Catching up - Part II

We're here in Guadalupe River State Park. It's extremely dry here so the water level is really low but it's still a beautiful place. During the summer, this is a hot spot to float down river on tubes. Right now the water is a little cool. We're enjoying our quiet time here but have both caught head colds so our hiking activities have been curtailed. We drove up to Fredericksburg, TX on Tuesday. The Hill Country is really beautiful. Rolling hills covered in live oaks, mesquite, and cedar trees. Lots of cattle, sheep, goats and very little water. Most ponds are almost dry. The weather has been beautiful. Highs in the 70's with light winds and lows in the 40's. Clear blue skies and low humidity. It's really nice. We tromped around Fredericksburg (LOTS of little boutique stores and eateries) and headed towards Pedernales Falls State Park near Johnson City, TX. It's another lovely park where the water has eroded into the stone cliffs around it. Again the water levels were low so there was very little water at the falls. The park has a very nice bird blind where we spent about an hour watching the birds. Got home about dark. It's New Years Eve tonight. No special parties here -- we'll probably be in bed by 10 pm -- we're pooped! Having trouble with telephone and internet connections out here - hope this post uploads. HAPPY NEW YEAR TO EVERYONE!

Catching Up

Hello everyone! Hope your Christmas was wonderful! We've been in Houston since the 15th enjoying family and sightseeing. Our Christmas was really nice. We tried to get back to the basics for this Christmas. The only Christmas decorations in Barnabas were a couple of decorated jingle bells we received on Christmas gifts and Christmas cards we received. That was it -- no tree, no presents, no cookies & treats. We really tried to focus on the simple gifts of Christmas. We did have a tree & decorations at my sister's house as well as lots to eat. Linda and Mandy actually cooked a turkey and the trimmings on Christmas day. WOW! It must have been good - it disappeared! We've seen lots of birds we don't normally see -- flocks of parrots on the lawn in our campground, white pelicans, roseated spoonbills (look like flamingos with green heads), and lots of seagulls. We would have loved to caught a couple of the parrots for Pastor Jake but they were very noisy and I'm sure they would have disturbed his nap times at home. :-) We also traveled around the area surveying the damage from Hurricane Ike. It's amazing how much repair and clean up has been done in just three months. In Mandy's area - it looks as though there was very little damage, some fences and roofs which have all been repaired. Closer to the water, there is more damage but mostly on waterfront houses. Galveston was hit a little harder. The damage there is a lot easier to see. Any house on the waterfront has been damaged. A lot of the palm trees have been blown down and most plants damaged from the salt water that covered them. The beaches have been heavily eroded and in some places have disappeared. Galveston's sea wall held but it is just cement and rocks now - no beach. They'll have a lot of work to repair all the beaches. We didn't get out to the Bolivar Peninsula (which is up the coast from Galveston - north). I understand it is still quite bad up there. The attitude here is much different than in New Orleans. In New Orleans, they are still trying to repair the area three years after the hurricane. There is a kind of despair. In Texas, it's a "let's roll up our sleeves" & "git er done" feeling just three months after the hurricane. Amazing!
Tomorrow we head for Guadalupe River State Park (north of San Antonio) for several days.

Another Fun Saturday

Today was another fun sightseeing day. We started the day driving through the New Orleans Southern Baptist Seminary. They have a really pretty campus there with a lovely chapel and large live oak trees. They have a Lifeway store there also so we just had to stop and shop for a short while. :-) Then we found our way onto the Pontchartrain Causeway. It's a 20+ mile bridge from the south shore to the north shore of the lake. Found a Backyard Burger restaurant for lunch in Mandeville and enjoyed a good lunch topped off with blackberry cobbler and ice cream! YUM! Drove to Fontainebleau State Park - a wonderful place. Enjoyed extremely large live oak trees just covered with moss and resurrection ferns, lots of birds (golden eagles, great horned owls, egrets, ducks, pelicans and lots of little birds flitting all over the place). Spent a good amount of time with GreyHawk Perkins, a Choctaw Indian, who works at the Visitors' Center, listening to his stories and watching him make wooden implements and an arrowhead. Could have stayed longer. It was a truly beautiful place. We were lucky enough to be returning on the causeway at sunset and caught the picture of the pelican at sunset above. What a wonderful day! Tomorrow it's church at 9:30 am and then move Barnabas along to Sulphur, LA on the way to Houston.

