A Year Already.........?

December 7, 2012

Has it Really Been A Year?

What a year it has been as it has blown by! We have had a blessed year in so many ways.  In the first quarter of the year we were very involved and concerned about Dad's re-occurrence of cancer.  After a number of meetings with doctors and planning he had surgery in April at Shands in Gainesville, FL while Jamie and I were on the mission trip to the Philippines.  It seemed as though it went well though he took a while to recover in Gainesville.  He lost down to about 153 pounds from well over 200 and had some really challenging days.  But by the middle of May he was able to return home. 
He and his nurses and chauffeurs (Mom and Karen, Ginny the driver) made numerous trips back and forth to Shands and were treated like kings there. 
He has two bags now since the cancer attacked his bladder and colon and he and Mom and Karen have made the adjustments to life with bags and he is doing well.  Just in early December, he went back to his oncologist in Valdosta and was told he was strong enough to start back his chemo.  He began the treatments again on December 5 and all is well so far!  Mom has been amazing getting up every three hours since he came home in mid-May to dump his bags!  she is truly one of my heroes in this endeavor!
Jamie and I were in the Philippines in April for my 56th birthday and a group of our Filipino friends carried us out to a wonderful dinner to wrap up a great trip.  We were so pleased to see the progress at the Pao/Asingan church of Christ.  It had grown from the 34 that we had baptized in 2011 to nearly 200 some Sundays!  It was wonderful for Jamie to get to return to the Philippines for the first time in over 40 years!  She was a great asset to the work as she fell in love with the children and the children loved her! 
We had a wonderful summer that included the annual Palmer Reunion that Jamie and I were the hosts of for the third time.  It was at Pickwick State Park and is always great to get to see many of our extended family members. 
The church at Trenton continued to grow and now appoaches 80 on Sundays and just grows closer to one another each day.  It is truly a blessed group to be a part of on the way to heaven.   We have had 5 baptisms since August and they have been mostly as a result of studies begun by our members. 
As fall approached we learned that Lousie and Dirt would have another child in April.  A few months later we learned it would be a boy and that his name is Eli.  He is slated to make his arrival in early April just before Jamie and I return to the Philippines for our annual mission trip.  It is hard for me to believe it will be my 11th trip!  What a blessing it will be to take pictures of Ellie and Eli to our friends in the Philippines.

During the fall I continue to do the broadcasts of the Dade County High School sports on WKWN AM/FA and Channel 7.  We began a new update as we began to broadcast the Softball and Football games back to the local access channel via Skype.  It was pretty cool to have video as well as audio.  It culminated with the Cinderella run of the Lady Wolverines softball team to a State Championship.  It ain't ESPN but it looked pretty good, I think!  
Now as we move toward the end of another year, we look forward to being with the kids the week of Christmas and getting to see Mom and Dad again.  I pray his chemo will be easy on him this time.  
As we look to the New Year, we have made reservations for another mission trip to the Philippines in April with brother Chris Gerber.  We also have reservations for a cruise our children gave us slated for mid-march to the Bahamas.  We will, Lord willing return from the cruise to be home a week and then go with our young people to Nashville for the Lads to Leaders Convention.  After that in less than a month we'll head for the Philippines again, so as you can see, God is blessing us in so many ways.  

I have intentions to be more regular in posting to my blog.  It is a good thing for me to do just for me.  If anyone else reads and enjoys it, all the better!  If I don't get back on before December 25th, Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!  

It Was a Wonderful Year!

