Cedar Rapids, Iowa- Oh, what a week!

     I arrived at our RV sites, housed at Living Waters UMC in Marion, IA, on Saturday afternoon.  There were 13 in our team.  I had the chance to meet a few of the previous team members before they headed out.  Quite a crew.  But then, so was the group I was to spend the week with.

     This was week nineteen of a twenty-two week project.  Teams moved in and out.  The NOMADS are helping to rebuild homes from last year's devastating flood.  We currently were working in four homes.  Of course, each had a story.  One house is owned by a young man, who returned home from his tour of duty in Iraq with a head injury.  He had been given full disability from the military after years of hospitals and rehab.  He then bought this house and 3 months later the flood came.  He is lovingly rehabilitating his house while he continues to improve himself.  He has been grateful to the NOMADS for teaching him ways to do the construction and thus, learn a new trade.  Our prayers and thanks go out to him.

     A small group of us went out to a small neighboring town, Palo, to help in a home there. After three days of rain local people started getting anxious.  On Thursday creeks started to rise.  I took pictures out the back of the house at a line of parked cars.  By lunch time the water was up to their doors and our leader said we should leave.  We went back to Cedar Rapids to work on a house with the other team members.  By quitting time that street was full of water.  Storm drains are still filled with mud from last year.

     When we got back to our RVs most of us turned on our TVs to watch the news.  A call had gone out for volunteers to help reinforce the local supply of sandbags.  Five of us went to join the townspeople in this effort.

     On the 10:00 pm news there was footage of the same cars I had taken a picture of, now the water was up to their windshields.  There was also footage of the sandbagging efforts. Guess who was on the KCRG news?!! yep, me.  They had gotten a close-up.  Of course I wasn't doing anything at the time- looks like I'm thinking,  "Is it break time?"  I checked on their website and there is different footage.  I'm not in it, but my leader is.  So, I had my 10 seconds of fame. Luckily, the rain stopped and it's only the creeks which flooded, not the river.  Ironically, that town of Palo is scheduled to have a town-wide celebration for their recovery from last year's flood.

     This morning I left Cedar Rapids and am headed for Pennsylvania.  I am spending the night parked in a Wal-Mart.  Another first.   RVers are allowed to do that, but so far I haven't had the nerve.  I'm too cheap to pay for a campsite... hey, it's the end of the month.    I'll be stopping in Ohio to visit some folks there.  Hope to see some of you soon.

  

Madison, WI

     This past week, Aug 15-21,  I was able to spend  time with Janelle and Erik.  It was good to get to see them.   We went to tour Cave of the Mounds.  It was an hour-long guided walk through a cavern.  It was just south of the city.  We also went to the Mustard Museum, a shop with mustards from all over.  It is in a town stated to have more trolls than Norway.  (I could say something here, but I'll leave it to your imagination.)

We also went to a farmer's market near the capitol, viewed Lake Monona from The Terrace, and SHOPPED.  Not only did we shop at the usual Target,  Kohls (the founder is from Madison), Walmart, Dollar Tree, etc.  I spent a lot of time and money at Menards (like Home Depot), Camping World, and Gander Mountain.  Yep, the priorities have changed.....but I did manage to buy one pair of shoes.

     I left Madison and drove on a very nice secondary highway for almost 4 hours, crossing the Mississippi, and on to Cedar Rapids, Iowa.  Here, the NOMADS are helping to rebuild homes from last year's floods. I got settled in, met the others, and will be going out to dinner shortly.  My kind of people.

Ashippun, WI

     This past week (Aug 8-15) I was at Harnishfeger County Park.  Here the five NOMADS cooked and served 90 volunteers breakfast and supper.  The volunteers were mostly teens who were a part of Disciplefest, working at a day camp VBS for handicapped children.  We had early and late hours, but the daytime was free.

     I was able to walk on the park's trails and bike on the surrounding country roads.  The park had a nine hole disc (frisbee) golf course.  I had never seen this, and found out that it's quite a popular activity.  Instead of sand traps, some of the 'holes' or baskets were in the woods on the trails.   interesting.

