God's at Work

God’s at work in French Camp, Mississippi, changing lives and hearts – particularly mine! We’ve been here for more than six weeks now (okay, when I started writing this blog for the third time, it was six weeks, now it’s almost eight) and we have been busy busy busy. Sound familiar? The really great thing about this is that it’s a really good busy-ness. Rarely have we felt stretched or overwhelmed and there have been plenty of relaxing evenings and even some full days of just hanging out.

So what exactly has God been up to? Well let me tell you. You can see by all the pictures that the men have been quite busy building a fellowship hall and classrooms for the church. They have made excellent progress and all without any serious injury. Bill does come home with a few scraps and bumps, but that’s to be expected. He’s a boy playing with big boy toys. Ya gotta know there’s going to be some blood shed. We thank the Lord every day for their safety. We are also very grateful to all the wonderful people here at French Camp that are praying for the safety of our men. We praise the Lord for these dear prayer warriors. Again, since starting this writing, the trusses have appeared and Bill has been lovin’ the “high” work. Me, I can’t watch him. I take a quick picture and walk away praying earnestly for his safety. Praise the Lord, God is taking good care of him and keeping me focused on His goodness.

The next set of pictures show a few of the things I’ve been up to. I was blessed to help out in the Pottery Studio to help prep an inventory of pottery for three upcoming events. The studio is one of many ministries here at French Camp that raises funds for the Academy and provides another avenue of learning and working for the students. I did the initial three coats of glaze on many pieces so the resident artist could paint the pretty stuff.

I also helped organize clothes and books at the Double Blessings Thrift Store (another ministry of the Academy). Most of you know how much I love organizing…so this was right up my alley. I did come home with seven books but I managed to only grab a pair of jeans for me and a couple of shirts for Bill.

God used one of the student girls that I’ve made friends with who works at the thrift store to teach me a much needed lesson.  Y’all know that I like to tease and oftentimes it comes off as sarcasm (which I thought I got delivered of years ago…not). Well, we were driving pass this dear girl as she was walking to work at Double Blessings. I yelled out the window…”hey there, ya better get to work.” She didn’t look too happy so I figured she had had a rough day at school. The next day at lunch, I put my arm around her and asked her if she had a rough day yesterday. Oh my, no..that wasn't it...it was my “yelling” at her that caused her unhappy look. She had taken me seriously. I was very apologetic and she was very gracious. I told her next time I’ll call out, “Looking good. Have fun at work.” She said, that would be much better. There were two other times that I teased a student only to get a serious or concerned reaction. Help me Jesus to always be kind especially in my teasing!!! I’m practicing how to tease in a positive way. It takes a lot more thought but is really fun to do!!! Thank you Jesus for this embarrassing lesson.

One of the major events that I was helping to prepare for at the Pottery Studio was the annual Harvest Festival. That took place the second Saturday of October and what a wonderful event it was. Besides helping with the pottery, I spent a bit of time in the evenings making cards that I donated to be sold at the festival. There was an all day auction going on as well, along with making sorghum syrup the old fashion way (a horse walking in circles at the grinding mill). Speaking of horses, I’m still trying to get over my fear of riding them. They were offering rides for $2.00 and I decided to ride with one of the younger girls here. Apparently, she was holding her legs too tight on the back of the horse that it started bucking. Really, is this really happening to me when I’m trying to be brave.  It happened a second time and both of us wanted off the horse. The girl did choose to slide off the back of the horse but the handler convinced me to stay on to keep me from being more afraid the next time (if there is a next time J). So I stayed on the horse and PTL there was no more bucking. Okay, so maybe I will try again another time.

Bill is grateful for his new bow. He was invited to do some bow hunting here at French Camp on this our return trip so he brought along his old bow which he hadn’t used in more than 15 years. He was hoping to find someone to give it a “tune up” or whatever it is you do with bows that are old and haven’t been used for a long time. Honestly, I was mentally prepared for Bill wanting to purchase a new one. He wasn’t so sure. So we took a little time to think about it by touring around the area we were in. We were near Grenada so we checked out the downtown square (I love old time downtown squares.) Glad we did. We stopped in a resale shop only to find the couple who owns it is from Appleton WI (for those of you who don’t know, that’s only 20 minutes from Oshkosh). Love these “chance” encounters. They suggested we check out Grenada Lake. Hopefully, the pictures give you an idea of how beautiful it is. Well, you already know the end of Bill’s bow story. He looks happy doesn’t he? 

The project took a week off, so Bill and I decided it was time to do some renovating ourselves. We’ve talked about it since we got our motor home. Another God story for sure. We were walking around a downtown square in another nearby city when Bill spotted a flooring store on a side street. "Let's check it out," he said. Found exactly what we were looking for from a business that was so very helpful.What we thought would take two days, actually took four; but so worth it. We love our new floor! Getting rid of that ugly carpet along the slides has really made the space look bigger and, if I say so myself, quite beautiful.

This week some of the ladies and I started priming and painting some rough looking spots in the old classrooms of the church due to the foundation shifting. Trying to keep things looking nice until the church renovations reach Phase 3 (a couple years down the road) which will include these classrooms.

I’ve made a new friend here at French Camp. I pretty much had no choice J . I can’t tell you the number of times people would ask if I was related to this delightful woman or someone would call out her name as I was passing by and wave to me. You can understand why I had to get to know her. And, what better way to get to know her than to invite myself over to watch Dancing with the Stars. It’s one of the few shows I really enjoy and one of the many channels our antennae does not pick up. You have no idea how excited I was to find out that she is a bigger DWTS fan than I am and was delighted to have someone to share it with. In fact, she was in the audience of DWTS a few years back.  Talk about being a fan!!!  We have had so much fun being “related.” In fact, now we’re starting to dress alike without consulting one another. 

Bill and I took a lovely trip down to Vicksburg. We took a 16 mile drive through the Military Veterans Park and were able to walk the grounds where many battles took place, view a house that survived, and saw many memorials (including several Wisconsin ones) and read detailed civil war history signs along the way. It was truly an amazing experience. We thank God for our time there.

Our trip included a two night stay at the Duff Green Mansion B&B. We got the small economy room, but it was still lovely and the home quite beautiful and rich in history. A tour of the home followed our delicious three course breakfast. Friday afternoon we had a late lunch at a Rooftop Restaurant (great view) and then walked along the river front which had more than 20 huge historical murals painted on the flood retaining wall. Great overview of the city. On Sunday we did our own walking tour around the Mansion as there were many other beautiful homes and history to look at. On our way home, we took our time along the Natchez Trace. What normally would take a little over two hours, took us five. The Natchez Trace is a 444 mile parkway from Natchez MS to Memphis TN. It is part of the National Forest Service and there are no commercial vehicles, businesses, or billboards the entire way. There are many many historical sites and trails to take advantage of and that is why it took us five hours. We made several stops and took a few hikes. We feel so blessed by God to be able to enjoy His creation and learn about the history of our great nation in this way. 

 

We had a lovely birthday here at French Camp. Didn’t do anything special (it was a “work” day) but felt very loved. Not sure how, but word got around to a lot of folks that it was our birthday, so we had lots of greetings throughout the day and during dinner in the dining hall, everyone (students and staff and anyone else who was there) sang happy birthday to us. It is something they do for anyone who’s having a birthday but it was nice to be included in the “family.”  Got some great hugs from the students, too.

Once again, I have waited too long to finish a blog. There is so much more to tell, but this is already getting too long. I know I need to write more often but oftentimes I just don’t feel like it. And, then I wait…and wait…and wait some more. I am sorry, I’ll try to do better.