I am not sure if my inspiration for this blog title was Frank Sinatra's "It Was a Very Good Year" or Frank Capra's "It's A Wonderful Life" but I truly feel both of the feelings.  When I was 55, it was a very good year and truly it was another part of the puzzle of my life that has been a wonderful life! 
As 2011 sprints to an end, and if the Lord wills, 2012 stands anxiously on the horizon, I am reflecting on what a blessed year it was.  I am resting and enjoying the hospitality of my newest son in law and oldest daughter, Matt and Laurie in Montgomery as Jamie and I enjoy the holidays with our children and grandchild.  We were very blessed this year end to have Jamie's mom with us at home for a few days and then she rode down here with us.  We had our Christmas gift exchange at Louise, Dirt and Ellie's on Sunday night after worshipping Sunday night at the University church of Christ in Montgomery.  The kids went way over the top for us as, after all the gifts had been exchanged, we were later told that we had received nothing from them.  But after all were opened, they handed us two shirt sized boxes that when we opened them had a couple of souvenir magnets and an ornament of a cruise ship.  We had been talking about taking a family cruise, next year so we though that tied in with that. In the bottom was a group of papers that had a cover sheet saying basically that "since you missed your honeymoon 32 years ago, we have purchased a Bahamas cruise for you two.  And we can't think of any one who deserves it more!"  Neither Jamie or I could read it out loud and I'm not sure I would completely agree with their judgment on who's most deserving, I sure appreciate it and love the sentiment and love they feel for us. So we are looking for dates next year to sail out of Port Canaveral on our honeymoon!
So that is our big news from the kids for our Christmas!  Jamie gave me a new laptop (so I would leave hers alone, I think) and I gave her some gold earrings, a stand of south Pacific pearls and put a year of DVR service on our TV.   I think she may have liked that best of all.  No missed "NCIS" or "The Good Wife".  If I can be trained to use it....(which is questionable) I may find a few shows that I'd record too!
Tuesday we are heading to Birmingham to meet Ted and Peggy so they can take Jenet back to Jackson to have some time with her.  We are going to go by to see Louise and Ellie on the way out and then pick up Leigh at her house to go with us to meet Ted.  
One of the blessings I can count at night (besides my sheep) are Leigh and Nate.  Our family grew this year as on August 27 Leigh and Nate Woodring married in Montgomery.  They had a lovely ceremony at the University church and than had a nice honeymoon on a Bahamas cruise.  They got back and went back to work where Nate manages a Tire and Auto Repair shop in Montgomery and he does an outstanding job.  (In Montgomery, if you need tires or car repairs of any kind, DON DUNCAN ALL AMERICAN TIRES-downtown. Great prices and service~)... Leigh continued working at Faulkner University as a Student Recruiter who was responsible for GA, the Carolinas, Virgina and east Tennessee.  We of course loved that because it meant about a monthly visit but she traveled so much it was not ideal for  a new marriage.  She will start a new position in January as Visit Coordinator. The new job will involve much less traveling She also will begin working on her master's degree in January.   They live in a lovely house in the historic Capitol Heights district in a historic home.  
Our family expansion continued just 28 days letter as Laurie married Matt Morris on September 24 back at the University church.  She and Matt honeymooned in Jamaica and then returned to Montgomery and went back to work at Wilson and Wilson were they met.  Laurie is a customer service rep and salesperson there and Matt is the Industrial Services Manager.  They have purchased a home out the Atlanta Highway about 7 miles past where Louise and Dirt live.  All of them live within about 15 minutes of each other and have remained very close attending church services and usually eating together several times a week. We rejoiced greatly this summer as Matt obeyed the gospel and was baptized by Dirt.  That was truly one of the highlights of a great year.
It wasn't new expansion but certainly loved growth was taking place in Louise and Dirt's life as Ellie turned one year old in September . Of course there was a party and all of us enjoyed it as much or more than Ellie did.  Dirt changed jobs inside the state and now works in a job appointed by the governor in the health care area and seems to be settling in and liking it.  He has had to travel to Washington, DC for several trips and apparently more are on the horizon in 2012.  Louise continues to keep children in her home so she can be home with Ellie.  She is great and really enjoys it but especially seems to enjoy the days off! Ellie is now 15 months old and has begun really developing her personality and freedom as she has learned to walk. 
Jamie and I close the year very blessed also.  She started walking on a very regular basis in May and has since lost over 40 pounds!  I am so proud of her and she is feeling so much better.  Recently she even saw her eye doctor and he commented on how much better her eyes were since she is so much healthier.  The big news was though, that her doctors have released her to travel to the Philippines and Lord willing she will go with me on the mission trip April 12-May 1. She is still working to raise her money but I am certain she will handle that after everything else she has overcome to get to make the trip.
At the church we have has a wonderful year that came at us like a whirlwind.  On April 27 three tornadoes touched down in Dade County and did a major amount of damage.  We lost 8 trees in our yard but virtually no damage to the house and we were all safe.  Several members had damage and one family's home was completely destroyed.  The church rallied together and will help from other congregations and individuals, reached out in a huge way to the community that was damaged.  We were blessed to study with several and had 3 baptisms as a result of those we helped after the storm.  As the year ends, we had 12 baptisms and 17 new members begin to work and worship with us at Trenton.  We have seen great growth in both numbers and contribution but also in love and the participation by our members.  We look forward to a great 2012!
It has been a wonderful year for us and thanks to all of you who had a part in making our lives so blessed!  HAPPY NEW YEAR!

