Girls

Tuesday morning we were up and at it again. After the usual lunch packing, truck packing and breakfast eating, and devotional, we were on our way. Our first stop was to check out a new job near Jasper. At first we were not sure if it was a man's house or a woman's as the name was Jonnie, we discovered upon meeting that Jonnie Joe was a sweet older lady (78) who needed only minor repairs done to her home. Much of the other work from the storm had been completed a while back. She was in her bedroom when the tornado hit and a very large tree that was next to her house fell down onto the roof. She was unable to get out of the house until help came. She was without power for two months but was able to use the barbecue for cooking and said it wasn't that bad. This was the first home we have encountered yet that was clean and smelled nice. Jonnie Joe is such a sweet dear lady and as we listened she told us how since she found The Lord, later in her life that God has been such a blessing to her. Her parents had four girls prior to her birth and really wanted a boy so instead they gave her both her grandfathers names.

Our second job, a new one as well, was to replace the drywall in the ceiling of an older gentleman's living room. This home was extremely smoked in and I found the smell to be quite bothersome to me. We helped move out the furniture, plastic the floor and together with our girls we ripped down the crown moulding and brought down the old drywall. We wore masks for this job and I know without the mask I wouldn't have been able to stay in the house. Tim had a bit of a challenge taking down the ceiling fan, and once it was down and the drywall removed he knew why. He did fix it before putting up the new drywall.

We did manage to make a trip to Home Depot and purchase drywall and drive it back and bring it into the house all while it was raining. Together we put the new drywall up before cleaning up the mess and heading back to camp.

This Wednesday morning I woke up not feeling too well, was not sure if it was the smoke smell from the house the day before or what is was but I decided to stay back and try to get better. I ended up having a three hour nap in the afternoon which then kept me up at night. Tim and the girls were able to apply one coat of mud but since it was still raining a bit they were unable to do another coat. They did manage to give the walls two coats of primer. Then there were able to go back to the first home we worked on and clean up the yard now that a new empty dumpster had finally arrived.

I had hoped that I would be feeling better this morning but no such luck, so I read a bit then had my three hour nap before lunch in the hopes of falling asleep at a more reasonable time tonight. Tim took only two girls with him today as that was all he needed. They sanded, mudded, installed crown moulding, primed the ceiling and gave everything a nice soft yellow coat of paint. Job well done and completed!

This evening we had two people from the Walker County Recovery Team come and share with us after supper. It was good to hear how not only was MDS a good help in teaching them how to help but also the impact the volunteers have made not only in repairing homes but also giving hope to the people, many who have gone on to help others. This group brought some delicious pie, of course I am just getting that information from Tim as I cannot eat any of it right now. It looked sooo good!

One of the non-Mennonite girls allowed herself to be dressed up in Old Order Mennonite clothes and she was so sweet about it. Then all the girls and some men went out to play volleyball. These girls are such a delight, so sweet and kind and loving and a lot of fun.

Time for me to call it a night and get some sleep.

Thank you Lord for music to worship and glorify you.