Got Questions?

Have you ever thought of the corelation between conversation and blogging?  I have.  Keith can talk to anyone, any time, any place -- he's never met a stranger.  Me, on the other hand.... conversation is difficult for me.  Oh, not that I don't have anything to say .. I just don't know how to start.  It's a lot easier for me to get started if someone asks me a question.  Hahaha!   Then watch out ... I might never quit talking!

It's been the same with this blog.  I had good intentions when I started it.  I wanted to share what was going on with our projects and post photos of the building progress.  But I've had a hard time getting started without a question -- as evidenced by the length of time since I last posted.  I just haven't quite known how to start the conversation.

SO .. I'm going to try again.  And if you have any questions about our ministry or our building projects, please feel free to post them in the comments.   We might just get something going here!

We Remember

It's been 7 years. It's hard to imagine that it's been that long. So much has happened since then. So much happened that day.

We were building a church near Albany, NY. We were living on a mountain about 30 miles NW of the capital area, in a flight path for an airport and a military base. I was doing a little housework, and when the first attacks came and news coverage began, I didnt have the television on. A few minutes after 9, my husband called me from the building site and asked me to turn on the television to see what was happening -- the crew had been told that something was going on. I turned on the TV and in a matter of minutes, I also threw in a VCR tape and started recording -- it was more than I could take in. At about 10, my husband called again, wanting to know what was going on. I was only on the phone with him for a few minutes, when the south tower of the World Trade Center collapsed. I can remember repeating to him over and over "it's going down .... it's going down..... it's going down". He kept asking what was happening, but I had no words.

Some moments from that day are so clear, others are such a blur, too much to take in even now. Within a couple hours, we knew that it had been a terrorist attack. That realization brought fears and concerns for our son -- he wasn't in any of the places hit, but it was apparent that air transportation was going to be suspended indefinitely. He was 17 at the time, and had flown out of Albany to Chicago on 9-9 to help at a retreat for some special needs men in WI. He wasn't supposed to return until the 17th, but we didn't know how he would get home. Our youngest daughter, 14, was in MI visiting her sister. It was terrible to have all my kids away from me that day -- I so needed them close, to know they were safe.

I remember driving to the building site mid-afternoon. The trip involved taking a 5-lane road, normally very heavy with traffic, especially at that time of day -- I was the only vehicle on the road for miles. It was one of the most eerie feelings. By 3 that afternoon, our local firemen were already on their way to Ground Zero.

By that time, we also knew that planes from Boston had been involved -- a couple months earlier, in July, we had shared our ministry at a church just north of Boston -- we'd met 3 airline pilots at that church -- we wondered about them. We later learned they were all safe -- although one was supposed to have been on a flight -- his schedule had changed late Monday night and he was on another flight.

I know that all of America was impacted, but I've always felt that our area was hit a little harder. EVERYONE there knew someone. If it wasn't my son or my niece, it was the son or niece of my next-door neighbor or the people across the street. There was an older couple who lived next door to the church we were building -- they had a son-in-law and niece at the WTC and a brother at the Pentagon -- all ended up safe, but it took so many hours to find out. The waiting was so terrible. The SIL was late getting to work that morning -- he'd been running about 10 minutes late after staying up to watch Monday Night Football -- 10 minutes that spared his life.

My parents were in Nebraska at the time. They had moved a trailer for another builder family, heading for a project in the west. As all air travel had ceased, any plane in the air was especially noticeable. As a matter of national security, President Bush, who had been in FL that morning, was on Air Force One and was not returned directly to DC -- they saw AF1 taking off from a military base.

The days that followed are a blur. For some, they brought relief, for others the pain of loss. The skies over us were eerily silent for several days -- only an occasional military plane -- and the air was hazy, heavy with the smoke from the World Trade Center. Air travel resumed on the 15th or 16th -- our son was one of the first to fly. There were only 11 on his flight. Later that week, on Friday evening, it was the first night that folks were getting out -- life was beginning to resume. Baseball resumed in NYC with patriotic pre-game extravaganzas. We went out to eat that night at a Smoky Bones -- a restaurant with TVs all over carrying sports programming. That night, the place was full, although a little quieter than usual. Those pre-game shows were playing on all the TVs. There were bagpipes playing "Amazing Grace" and someone sang "God Bless America" but when the National Anthem was sung, all TVs and all sound boxes were tuned to it and the restaurant was stone quiet except for the Anthem. The servers all stopped moving. Everyone just sat and listened. Some prayed. Some cried. Some quietly sang. When it was done, all clapped and cheered. I can't tell you how moving that moment was -- all those total strangers, so incredibly unified by grief and pride.