Oh No! Snow in New Orleans!

Well we tried to go far enough south this winter to avoid the snow....but God had other plans. New Orleans was treated to "measurable" snow on Thursday, Dec. 11. Great big flakes began falling around 7:30 am and continued until about noon. The ground was warm enough that it didn't stick (at least on the south shore) but it did cover the cars. Everyone here at Operation NOAH Rebuild was going nuts about the snow like little kids - making snow balls & freezing them, going out and taking pictures. It was great! The children across the street at school were literally "screaming" out in the playground. It was all very exciting. I guess when you get snow every 4-6 years it's something to rejoice. No worries though - the next day all the snow was gone and it was a beautiful 60 degrees. Andy & I could learn to enjoy snow like this! We finished up the week--Andy working at the warehouse organizing and building shelves -- Linda in the office working on Excel and Quickbooks to finalize the inventory. Thursday night we were treated to a lovely dinner and drive around town to some of the "hot" spots. It was a good two weeks but we are looking forward to traveling toward Houston on Sunday.

French Quarter

Started out the morning with worship at Calvary Baptist. It was neat to walk to church -- we're just across the parking lot from them. Had good worship - sang a lot of Christmas songs together. The sermon was on a Simple Christmas -- good words to remember -- the simple things -- like home, family & friends!! Came home and jumped into Little Red and headed for the French Quarter. Not much has changed here since our last visit. Lots of people, lots of stuff happening, lots of drinking. The New Orleans Saints were having a home game -- the Superdome is right downtown -- but we didn't have much trouble with the traffic and "wiggled" our way thru downtown to the French Quarter. NONE of the roads here are straight or go straight east/west or north/south. It's a mess. Everything "bends" with the river! Walked by Cafe Du Monde which is famous for it's Cafe Au La'it and Biegnets (ben/yays). I don't know why -- it's just REALLY strong coffee and powdered sugar over fried biscuits :-). Had lunch at The Market Cafe -- shared a Muffeletta and two bottles of water. I think we were the only ones drinking WATER at the cafe. Everyone was well behaved but certainly not sober. They had a great Dixieland Jazz band playing so we sat in the sun there for awhile and enjoyed the music, the sun, and the 70 degree temperatures. Was really nice. Took a walk around Jackson Square (the picture above) and walked thru the St. Louis Cathedral. Beautiful paintings on the ceilings! The walk around Jackson Square had all sorts of "characters". We had musicians, live statues, period costume strollers, and a very talented group of street dancers. Spent a little time walking along the river, watching the barges go by and headed back to the car. All in all a good walking trip - nothing too outrageous -- and the Saints (the home team) won! Tomorrow it's back to the inventory.

Plantation Fun

Today we went on an excursion west of New Orleans to several plantations. The first was the Laura Plantation, an old Creole plantation started in 1755 in Vacherie, LA. It was a great tour and a very intriguing look into Creole society and early slavery. Spent most of the morning tromping around thru the buildings and learning about its history. We then went up river (everything here is up/down river!!) to Oak Alley. Talk about culture shock! Where the Laura Plantation was a working sugar cane plantation -- Oak Alley was built for entertaining wealthy friends from New Orleans. With a 1/2 mile live oak gallery in front, rooms with 12-1/2 foot ceilings, and decorated for Christmas, Oak Alley was truly beautiful.

Had lunch at Oak Alley - Allegator Nuggets & Chicken and Sausage Gumbo soup followed up with Key Lime pie! Yum! Drove back to New Orleans along the river road - past fields where farmers were burning off the remnants from the sugar cane harvest, past a nuclear power plant, and miles of river! Had a good day tromping around the plantations.

