Category Archives: SOWER Projects 2022

Mondays are for memories – Finding an old hard drive

January 6, 2025 steph Leave a comment

One thing about transitioning from full-time RVing into a house is you get the opportunity to sort through all of those drawers and baskets that you’ve been stashing random things in for the last 20 years. One of the items that turned up is my original back-up portable hard drive. And I found some treasures there!
This first set must’ve been the Thanksgiving of 2003. We (Gary, Josiah & I) drove the Lizzie (our new RV) to Ohio, Lara flew in from California (I think that’s where she was!) and we celebrated the holiday with Toby, Tammy and little Ellie (all of 9 months old). Some of the pictures were taken in T&T’s apartment and some in our new RV, The one of the seven of us standing in front of the blank wall was in their still-being-built home!

This set is from our last Christmas at our home in Jamison, PA – not too many pictures, and none are very good – but they are oh so sweet to me!

Oh my – the memories!

And this final picture is our family in March of 2004.

It might be the last time we were all together before we “ran away from home” August 1st of that year. I honestly can’t remember why we were all together. But I do know our family has grown in so many beautiful ways between then and now –

(And we’re missing DIL Abigail in this picture! Oh, and that’s Ellie on the end holding her little sister Everly!)

In the middle of sorting and deciding what to keep (and where to put it!) and what to donate, it was a very sweet walk down memory lane for which I am very grateful!

Have a great week, friends! Stay safe – I hear there’s lots of snow going on around the country!

Pictures of the Adventure, RV Life, SOWER Projects, SOWER Projects 2022, The Adventure

About that Bathroom – the rest of the story

December 16, 2022 steph 1 Comment

I think the last time you saw the bathroom renovation progress it looked like this –

The walls were down, the existing showers had been removed, the ceiling taken down and then replaced, and the new showers were being installed in what had previously been a storage room. (Remember those ammo box walls?)

While there weren’t enough hours to get the bathroom all the way done – they did get it from here

to here-

And looking toward the new showers –
From here –

to this –

There is still plenty to keep the staff busy during the quiet(er) winter months, but they have a good start on what is probably the most spacious dorm bathroom on campus!

At least they left it tidy!

Pictures of the Adventure, RV Life, SOWER Projects, SOWER Projects 2022, The Adventure

Jam Packed

December 15, 2022 steph 3 Comments

Sometimes our projects end nice and quietly. This month finished with a bang! This past week has been jam-packed with so much goodness, I hardly know where to start. So I guess I’ll start at the beginning!
Sunday
Sunday we drove up to Yukon to worship with our friends Pam and Eric. It was lovely to celebrate the third Sunday with them, and then we enjoyed some delicious Japanese Curry and lots of good conversation!

Yea for catching up with friends from our ‘previous lifetime’!
Monday
Monday was a workday, of course. These three ladies painting bunk beds with brown oil-based paint need to take all kinds of precautions!

That evening we were invited to join the staff for a Christmas party! The food was amazing (all of the chefs’ specialties), and the evening wrapped up with a lovely time of caroling.

We even managed a festive group picture!

(We clean up pretty nicely, don’t we?)

Tuesday
Tuesday after work we ladies had a little crafty afternoon. Tammy, our fearless leader, does something called Chalk Couture. It reminded me of stenciling, but on a whole new level! Tammy had all the supplies and was an excellent teacher!

So.Much.Fun.
That evening we took our final trip to InterUrban Restaurant in Chickasha for their Tuesday $8 burger night.

Eight dollars. And crazy good!

Wednesday
We moved to another building and tackled another batch of bunk beds!

We got them all sanded and ready for stain.
And then it was time for more fun! We ladies took a classic “Ladies’ Day Out,” and headed into Chickasha for lunch and a bit of Christmas shopping. Great fun – and we ended the day with a visit to the Leg Lamp.

Because, why not?
That evening, we finally got over to The Ridge – a “fancy” venue that the camp uses for weddings and other small group events.

We had our final meeting at the Ridge and then ended the evening with some fun games. So lovely!

