Crash Landing

I fully meant to blog last night but plans changed . . .

We started off very early heading to Galveston to check on our team that was going to work in AJ's house installing trim, boxing windows and casing them out and painting outside. They showed up full of energy and were doing a fantastic job when we stopped by again late in the morning.

While there I received a call from Erin with Help4Galveston. There was a young mother at the local Ronald McDonald house whose newborn was well enough to be released from the hospital but she didn't have an infant carseat to take her home. Erin asked me to run and pick one up at Walmart and deliver it to the House. What a blessing this was -- the mother and baby were able to go home and start their lives together. Praise God for agencies who are able to do things like this for those in need!

Right after lunch we headed to Clear Lake which is on the south side of Houston. This church stepped up and took on 7 homes after CORE relief effort left the area. The church and it's members are not only doing the labor but they are providing the materials for these homes. They are down to the final 4 and we needed to get an update as to where they are. It was great to get to meet and know the people in charge of these projects. They are amazing and are blessing these homeowners so much! What we need to do is go to the Un met needs table and request funds to purchase appliances for each home -- should be an easy project as this is what those funds are set aside for!

After making a couple more stops in San Leon to check on a couple of projects and pick up a couple of documents from homeowners we were home. We had about an hour before needing to head out again to get a couple of evening things done.

That is when the crash landing occurred . . .

I had both our dogs on leashes, the stretchy kind, and we were headed out the trailer door. Samson saw a neighbor dog that I did not see and before I could get both feet on the first of our 4 trailer steps he bolted out the door and to the right --- and I continued to hold onto the leashes!!! Within a split second I had crashed from that top step, fallen to the right, landed on top of both our lawn chairs (broke both of them into pieces), hit the ground with my head, turned a complete flip (no kidding) and landed on my side. I knew I must have broken both or either my hip or head as the pain was severe and I couldn't even figure out where I was! Monty had been outside and saw the whole thing and couldn't believe what he saw! Nothing is broken but my body is turning colors that shouldn't even be seen on a human body! My hip is beyond belief and the pain equals that but nothing broken. My head has not one but two large golf ball size bumps on it and I finally picked all the gravel out of it. Both arms and both legs are scraped but together. Samson . . . well . . . lets just say he was intent on catching that dog and had no idea what had just happened! Bitty knew in a flash and would not leave my side!

So now you know why I didn't get to the computer last night!

This morning we headed out for another morning appointment. Our team continued working away at AJ's, today was their last day!

This afternoon we met with an incoming team that will number over 100 when they all arrive. They are from churches all over the southeastern side of Texas and do outreaches each summer with their youth. They have a multitude of projects lined up and were looking at the demo of a horse barn that was destroyed in the storm. They will evaluate all the skills of those coming in and then let us know. What a week they will have and many folks will be blessed by their efforts.

From there we headed to Jerry's house to do an assessment. We met Jerry at Walmart. He and the gentleman he cares for go to Walmart each day -- just to sit on the bench and watch the people! Jerry hasn't had anything but a bit of gutting done to his house. He doesn't know what to do with it and after our visit we must break the news to him that it is definitely NOT rebuildable! It's beyond repair. Ceilings and floors falling through, walls coming in and the entire house has literally fallen from it's short piers and is sitting on the ground. It is our hope that Jerry will continue to keep the FEMA money he received and we will entertain the thought of getting the old home torn down and build a new one, a smaller one, for him. Pray for Jerry as he is elderly and this is a difficult situation and time for him. He told Monty on the phone that he knew God directed us to him that morning in Walmart! We agreed! God does that sort of thing all the time.

Tomorrow is the 1 year anniversary of the flooding that happened in my hometown of Columbus, Indiana and the reason we spent last summer there helping them get rebuilt. Our thoughts and prayers are with them as most churches will be marking the anniversary tomorrow. We send our blessings to Columbus First Assembly, the church that so graciously allowed us to live in their parking lot all summer. They are now completely rebuilt and will have quite the celebration tomorrow! We pray God's blessings on them and will be thinking of you all day and wishing we could be there with you to help celebrate the blessings of God!

Until next time . . . be blessed! Susan and Monty