Is it an earthquake?

Forgot to mention an interesting effect we have here at Fort Calvary. Our first night here in New Orleans, we would have sworn that we were having earthquakes! The ground here is mostly river silt/sand with a high water level. Some would call it "gumbo" but not the soup you eat. With the interstate / bridge / highways close by -- when the large trucks roll by -- the ground SHAKES! There it goes again! This takes a little getting used to. The garbage collection truck was especially fun. Then you have the fire station that's less than a block away. They must have a lot of fires in this city because the fire squad is running all hours of the day and night. Friday night was a lot of fun too with the BOOM boom BOOM of the radios and the nearby high school football game. Needless to say - it's not rural Indiana where we're sleeping (or trying to sleep). This city life would take some getting used to! Somehow the coyotees we have back in Indiana don't seem so bad now..... :-)

Operation NOAH Rebuild

We worked at one of the warehouses for Operation NOAH Rebuild this week doing inventory. Operation Noah Rebuild is a three-year partnership project (through August 2009) between New Orleans churches and associations, the Louisiana Baptist Convention, and the North American Mission Board to help New Orleans in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. Volunteers are needed to rebuild homes; start, restart, or strengthen churches; and reach people with the good news of Jesus Christ. Just driving from our campsite to the warehouse (about 15 miles from the downtown area to East New Orleans) you see many damaged houses that have not yet been repaired or have been abandoned. We were not prepared for all the damage that still remains. Hurricane Katrina hit this area August of 2005. Over three years later, much work still remains to be done. East New Orleans is especially still in disrepair. On our way to the warehouse, we pass repaired houses -- then 3 or 4 boarded up and abandonded ones. The water in this area got up to about 5 feet. I don't know how long it stayed that high but you can imagine the damage. Some people will never return. :-( We counted lumber, painting supplies, respirators, rubber boots and earplugs -- doors, windows, beds, bathroom fixtures -- and you got it -- PLUMBING supplies! At least Andy knew what everything was -- to me it's just a piece of plastic - but to him -- it's a 3/4" to 1/2" reducing Y coupler??? or something like that! Had fun working with him, the Warehouse staff (Ron & David) and the other helpers. I've never seen so many different types of screws/nails. I'm lucky that I know the difference between phillips and common screws let alone deck, galvanized, roofing, shingle, etc.! By the end of the day, we saw visions of dancing 2x4's and drywall trowels in our heads! The weather has been nice though. We've seen daily highs from 50 to 70's! LOVING IT! Heard that Indiana had some snow -- too bad! :-)

Heading to New Orleans

We had an interesting trip into New Orleans. Left Shreveport after church on Sunday (11/30). Attended First Baptist Bossier City - good singing - good sermon - but not a single person said hello or greeted us. Not a mega church but there were at least 500 people there. Kinda sad! Went back to Barnabas and headed south. It was windy today and Andy had a time keeping Barnabas on the road. We stopped for the night in Marksville, LA (at another casino)! What can we say! They have great spots with all the bells for a minimum amount -- and we don't even have to go into the casino. Spent a quiet, uneventful night there and headed for New Orleans in the am. It was WINDY again so it was slower going than we had planned. The country here is really different that southern Indiana. We drove past swamps, mile after mile of pine trees, more swamp, bayou, and etc. Started seeing palm trees today so we know we're getting to warmer country. Drove approximately 20 miles on an elevated 4 lane highway over swamp/waterway/more swamp! Skirted around the western side of Lake Ponchetrain while the tide was out so we saw a lot of mud and shore birds. I'll have to get my bird book out and look some of them up -- we don't have these in Indiana! We managed to follow our directions fine all the way to downtown New Orleans and then took US 90 East instead of US 90 Business. Guess what! It dropped us off of the interstate and right down into town just north of the French Quarter. OOPS! When we passed one of the St. Louis cemetaries I knew we were in trouble. Somehow managed to find our way back thru all the one way streets and back up onto I-10, across the Crescent City Bridge and over to Westbank where our campground is. We're parked at Fort Calvary -- a RV park next to Calvary Baptist Church. Thank goodness for Google Earth where I scoped out all the roads and the church location the night before! It really helped. We'll start work tomorrow at the warehouse. Kinda noisy here close to the bridge and interstate. Hope we'll sleep....