Thursday
Today we left the bunkbeds behind and helped out with preparations for the upcoming Winter Retreat for the Prison Fellowship Angel Tree children. We were honored to be a small part of making Christmas special for those kids and to help them understand what being part of the family of God means!

See what I mean about Jam-Packed???
But just like that – our December project is over. We’ll be hanging around through the weekend, but the first of our team is already on their way home.

It was such a lovely month! We’ve made some great new friends, got to hang out with our buddies here at Oakridge (it’s one of the few locations we’ve returned to several times), and were able to help out with some long-overdue renovations*.
And got some bunks painted!
Thanks for stopping by!

*Update on the bathroom reno will have to wait until tomorrow. This is already Way Too Long!

Pictures of the Adventure, RV Life, SOWER Projects, SOWER Projects 2022

About that Bathroom

December 8, 2022 steph Leave a comment

Man, the guys have been working hard these last two weeks! With this bathroom remodel/redesign came the moving of the plumbing. Never a pretty job!

Yes – there’s always more mess before the actual reconstruction can take place!

With the walls and ceiling down and the new plumbing ditches dug, it was time to begin the reconstruction.

I’m standing where the new showers will be. The vanity/sinks will be moved to the opposite wall, and the commodes will be spaced differently.
Showers are getting plumbed

and electric is being run.

Once all the wiring was completed, onto drywalling the ceiling.

While work continued on those showers, Eep and Bruce worked on the lighting.

It’s coming along nicely, but there is still a long way to go before it’s actually functional. We’ll just have to wait and see how far they get next week!
Meanwhile, across the hall, we ladies continued painting bunk beds. Sanding, priming, and (oil-based) painting. Six bunks down, four to go!

Job security, to be sure!

Pictures of the Adventure, RV Life, SOWER Projects 2022, The Adventure

The Week Between

November 25, 2022 steph 3 Comments

The Founding Fathers of the SOWER Ministry built a week ‘off’ between each SOWER month’s projects. And we continue to relish the genius of that plan. The other beautiful part of that plan is that we are allowed to remain on the project if we choose during that week off. Our fellow SOWERs pulled out early in the week, but since we are only moving about 14 miles down the road, we’ve been hanging out at the Ranch. And it’s been a good week!
We got to greet some new young horses that had just been picked up in New Mexico,

Hello, Delta and Mesa!

We got to meet some very shy kittens –

This is my attempt to reach through the gate to try and get a picture of the litter.

E for effort?
My time was spent mostly in front of my sewing machine (yippee!), and Gary decided to tackle a job down at the arena. A new hospitality center is being built in the front of the arena, with two wings and a central gathering area where the front of the arena is.

(The two white buildings coming out from the arena are part of the new construction. Contractors are working on that – we’ve just enjoyed watching the progress!)

(They are filling the looks-like-Styrofoam-because- it-is walls with concrete!)
The plan is to put big viewing windows at the front of the arena so folks in the gathering area can view the arena. Gary’s job was to frame out those window areas.

I believe there will be four sections, each with five tall (35X85) windows. Now, the actual wall hasn’t been cut away except in certain areas, so you’ll have to use your imagination on this picture Gary took of the five windows he installed today.

Lest you think I was only working at my sewing machine while Gary was hard at work, he did need me to help when he was cutting and routing out the boards for the windows.

(And quite the fashion statement I was, right?)
Gary was having a good week figuring out the best way to get those windows installed, I was happily sewing away on some UFOs (unfinished projects), and to make the week especially lovely, we joined our host family for Thanksgiving Dinner.

It was the first time for us to be at a Golden Corral for Thanksgiving, and I have to say the food was great, the fellowship sweet, and there were no dishes to wash (or stress in preparing things!). It was nice to be doing something totally different since we couldn’t be with any of our kids and grands.
Tomorrow we pack up and head down the road. As I said earlier, it’s just about 14 miles down the road, so it will be a ‘light packing’. Things still need to be battened down as usual, but more stuff can just be put on the bed instead of being put ‘all the way’ away. I spent today doing laundry and getting my sewing stuff put away, so tomorrow morning should go smoothly.Â And there’s no rush to get out.