Exhausted, but excited!
This work is exhausting beyond belief, both physically and emotionally. You know how much I love to exercise, but I have definitely discovered muscles that prior to now have been unused and are now groaning. But I'm proud to say that I'm getting pretty whippy at running a wheel barrel. :)
Today started where we left off yesterday of hauling stuff out of the house. While bravely (or honestly not so bravely) helping to finish up emptying the kitchen cupboards with the bugs et al, stories were shared around of the snakes that people had come across while doing flood clean-up. And Sam reported to me that this family had seen 15 snakes in their yard. Oh my, please no snakes!! I thought the bugs were bad, but I really can't handle snakes. As I ventured outside I was on high alert for snakes. Thankfully I did not see any today. After the kitchen, several of us worked in the master bathroom and closests. As I said yesterday, the septic tank right outside the window started flooding and overflowing first so the water in that room was very concentrated sewage water. Add to that water sitting stagnant for about 12 days and hot temperatures, and what a combination of yuck awaits. I pulled out piles of soaked clothes from the whirlpool tub, took out racks of saturated hanging clothes from the closets, and gathered up many moldy shoes. (When the water is swirling 5 feet high, everything becomes a mess.) We filled wheel barrel after wheel barrel. Unfortunately in the bathroom, several great big bugs darted across the floor. Sam got tired of hearing me scream & kicked me out of the bathroom to go work somewhere else.
We had a bigger work crew today, so it was very exciting to make so much progress. Initially we had 7 people and then 4 more people joined us. In addition, as we started making progress, the members of the family became more & more involved with the work. (I think it is just shocking for the people to go through this experience; they don't even know where to begin as it is so overwhelming.) Sam described this day as "demolition day" & he loved it. He and Austin, one of the teen-age family members, really made a great team. They are strong. They worked hard. They accomplished much.
The question of the day: to open the refrigerator or not to open the refrigerator??? What is the right thing to do? Some say to just tape it shut to reduce the stench. Others say to open it to let the gases out. After my experience here, I vote tape it shut!
SO much more to tell, but I'm so tired I just have to sleep.
Thanking God for:
cool temperatures!!!!!! (low 80s)
wonderful relationships with the team members and home owners
no snakes today
laughter
sleep
AND SO MUCH MORE
GTT Day 3 STENCH
WOW...no one could really prepare me for this day!
The first house we had already been mostly cleaned by Barbara's son and his friends. Besides tearing up a floor in one room, we boxed up belongings that had been rescued. But talking with Barbara about her rescue, shock, and grief so touched my heart. We prayed together for peace, joy in this difficult journey, thankfulness for God's unfailing love, and for guidance for where she would go next.
Throughout the day, common themes emerged:
"The water came up so fast!"
The people we help all have a story and it's a sad one.
All the belongings are just things, but there is an emotional attachment and memory tied to them.
People feel their loss greatly, but they also feel guilty for feeling badly about their loss because so many other people around them have also lost so much.
Everyone is so appreciative of the help.
There is a sense of despair of not even knowing what to do next because it is all so overwhelming.
Most people still have some humor left which makes a very bad situation more bearable.
The second house we cleaned out can be best described with one word...STENCH.
As we cleaned out the master bedroom, pulling out once plush carper on top of a thick pad, the woman told us that the septic tank right outside the window was the first to flood into the room. With that, I walked right back to the truck and put on an extra pair of waterproof gloves. We already had our heavy duty masks and goggles on. After we had hauled everything out of the bedroom, (imagine everything in YOUR bedroom being under 5 feet of water!), we cleaned out the laundry room and the kitchen. No amount of poopie diapers, (and heaven knows I've changed many), out- houses and camping potties, or dog poop and cat urine, can prepare a person for the smell of a refrigerator/freezer full of rotting meat filled with maggots. In addition to the horrible stench in the house of sitting septic water, and rotten meat, I was pushed right up to my limit pulling pots and pan out of the cupboards filled with stinky water with "stuff" in it. Every time I pulled out a pan, bugs also came running out of the cupboard. My double waterproof gloves could not protect me from that. This family is living upstairs in this home right now! At the end of the afternoon, I felt incredibly privileged to come home to my host's beautiful, clean home and a delicious, hot meal.
Sam really thinks we need to bring back Hurricane Harvey water to study in biology; he thinks it will beat WI pond water.
Thanking God for:
waterproof boots
opportunity to talk and pray with these families
so many volunteers
wheel barrels
Chlorox wipes
clean, dry, sweet smelling bed to sleep in tonight
the other members on our team-love Texans
AND SO MUCH MORE!
The first house we had already been mostly cleaned by Barbara's son and his friends. Besides tearing up a floor in one room, we boxed up belongings that had been rescued. But talking with Barbara about her rescue, shock, and grief so touched my heart. We prayed together for peace, joy in this difficult journey, thankfulness for God's unfailing love, and for guidance for where she would go next.
