Thanksgiving Week and Blessings from the Week Before

These are the groups that we were blessed with last week.  1st Baptist Mooresville, Oak Grove Baptist from Boone, Sandy Plains Baptist from Gastonia and Kingdom Builders from Fletcher.  Debbie shows the church ladies how to make potato candy.

Sheetrock finishing began, more siding was hung and steps were built.

The number of volunteers has been few this week but GOD's work continues.  Even Ann took most of the week off to spent time at home with our daughter Kim and her husband Brandon.  They were in from Ohio for Thanksgiving.  This week we finished hanging sheet rock in the third house.  The siding is complete on two homes.  The electricians began finalizing the wiring.  Lots of clean up has been done and supplies moved around in preparation for the large number of volunteers expected next week.   

After next week we don’t have any teams scheduled to volunteer.  Please consider coming to Colerain for a few days to help finish these homes in time for Christmas.

Two Weeks in a Row

Last week was great and this week is also going good with 44 volunteers.  We have volunteers from Gastonia, Mooresville, Boone,  Asheville, Clayton, Durham and Momeyer.  Sheetrock is being hung in two homes.  Vinyl is being installed on three of the homes.  Exterior trim is being formed and installed.  Plumbing is being worked on in two homes.  It’s good to see so many volunteers coming together for meals in our dining hall in the Colerain Fire Dept. Training Center. The food has been delicious too. 

Please continue to pray for the work and volunteers as we try to follow GOD's call and witness to the people in this area.  We have had two new local volunteers to start helping this week and another today asked how he could get involved.

A Good Week in Colerain

Another blessed week in Colerain.

As of Friday volunteers have finished the Mitchell house framing and started the shingles, plumbing and electric.

The shingles at the Early house were completed as well as more of the vinyl.

Insulation has been installed at the Williams house.

Doors and windows have been installed in the Bond house.

Vacation and Back to Colerain

Last week Ann took some R & R with Marsha and Debra.  They went to Massantutten Resort where they got to see snow on the fall foliage.  I joined her on Wednesday afternoon.  We took a trip to Natural Bridge, rode on part of the Blue Ridge Parkway and went to see the movie Courageous.

While we were gone the work continued in Colerain. The Bond house is framed waiting on front porch and shingles.

The Early house has siding started, is rough plumbed and is waiting on insulation and shingles.

The Mitchell house has the walls framed and is waiting on the walls to be wrapped and trusses to be set and sheeted.

The Williams house is waiting on rough in plumbing so the inside can continue. 

GOD has been good as we knew He would be.  He has sent lots of great volunteers who have shown this area how much GOD loves them.  We still have a lot of work to do and need your help so these families can celebrate CHRISTmas in their new home this year.

Progress on Houses

The last of the block and brick have been laid. The ceiling of the last two safe rooms are being formed and will be poured Wednesday morning which will complete the concrete work.  Two homes have been framed and sheeted however we still need to finish the porches and overhangs so shingles and vinyl can be done. 

Lots of thanks to Mike Layton for listening to GOD and following the call to come to Colerain and help us out. He knows how to build a house!! He gave up working on houses he was building along with fishing for 2 weeks. Hate to see him leave, however I know God will send a replacement. Also want to thank all the others who have come to help share God's love by giving of their selves to help build these four homes. We still are in need of volunteers for several more weeks and would love YOUR help.

Thanks to a great feeding team last week.  Two days they served a full house when the Friends (Quakers) had lunch with us.

Back in Colerain

Wonderful day in Colerain.  In case you didn't know, we arrived back in Colerain last Monday to continue working with NCBM building four houses for GOD's people who lost their homes in April's tornadoes. Sunday I made the mistake of wondering if GOD would send only a few people to work.  But as the sun rose, and over the next couple of hours, 27 folks had arrived to work.  THANK YOU GOD and all who came, not only yesterday, but also last week.  With the preparation work done last week,  yesterday we were able to put in the floor system for two houses and almost covered both of them.

Last Nights in Rodanthe

On Tuesday, October 4 we got on the ferry and headed home.  We were replaced by JE and Betsy Skinner so that we could get a few days at home before reporting back to Colerain for the rebuild project we were part of before Hurricane Irene came along.  We really enjoyed our time and work in the Rodanthe/Waves/Salvo villages and were sad to leave.  We met so many nice people that we will always remember.

