Counting Down-----

Yes, it seems impossible but our time here at Spring Hill Camp is down to our last 4 days.  The schedule for the week looks like some of the work will be completed.   The sleeping rooms the women were painting have very high ceilings and walls.   The ladies only painted to a height of about 8 feet.   The men will bring in ladders to finish the job to the top.  Part of the men’s work this past week was to remove, dismantle and clean bathroom exhaust fans.  Now, after the fans are removed, the ladies will do the cleaning etc. and to get a few more of them done.

MAJESTIC!!!   That is the only way to describe the trees clothed in all their glory.   With a backdrop of a crystal blue sky and color on the trees, it is a picture postcard.   However, the time of their beauty is, also, counting down as fall is rapidly approaching.   The ground around the RVs is quickly becoming a carpet of leaves.

Come Friday morning, we will head the truck south again toward home.   After 23 projects, we have found that saying goodbye to our RVICS friends is never easy.   This combination of couples will never again work together, even though we might work with each of them again down the road.  But, it will be good to be back home with friends, “kids” and grandkids.   With a free month before we head out again, it will be a refreshing time of rest and anticipation again!   Plus, this time around, we might see more of the changing into fall down in a southern state for November!

What a Difference in a Week---

Fall arrived this week.   No, not by the calendar but with the weather!    Brrrr!!    It was definitely cooler and  very windy and rainy.    Plus, a couple of morning there was "frost on the pumpkin"!    Isn't it too early for all of this?   I guess after the very hot temps of the summer our blood has gotten too thin???    The trees are going through their physical changes also.   When the trees in the area where we are parked are hit by the evening sun, they are a beautiful gold.

The "high" work on the dining hall was completed this week.     The new coat of stain/paint on the pipes for the sprinkler system and the beams around them now brand new.    They moved on to replacing and painting a door on a pump house and repairing a floor under a cabin.   Ugh!!   The reason for this is to keep the mice out!!     Yes, I think it is the time of year they are moving inside.

The ladies, also, brought out their paint attire this week and began work on sleeping rooms in one of the buildings.   The had a very unique look when we began.   Bright colors for every room from every color in the rainbow!   They were a challenge to the eyes!     The work has begun to make them a nice neutral brown.   The last day of work, the rooms were occupied and we, once again, found ourselves counting.   Counting bandannas and folding them---1368 in all but that job will be left undone for awhile.    Next week,  we pick the paint brushes back up again and try to get more rooms done.

This is definitely a group of practical jokers.  (Can't tell because it will probably be done again.)  The Snows have been the brunt of the worst one.   Oh well, we have made up for it a little bit!   There is good to balance work and play and worship.    On our team tour this week, a stop was made where the Old Rugged Cross was written 100 years ago.   Yes, we did sing the song before leaving.

Next week is week #3 and we are looking forward to it!

Off to a Good Start

Yes, the waiting is over and the work and (as you can see above) the play has begun.    The Hoosiers are definitely outnumbered in this group.   We find we are the only members of this team without a Michigan heritage of some kind.    Two of the couples are currently residents and the third couple have deep roots in this state.   However, we all of the related in Christ!!

Spring Hill Camp in Evart, Michigan, is massive in physical size covering nearly 1000 acres.   With the large physical size, it reaches many age groups in many different ways year round.   In our small way, over the next month we will make some parts of it better.

The first week found the women counting, counting and doing, more counting with the inventory of the camp store.    Some of us, also, found some things we felt we just couldn't do without and purchased to take with us.   The men spent their week replacing &/or repairing soffitt on the dining hall.   Along with that job, one or two of them stained some pillars etc. on the same building.   It looks much better.  Variety is good.   Next week will find the men and women doing different jobs.

The weather was absolutely perfect this week to do about anything outside.   As a group we took advantage and had a campfire one evening---yes, there were s'mores.   For tour to finish the week, we got a real inside look at the Amish community located nearby.   It was very interesting to visit inside 3 of their factories and spend time in their school.

For the weekend, we have gone our separate ways but come Monday, it will be time to help out once again.

Ready and Waiting

Ready and waiting.   That is now our theme as we prepare for another season of RVICS projects.   After a long very hot, dry summer, September has arrived with rain and cooler temperatures and a trip north to Michigan.  This month we are spending at Spring Hill Camp, near Evart, Michigan.    This is a camp ministry we have heard much about over the years.    Three couples have joined us and, one way or another, they all have ties to this area of Michigan.  (We are the outsiders!)

From the pre-project meetings, we feel this will be another productive month that will benefit the work of the Lord.    Our readiness preparations yesterday included being "licensed" to drive golf carts.   It was almost like applying for a state license.   This camp covers many acres and we appreciate not having to drive our huge trucks around that "drink" the fuel we put in them!  

Another "another ready and waiting" are the trees.   When we arrived we were very surprised to find some are beginning to sport some color.   The tree shown is just outside our window and we will be able to watch the changes that will take place.

Tomorrow, we become a "team" as the ones who had to leave for the weekend will return.   All the ready and waiting will be worth it come Monday.