Tag Archives: French Camp Academy

Over so soon???

We’re starting to get ready to move on down the road, but before I get too involved with tucking away things and pulling out the bungee cords, I thought I’d do a quick wrap up about our time here at French Camp Academy (FCA). This is such an interesting place – mostly Christian boarding school, but also community center, historic area (including a café, pottery shop, and bed and breakfast among other delights!), observatory, and summer camp. Our work was concentrated mostly on the school campus, where the guys and half of the gals were working on a 5-plex staff building.
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Plumbing, electrical, windows, painting – so much was accomplished at that house!

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Meanwhile, the remaining two ladies (that would include me) were happily sewing away over at our meeting room.
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Come spring, FCA will be hosting a big Founders’ Day Celebration. That’s going to require lots of costumes for all of the participants, and in an effort to get a bit ahead of the game (especially since she had some Sewing SOWERS this month) we started in on making or remaking costumes. I must say it’s been a good long while since I’ve sewed detailed (as in pin-tucks and set in sleeves (with a gusset no less!)), but it was a fun challenge! Let me just say that the second one went much faster than the first one did!
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We also made aprons (4 with bibs and kerchiefs), and even a simple dress to put under the aprons!
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Some of us ladies even expanded our horizons to include millinery skills in the afternoon!
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Who knew??
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Overall, lots was accomplished this month in the ‘work’ department. But I think what really made this project stand out were the people we interacted with. At every turn folks were engaging us with kindness and thankfulness. We enjoyed evenings out with families and friends,
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got together with several other SOWER couples who live in the area
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and even managed a connection with our friends from Oakridge Camp in Oklahoma, who were down at their sister camp, Pineview, in nearby Kosciusko.
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On our off time we (well, Gary mostly) kept busy getting the trucks changed over (It’s amazing how much stuff accumulates in a truck over the years. Even found Gary’s missing Passport – so that’s a really good thing!) and getting the new one ready to tow. I’ve been working on some sewing projects (when I wasn’t working on my hat-making skills), and generally trying to keep on top of life in general. We struggled some with limited phone serve and sketchy internet, but all in all we’ve made it work and have enjoyed our time here. We’ve worked with great people,
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at a Christ-honoring ministry that is touching the lives of young and old alike, and have come to the conclusion once again, that we are blessed beyond measure to be able to do what God has called us to do!

Now I’d better get back to those “we’re pulling out on Wednesday” chores!

Thanks for stopping by! If you’d like to see a couple more photos from the month you can find them HERE. =)
Steph

A Quick Catch-up

Hi!

I’m sitting here in McDonald’s in Kosciusko, Mississippi, taking advantage of some decent cell phone service and a nice clear WiFi signal. We’ve been having a great project, but with our limited connectivity I haven’t been able to do any updates.  Gary’s getting a bit antsy to get on our way so…..

Good News – the kitchen sink saga has been resolved without having to throw away the entire rig.
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Everything seemed to spring a leak – incoming, outgoing, filter- during the repair, but eventually all was returned to normal.
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More good news – the project is going very well. The rain finally stopped and we’ve been blessed a lovely string of beautiful days! Work is going well (more on that in a later post) and probably the hardest thing about work in that in the room right next to my work area THIS is happening –
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Oh, the Smells!!!

Looks like my internet time is about to end – can you see that red truck through the window? Pretty sure the engine is running!
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Thanks for stopping by (and for your patience between posts!)
Steph

From there to here

When it came time to move from our October SOWER project (Mercy Ships in East TX) to our November project (French Camp Academy in central(ish) MS) we had a little complication. It was a happy complication called an extra truck, but a complication nonetheless! Since there was no way to get the shiny new truck ready to tow in the three days between its arrival in our lives and our need to get to Mississippi, and we hadn’t traded in our trusty gray truck (planning to donate it to a favorite ministry), there was really no other option than to have me drive the new kid behind the rig, which was towing the gray truck.

We’d already moved all the components (RV and both trucks) to the office (about 2 miles from Mercy Ships) and were all set to hit the road at daybreak on Thursday.
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And daybreak it was!
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While my first choice would always be to ride in the rig with Gary, it was pretty fun to drive the truck. I figured out how to connect my phone so I could listen to my favorite podcasts (ah, the miracle of Bluetooth), checked out all the stations on Sirius (free three month trial – sweet), and even made a couple of phone calls (nothing like talking to the steering wheel!). It was a beautiful clear day, and probably the biggest frustration was not being able to take any ‘along the way’ pictures.
OK, so I did take one –
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But it was super quick!
We made it to Madison, MS, where we settled into a Walmart parking lot for the night. Since we had a ‘loose’ truck, we even got to go out for a bite to eat(usually we stick to places within walking distance – i.e. Subway or McDonald’s in the Walmart!). (I did let Gary drive, btw!)
We returned to witness a stunning God painting, and once again were reminded of the majestic God we serve.
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Friday arrived with the promise of rain all day, so we were thankful that we only had 70 miles or so to finish up our drive.
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And I’m happy to report that we made it in with no problems. Since the rain (as promised) continued, we did a quick set up (just electric and water) and then started to address a little water leak problem we had noticed as we set out on our drive to French Camp. So although generally when we arrive at a project we’re nice and tidy, with everything put away in its place for a least a little bit, we got right to work taking EVERYTHING out from under the sink and remove the bottom drawers to locate and fix the problem.
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Happy to report that the problem is remedied, and now we just have to wait until everything drys out. With all the under sink ‘stuff’ out in the daylight,  it has at least given me the opportunity to do a little purge of the forgotten vinegars that have been hiding out there (like the gourmet red wine vinegar that has a best by date of 01/20/11 YIKES!! Not sure just how “gourmet” it is these days! Well aged, at least!) Those Under The Kitchen Spaces can be pretty scary! Hopefully by the end of the day, the space will be dried out and all will be returned to their correct spaces. (Or put in the trash!)
So, enough of that ‘keeping it real’ story! The rain has continued today, so for now, this is all I can offer of our “New View”
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Hopefully the sun will return by the time we start work (Monday AM), but in the meanwhile if you’d like to know a bit more about French Camp Academy, please hop over to my “So Where are we now” page or check out their website!

Thanks for stopping by!
Steph