In our current political season, I think that we, as a nation, have forgotten 9-11. We've lost that unity and each has returned to his own agenda. In many ways, we are more sharply divided now than we have been in decades. We need to remember that we could be only moments away from another terrorist attack. It is good today to be reminded of that national unity and the heros who died that day. We need to tell our families and friends how much we love them -- because we don't have any guarantees of tomorrow. We need to be sure that we, as individuals, are prepared to meet God.

I know that it was much more personal for so many others, but we will never forget.

Project Update

I've been super busy these past couple weeks -- and lots has been happening on the building project so today I'll update about that. Two weeks ago, we got the rest of the exterior walls up and started sheeting them. Last week, we finished sheeting and got some of the interier walls up. Everything has been going well.

Today, the trusses were delievered -- we plan to set them Thursday, weather permitting. The weather has been pretty cooperative (for a change) and the forecasts are looking promising for most of the next couple weeks. We took a little video of the last delivery -- always a little exciting to see them drop!!

Our Building Week July 28-Aug 1

It was a fabulous week and we got SO much done on the church we're building!! We had a group of volunteers from Kansas City, KS and a group from Belmont, MI as well as a young man from WI -- so LOTS of extra hands! The week began by pouring concrete in the educational wing. Some of the men helped with that while others worked at preparing other parts of the floor for concrete. We had purposely left a small section of footings and foundations undone -- the rains have kept us so muddy that the concrete trucks would never be able to get to all the areas of the building. That small section allowed the trucks to get footings and foundations poured from inside the building. Now that everything is backfilled, and we've had a little dry spell, the trucks were able to access the building from the exterior and we could finish that last section of foundation. Some of the folks helped assemble the foam forms. Lots of little odd jobs were done, too, which was great. As the week progressed, the entire floor was poured and walls were assembled.

One Wednesday the first wall went up!! It's always an exciting moment -- up to now all the work has been in the ground and, while incredibly important, isn't visible. That first wall is the obvious sign of progress! We got a second section of wall up on Wednesday too.

B y Friday, most of the walls were up and we look like a building site (not a trailer park!).

We are so thankful for the great help! They were all a blessing and encouragement to us in so many ways! We are also grateful to the Lord for His care -- there were a couple small injuries and a little sunburn and quite a few achy muscles -- but no one was seriously hurt!

The site is quiet today. The volunteers have all left for home. Our guys have worked 11 days in a row with only Sunday off so today they are all getting some much-needed rest and spending time with their families.

It's been a GREAT week!!!

Catching Up

It's been some time since I've been here -- we've been bopping around, spending weeks and weeks in internet neverland. So for today, I'll try to bring everyone up to speed.

We spent over 2 months living in someone's yard -- this sounds odd, but our trailer was parked on the lawn of a church family. It was really quite pleasant -- the place was in the country and we were in the shade, with an open field across the road so we always had a light breeze. The people were VERY nice ... and very respectful of our privacy, yet invited us for meals and visiting ... and when the weather was threatening, we were made very welcome in their house. The view out our front window was their little home orchard, which was in a constant state of bloom for 3 or 4 of our weeks there.
On the project, we finally got our permits in late May and began working to get utilities onto the building site. In June, 3 other families arrived with their trailers and joined us to work on the church. Our efforts have been somewhat hampered by the weather -- it rains and rains and rains here. We thought we were in Wisconsin, not an equatorial rainforest! In June, those terrible storms that flooded through Iowa, and then into Wisconsin, came dangerously close to us. On more than one occasion, we've had reports of tornadoes and funnel clouds sighted in nearby areas -- one night, 5 reports within 6 miles of us. For we, who live in tornado magnets, that's exciting enough! Several severe storms have taken the same path across the midwest -- we've come to call it "the chute" -- and we live in the chute, having as much as 14 inches of rain in just a few hours. It's been quiet now ... for about 5 days. And, we've gotten a lot of work done!

Two weeks ago, we had a volunteer group from Shelby MI come to help us for the week -- they got SO much done! This week, we've had a group of teens from Kansas City MO here to help and they've done a lot too! The foundations and stem walls have been poured and backfilled, the plumbing is done that goes under the floor, and if all goes well on Monday, we'll be pouring part of the floor. Materials are here to go up with walls later in the week. We are expecting another group from Kansas this coming week, as well as a group from Michigan -- many hands make light work!!


Keith had a rough start to July -- in late June, something bit him just above the eye (we think it was a spider). For the first few days, it was similar to a mosquito bite, but then it was as though it exploded! It got quite inflamed and swelling began to spread around his eye (it was awful). We ended up heading to the doctor and it had already developed into cellulitis. The first antibiotics he tried didn't work, so it was even worse the next day. Back to the doctor, got a new Rx. While there, we also found that his sodium was low. With new meds and plenty of Gatorade in hand, we went home where he spent the day resting. His sodium came back up, the antibiotic worked and it all ended well, but he was pretty tired for several weeks.

I've been working on jewelry ... but we'll save that for another day!!