WOO LOVES YOU IN KALAMAZOO

 On September 21 we left PA and traveled to Michigan for the NOMADS annual meeting.

 It was held in Kalamazoo Expo Center.

 Larry helped with the parking and I helped with filling the welcome bags and registration.

Early each morning we attended Bible study lead by Gary. It was an interesting approach of looking how science is now catching up with the Bible with creation and how great God's word is.

 I taught a seminar for creating a blog. It went very well and I hope to receive more blogs from fellow NOMADS.

 Larry worked with Everett on seminar for framing, drywall and mudding.

 The highlight of every annual gathering is the silent auction.

 Many lovely  and useful items were donated and we had fun trying to bid on them.

 Then there was the live auction. We are now the proud owner of The Coon Dog. Since 2006 it has been brought back and auctioned off each year.

 Don was the first owner of the Coon Dog. This time they auctioned off his suspenders,  The fun is we bid way more then the items are worth, but we know the money all goes to help fund the project we work of agencies in need. Over  $38,000 were raised this year.

 Carla is our only paid employee and she does way more then she is paid for. She has worked with us for 10 years now. This lovely quilt was made for her from shirts from each of the annual meetings.
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 Arlin gave a nice presentation on disaster rebuilds the NOMADS have been involved in for the past ten years. He put a very informative book together telling the story of how it started and the DR projects that NOMADS have worked on. The booklet were given to us in our welcome bag.

Members made 30 quilts to be donated to Kalamazoo for the homeless. Each one was beautiful and showed God's love.

 This group led us in song each morning and put on a nice sing along one evening.

The new board members. We had a great time,  It was a very well run annual meeting with great facilities, meals, seminars and entertainment. It is always nice to see old friends and make new ones. Unfortunately we had to leave early Thursday  to get to Conway Arkansas by Saturday, so we missed the catered dinner and entertainment.

FINISHING UP

 The weekend brought rainy weather. Cheryl and Bill arrived on Saturday and then John and Sue arrived on Sunday afternoon. We had some heavy rain on Sunday  night with some sharp lightning, and a tornado warning, but all was safe. Nashville,Arkansas did have a tornado and a couple was killed.

 The goal for this week was to get the house mudded and ready to paint. David working on the corner.

 John put on the corner bead around the windows and Sue did the mudding around them.

The electric company showed up on Tuesday.

 The main service was connected to the house. Larry installed 2 temporary GFI receptacles, so we would have electric service.

 Cheryl putting on another coat of mud on the seams.

 Bill and David discussing where to sand or mud next.

 Bill putting another coat of mud along the ceiling seams in the kitchen.

 Scott sanded and mudded the ceilings all week.

 Scott, Sue and Rose mudding the bedroom closet.

 Rose ended up mudding the linen closet.

 Sue is smiling because this is her last closet.

 This joint compound came in a plastic bag so Cheryl and Scott squeezed it into a bucket.

 By Wednesday afternoon we thought the living/ dining room and kitchen would be ready to prime on Thursday. Larry and I were leaving Thursday morning for we had an appointment at Red Bay on Friday, Thanks to Bill and Cheryl agreeing to take over as leaders a day early.

Larry and John worked at this gentleman's property on Wednesday. We were asked to build a shed for him.

John working on building the wooden floor.

We stopped by Danial's home and left him the Bible. He did have the walls textured and painted.

On Wednesday evening we went to Mrs. Carter's house and presented her and her son the Bible.

We had a nice presentation. David, Ruth, Sue and John knew Bishop Mueller from when he was a pastor at their church, so they invited him to come and join us in the blessing of the  house. The Carters are waiting for closing so they can move in.

  

The team enjoyed seeing a finished home, it sure helps to see what the home you are working on will eventually look like. Our team picture Scott and Pat, David and Ruth, John and Sue, Cheryl and Bill, Dottie and Larry.

DRYWALL UP

 On Saturday and Sunday we enjoyed some of the activities the town has during their famous Toad Suck Daze.

 Yes, they do have toad races. Lots of fun for everyone.

 This week the whole team worked at the house on Otto Road.

 Larry gave a mudding 101 lesson and we started to work on this room that was finished dry walled last week.

 The team from Pine Bluff,  NC finished installing all the ceilings before they headed home on Friday. We were so thankful, so the guys could start installing the walls.

 Pat mudded all the ceiling seams with help from Janice. What a neck breaking job. I taped the corners and edges.

 Pat and Janice were so dedicated they worked right through break.

 I worked with Jeanne showing her how to install drywall in the closets and then she and Annette installed the drywall in the bedroom closets.

 Closets were all dry walled and then Larry showed them how to finish the drywall around the windows. They were so excited with their new accomplishment.

 Billie and Marvin worked together hanging drywall.

 The closet for the water heater was a tight fit for both of them to be working in.

 The bathroom was larger but gave them other challenges. One drill even got baptised in the tub of water.

 Danny and Dave dry walled the master bathroom.

 Those linen closets are small spaces to work in.

 Ruth mudded all the screw holes and then worked on mudding the seams in the closets.

 Scott helped hang drywall and then started putting on the corner bead around the windows.

 How many NOMADS can work in a bedroom at one time? This was the last room to finish hanging the dry wall in and over half the team was working in the room at one time.  All the drywall has been installed this week and many of the seams taped and mudded. It was a good week, thanks to a lot of hard work.

Thursday evening we had a farewell dinner at the Almost Famous Steakhouse and Grill.  The first time we had for a group picture. Pat and Scott, Jeanne and Billie, Janice and Marvin, Ruth and David, Annette and Danny, and Dottie and Larry. Janice and Marvin left this morning headed back to Texas, and Danny and Annette headed to Oklahoma City. Billie and Jeanne head to another project in Clinton, Arkansas tomorrow.  Keep them all in your prayers for they are going to be traveling in areas where the weather may be severe.