5 Tons of Blessings

For the first part of this week we find ourselves "teamless." It happens. There were two teams on the schedule, one from the Presbytarian camp and one from UMCOR, both of which ran into complications and cancelled.

So this is the week where I play catch up and also plan for next week at the same time.

Yesterday started with a phone call that was literally 5 tons of blessings. Sandy, the construction coordinator for UMCOR who runs volunteers on the island of Galveston, called saying he had a donated AC unit, a 5 ton one! And then the question I was hoping for, "do you have a home for it?" Do I have a home???????

We headed off to the island, got some help from some guys in the parking lot to load it into my truck and away we went. We knew "the" home would be Hsilda's home. We already had the bid from our HVAC man, he planned on a 4 ton unit so this would be great. When I called him to discuss what we had he said "free is always good." A man who knows the reality of working in disaster recovery!

We had the help we needed to get it into the truck and now we needed to get it out of the truck. All it took was one call to Mariano - they live around the corner from Hsilda and he and Maria, along with Hsilda's husband and a friend of theirs got it unloaded and up on the deck. Not an easy job but they made it! Now our HVAC man will come and take a look at it and rewrite the bid. And we will have a substantial savings to go along with the amazing blessing!

The unit is only 3 years old and still under warranty! Thanks for the awesome answer to prayer Lord!

Today was our monthly Long Term Recovery meeting. One of the main focuses is always funding. There is more coming down the pipe line but that pipe is a long one so we all keep going with what we have, pinching every penny when we can and pray for the pipe to shorten -- someday! It's always good to hear the uplifting stories from the other organizations "in the trenches." As the UMCOR main case manager, Lee, and I talked we realized that UMCOR itself has nearly 100 homes in process!!!!! Amazing!!!!

I had to stop at Lowes to finalize the order of cabinets and flooring for Martha and Steven. It's that planning for next week thing. I have a sample of the flooring, a peel and stick tile, to take to Martha and Steven to make sure they like it. We use the peel and stick as it makes it easier for volunteers and looks great when it's completed.

Monty continues working in the box truck, both repairing and rebuilding the box portion so it can be used in all sorts of ways. We can haul things, we can store things, we can help move families . . . you name it and we can put it to use! Another of those surprise blessings.

We thank all of you for reading, for supporting, for volunteering, for praying!!!

Until next time . . . be blessed and bless someone else! Susan and Monty