Pictures-clockwise starting at top right

• Billy and Jerry talk to Shelia-a homeowner we helped “paying it forward”
• Ken Davis’s feeding team
• Jerry Barbee’s feeding team
• Robert Taylor’s feed team
• Linda Skinner
• Recovery team from Greensboro

Pictures-clockwise starting at top right

• Salvo Fire Chief Jimmy Hooper with wife Jenny and daughter Elaine
• Our luxury accommodations (thanks Midgett Realty and Jenny)
• Glad this isn’t our camper
• Jim working at the Really Free Store
• Brian and Sharon on their anniversary
• My new friend Liz the Energizer Bunny
• Judy helping to unload a trailer at the Really Free Store
• Jim and Judith Hale, our chaplains for almost 3 weeks
• Chicamacomico Fire Chief Mike Daughtery with Billy

Two Weeks at the Beach

For the first time in our lives we have spent two weeks at the beach.  Most people think of sun and fun when at the beach. Well we have had lots of fun serving GOD and he has sent us several storms.  Most of all we have reunited with old friends who came over to help and made many new friends as we work side by side serving our LORD.   The residents are working right along side our volunteers.  Even though we have only seen the beach a few times it’s been a great trip.  Ann did get to climb Cape Hatteras Lighthouse one night and she really enjoyed that.  We’ve had some delicious seafood too. 

On Saturday, the 10th,  there were only three work team members here so we joined in to help do a tear out in Shelia’s home which is next to Top Dog Grill where we stopped to eat 5 years ago.  On Sunday we moved from Frisco to Salvo and set up the DROC at the fire station. On Monday another team from the Gastonia area arrived along with our cooks, Iva and Judy from Momeyer.   Elsie, with the Gastonia team, helped cook too.

The Gastonia team accomplished a lot of work.  It was fun getting to know them.  They were planning to leave on Saturday morning but when the Stumpy Point ferry closed on Friday due to lack of water in the sound after a storm they panicked and made 10 pm reservations for the Ocracoke/Swan Quarter Ferry.  They packed up so quick and left mid afternoon to make sure they had plenty of time to get there.  The funny thing is that the Stumpy Point ferry opened back up at 6 pm, long before they got on the Ocracoke ferry. Arrival and departure from the island is by ferry or medical helicopter only so they pack the ferries. 

Our Trip to Hatteras

On Thursday morning we headed to the ferry.  Since the road was washed out by Irene the ferries are the only way to get on or off the island.  We were blessed and only had to wait in line for one and a half hours before boarding.  Others have had waits up to six hours.  Sharon had gone over the day before to meet with Pastor Russ with Cape Hatteras Baptist Church and find us housing.  Operation Blessing was using the church so one of his church members let us use a second row beach cottage in Frisco that he was caretaker for.

Once we arrived on the island we were greeted with piles and piles of debris that had been removed from the homes of full time residents.  They have been helping each other but are so grateful for any help we can give them.  The wind damage was minor here but the flooding was major.  I have made friends with the sweetest lady.  Her name is Janie and she was born here 92 years ago and has lived here all her life.

Hurricane Irene

On my last blog post I told you we were monitoring  Hurricane Irene forecasts.  We decided to leave Colerain on Thursday, Aug. 25 so we could prepare for the storm. We didn’t get much damage at our house but as you probably know by now Eastern North Carolina took a pretty hard hit.  So on Sunday, August 28 we headed out, first to deliver a bunk trailer to Kinston and then on to Williamston where I was to do Admin work.

 I was happy to be joining our good friends J.E. and Betsy Skinner at their church, Memorial Baptist.  Other friends working there were Jimmy and Pam Lawrence, John and Peggy Gore, Jo Davidson, Bill Fogerty, Brian Moser and many others.  Gary, the White Hat from Arkansas was great to work with.  He brought a 31 member chain saw team.  While Billy and I both spent our nights in Williamston, Billy spent most of his days transporting shower and laundry units to Hatteras Island.

We spent one week in Williamston and then actually got a whole day at home before being transferred to Manteo where Billy was to Blue Hat the recovery operation.  We were only in Manteo  for two nights and closed that site down.  Billy had seen so much need for NCBM’s  help in the Rodanthe, Waves, Salvo and Avon villages when he was there the week before delivering the shower/laundry units that he knew that was where God wanted him to go next.  He was given permission to go and take a team with him.  There was a team from Icard in Manteo and they gladly accepted the call.  Also our good friend Sharon Chilton-Moser had been released from the “secret bunker” and she was ready to get her hands dirty.  Stay tuned for more on our trip to Hatteras Island.