Happy Birthday Ms. Faye

Yes, today was Ms. Faye's birthday!!! We had the pleasure of taking her, her daughter and grandson to dinner this evening. The pictures are pretty self explanatory -- she had a great time! She told me that in all her 49 birthdays this was the FIRST one with a party!!

The plan was for both she and Mike to join us. That plan changed yesterday. Mike was re-admitted into the hospital (yes, for the 4th time in 5 weeks) and after a second opinion this evening they will now be amputating his entire leg!! I don't need to tell you just how upset Mike is and thus Faye. Not how she planned on spending a birthday and definitely not how Mike planned on spending the next few days and weeks and the rest of his life! I also don't need to tell you just how important your prayers are now! Monty and I will be heading to the hospital tomorrow. Faye asked Monty if he could speak some words of encouragement to Mike! Your prayers will speak louder than any verbal words!

I spoke with Joe, their upcoming builder and the plan is to keep Mike and Faye from seeing any part of the home while it is being built! Sort of like "move that bus" on the TV show Extreme Makeover? I wasn't sure how Faye would take to that idea but she agreed that it would make it more exciting for them. Joe said all workers would know what her car looked like and would be "watching" for "drive - bys"! :)

Our church here, The Refuge, will be cooking and providing 2 meals per shift for all of the workers every day!!!! What an amazing way to show God's love in a practical way! Good Southern cooking for each meal? You know what they say about the way to a man's heart.....

Our NC team was busy as usual today. The second row of photos are taken at Rosemary's. They are nearly completed with painting (the whole house) and will be done tomorrow. The girls that had been helping Melinda got finished and so they will be picking up with the painting tomorrow. I don't know if you can tell in these photos but the color is beautiful, a light sage green. Diane got to see it for the first time in a couple of weeks and was really happy with it! It is awesome and this team has been a stickler for details and it shows!

The next row of photos is the group that has been tiling at Dane's. The floors are complete, only the sealer being finished up now. The photo you see is the awesome craftsmanship of a father and son team on Dane's tub area in his master bath. These two men took the idea and plan that Dane gave them and turned it into a masterpiece! This type of work was much more difficult and tedious than doing the floors and it is amazing! They said Dane made 4 - 5 trips back to the house (from work) just to keep up with the progress! Once again, their attention to details has multiplied a blessing!

The bottom row is our girls who arrived Wednesday morning and who have been working at Melinda's. You can see the furniture in the background. This is what they have been cleaning. The furniture came from her father and has quite a fantastic history to it. It was so important to her to save and these girls made that possible! They put on their masks, goggles and gloves and did amazing work!

I have a special note about Harry and Ilone's house. It's GONE!!! Yes, it has been torn down and the plans are in the works for the style of the new one they will be building! As I drove by and noticed it was gone Ilone saw me outside (that happens when you have Convoy on your truck) and insisted I come in for a visit. This has not been easy for her as her life was in that house and she needs time to grieve for her loss. She cried a bucket of tears while I was there but also knows they will be getting something even better. She was so thankful to the Bedford, Indiana team for all the help they gave them and sends their love to each of you -- you know who you are!

We thank each and every member of each and every team who have come here, who have served, who have loved others, who have been "stretched", who have blessed others, who have been blessed, who have CHANGED LIVES!!!!!

Until tomorrow..... Susan and Monty