WHAT A BLESSED WEEKEND!

What a great way to wake up on Monday!  61 degrees and cool in the valley this AM after a blessed weekend for our church family in Trenton.  On Saturday we had our Philippine Mission Day and after it was over had three new people committed to work with Chris Gerber and me during our April 2012 trip.  We have a retired couple who are experienced mission workers in several countries and a brother who has been travelig and working in India for several years, so we are delighted to have 3 more experienced workers for the Lord's work in the Philippines. 

After the mission day ended we spent some time getting ready for the next day...our Homecoming and 174th Anniversary at the Trenton church of Christ. 

On Sunday morning, Jamie and I were at the building early getting our food unpacked, helping others bring theirs in and making sure everything was rolling along as we greeted the folks arrivng.  We had a good crowd of 57 for our 9:30 AM lesson when brother Marlin Graves gave a great lesson "Any Old Bush Will Do" from Exodus 3.  After Bible class, I noticed the crowd was really coming in steadily and in good numbers.  By the time 10:30 arrived and services began, we had 136 present for worship!  It was the largest crowd for a Sunday service since we got here 8 years ago.  I kept hearing from those returning how great the attitude and atmosphere was at Trenton now.  That was so uplifting and encouraging to me to see the positive progress at this great church! Then at lunch--our ladies had done such a great job of getting the food to the building and serving the delicious meal!  It was our first major event in our remodeled fellowship hall and it went great!  Over 100 people stayed and ate and then stayed around and visited for a long time!  It was wonderful to see people who love each other so much!

As has become our tradition here, there was enough food that we came back together after evening service for the left overs!  We had 60 for evening servce and about 50 stayed and eat!  It is a great blessing to be a part of a great group that loves God and loves each other!

This week, Jamie and I are working on our individula punch lists to get things finished before we head south for the start of the pre-wedding events for Leigh and Nate's wedding on Thursday. I am looking so forward to being with the wedding party this weekend as we get to spend a weekend in Orange Beach.  Jamie and I can really use a little quiet time and to get to spend time together with our family and the two soon to new members is a blessing I am really looking forward to.
When I am up early and praying, I can't help but be thankful for all the blessings God has placed in my life from my parents and sisters and thier families, Jamie and our girls, great son in laws and a perfect granddaughter and a wonderful church to be blessed to work with.  God has really been good to me and I am so blessed!     

WHAT A YEAR!