Thanksgiving

Today is Thanksgiving and we’re heading to Ron & Deborah’s home for some more of Deborah’s great cooking. So far we’ve had North Carolina barbeque and homemade lasagna – both delicious and worthy of praise. We’re really looking forward to turkey today and spending more time with them enjoying their company and remembering old family stories. We wanted to post today and give thanks for all the blessings that God has given us. We are so thankful for the blessings of life, health, family & friends, safety on the road, and living in a country where we can worship without fear of persecution. But we’re mostly thankful for the blessing of salvation – that God loved us so much that he would sacrifice his only Son for us – that act is beyond our comprehension. We send love and hugs to all our friends and family on this Thanksgiving. May God continue to bless each of us in the coming year and may we be truly thankful.

Cleaning & Travel day

Monday was a “clean up” day in Barnabas. The morning was cloudy with a promise of rain so Andy headed outside to give Barnabas and Little Red a quick bath to get rid of all the coal dust and dirt from the roads in Kentucky and Tennessee. Linda worked on dusting and cleaning up the inside of Barnabas. Didn’t realize how big the front windows were until we started cleaning them!! Linda accidentally “beeped” the horn twice while cleaning the front window – which made Andy jump! :-) Andy managed to get both vehicles washed before it started raining and we spent several hours in Barnabas watching the rain on the lake and working on bible study. Went for a short walk late in the afternoon after the rain. All in all, a good productive but relaxing day. Tuesday was another travel day – from Jackson, MS to Shreveport, LA. We had good roads and little traffic so it was a pleasant experience. Pulled into Diamond Jack’s casino around 3 pm, called Andy’s brother Ron, and spent the evening with them in their beautiful home in Bossier City (a northern suburb of Shreveport).

Natchez Trace

Got up early this morning and traveled from Jackson, MS to Natchez, MS about a three hour drive. Natchez is one of the few southern cities that was not destroyed in the Civil War. We arrived, checked out the Welcome Center, and headed for a picnic spot by the Mississippi river. Enjoyed a simple lunch of PB&J sandwiches, Pringles, bananas and Brownie Bites! Drove around Natchez and saw some amazing houses dating back to the early 1800’s. The entire downtown section (close to the river) is a historic area and we really enjoyed traveling thru it. Next, we headed for the town cemetery which contained some really old and historic gravesites. Headed for the Natchez Trace about 2:30 pm. The Natchez Trace was used by “Kaintucks” or boatmen from the Ohio River Valley. They would float their wooden boats down the rivers to Natchez, sell their goods and lumber from the boat, and then walk approximately 500 miles up the Natchez trace to Nashville, Tennessee, in about 35 days. This was through territory that contained sometimes hostile Indians, robbers, and road hazards. We visited an Indian mound (the 2nd largest in the US) and the Mount Locust Historic Inn (which is on the Natchez Trace and served as an inn for travelers in the early 1800’s). Unfortunately, it gets dark here around 5 pm and we didn’t get a chance to explore all the areas of this portion of the Trace before it got dark. Headed back to Barnabas extremely thankful that we didn’t have to walk back home like the early “Kaintucks”.

View from the bedroom window

We woke up this morning to a beautiful view from our bedroom window. The sunlight was streaming through the trees and reflecting off of the lake – wonderful! Were able to sleep in an extra hour since we changed time zones yesterday – what slugs we’ve become! We started the morning with a leisurely breakfast watching the birds out of our windows and planning our day. We don’t have any internet access here so we’ll have to try to upload these blogs closer to Jackson. That’s a small price to pay for the beauty and tranquility here at the lake. It’s still cool here – about 40 and breezy. We still haven’t found the warm weather we’re looking for. Plan to go sightseeing this afternoon and check out the surrounding area. We don't have internet access here at the park so we may be offline for a couple of days.