Throughout the day, common themes emerged:
"The water came up so fast!"
The people we help all have a story and it's a sad one.
All the belongings are just things, but there is an emotional attachment and memory tied to them.
People feel their loss greatly, but they also feel guilty for feeling badly about their loss because so many other people around them have also lost so much.
Everyone is so appreciative of the help.
There is a sense of despair of not even knowing what to do next because it is all so overwhelming.
Most people still have some humor left which makes a very bad situation more bearable.
The second house we cleaned out can be best described with one word...STENCH.
As we cleaned out the master bedroom, pulling out once plush carper on top of a thick pad, the woman told us that the septic tank right outside the window was the first to flood into the room. With that, I walked right back to the truck and put on an extra pair of waterproof gloves. We already had our heavy duty masks and goggles on. After we had hauled everything out of the bedroom, (imagine everything in YOUR bedroom being under 5 feet of water!), we cleaned out the laundry room and the kitchen. No amount of poopie diapers, (and heaven knows I've changed many), out- houses and camping potties, or dog poop and cat urine, can prepare a person for the smell of a refrigerator/freezer full of rotting meat filled with maggots. In addition to the horrible stench in the house of sitting septic water, and rotten meat, I was pushed right up to my limit pulling pots and pan out of the cupboards filled with stinky water with "stuff" in it. Every time I pulled out a pan, bugs also came running out of the cupboard. My double waterproof gloves could not protect me from that. This family is living upstairs in this home right now! At the end of the afternoon, I felt incredibly privileged to come home to my host's beautiful, clean home and a delicious, hot meal.
Sam really thinks we need to bring back Hurricane Harvey water to study in biology; he thinks it will beat WI pond water.
Thanking God for:
waterproof boots
opportunity to talk and pray with these families
so many volunteers
wheel barrels
Chlorox wipes
clean, dry, sweet smelling bed to sleep in tonight
the other members on our team-love Texans
AND SO MUCH MORE!
GTT Day 2 Just Enough
Tuesday, Day 2
Morning run for Sam & I with Brother/Uncle Bill. Temperature: hot & humid!! (When we drove into TX yesterday the temperature reading on the car was 99 degrees!) Can we survive working in this heat & humidity?
Sam & I went to Concordia Lutheran High School where I got the opportunity to speak at chapel & Sam got the chance to do improv in one of Lisa Fitzgerald's (my niece) impressive classroom. Many of the girls would like Sam to attend Concordia Lutheran High School. ;)
Because our trip to TX was unexpected, we needed to gather supplies. When we left Janesville on Friday, our plan was to spend the weekend in NE with Daniel & travel back home. However on the trip, I read several emails from different organizations calling for people to help with Hurricane Harvey clean-up starting this week. Here are some links if you are interested in helping. https://www.samaritanspurse.org/disaster/hurricane-harvey/?utm_source=Ggl&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=m_YGHH-B17V_HHSP-LP&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIr6GPw4yT1gIVg5N-Ch3VoQi3EAAYASAAEgJuPPD_BwE#
http://www.concordialutheranchurch.com/engage/events/hurricane-relief
https://www.trinityklein.org/harvey-relief/
After filling out about 1500 forms from different organizations, Julie Tucker, from Concordia, San Antonio, helped arrange for us a spot on a team at Trinity Lutheran Klein, Spring, TX. Neither Sam, nor I had packed for hurricane clean up when we left for NE. Lisa and her family, and Bill and Carol were able to supply us with several things we needed. At Walmart, there were 2 pr of goggles left, 2 masks left, a pair of rubber boots left in my size & they even had steel toes; Sam got water proof, steel toed work boots. JUST ENOUGH for what we needed!!
We had too-brief of a supper time with Brother Bill & Carol, and Lisa & Christoper & family, and then Sam & I headed off to Houston, hoping we could avoid flooded roads. Thankfully we arrived at our wonderful host family's home, Carrie, Eric, & Melissa Oblinger, safe and sound!
Thanking God for:
JUST ENOUGH supplies
family
opportunity to be in TX
delicious brownies
safe travels
AND SO MUCH MORE!
Morning run for Sam & I with Brother/Uncle Bill. Temperature: hot & humid!! (When we drove into TX yesterday the temperature reading on the car was 99 degrees!) Can we survive working in this heat & humidity?
