cake with chocolate ganache and strawberries for dessert tonight, so I was the only one willing to blog during that wonderful dessert. (On the subject of food, Adam says, "Send waffle mix!" He has been spoiled by Belgian waffles each morning to date, and so was sad that their run was over. Only spending the day working in incredible heat and humidity re-perked him up.)

When Cindy last wrote, it was a dark and stormy morning. Justin, our local contact, predicted that it would clear at 10:00 but rain again at 2:00. So our group headed out to the Kitten House with great faith in his prediction. We were able to set up our workspace and do some indoor work before the sun poked its face through the clouds at-yup-10:00. So all groups did get to sites this morning after all (storms go through quickly here it seems).With the weather ruling out outdoor painting there was some shuffling of personnel at sites to make the best use of resources. Bryan, Lynnette, and Cindy Shupp became intimate friends working in a bathroom/sweatshop and were joined after lunch by Jeff and Liza. We hear that they were a fabulous team and accomplished a lot. The crew at the Trailer finished the back porch. Daryl, the owner, was moving chairs onto the deck as the crew drove away. He told them he felt like the little boy in A Christmas Carol and said "God Bless you, everyone!" His trailer must have been oven-like today so an outside porch is a cool(er) escape. The high front porch has almost-stairs (Dave cut the stringers, and they are nailed in place) so just need treads and risers. Adam and Alison (the Decksperts) have a good start on the railing for the high deck. (They said it was like Twister with construction tools trying to hold each baluster in place while screwing them in.) Faith, we hear, started the day by slipping into the large mud pond that covers much of the back deck work area but carried on in a particularly chipper way despite her lower extremity mud mask. It was a good plan, though, as we all learned today in this amazingly hot and humid and sunny day that mud and grime have an SPF of 35! Garry and Julie, along with Faith and Kayley, continue to plug along with the trailer skirting project which is more difficult and, dare I say it, tedious than anyone would have thought. Somehow they just laugh while describing their task.

So it didn't rain at 2:00 after all, so those of us who swallowed that prediction and worked through lunch, assuming that we only had until 2-ish, discovered that an air-conditioned break in the middle of the day is pretty much crucial. We finished laying out the decking on the back (high) deck with enough screws to secure them; finished the windows and doors completely, stripped all of the decking off the front porch and reinstalled almost half of it. Matt and Thomas have discovered their calling as decking demolishers--who wouldn't want to have at it with hammers and pry bars?

We arrived home to discover we could swim at a local pool club and rushed right up there, only to hear thunder and see roiling indigo-colored clouds. Sadly we called Giles to come get us to avoid walking home amid the winds, thunder and lightning. Peg and Jed, who kindly changed dinner time to 7:30 to accommodate the swimmers once again rearranged dinner time, and we feasted on a meal including fresh corn on the cob from the garden of a gentleman who works at the local lumberyard that Beth frequents daily.

And that brings us back to the Red Velvet Cake with chocolate ganache and strawberries, a fine place to end.

Rainy Day here in WV

So, this morning it's pouring out. Dave and I got soaked as we ran an early errand to Lowes, but no harm was done! Some supplies are being brought to us from the trailer site as there is a large indoor garage that we can work in. We have to cut some stringers for the deck stairs, so we are at least going to try and get that done. Some folks with indoor work have headed out, too. The forecasts are conflicted, so we don't really know if we'll get outside today or not. I'll write more as we know it.

For lunch, Dominoes is scheduled to deliver pizza, gratis. This is something they do for every work group that comes down. The folks here are so gracious and we are very blessed.

Friday night we have to vacate the gym at 4:30pm, so we are trying to decide what to do with ourselves for dinner and after. So far, the preference for dinner is a return to Dirty Ernie's and for after, choices range from shopping to a tour of New River Gorge, to a swimming party (we have access to a pool). So we'll see what the final decision is.

More later.....

It's Magic!

So, this is Julie again -- it turns out I am very enamored of writing on this blog, and Cindy A. has been nice enough to keep on letting me! She says I have to say it's me writing, though -- I guess juuuuuuust in case! One never knows what I might say!

So, as I am writing this, we have finished up dinner, and the team leaders for each work site/project have just finished meeting. The dish doing crew has also finished its work for the night...complete with a magic trick performed, inadvertently, by Gabe and me. We made a large tray disappear when it went through the dishwasher -- I put it in, we let it run, and when Gabe opened the door -- it was gone! Doris-Ann, Pam, Adam, Nancy, Jeff, Gabe and I were delighted with this unexpected magical moment -- and with the reappearance of the tray, after I shook the dishwasher's handle up and down a lot of times.

You have to take magic where you can find it!

We're actually working some other magic, all together, at our various work sites. Great progress has been made at "Kitten House." The windows have had trim built around them, and repairs to the decks at the house are underway. At "the Trailer" things continue to roll along apace, as well. Both the front and rear decks are well on their way to completion -- both have frames up and floor boards have begun to be placed and screwed in securely. Frames have also been built around half of the trailer's perimeter to which the skirt can be attached, and two panels of skirting are up (including a corner piece, which requires more finesse!). The new site, a house in set in the hills that was built as part of making quick housing available for coal miners working in the nearby coal mine (which has since closed), is also well-underway. Cindy S., Liz, Gloria, Lynette, and Bryan headed over there today and began painting the exterior the color chosen by the homeowner. Word has it that the she is delighted with the color thus far!