Four States -- One Day!

Today was a big travel day thru four states: Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi! Whew – no wonder we’re tired this evening. Started the morning spending about an hour in Camping World and headed out. We drove past Lookout Mountain and thought of our Builders for Christ trip in 2007. Our roads first thing in the morning were terrible! Thought we were going to shake the fillings out of our teeth! Ka-thump ka-thump KA-THUMP ka-thump for almost 100 miles. It was so bad that we were seriously considering getting off the interstate and finding another road. Praise God that it ended and the rest of the roads were great. Drove until about 4 pm and parked in Roosevelt State Park on the east side of Jackson, Mississippi. It’s a beautiful, relatively undeveloped park with loads of pine trees and a lake. We’re parked right on the water with 50 amp power, water and sewer. Popped a pizza in the oven and called it a night.

Leaving Haven of Rest

This morning we left Haven of Rest and headed to Chattanooga (partially to try to get to warmer climates – it has been COLD here). The range horses came up to say goodbye. They’ve become great friends with Andy – probably because he feeds them apples! We had another good southern breakfast – bisquts and gravy – and said our goodbyes to Eileen, Ann, Forest, Harvey, Miss Izzy and Mr. Grunt (the last two being the Haven’s two dogs). It’s been a wonderful two weeks here – working where God is working. We traveled through some really beautiful country today -- out of the hills of Kentucky and along the hills of Tennessee most of the day. Arrived in Chattanooga around 5 pm and quickly found our campground. Plugged in, settled in, and are planning on heading for Jackson, Mississippi tomorrow for a couple of days of recharging before Thanksgiving. It continues to amaze us how God protects and provides for us on a daily basis i.e. a sudden opening in traffic for us to merge over three lanes and make the exit we needed and clearing traffic around us during a particularly tight construction zone. We also were excited to learn that Camping World (a “toy store” for RVers) is less than a mile away! We’ll have to stop there before leaving Chattanooga tomorrow morning. Eileen from Haven of Rest called us early in the evening and told us that they passed their plumbing inspection! Halleljuah! God is good!!

Plumbing & cold!

Well hello again! Sorry for so long between posts but our internet access is very limited. Let's give you a quick update on what we've been doing here in the hills of Kentucky. We've been working on the water system for a 19 room dormitory here at Haven of Rest. The final water pressure test was Thursday night. Thanks to all of you who prayed us thru this testing! We only had three leaks - two where nails had penetrated the water pipes and one where a joint was not sealed! That's a celebration when you consider all of the various volunteers who have worked on this project. With those three items repaired, we've been working on all the "millions" of items that need to be done before our inspection on Thursday (11/20). We've been filling floor drains, fixing leaks on faucets, toilets, sinks (you name it--it had small leaks), replacing defective sinks/toilets, installing faucets, dryer vents, hooking up stoves and dishwashers. It's amazing to see that through it all, God has kept us cooperative and working together as a team with no "I or me" and finger pointing but "WE" working toward the completion of this dormitory! Praise God for that one! The country here is beautiful -- I'll post pictures later. We've gotten cold tho and are hoping that our propane will hold out thru Wednesday night. We've had just a dusting of snow here but that's enough for us -- we're ready to head south!! I guess we'll be leaving here on Thursday (11/20) and heading for Shreveport, LA via Chattanooga. We've got 5 days to meander towards Shreveport where we'll spend Thanksgiving with Andy's brother Ron. Looking forward to some time off. It's been spiritually filling working here and God has truly been blessing but it's also been physically draining. Both Andy and I are fighting colds/bronchitis and would welcome your prayers for health and physical endurance. Love to you all. Please continue to send emails as we LOVE to hear from you all. Linda & Andy

We're here!