Sam & I went to Concordia Lutheran High School where I got the opportunity to speak at chapel & Sam got the chance to do improv in one of Lisa Fitzgerald's (my niece) impressive classroom. Many of the girls would like Sam to attend Concordia Lutheran High School. ;)
Because our trip to TX was unexpected, we needed to gather supplies. When we left Janesville on Friday, our plan was to spend the weekend in NE with Daniel & travel back home. However on the trip, I read several emails from different organizations calling for people to help with Hurricane Harvey clean-up starting this week. Here are some links if you are interested in helping. https://www.samaritanspurse.org/disaster/hurricane-harvey/?utm_source=Ggl&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=m_YGHH-B17V_HHSP-LP&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIr6GPw4yT1gIVg5N-Ch3VoQi3EAAYASAAEgJuPPD_BwE#
http://www.concordialutheranchurch.com/engage/events/hurricane-relief
https://www.trinityklein.org/harvey-relief/
After filling out about 1500 forms from different organizations, Julie Tucker, from Concordia, San Antonio, helped arrange for us a spot on a team at Trinity Lutheran Klein, Spring, TX. Neither Sam, nor I had packed for hurricane clean up when we left for NE. Lisa and her family, and Bill and Carol were able to supply us with several things we needed. At Walmart, there were 2 pr of goggles left, 2 masks left, a pair of rubber boots left in my size & they even had steel toes; Sam got water proof, steel toed work boots. JUST ENOUGH for what we needed!!
We had too-brief of a supper time with Brother Bill & Carol, and Lisa & Christoper & family, and then Sam & I headed off to Houston, hoping we could avoid flooded roads. Thankfully we arrived at our wonderful host family's home, Carrie, Eric, & Melissa Oblinger, safe and sound!
Thanking God for:
JUST ENOUGH supplies
family
opportunity to be in TX
delicious brownies
safe travels
AND SO MUCH MORE!
GTT Day 1 What? No Gas
After an exciting weekend of Big 10 college football game, water ski tournament, and Room 211 Church, we dropped Daniel at the dorm about 8:15 A.M. and headed south!
Suburban School: A very long and diligent day! 8:15 A.M. to 10:15 P.M. Sam studied Kingdom Monera, plasmid, etc in Biology, worked Algebra 2 problems, and outlined his HERO paper. (Yes, that is actually his Classical Conversations writing assignment scheduled this week. Timely.) Together we listened to "Sir Gawin and the Green Knight". The headless, bleeding green knight holding in his hand his own head by his long hair...Caught me off guard. Gruesome.
What? No Gas. Great trip driving through our beautiful country so lush & green. NE, KS, OK, TX. We stopped for gas along I-35 south of Waco, TX. Sam commented, "Interesting that the lights on the sign are off." Turns out, "No gas." As the station owner declared, "This is NOT a supply problem. This is a demand problem. Everyone is buying extra gas because they are worried gas is going to run out. But if everyone just bought their usual amount of gas, there would be plenty." On we traveled. (Being a somewhat prudent woman, I fill up my tank long before I'm running on fumes, so I still had gas.) As we drove into Pflugerville, an Austin suburb, we searched again for gas, being successful at 7-11. But we drove by several stations that were out of gas. We will get to Houston! Will we find gas to get home? Will we have enough gas to evacuate Houston if Irma changes course and heads to Houston?
Housing: Late in the afternoon, we were ecstatic to get a welcoming call from our host family. Until then we were unsure of exactly what our sleeping quarters were going to be in Houston, and anticipated that it might be a shelter type condition. (Am I getting too old to sleep on a cot in a room with many other people? Well, I won't have to find out this week, thanks to our host family.) The comment she made to me on the phone, "You will be dismayed by the destruction you see, but you will be so uplifted by all the people who are responding with help."
We are mostly excited and a little bit nervous...more later!
Thanking God for:
we actually made it here!!
all the plans came together for us to serve
safe travels
beautiful country
delightful day of learning
beds! (at my brother's home in Pflugerville, our host in Houston)
gas
people who encouraged me to just do this
AND SO MUCH MORE
Suburban School: A very long and diligent day! 8:15 A.M. to 10:15 P.M. Sam studied Kingdom Monera, plasmid, etc in Biology, worked Algebra 2 problems, and outlined his HERO paper. (Yes, that is actually his Classical Conversations writing assignment scheduled this week. Timely.) Together we listened to "Sir Gawin and the Green Knight". The headless, bleeding green knight holding in his hand his own head by his long hair...Caught me off guard. Gruesome.
What? No Gas. Great trip driving through our beautiful country so lush & green. NE, KS, OK, TX. We stopped for gas along I-35 south of Waco, TX. Sam commented, "Interesting that the lights on the sign are off." Turns out, "No gas." As the station owner declared, "This is NOT a supply problem. This is a demand problem. Everyone is buying extra gas because they are worried gas is going to run out. But if everyone just bought their usual amount of gas, there would be plenty." On we traveled. (Being a somewhat prudent woman, I fill up my tank long before I'm running on fumes, so I still had gas.) As we drove into Pflugerville, an Austin suburb, we searched again for gas, being successful at 7-11. But we drove by several stations that were out of gas. We will get to Houston! Will we find gas to get home? Will we have enough gas to evacuate Houston if Irma changes course and heads to Houston?
