God's beauty in the midst of all the disaster! Wisteria blooming in all its glory!
Part of our Zionsville team, the kids did a great job working in the school play yard. Thanks Kids!
The rest of the team putting the new roof on Gladys's house! Women working on the roof - what a team!
Another bright, sunshiney day! We really did try and "sleep in" this morning but it just never works, we wake up anyway!
Monty got started working on the large cross that had been located on the stage area of the church. It was coming apart and in need of some TLC. He cleaned it and worked on getting it reattached at the T joint. Right now it is being held together with some clamps getting the adhesive to dry before we get in to trying to get some of the color back in to it. It has faded quite a bit over the years but should be looking great by the time we finish it.
We have been waiting on the semi with our drywall all week, the one that was supposed to be here this past Monday! We were told it should be here today or tomorrow and we had to make sure we were here so Monty could unload it. A little before noon we got word it had been snowed in somewhere up north and would not be here today! That gave us the opportunity to get away for the afternoon and take a breather before we start our 8 day stretch with volunteers. They all arrive tomorrow so it will definitely be a working day!
Scott came along with us and the dogs and we went back to Dauphin Island. The day was perfect for a day at the beach! Sunshine, breezy, white sand and white capping waves splashing on the beach! Just like our previous trip, the dogs had a blast and made a couple of new friends, both dog and human. They ran and ran and ran until they couldn't run any more. They love the edge of the water and also rolling in the sand! Scott decided to swim out to a nearby sandbar, well, not really all that nearby but he is quite a swimmer and had no problem. While out there he found alot of the hermit crabs running around in their shells. Monty and I walked up and down the beach with the dogs and met 2 people who are in the military and stationed here doing disaster relief. It was nice to talk with someone who understands what is going on, even if for only a few minutes.
We arrived back here around 5pm and first thing was to get the dogs cleaned up. They each got a bath and dinner and went straight to bed, where they still are 4 hours later! Monty did some more work on the cross and we then headed to dinner and an antique car show being held in a parking lot nearby. Most of the cars were pulling out by the time we got there but we did see some great ones. We ran into one of the school teachers from here, Kim, and she knew the people showing their cars. She pointed out 2 that had been under water during the storm. One was an old Thunderbird and the other an MGB. Both owners had completely cleaned them up and had them running. Kim also told us how they had just purchased one for themselves only 2 weeks before the storm and lost it to the storm. There had been so much loss just in this car show, things we don't think about! When I asked Kim why the people showing their cars would leave them outside on a night like tonight, so humid that anything exposed to the air was wet, like it had been hit with a garden hose, she said that everyone was just so glad to be out and doing something "normal" that it didn't make any difference. She said everyone had been changed by the storm and all of their loss that the humidity didn't matter anymore!
Even though we have been here for quite some time now, it still amazes me at how much was really lost. The car show made me think about an entirely different type of loss. We hear about the homes and furniture, the appliances and food, the clothes and the cars, but I hadn't thought of things like these antique cars. These are things that cannot be replaced and that were "fun" in people's lives. They haven't been able to really do anything that even resembled fun for months now and just to be able to get back in to it, even with vehicles that had been under water, meant the world to them. They could get together and laugh and not have to think about the storm, or atleast not as much as usual. But the loss is still there and permeates into everything in one way or another.
Closing with this thought I hope it gives us all the more reason to go to church tomorrow and give thanks for God, for what He has blessed us with and for us not being the ones suffering the losses from this hurricane! "There, but for the grace of God, go I."
Until tomorrow....the Lord's Day....a day for praise and worship....God bless! Susan and Monty
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