Today marks the first anniversary of Laurie donating her kidney to Janet.  I was at UAB Wednesday with Charles Hill and we were in the Kidney and Pancreas Transplant Unit in Jefferson Towers and I was flooded with memories.  The great memories of the loving kindness of Laurie and how proud we are of her good heart (and kidney, too).  Also I was filled with a great sense of happiness at thinking about how great Janet is doing and how wonderful it has been to grow to have her be a part of our family and to get to be a part of hers too. In less than a year it is so great to see them both with great health and two great Christian ladies who love God and their families.
11 months ago Louise and Dirt brought a great addition to all our lives in precious Ellie.  What a joy it has been to watch her grow and develop. Now in just over a month she'll have her first birthday and they will all come faster for her and her parents, her aunts and her grandparents in the coming year but continue to bring us joy and pride.
Also in less than a year Leigh and Nathan have gotten engaged and in two weeks from right now will be married.  That is a wonderful blessing to our lives as our family expands again with the addition of Nathan.  It has been a great joy to watch them grow as people and as a couple in the last couple of years.  I look forward to seeing them grow in their love for each other and God in coming days. 
A year ago Laurie didn't even know Matt and now in 6 weeks, he too will become part of our family. It was a great source of pride to watch him grow in his interest in Laurie and to watch his increasing interest in studying the Bible culminating with Dirt baptizing him while all the girls were here.  I have never seen Laurie happier and I am so happy that both found the right one in each other.
At church, just about a year ago I was asked to serve on the eldership at Trenton.  I have had a great many things that have been challenges and occasions of joy to me but none have compared to the first year as an elder.  There have been some of the greatest highs and some of the most difficult emotional nights of my life.  It is truly been the greatest honor and the greatest challenge in my life.  It has been a great year at church with some wonderful growth and some great people have become part of our family at Trenton. In over twenty years of preaching it has probably been my most satisfying and peaceful year ever at a congregation.   God has truly blessed us here.
Our work in the Philippines continues to progress as we move into a different area of focus.  Now we are addressing the strengthening of existing congregations in central and eastern Pangasinan.  Our April trip was greatly blessed as we were blessed to be a part of the establishment of a new congregation at Pao and 51 baptisms and some great work with the Binalonan, San Carlos and Urdaneta congregations.  It was a wonderful trip for Chris and I and really continues to show the commitment this congregation has to the work in the Philippines.  Today we met with 21 people and discussed the work and have 3 pretty firm commitments to go with us in April, 2012.  It has truly been a blessed work there.
A year ago, the conventional wisdom in Trenton and Dade County was that tornadoes don't come through here as the mountains keep them out of the valley.  April 27, just 7 days after we had returned from the Philippines, we learned that the conventional wisdom isn't always wise.  4 tornadoes swept over Sand Mountain and devastated areas of our county as the devastation tracked across the South. The work began that night as we cancelled worship services on Wednesday night and then stayed at the building with a number of folks who were seeking shelter in a safe place.  The congregation rallied around and for the next 60 days was immersed in tornado relief.  We did amazing amounts of tree and clean up work, feeding those that were hungry and providing food, cleaning supplies, and clothing to many families in need. We also gave away a lot of gift cards at BI-Lo and provided help in just about anyway that was needed.  I was so proud of the response by the loving Christians at Trenton and the help that came in from churches and brethern around the country.  It was just waht I would have expected out of Christians who have rallied together to help others and glorify God.
Finally how could I reflect on a year without sharing my joy at the progress Jamie has continued to make.  She started about 3 months ago to start to walk every night.  Now she is walking most mornings and evenings and is doing so great.  She has lost about 25 pounds and feels so much better.  She is even running some and continues to feel better and do so much better!  She has been a great joy to me through 32 years and now I am so excited to watch her continue to defy the experts as her recovery from the stroke just continues to amaze me!  She is something special!
Now the next 6 weeks will complete the biggest expansion of our family ever with the addition of Ellie, Nate and Matt.  It also has truly been one of the most blessed years of my life and I look ahead to even greater things to come.  Every day I sure have a lot to give thanks to God for. I also have so many people to thank for all the blessings in my life!  Thanks to you all!  I love you all in a special way!

It's been a BIG summer and lots more to come in the next 60 days!

About the middle of June things started to slow down and return to a more 'normal' pattern as we wound down the Tornado relief and cut the hours we were open back to just two days a week by July 1 and by August 1 are just handling needs as requested by appointments. 
Since then of course, Leigh and Nathan's wedding date has moved closer and closer while Laurie said 'yes' to Matt on July 4 and they set a date for September 24..so we'll have 2 weddings in 4 weeks! But then it'll be really quiet cause that is the end of our gals finding guys!:)
We had a wonderful time in late June at the Palmer Reunion in NC and certainly enjoyed the break mentally and temperture wise.  Jamie and Laurie and Louise joined Leigh in a number of wedding showers during the months of June and July at places from Trenton to Adairsville to Cartersville to Trion, GA ro Montgomery!  I think Jamie really enjoyed it and Leigh was really blessed with a lot of nice gifts.  The nicest thing about all the events for me was it gave me a lot of time to get the be with Ellie in Montgomery:)
It has been a wonderful summer for us at church with Sunday morning crowds close to 90 several times and just wonderful love between the church family.  Several new families have joined us this summer and things are really positive in attitude.That sure makes for a wonderful summer for preachers or elders:)
At the end of July, 29 of the members including me as the 'old man' went to the Hiawassee River to camp and go rafting.  It was the third year in a row we have gone and it was the best time ever.  It was a great time of visiting with members and great growth on closeness between our church family.
Then today after a week of temperatures over 100 it rained last night and was cooler (mid 80's) today so that was nice!  I went out beside the  house and found three 'volunteer' watermelons that were as big as the ones at Bi-Lo and didn't cost me $6.99! They were in the pile of where we throw our food scraps for the animals and birds and I noticed a month or so ago that there were some vines but never saw the watermelons until today....and now at better than 2 feet long, they are about ready to pick!  Plan to send one to Montgomery this weekend with Jamie for the girls and the guys!
Life is clipping along and it won;t be long until we load up to head to Montgomery again to be there to help Leigh and Nate get ready for the wedding and share in their joy! 
Life has been good again this summer...Sure am blessed. Hope your life is too!