Housing: Late in the afternoon, we were ecstatic to get a welcoming call from our host family. Until then we were unsure of exactly what our sleeping quarters were going to be in Houston, and anticipated that it might be a shelter type condition. (Am I getting too old to sleep on a cot in a room with many other people? Well, I won't have to find out this week, thanks to our host family.) The comment she made to me on the phone, "You will be dismayed by the destruction you see, but you will be so uplifted by all the people who are responding with help."
We are mostly excited and a little bit nervous...more later!
Thanking God for:
we actually made it here!!
all the plans came together for us to serve
safe travels
beautiful country
delightful day of learning
beds! (at my brother's home in Pflugerville, our host in Houston)
gas
people who encouraged me to just do this
AND SO MUCH MORE
Reconnect with Exercise and Questions
In this sometimes not-connected-as-much-as-we-wished world of social media, I love ways that reconnect people. In this technological world of social media and too much sitting, I love exercise. Best of all, I love reconnecting people-friends, spouses, co-workers, parent/child, anyone, and everyone- through exercise! Taking a walk is a stress free way to reconnect I find this article by Brian Becker, former leader at Wheat Ridge Ministries, (that's how our paths connected) very fascinating. Although it is written for leadership, it is still applicable as great discussion starters while you walk with a loved one. Read this article linked below. Then today, ask someone to go walking with you and utilize the ideas in this article.
A few of the questions Brian Becker suggests in this article:
"Notice that each question starts with “what.” What questions have two important components: 1) the questions don’t feel judgmental and 2) they’re open ended, so they elicit conversation and thinking.
I Talk Too Much…So Ask More Questions
http://leadersedge.me/i-talk-too-much/A few of the questions Brian Becker suggests in this article:
"Notice that each question starts with “what.” What questions have two important components: 1) the questions don’t feel judgmental and 2) they’re open ended, so they elicit conversation and thinking.
- What is it that you really want?
- What about that is important to you?
- What about this (decision) most aligns with your values? What’s the main lesson in this for you?
- What if you did…?"
Released May 23 "Sip, Savor, and Drink Deeply"
I started Session 4 of "Sip, Savor, and Drink Deeply" last week, but hadn't quite finished it. This morning, I pulled it out to finish reading, and oh did it ever speak to my heart?! I even went back to reread from the beginning of Session 4. My cup is so overflowing with so so many blessings!! But I think in this 1st world country, I get so distracted with the unimportant. We certainly learned on our mission trip to Honduras that they have have so few material blessings, but they are so happy with the little they have and they are so blessed and highly value relationships. (When we came back, we saw a survey that showed Honduras is one of the top 5 happiest places on earth probably due to relationships and climate!!)
Over the weekend I had some attitude issues! UGH. I woke up this morning wondering how I was going to get out of my funk, and my soul was richly blessed with the words of Session 4 "Trust the Lord and give thanks." Exactly what I needed!! "Sweet cream in a bitter cup."
Psalm 13:5-6 (ESV)
"But I have trusted in your steadfast love;
my heart shall rejoice in your salvation.
I will sing to the Lord,
because he has dealt bountifully with me."
Over the weekend I had some attitude issues! UGH. I woke up this morning wondering how I was going to get out of my funk, and my soul was richly blessed with the words of Session 4 "Trust the Lord and give thanks." Exactly what I needed!! "Sweet cream in a bitter cup."
Psalm 13:5-6 (ESV)
"But I have trusted in your steadfast love;
my heart shall rejoice in your salvation.
I will sing to the Lord,
because he has dealt bountifully with me."
Exercising, Eating, Stewardship, Lent...How are these related?
Four sons...Cars. Cars. Cars. Cars. A common topic at our house. Throw in some beach walks contemplating stewardship combined with hearing an excellent sermon and here is what happened:
My friend bought an old, but low mileage, cute Volkswagen Bug. But this car had sat. Almost immediately, the car’s fuel pump failed. Next the water pump failed. Soon the belts failed. And so on. Our bodies are very much like that little Bug. If we don’t use them, we lose them, so to speak.
Continue reading here:
http://blog.cph.org/everyday-faith/exercising-eating-stewardship-lent-related/
This article first appeared March 9, 2017 on the CPH Blog
Exercising, Eating, Stewardship, Lent...How are these related?
My friend bought an old, but low mileage, cute Volkswagen Bug. But this car had sat. Almost immediately, the car’s fuel pump failed. Next the water pump failed. Soon the belts failed. And so on. Our bodies are very much like that little Bug. If we don’t use them, we lose them, so to speak.
Continue reading here:
http://blog.cph.org/everyday-faith/exercising-eating-stewardship-lent-related/
This article first appeared March 9, 2017 on the CPH Blog
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