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.