Greetings from Inez, Kentucky. We arrived safely Thursday evening after traveling thru some really beautiful country. They have HILLS here! We've already been put to work. They are trying to get their 18 room dormatory completed by Thanksgiving. Andy worked on Friday finishing up some gas pipeline and getting it to the hot water heaters. I scrubbed down all the outside furniture and did cleanup around the site. On Saturday, we roughed in a form to pour cement for a 4x6 stoop for the back door. I guess we'll be working on cement when the weather gets warmer. It's COLD here. Friday was beautiful but the rain caught us and brought the cold weather. We had 32 degrees here last night. It's windy on top of the mountain. We're at approximately 2,000 feet above sea level so it gets cold at night. We had a great day of worship yesterday at a Baptist church in Inez. Good singing and a pastor that got wound up! Had a big lunch and then rested up in Barnabas the rest of the day. Today it's back to work. We've enjoyed "loving" on the people here. Today was a celebration day as one of the inmates was released today (after serving 15 years). We had a small celebration with him and his family here at the Haven, prayed over them, and sent them on their way back to Alabama. So many people here with the need not to be judged but just to be loved on. We've got sporatic cell phone coverage (sometimes you'll get sent directly to voice mail) and NO internet coverage. I've begged some time today to get a post out so you all know we made it ok. Great news on the vote for Pastor Jason Harris! We're envious that we won't be around to love on him until March/April but know you'll do a great job until we get back. Love to all. I'll try to post again later in the week and maybe send pictures.

Sleeping in the Driveway

Well we're finally loaded -- everything is in Barnabas and ready to go. . . . . .in the morning. We just ran out of daylight today. So we're sleeping in Barnabas tonight -- not out on the road in some swanky RV park but in our own driveway! Does that still count as "camping"? Surprisingly, after all the clothes, food, water, fuel, and miscellaneous household goods we've packed into Barnabas -- he's not overweight. We could add another 4,000 lbs of "stuff" and still be within equipment capacity. We're extremely excited about out starting out on our "journey" with Barnabas tomorrow. Heading out into the hills of Appalachia in Eastern Kentucky to work at Haven of Rest Family Ministries. We're going to be close to Loretta Lynn's birthplace in Butcher Holler so you know we'll be in the hills. Hopefully we'll have cell phone signal at our campsite and will be able to continue on the blog during the next two weeks. Much love to all.

A Home for Gracie & Updates

After much prayer, God has provided a home for our little Gracie. A Christian family in Jasper has graciously offered to let her join their family. They are a young couple with two children, a girl 4 and a boy 1, with a fenced in back yard. They are "dog" people who will love on her and enjoy her. It won't be long before she'll be queen of the house. Thanks to all who prayed with us through this search. We're still checking things off of our "to do" lists but we are getting toward the bottom. Friday was my last day at FBC and Andy is finishing up at Home Depot this week. The organizing phase is almost complete and we're starting to load stuff into Barnabas. We've confirmed our first ministry opportunity - it's in eastern Kentucky - and are getting excited and ready to go. Thanks to all who have loved on us over the last several weeks. The Commissioning, food, game nights, food, cards & gifts, food, fellowship, food, Wii contests, and FOOD have been so appreciated and wonderful. May God continue to bless all of you.

The Countdown Begins!

Well, we've finally zeroed in on the day we plan to leave Jasper. Looks like Monday, November 3rd is the current projected "take off" date. That leaves us a little over 30 days to get everything wrapped up. I wanted to at least post a picture of our mode of transportation for all to see. We've named him Barnabas - a merging of "Barney" cause he's purple on the bottom and "bus" cause he's a big rectangular bus rolling down the road! We've spent about 2 1/2 weeks in him and we're getting close to getting all the systems tested and the bugs worked out. Now we're working on getting all our "stuff" packed in. Now -- the adventure REALLY begins!!