Category Archives: SOWER Projects 2018

Little Voices

Two of our SOWER couples are pulling out tomorrow and heading home,  so we had a lovely end-of-project luncheon today. After we had eaten we went around the table and each of us shared something we were thankful for.
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Family and the Oakridge community were high on the list of thanksgiving. I am indeed thankful for those things. But my thankfulness this day was headed in a slightly smaller direction.
While Lana and I were busy putting up Christmas decorations,
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three little ones were busy playing in the background.


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Listening to those little cousins playing and giggling and yes, sometimes even squabbling, did this Gramma’s heart good!

Four Days until Waco (3 grandboys)
Forty One Days until Columbus (7 grandkiddos)

A night at the Ridge

Here at Oakridge we have wonderful, centrally located RV sites. We’re on the ‘edge’ of the camp, but close to all the areas where we’ve been working.

We’re so centrally located, in fact, that we literally surround their main campfire. This is the view from my kitchen window-
Campfire
During the week, this is no problem. In fact, it’s available for us to have our own campfire should we wish. It’s true that during the weekends that campfire gets more action, but all in all it’s not been a big deal. This past weekend, though, the camp was expecting an exceptionally large group that was going to be using the fire pit on Saturday night and they were concerned that we might be a bit more inconvenienced. (Not to mention that sometimes being surrounded by RV’s might put a damper on some of the campfire attendees.) Our hosts generously offered their B&B, The Ridge, to us for the night (or two, they said!).
Night at the Ridge
The Ridge was a new purchase when we were here 18 months ago, and we girls even helped with some of the early renovations.
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(It’s not often we leave a job looking worse than when we started, so it was wonderful to return this time to see it in all of its beautiful and elegant finished state. Just in the short time we’ve been here it’s been used for two weddings!)
We decided to make the most of the opportunity and worked together to make a delicious steak dinner,
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(Try getting 6 folks cooking dinner in an RV!)
enjoyed the meal in the lovely dining room

Dinner at The Ridge
enjoyed a comfy evening in front of the big TV
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and then retired, each of us to our own fancy rooms, complete with private baths.
Night at the Ridge

We woke to a lovely morning view,
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(you can see why they call it The Ridge, right?)
gathered up our ‘stuff’, and returned to our own little 300 square foot homes.

Thank you, Oakridge family, for opening The Ridge to us and blessing us with a lovely little getaway!

…so when’s the next campfire? 😉

A Bit of Saturday Randomness

1. I don’t mind going to the laundromat.
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Unlike many full-time RV’ers (and many part-timers too!), we don’t have a washer or dryer on board. We actually have two spots that were ‘washer ready’, but it was more important to us to make use of the space. (Think fabric stash!) Often, our SOWER projects have laundry facilities available to us. This project does too. But when the pile gets big, and there’s a nice laundromat nearby, it just makes sense for us to go and get it all done at once. I love that in just over an hour I (we, actually – Gary comes too!) can come home with all our clothes, sheets and towels clean and folded.

2. Today is a cold and rainy, stay inside where it’s cozy day. Continue reading A Bit of Saturday Randomness

One Week In

One Week in Oklahoma
One week into October
One week into our Oakridge Project

And it’s been a good week! This is our third time at Oakridge, which is unusual for us since we generally like to work at new (to us) ministries. But coming back to Oakridge is always a sweet experience. It’s a family run camp, with five siblings all working alongside Mom and Dad with the camp maintenance and activities. And as the kids get older, some pretty cute grandkiddos are on the scene too!! We all gather for devotions in the morning, and I just love how Brian’s (Papa) lap is always open for a little one or two!
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We’re working this month with our good friends, Kim and Joe, and some new good friends, Lana and Dan. The guys are tackling a big electrical job. Like rewiring the main chapel and dining hall and move all the wiring to underground Big.
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Gary got called away from that job to do some electrical work up at their bed and breakfast (The Ridge). I don’t have any pictures of that, but I’m pretty sure he was working hard!
We girls were focused in the West Chapel.
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We’ve been sprucing up the room, touching up paint, replacing and repairing wallpaper,
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and re-staining places on the floor where the finish has come up.
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The floor is going to be our biggest challenge because, well, it’s BIG, and we really don’t know the first thing about repairing stained concrete floors. But we’re muddling our way through, with lots of directions, a little help from You-Tube, and lots of rubber gloves!
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We still have a couple of steps to go on just this section, so I’m pretty sure there is some job security for us!

So this first week has been great! We’ve had the opportunity to worship together, enjoy some wonderful meals together and even attend an adorable two-year old’s pumpkin birthday party!
Elliott’s birthday
Elliott’s birthday
Grown-up really know how to concentrate on those pumpkins!

We’ll be here until just before Thanksgiving, so we’re looking forward to a grand (and productive!) time here!
Thanks for stopping by!