We are home!

Sunday- February 12

After working for about 2.5 hours on Saturday morning, we left Tommy's house and went back to the church to pack up. We packed up and then went to a local "swag" store and bought some "swag". The gents are outfitted with University of Alabama gear and are wearing it proudly. Roll Tide!

We got to the airport in plenty of time, turned in the rental car, went through security, and proceeded to the airport Quizno's for lunch. We were able to view Josh Mann's television debut while waiting for our flight.

We kind of knew by the wind blowing pretty good that the flight out of Birmingham may be a bit "bumpy". It was, but too bad. The 4 1/2 hour flight to Vegas seemed like....... 4 1/2 hours. We had to wait on the tarmac for about 15 minutes for another plane to move out of our gate. This wait made us walk quickly to the other gate to catch our flight to Sacramento. The attendants on the Birmingham flight were nice enough to announce to the passengers to remain seated so that the Sacramento passengers could deplane and gallop through the airport.

We are a bit tired and after speaking to some of the guys this morning at church, seems like all of us got caught up on our sleep on Saturday night.

It is nice to be home. But, I think all of us have left a little bit of ourselves in Tuscaloosa. Whether it is our sweat and hard work, the impression we have of the people there, the memories of the trip we will have forever, or the blessings He has bestowed upon us, this opportunity will leave a mark!!

Please know too that the support of all of our families, the church, and our friends is not unnoticed and extremely appreciated. Personnally, I want to thank all of you who supported this trip with prayer and financial support.

God is in the people business. If we have touched one person, including ourselves, by going when HE sends us, then we have served His purpose. A line from Just Walk Across the Room; "If we will just persevere, the potential is colossal, one more treasure, one more priceless human being, might be snatched from the clutches of a horrendous lifeless eternity because of our work. Go now and bear witness. Sow the seed. Take the walk across the room. Leave what is comfortable FOR THAT WHICH IS ETERNALLY SIGNIFICANT. Know that we will never regret our decision to go."

We look forward to "going" near and far, again, soon.

Dave

The guys made the news in Alabama & gave God the glory. Click to watch.

Friday, February 10

Friday- February 10

Wow. What a surprise. Another awesome day!! It was an absolute blessing to witness the dedication of Stephannie's house. There were probably 75 people there including media. It should be on the news sometime today! She was excited to get into the house and she is staying there tonight. She said she was happy that she would be able to cook again!

We met Tommy today. We have been working on his house all week. He is a very nice young man who is employed by the University of Alabama. He is one of 6 butlers for a 360 person sorority. We will get to spend a little bit of time with him in the morning.

Shawn, Aaron, Matt, Josh, and Doug spent most of their day at Tommy's house working on siding, grinding out cinder block mistakes of others (Shawn) and installing flashing. The exterior of the house looks very close to being done.

Brent spent most of the day at Stephannie's doing odds and ends to prepare for the dedication.

Art, Tony, Jeff, and myself were called upon to go help a crew at a local church. The church, still without power, had the roof torn off last April and they are trying to raise the funds to rebuild. The basement of the church had flood damage and it was our task today to help the crew remove the debris from the 7 rooms in the basement. It reminded us alot of the clean up projects in New Orleans. We didnt talk much to the other guys when we were walking except exchanging pleasantries and grunting alot. When we were done, we went outside and struck up a conversation with two of them. Funny, but as we were talking, those two realized things about each other that they didnt know and they have been friends for years. One of them was born in San Berdo. The other had a construction business here in town. He lost his house in the storm. He had a great attitude and all of us assured each other that if we didnt see them again here in Tuscaloosa on another trip, we would see them with our heavenly Father someday.

We will work a partial day tomorrow. Come back to the church, pack up, and look forward to our flight home that arrives in Sacramento at 7:30 PM.

By the way, Pastor Jeff wins the prize for the first commenter on the blog!!! And, thank you Michelle!

It was a blessed week and we look forward to coming back. We will be praying about it beginning Sunday!

Im out!