TODAY WAS SO SO SO SO SO INCREDIBLY HOT AND HUMID! Justin, who is one of our liaisons from the Methodist Volunteers in Mission (VIM) program, came by our site and told us that "today is going to be a scorcher." We asked what a scorcher down here means, and he told us 95 with high humidity. Given the summer we're having at home, that felt familiar -- BUT working in that weather all afternoon added a new touch of challenge to our day. Needless to say, everyone returned home hot, sweaty, and ready for some well-deserved showers.

Peg and Jed continue to keep us all well fed, with great assistance in the kitchen from Bettie and Jean. It's SO nice to come back for lunch or back from the whole day of work and find such wonderful food waiting for us!

As I am writing this, there are sounds of happy chatter behind me, the sounds of basketballs bouncing as youth and adults play knock-out and other games in the other half of this room (which happens to be a gym), people are reading, resting, and just generally in very good spirits.

Thank you all for your comments, your thoughts, and your prayers...we love hearing from all of you, and we're thinking of you and missing you all. We are especially missing Alyssa, Zach, Kim, and Nicki who all couldn't be with us due to last minute injuries...we wish you could be here!

Bye for now!

Toodles!

Love and hugs and stuff,
Julie

So much work done in so much heat!

It's Cindy here again, telling tales of Day 2. At the trailer, which is Darrell's home and the projects are 2 decks and skirting, much was accomplished. In fact, at least one of the decks will be done tomorrow, possibly both and maybe even the skirting, if we work very hard. A third job was indeed added. Right now, it is an outdoor painting job in an unincorporated town that was built to house coal miners. I'm told the ride to the site is quite scenic, but am also told that there is some racial tension in the mostly white neighborhood as more and more black neighbors move in. Perhaps, with God's help, everyone can learn to live in relative peace.

The food here continues to be amazing. Dinner tonight was baked chicken with homemade mashed potatoes and carrots. We haven't had it yet, but I'm told that dessert is Jed's creation of strawberry-blueberry shortcake! Betcha wish you were here!

Sleeping is going well, but here a rumor from the men's bedroom that a certain JT was sawing wood pretty hard last night...so hard that Giles had to leave and sleep outside the door to the room! Of course, JT completely denies this turn of events!

That will be all from me for tonight. I hope that Julie will consider chiming in later.

Work Day One -- So Much Got Done!

So, this is Julie writing on behalf of the group because Cindy A. was generous (and trusting!) enough to allow me to take a turn at blogging! 10:00 is lights out in the sleeping areas, so plenty of people who are tired from a very full day of work are preparing to head off to bed.

Everyone here is doing very well, and the group is in really spirits, feeling really good about how much was done today on our first day of work. We are working on two job sites right now, with another to be added tomorrow because we are burning through our work. One house (affectionately dubbed "The Kitten House," due to the presence of many -- you guessed it -- kittens!) got 8 beautiful brand new windows and an equally beautiful new front door AND screen/storm door. (If you have a storm door, appreciate it fully -- they are very complicated!) The other house (affectionately dubbed "The Trailer") is in need of a new deck/stairs in the front and back, as well as new skirting around the entire perimeter of the building. All three projects are well underway after today's work -- both old decks are completely demolished and removed, new support poles are cemented into newly dug holes at the front door, and a frame is being constructed to support the skirt. Everybody was excited to walk in the door after whistling our way home from work to smell a DELICIOUS dinner cooking -- prepared by Peg and Jed Raines. They have been keeping us incredibly well-fed, and Jed's homemade meatballs were a major highlight of the meal.

Of COURSE the entire group has been kept safe, on task, and on time by the impeccable leadership of the fearless Beth Loughhead.

Everyone continues to thoroughly enjoy mocking me for my deep-seated fear of chiggers. (NOT FUNNY -- THEY ARE REAL!) Pam is standing here and says "They are the tiniest little red spider you could ever see." Maybe so. But they still are bad!

After a group meeting, followed by a meeting of the youth, followed by trips to WalMart and Dairy Queen, the group is exhausted...off to bed we go! Thanks for checking in with us -- we'll try to post more soon! We miss everyone back home, and we hope all is well!

Good night!

Bye for now,
Julie

We are finally all together!

The Vosseler's and the Buchsbaum's have arrived and our group is now complete. We have just enjoyed a delicious baked ham dinner and are looking forward to brownie sundaes for dessert. We've also met with our work groups and are ready to begin at 8am tomorrow morning. Woo hoo!!!

Currently, we are assigned to 2 work sites. Hopefully, when Justin sees that we have mad skillz (!), he'll have more for us to do.

Word is that there are chiggers afoot. We haven't seen any yet but are quite sure that if anyone is going to get bitten, it will be Julie! Stay tuned for more on that front.

Speaking of Julie, she has promised to blog here later so you'll here from someone other than me...phew!

And oh, by the way, I meant to mention how green our drive here was. Through PA and western MD, the rolling hills looked like lush heads of broccoli just waiting to be picked. We were surprised at the greenness because there doesn't seem to be much water there. But for whatever reason, the trees were so vivid and alive. Despite our traffic troubles, the scenery was really beautiful.

As I write, many of the "boys" are playing basketball, while some folks read and others chat. The energy level is high and I think that folks are ready to get to work.

Oh, and I've heard that Beth might let us adopt a WV kitty to keep Sebastian company. Keep your fingers crossed!

Sunday Morning....

and we've just returned from church. It was a nice service where we received a very warm welcome. We are anxiously awaiting the arrival of the rest of our group. We anticipate that they will be here within the hour!

Heading out shortly to do the grocery shopping for dinner. Baked ham, scalloped potatoes, carrots from Ben's garden(!) and brownie sundaes for dessert...yum! So far, the food on this trip has been excellent.

I must say, what a joy to have so many showers and such good hot water this morning. What a difference from past trips.

That's all for now! Stay tuned....