A TRIP TO JOPLIN

Thursday, May 26, 2011
On this morning, Chris Gerber, Dakota Holder and I headed out to Joplin, MO to provide and give forward some of the help that we had received here in Dade County.  We loaded the truck with bottled water and a cooler of drinks and snacks and headed out at noon. 
We headed west and Chris drove the whole way and we arrrived at the Mt. Hope Church of Christ in Webb City, MO (just out side Joplin) and got in to the fellowship hall and joined a group of about 20 men who were sleeping on air mattresses and sleeping bags and went to sleep about 11:30 PM CDT. 
Friday, May 27, 2011
Got up at about 6:00 AM and got to have coffee and visit with some of the other folks that had come to help.  The atmosphere is something reminesent of being at a Christian summer camp.  At about 7:30 breakfast, cooked by the ladies there, began to be served and after a short devotional period, we left with a group and we headed to Steve and Mary Ann's home, one of the Mt. Hope elders, that was destroyed in the tornado 5 days earlier.
As we rode in, we skirted the perimeter of the damaged area and it really didn't appear any worse than the areas in Trenton or on Sand Mountain that were slammed by the storm.  We worked all morning at the Sloan's house and across the street removing trees from a man's house.  About noon, the Mt.Hope ladies had brought sandwiches and drinks and we took a break for lunch.  There were LOTS of trees on the lot Dakota and I were cutting on, while Chris spent the morning helping them load a dumpster with the trash that a week ago had been their home and possessions.
We went back and started clearing more trees and continuing the cleanup, when just before 1:30 PM, we got word that a Severe Thunderstorm Warning had been issued for Joplin.  It did not take much to get the group from there or us, to close down and head for a safe location at the church building.  While we were at the building we were asked to ahve a special prayer for one of the members there whose father in Texas had jsut had a major heart attack and was in surgery.  It is great to be part of God's Family.
We spent about two hours listening to it rain at the fellowship hall and then at about 3 PM headed back to the Sloans' to continue there.  When we arrived we got out and slogged through the back yard but it was so muddy and soft we couldn't get the tractor in or really even walk much with out sinking in the mud so we had to head some where else.
We went to the house of a man who was not a Christian, but Richard was really a good guy.  His house had been devasted by the storm and now he needed some help in cleaning out the shell of his home that reamins.  When we got there, soon there were about 35 of us who had come to Joplin to work wearing the bright green Joplin Church of Christ Mission shirts and we went to work.  It was really sad in so many ways to come across the things that had been his family's life of memories and now they were just a soggy muck that had to be loaded in to wheelbarrows and taken to the road to be hauled off. Richard worked for a constuction company and they had brought a Bobcat over to help with the clean up and Dakota was happy to operate that for them!  He is pretty amazing on about any machine!
In about 3 hours we had pretty well cleaned everything out of what remained of his house and a great deal of what was in in his yard.  As we began to load up to leave just before the curfew took effect, we met together with him for prayer and after he had shook and hugged everyone there, we had a prayer and he sobboed through it.  He could not say enough times how much he appreciated it and what it meant to him for people he didn't even know to come and help like that.  I think a real opportunity is there to influence him to follow Jesus.  And that's what it's all about.
We returned to the Mt. Hope fellwoship hall and the ladies had prepared a wonderful supper of bar-b-que and the fixins and we enjoyed it and got to visit and clean up.  The church building had hot water but no showers. So I was getting instructions from some of the folks on the best way to clean up without a shoower including being told you could take wet wipes and put them in the microwave for 15-20 seconds and get a warm clean up!  Then I found out they had portable solar showers outside (like for camping).  Well, now things began to make sense!  Hot water from the kitchen and portable showers meant I was going to be clean tonight!  And I did!  It is was a little like showering in a phone booth, size wise, and you had to change clothes inside the booth, but it felt pretty good to have warm water washing the mud and sawdust off!
We jsut visited until about 10:30 PM and then the group from Ralla, MO led the devothional and it was a quick trip to dream land for me!  I'm still not completely used to running a chain saw for 4-5 hours a day!
SATURDAY, May 28, 2011
Woke up about 5:30 and got the coffee with the early crew and got to visit and really enjoyed that. There was a large group from Ralla and they were a lot of fun and great people.  After a breakfast of pancakes, bacon and scrambled eggs, we had a devotional where Greg Spann, the preacher at Mt Hope spoke.  His wife had been trapped in the Wal-Mart and first he was told she was not among the surviviors.  He went home and told his kids then they returned to the store ruins to search for her.  This time a store manager told him he remembered someone matching her descripion and she was injured with what appeared to be a broken back and headed to a nearby hospital.  On his way out in the car, his kids saw her and jumped out of the still rolling car to find her safe and with just minor scratches.  Not many dry eyes left in the room as he told that!
We then helped move some supplies and Dakota sharpened some chainsaws. We decided that it was too wet to get the equiptment running and they had a large contingent to do the clean up work, so at about 10:30 AM we decided to head home a couple of hours early.
It was a wonderful experience to be able to help and realize how that even in the damamge we suffered here, God in His divine providence still blessed us!