Dave and the Guys

Thursday- February 9

Wow. What an amazing day! He continues to provide miracles every day. Stephanie's house will be dedicated tomorrow at 3:30. They are expecting a very large turnout of media, well wishers, and the general public. This is the first completed Samaritans Purse rebuild house done. We saw the foundation of this house being poured when we were here in October. Art and Brent completed the punch list and the final inspection occurred today. We were very concerned that her dedication would happen without grass in her front yard. Tony, Jeff, and myself prepared the front yard yesterday and readied it for the sod. Today early, no sod. Mid morning, no sod. Noon, we received a call that there were 6-35 yards of rolled sod available after lunch and we would have to go pick up three of them. We did. These rolls look like big rolls of hay that you see out in a field somewhere. The company came and rolled out these rolls. We installed it. Art and Josh watered it and it is ready to go.

We met Percy today. He is an older gentlemen who lives across the street from Stephanie. He lost his home, his workshop, and most of his tools in the storm. We didnt get into his story too much. He asked our project leader Dan if we might be able to help him a bit with the Bobcat by clearing out his lot some and cleaning it. Dan consulted with Brent and Brent was on the Bobcat on the property in a moment. Brent then handed off the Bobcat to Jeff Stewart and Jeff got it going. We will hopefully be able to help Percy out tomorrow. At the end of the day Tony and I asked him if we could pray with him and he said yes. Its heartbraking to know that some of these folks have nothing left. But, we know our God is a Great God and He has a purpose for all things.

Aaron, Shawn, Matt, and Doug were ever-steady on the"other" house installing siding, soffets, finishing the roof today.

Wednesday, 2/8/2012

From Dave E.

Wednesday,

All things are going well. We are having a great time of fellowship with the team.  The weather and food are fantastic!!!!  We are working on two different houses. Shawn, Aaron, Doug, Matt, and Josh all worked on a house in the middle stages of rebuild today finishing the roof and installing siding.  Jeff, Tony, and myself worked in the yard of another house that will be dedicated to the owner on Friday. Its kind of exciting that we will be able to witness the dedication to "Stephanie" and her kids. We have heard that it will be quite the event with national media coverage as it is the first completed house rebuilt by Samaritan's Purse in Tuscaloosa.  We were able to spend some time with her today and she is very excited about being able to move into her new house.  She was in her house when the tornado came through and demolished her house. She wasn't hurt as she and her son huddled in a hallway and watched as the roof of their house was torn off.  Art and Brent are busy doing all of the "punch list" stuff of many details on the dedication house.

We met Minister Tilley today. His church is directly across the street from the house we are working on.  We received a lunchtime sermon from this  southern preacher of 70 something years.  It was a treat. His teaching today was the Hand of God!!  It was powerful and passionate.

We dont know where tomorrow will lead us but we go with servants hearts!

We were able to go to my Aunt Katheryn's house tonight and have dinner and it was a real treat.  Everybody walked away with a painful fullness of belly!

Hopefully I can get some photos up tomorrow night.

Our best to you from Tuscaloosa!!

Tuesday, 2/7/2012

From Dave E.

 

Tuesday,

 

We got a late start today because it was the first day and orientation takes place.  We were on the job site at about 10 am.  Shawn, Doug, Matt, Josh, and Aaron were on the roof most of the day while Tony, Jeff, and myself were on the ground installing windows, facia board etc.  We were working with Jim, Bob, and Ed from northern Indiana.  IT WAS COLD ON MONDAY NIGHT trying to sleep. Someone turned the thermostat to air conditioning and we froze.  But, everything is great. The SP staff is great.

TCF in Tuscaloosa Round 2 Feb 6th: Welcome

Monday.

The TCF team arrived in Tuscaloosa safely. The flights were non eventful and a good time was had by all!! After getting our rental boats, Surburban and Toyota Van, we went up to Center Point, Alabama to look at some of the damaged caused by the latest tornados a couple of weeks ago. The damage was localized and severe in some places.

We checked in at the First Baptist Church of Tuscaloosa at around 4:30 PM. Darn it, we were not the first group here as a group of 10 from Ohio beat us here. Needless to say, the quarters, although a huge blessing, are not quite as spacious as the October trip :).

We went out to eat at Dreamland which serves primarily chicken, ribs, and pork. The gents were all impressed with the food and it passed the Shawn test for taste. The banana pudding with 'nilla wafers was great.

We are looking forward to seeing what HE has in store for us tomorrow!

Until tomorrow night, we bid you farewell!