Return to Little Galilee

We had a totally different plan for our May project…helping a friend in his business in Michigan. However, we found out that being there for an entire month would have been more than they could manage and still be blessed. So, the plan was to go for just a week or so. But then, what would we do for the first few weeks of May? We wanted to head in the direction of Michigan (and, ultimately. Wisconsin) from our location in Louisiana and what better place than the great camp we were at last May near Clinton IL: Little Galilee Christian Camp.

Bill made the call and they were delighted that we had a few weeks of volunteer labor to give them; it didn’t matter to them when we came or when we had to leave. PTL! They were just happy to get the help. The plan was to still visit our Michigan friends for a week or so later in the month. Although I was very excited to visit our friends in Michigan, I have to admit I was a bit nervous about where we were going to be parking our home. (What else is new?) Originally, we had a great spot lined up on private property very close to our friend’s place, however, that became unavailable and the alternate spot wasn’t as convenient for such a big rig and we wouldn’t have had the convenience of a sewer hookup that I so very much desired. I say all that to say (and, trust me, I could say more about why I wasn’t sure this Michigan trip was such a good idea at this time) that instead of getting all worked up about the “what ifs,” I truly surrendered it to the Lord with the attitude that He has taken us on many adventures and I survived just fine. J This was just one more of those adventures and I really came to believe that. Later that same day of surrender, we got a call from our Michigan friend who had something else come up for the week we were planning to visit, so we ended up postponing our entire visit for another time (yet to be determined). I was blown away at how quickly God handled my concerns. This also meant we could stay a bit longer at Little Galilee and return to Oshkosh ahead of schedule. HalleluJAH!!!

So here we are at Little Galilee and lovin’ it as I knew we would. We even brought one of the VMM couples with us from the Louisiana project. This is the same couple I referred to in last month’s blog; they were the first couple we met on our first project and we became fast friends then and continue to develop that friendship now. We love having them with us at Little Galilee. First, it’s more fun when you have someone to work with and, second, they like to play card games and visit fun places. And we did a lot of both this month.

We had a fairly uneventful trip from Tall Timbers in Louisiana to Little Galilee except and this is a big (but good) except, we stopped for an overnight at French Camp, Mississippi.  Sure we could have saved an hour of travel time and slept in a Wal-Mart parking lot or rest area, but why would we do that when we could visit our dear friends in French Camp. What a delight!!! Loved the surprised reactions as we walked around town and visited as many people as we could. Students and adults, alike, were surprised and happy to see us. Some were sad that we were only there for overnight but we reminded them that we would be returning for a four month stay in October. Oh my, how it’s nice to be loved! We were there less than 24 hours but enjoyed every minute of it. We love this community and feel so loved by them!

Our arrival at Little Galilee wasn’t quite as grand especially when there didn’t appear to be any room for us to park. As far as we knew there was only us, our friends, and one other couple from a different ministry group that would be volunteering but all of the spots were filled with RV’s or blocked off with vehicles. Oops! Quick call and all was good. The vehicles that were parked in the empty spots were there to hold those spots for us. Good to know. J Thank you Jesus!  Let’s get those vehicles moved!

 

We did have one little glitch in our travels. When we arrived at French Camp for our overnight we couldn’t get the closet door to slide open. For some reason, the closet pole bent in one place and completely broke in another. Good thing we really didn’t need anything from in there as we traveled. Upon our arrival at Little Galilee, Bill got right to fixing it which meant a trip to a nearby Menards. Oh, how happy to have familiar places nearby.  I was actually grateful for something physical to do (empty the closet) upon our arrival after all the sitting. I have a sore sitter…some of you probably aren’t aware of that, but that’s one reason we chose a motor home over a 5^th wheel. I can get up and walk around in the motor home as we travel and that is a huge blessing. On this particular trip, I even laid on the couch a while, just to get off my back side. Okay, that’s probably more than you want to know. J Anyway, Bill got everything fixed up in the closet and I got to put all the clothes back in (and, yes, I organized them even better than they were before).

Bill got right to work the morning (Monday, 4/30) after we arrived. The project before him was winterizing a cabin that previously had just been used in warm weather. He insulated the entire building by himself including the cathedral ceiling. I took the first two days to catch up on my His House bookkeeping which has become a bit more time consuming. As I’ve stated in earlier blogs, there’s been some big staff changes taking place (mine included) and with that comes extra bookkeeping and a few more challenges. Last fall the Lord was preparing me for retirement, but I knew it would be hard to give up a position that I’ve had from its infancy to a ripe old age of 14 years. But the good Lord has made me more than ready now. I’ll finish up training my replacement upon our physical return to Oshkosh and be done before the end of June. More freedom! J More time to volunteer! J

I was able to get started helping out at the camp with the same project Bill was working on.  It was my job to paint the wall and ceiling panels. The good news was that the first two coats were done before they were put up. Much easier to paint that way. Praise the Lord!!! 