What a MONTH! April 23-May 17, 2011

After getting home from the Philippines on Wednesday, Jamie and I headed to Nashville on Friday morning for getting our Lads to Leaders group checked in.  We went to the Opryland Hotel and got our group checked in and then went to eat at El Chico's.  While we were eating out on the deck on a beautiful night, another young lady trying to make it big in Nashville was singing outside.  She was really good but there are really so many good singers trying to make it and so few ever do.
We then went to my aunt's house and spent the night there with Kankie and my cousin Connie.  She is my dad's oldest sister and in amazing shape to be over 90!  We slept well and left early before they woke up the next morning and headed to the Opryland to meet our group. The group from Trenton arrived at about 8:30 AM and we wandered around the hotel and then had donuts and then a light lunch before our Bible Bowl team competed.  As they started we kept watch and knew they had done well.  After the afternoon and a trip to the Hard Rock Cafe to reward them for their good work, we returned to the hotel and the ballroom for the awards ceremony.  Finally at the end of the awards they announced the winners in the Bible Bowl and our group erupted in applause when it was announced that our group had finished second!  It was really a great effort by the kids, their parents and the adults that helped coach the team.
We went to our rooms at about midnight and Jamie and I had to leave to get back to Trenton in time for Sunday services so we had a short night..The alarm went off at 4:30 AM and we headed home. 
We had an uneventful trip home and had good number at services and had lunch at Rafael's and headed home for a short nap.  At 4:00 PM we met Jennifer Hartline and her family and a group of friends at the church building and took her to Lookout Creek and she was baptized.  It was her request and it was a beautiful location....in fact the place where many of our older members had been baptized before the new auditorium was built in 1974 with a baptistery. So it sure made for a wonderful day!
Monday and Tuesday we were planning to be in Montgomery for a little time with the kids but I told Jamie and them that I was just too tired and wanted to stay home and have a quiet and restful week.  That would turn out to be somewhat ironic words.
Wednesday morning April 27, 2011 dawned clear and nice so I went out and had coffee on the picnic table at about 7 AM and then about 7:30 the wind started to pickup and then the clouds started rolling in.  Just after 8 AM I got a Tornado Warning and got Jamie up and in the hall and then started hearing the wind howl and the trees start snapping!  It was over in about a minute and I went out to see 8 trees downed in the yard but the house and all vehicles spared.  I thought it was a big mess and a big problem until the day would unwind and bring destruction on a level never seen by me before or ever inflicted on Dade County and others through out the South.
There were at least 3 other Tornado Warnings and a great deal of apprehension.  After lunch time Jamie and I went to the church building as a safe haven to open it as a shelter.  We would have as many as 30 people jameed into and under a stairwell as the worst storm blew threw the area just after 5:00 PM. Winds that we would later learn exceeded 135 miles per hour blew across the lot.  When we went back out and looked around, three major neighborhoods in Trenton had been virtually destroyed by the storm that would be identified as an EF-3 tornado.
Amazingly there was just one family in the church, Reed and Starla Gross who lost their home and thankfully they were safe at his parent's home on Lookout Mountain.  We did not have a single church member injured and only the one house seriously damaged. We did have about 7 or 8 families whose homes suffered varying degrees of damage to their property but all were safe.
After a night without power, I got up early the next morning and could not believe what I saw.  As I drove around a familiar place I could not even recognize what street I was trying to turn down, as there was so much devastation in Edgewood.  On the other side of highway 11 the Village Green Apartments were virtually gone.  If that morning the news had said that 50 people had been killed in Trenton, I would have thought that "it could have been worse".