     While I biked,  I was able to see some of the rolling hills of farmland and the big red barns with stone foundations that are all over the area.  I love old barns.  I had to resist taking pictures of all of them.

     The area is also home to sandhill cranes.  I had never seen them before.  They were a noisy group.

     On Friday we went to the day camp to watch the program that the children did.  It was fun to see the teens interact with their buddies.  There was a picnic for all to conclude their festivities.

     Saturday we served breakfast to the remaining volunteers, cleaned the facility, and packed up.  I then drove only an hour to Madison, WI to spend a week visiting Janelle.  There is a county park within the the city limits that I can camp at.  convenient

Anniversary

Today I have been a full-time RVer for one month.  So far, so good.

Project Completed

     This was our third and final week on the project in Chatham.  I helped paint, lay laminate floor and painted the sign.   I even got to use a miter saw and the nail gun again.  (gotta love those power tools)   Of course there's always clean up to be done. 

     In the free time I had decided to try knitting a baby sweater to go into a layette kit.  I struggled with it at first, decided I would never make another, then completed it in 6 days.  It came out pretty well.  Maybe I will make another.  

     The UMC offers the opportunity for people to put together a variety of kits (school, teacher, baby layette, health, flood buckets, etc).   Those kits eventually make their way to the regional distribution centers where they are checked, boxed, and packaged in large shipping crates.  They are then sent to places in need of those certain things.  While I was here, a large trailer filled with 15,000 school kits was taken to Kentucky where there had been devastating floods.

     We went to tour Catholic Sisters Mission Outreach.  It was very informative.  This mission collects used, outdated, or unwanted medical supplies and equipment from hospitals and clinics.  They sort and catalog it all.  Places in developing nations can apply and when accepted can then 'shop' for free equipment.  They are expected to pay the shipping of a cargo box (about the size of a trailer) and can fill it to the brim.  This warehouse was full and they often store at and work with the Midwest Mission Distribution  Center (where I am).  Some of the wallboards that we tore off the building we made into a chapel were used to build a crate to send a dental chair to Ghana.  cool.

     Thursday Aug 6 was our last day of  'work.'  One of our team members is a retired minister so we were able to have service and communion in the new chapel. It was quite emotional.  We then started saying goodbye to members as they left to go their separate ways.   Some were going on to other projects, some vacationing, and others returning home.

     The leaders and I stayed for a couple more days.  They took me to New Salem which is a settlement recreated to show where Lincoln once lived and worked.  People were in period clothing and doing the crafts of that era.

     Sunday I will be doing the Jambo Jive- driving.  I am driving north to Wisconsin where I will be volunteering in a week -long project of KP duty.   After that I will be able to camp near Janelle and visit for about 5 days.

Chatham, IL week 2

      We continued working on the chapel.  I helped sand drywall mud and began painting.  The paint was too bright so we will be painting again.  Began working on the sign that will be on the outside.  Others put up siding and the men continued building a deck on another building.

     On Tuesday night we went to Lincoln's tomb.  Every Tuesday there is a little ceremony done by men in actual Civil War uniforms.  It was raining and I thought not many people would show up.  wrong.  Each person signs in and after the flag is taken down one person's name is drawn and he receives the flag.  No one in our group got the flag.  Then the tomb is opened and we filed through.  We were instructed to leave our umbrellas at the entry -uh oh.  Yep,  mine was gone when we got back.  I waited until most people were gone and chose a similar umbrella.  

     Nothing else remarkable happened.  I stayed put for the weekend, rested, made phone calls, and mapped out my next trips. 

     The corn is tall and tasseled.  We are surrounded on three sides by miles of corn fields.  The vivid blue sky behind the rich green corn makes the area look like a picture out of a magazine.  In the morning when I walk there are wild morning glories blooming around the stalks.  The road is flat and straight, ahhhhh, and makes for a nice bike ride in the evenings.

     I have tv with my antenna and my malfunctioning refrigerator was fixed by one of the NOMADS.  A part was just not attached.  So all is well.

     Miss y'all.