Instead of writing about all that was done to this cabin, and there was a lot, I’m going to let you see for yourself. (I hope you enjoy these photos.) FYI, there was little light and a lot of shadows in this building, so painting was a real challenge, but we were diligent and from what we were told they were happy with what our team accomplished together in such a short time.

Besides the cabin, the boys got to play with big boy toys. There was excavating going on at the camp to make way for a new dining hall and our guys got to drive the dump trucks back and forth from the site of the excavation to various places on the camp grounds. I have to say here, I love how well thought out this camp does things. There were three different areas of the camp that needed the dirt (a new riding arena for their horse camp, filling in an area used for paint ball, and filling in a trench so a bridge in need of serious repair could be removed). 

And, it wouldn’t be fair of me to not mention one other thing Bill got to do. His favorite… NOT!!! Painting!

So, with all that work, did we have anytime for some fun trips, you ask? Absolutely!!! But our first trip wasn’t exactly fun.  Our first free day after our arrival, we ended up driving to Danville IL (about an hour and a half away) to the VA Outpatient Care. Short story is that Bill had terrible pain in his mouth; he wasn’t sure if it was in his jaw or tooth. Turned out to be in his tooth; he was given something for the pain and an antibiotic to, hopefully, clear it up until we got back to our Wisconsin dentist in a month. (FYI: He made it. PTL) Unfortunately, he was still in a lot of pain the next day and we had plans to take a tour of the Funk Prairie House, Mineral Museum, Nature Center, Church & Cemetery with our fellow VMM friends. Although I had been there two times before, I really wanted to go again to experience it with our friends as I knew they would love it too. Bill insisted I go without him, so I did. Such a great guy! Thank you, Jesus!

Our second weekend in May, we took a long but wonderful  trip to Columbia MO to celebrate and see our niece graduate from the University of Missouri. So good to have an opportunity to spend time with family!

I’m so grateful that Bill and I both enjoy history. We went to a Civil War Reenactment at high school near Bloomington and then to Miller Park (which is the Bloomington zoo). If there’s a zoo nearby…I’m there!!! (Thanks honey for indulging me!)  Another time, we went to Decatur IL where there are so many beautiful historic homes and buildings and lots of Abe Lincoln history. Love exploring those areas. (Guess what? They also have a zoo in Decatur. And, yes, we spent a morning there.) One Sunday after church, we drove to Springfield IL to have dinner with Bill’s cousin and wife; we left early so we could take in Abe Lincoln’s home (where his children were born) and neighborhood where he lived when he was nominated for President. Really enjoyed that! (Can't believe I didn't take a picture of it. But I did take pics of lots of animals at the zoo.)

Because there were just two of us ladies working together, it was much easier to coordinate “outings” and game nights so we took advantage of that and had several game nights and many outings:  a delightful nearby coffee shop (several times), huge antique mall, several  thrift stores,  and two country stores. (Now don’t forget about all those pictures above…we worked hard too.) One of our outings took us to the quaint downtown square where we met a young shop owner who was closing her store. She told us her husband died unexpectedly during an asthma attack. I’ve never heard of such a thing. We were so taken with her story and being obedient to the Holy Spirit, we asked if we could pray with her. I love it when God stirs our hearts like that. I pray this dear woman was blessed and is doing well.

From our last time at Little Galilee, we had no problem deciding on where to attend church: First Christian Church in Clinton. Our first week there they had a guest speaker who we recognized from being the keynote speaker at a His House Christian Fellowship retreat a few years ago. Small world.  And an excellent message. Here’s a few things I took away:  Jesus did not come to establish a religion or institution but rather to release a movement. The first step in this is “an abided connectedness to the breath of God.”  And, being before doing. (Now where have I heard that before? So many many times.  Help me, Jesus!)

Here’s one more God story:  Remember past blogs, in the early part of our journey, how fearful I was when the wind would rock our world (motor home). Well, HalleluJAH and Praise the Lord, we had some serious wind (again) for several days in Clinton IL and I do believe I’ve been delivered. Peace cometh! J

We ended our time at Little Galilee with a delightful surprise. Our last night, we decided to drive over to the game room and play a little carpet ball. On our return, Bill saw eyes coming out of a drainage ditch. It was a little fox. So fun to watch! After it went back into the drainage pipe, we only went a few yards and saw more activity…three more foxes, playing and looking for food. Not sure how long we watched but it was so very delightful and what I refer to as a “kiss from heaven.”

I guess I could say this entire journey has been one big wonderful “kiss from heaven” and with that I will close with, Be Blessed & Be a Blessing!!!