The news would finally be that there were 2 killed in Dade County but in the surrounding counties there were many more killed.  We were truly very fortunate. 
On Thursday, we went to Reed and Starla's and helped them go through the remains of the their house and getting the things out of their house that could be saved.  We spent part of the afternoon walking over a field looking for some items that they couldn't find such as Addilyn's blanket and their wedding picture. 
As we went to bed without water or power but very thankful we had been spared.  For the next 10 days, Dakota Spencer and Ivan Wallin ran the Bobcat and a number of us were on chainsaws and removing brush from folks' homes/  We started and cleaned up the yards of our church members first and then worked on folks in the community and up on the mountain that had trees down that insurance didn't cover.  For about the next 10 days, I slept extremely well!  The power and water were back on after 3 days and we began the job of helping those in the area affected by the tornadoes.
We helped over 120 families in the first three weeks with everything from food to clothing and even help with their homes.  The response from the Trenton church family was incredible.  We had over 40 of our members work on the disaster relief.  We also had groups from Trion, Dasher, Chickamauga, and Cookville, TN come and help with the efforts.  We have been blessed that we have received over $5000 from congregations and individuals from Wyoming, Kentucky, Georgia and Tennessee and more is already promised.  It has been great to feel the love and concern of other Christians around the country sharing with us in our recovery.
We have had the building converted into a warehouse and recovery center and our members have been great to work there every day serving those that are recovering from the storm.  We have already have 6 of those people visit with us at our worship services, so we are very excited about the possiblilities that have been afforded us. 
In the first few days of this week (May15) things have slowed down a little bit but picked up some as the other relief centers have closed in Trenton as FEMA has taken over.   In what truly is a great tribute to the area, a FEMA official working here said, "If everywehre was like it is here, we (FEMA) would be out of business.  I have never seen neighbors and churches taking care of each other like they have here." Tha makes me pretty happy and proud to live here!
After 10 days since the storm, Jamie and I headed to Montgomery for a couple of days with the girls and their families. We had a wonderful visit and I got a chance to have dinner with Matt and spend some time with him for the first time and really enjoyed that. Laurie is still liking the work at Wilson and Wilson but there are some things she has found that aren't perfect at work, as we all find in most situations.
Leigh and Nate are really busy getting ready for the wedding and looking for a place to move into.  It seems as though that they have found a nice little home in the historical area of Capitol Heights in Montgomery. She is staying busy as the summer recruiting season will be complicated this year with showers and then a wedding but I am confident she'll work it out.....be a little stressed but she'll do great!
Louise and Dirt are doing well and she is getting into the swing of caring fore 3 kids everyday but I think she has gained new respect for her mother and others who have raised 3 or more!  We did take the whole group out to lunch one day at the Farmers' Market and they were very well behaved!  Dirt is back in the swing teaching a class at Faulkner and working toward his doctorate also.   
Oh yea, and Ellie....she is doing great and growing and just turned 7 months old and is learning new things and delighting her parents, her aunts and grandparents with something new everyday!  It is incredible to me how quickly she is growing up and changing.  It has really been a blessing to get ot be a grandparent!  Looking forward to her and her mom and dad and aunts beign here the first weekend in June for Leigh and Nate's shower.  Dirt, Louise and Ellie are staying for a week and I am really excited about that!
As tomorrow marks a month since returning home from the Philippines, it is hard for me to look back and realize how much has happened since then and how God has afforded us opportunities to serve others.