WITH OVER 75 PEOPLE REGISTERED IGNITE IS OFFICIALLY SOLD-OUT!

 

One of our most popular retreats - IGNITE - is officially SOLD OUT! We've received an overwhelming response and can't wait to do this retreat. If this is an adventure that you're still interested in, but did not register for then you may want to sign-up on the waiting list in the event that someone cancels. Click here to sign-up on the IGNITE Waiting List.
 
 
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RECALCULATING... MORE FUNDS CAME IN!! ...NEW RECORD EXCEEDS 113k!!!

 

I'm overjoyed to share that the RECORD SETTING fundraising season that officially ended Jan 31st was actually greater than first reported... we had an additional $3360 come in after the original announcement including a $3000 donation from a local foundation that has been strongly supporting GTD for several years! That brings the recalculated record setting fundraising total to $113,652!!! Yayyy!! PTL! Thank You Jesus and thank you generous incredible Donors!!!! We are so touched and blown away by the loving support of so many amazing people!! This world needs more of you guys!

 

THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!!

 

 

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125 FT OF FENCE INSTALLED IN 10 HRS AT GTD HOME BASE BY F3 VOLUNTEERS & GTDers!! ... AND WE WERE FUELED BY MY DAD'S SMOKED PULLED PORK!

It was a very productive weekend PTL!

 
Our profound thanks to Dan Graham and the 9 fantastic volunteers from F3 (Fitness, Fellowship, Faith) of Clearwater along with my brother-in-law Dave, my nephew Carson, and myself for all of the hard work & great attitudes they poured into helping GTD get one big step closer to filling in the gaps of our perimeter fence at the GTD Home Base! The fence will help protect & preserve our equipment and adventure gear as well as allow the GTD Dogz to run free without a leash.
 
My smokin' hot Dad smoked up a Boston Butt and 2 pork loins for all the workers, and my Sister & Mom helped cheer us on!
 
I actually bought used wood fencing on Offer Up about 3 years ago as well as a new gas powered auger about 3 years ago that has never been opened. We've had a lot of family health challenges that have put most of the work projects on the back burner so getting to use the auger, install the fencing, & making this amount of progress in such a short amount of time feels soooooo good!!
 
Carson Vescovi of Power Washing Florida (& GTD) spent a few hours pressure washing both sides of all the fencing to make it look like new!
 
Using my property survey, a metal detector, and a few tips from YouTube I found the pins that mark the corners of the property. We then ran a string line from pin to pin to establish the property line. To my joy I have a few more feet of property on the other side of my hedges that will work great for storing and camouflaging my building materials that can be a little bit of an eyesore.
 
I called 811 to have the area checked for underground wires, cables, & utilities. With the exception of a cable box right on the property line we were cleared to dig.
 
Carson then trimmed back all the overgrown hedges while I measured out and marked the location of the post pole holes to be dug.
 
The 9 men of F3 came over on Saturday and installed 14 posts in 3 hours! With the gas powered auger they literally dug out 14 holes in 30 minutes!! It was amazingly fast! They were amazingly fast! And they took care to do the project accurately, level, & plumb. Surprisingly they only had a few thick roots to cut out with a sawzall.
 
Dave and I installed 13 wood fence panels over a few hours with only a cable box, palm tree, and a challenging tree root & limbs to contend with along the 125 feet of east side property.
 
All that remains to do on this section of fence are a few pickets to replace, a few modifications for the cable box & a palm tree on the property line, rake out all the leaves, stain the fence, and move the existing rolling gate to the new fence line.
 
It was a great weekend of accomplishment and it couldn't have been done without the Body of Christ!! We are so blessed by the support and help of so many amazing people who love Jesus! Thank you so much hard working, self sacrificing, awesome people!!
 
To learn more about F3 of Clearwater and to join them in a workout check out their website!
https://f3clearwater.com/
 
For all your power washing needs check out Power Washing Florida's website!
https://www.powerwashingflorida.net/

 

MOVIES WITH MOM BECOMES "THE HIGHLIGHT OF MY SUMMER!"

I took my Mom to the movies Tuesday afternoon to see Death on the Nile (sort of a sequel to Murder on the Orient Express which is one of my Mom's favorite movies). There were 2 college-age guys working at the theatre that came on our SLAMMED Adventure Trip last year... they went out of their way to come over and express how much they loved that trip and how much it meant to them... one of them called it, "The highlight of my summer!" I just want to thank all of our supporters, volunteers, staff, & prayer warriors for all that you do to help build lifelong memories that enrich people's lives! I'm forever indebted to all of you a debt of great love!! 

 

PS: Mom and I had a good time together... she loves popcorn... we give the movie a solid C+  :) 

Just finished up 14 consecutive 16-hour days helping take care of my parents...

Just finished up 14 consecutive 16-hour days helping take care of my parents... they are doing slightly better each day (PTL!). I'm agonizingly behind on everything (cry me a river LOL!), but I'm surviving... many times even joyfully surviving mixed in with occasional times of discouragement, frustration, and a state of being overwhelmed by the inability to take care of my personal workload and responsibilities. All the costs that go into Caregiving (time, energy, effort, lost opportunities, personal neglect, sleep deprivation, the law of diminishing returns related to your loved ones condition, stress, pressure, isolation, financial strains, physical weariness, mental fatigue, emotional exhaustion, occasional insults & unappreciation that are inherently a part of Alzheimer's & dementia, friendships & relationships drifting away, inability to keep your home & vehicle clean or maintained, not being able to stay on top of anything or be able to do anything with a standard of excellence, and even little things like missing out on special occasions or fun outings or healthy diversions, etc ,etc)... the sum total of all of these costs can be an equation for personal defeat. Last year I was defeated 75% of the time. I like to say that the devil discovered the algorithm to my personal defeat. Death through a thousand "costs". But now I'm victorious 75% of the time. What happened? At times some of the circumstances improved, but they didn't drastically change. I drastically changed. Or more accurately, God is drastically changing me. God is using all the yuck to purge me of all my yuck... to purge the parts of me that want to assert my agenda over God's agenda. What the devil used last year to defeat me, God is using to build me. The stick that the devil used to beat me, God is now using to measure me. I'm more often victorious now as I'm letting go of those "costs" that overly concern me and just trusting that God's going to take care of all those things I can't take care of. He “will restore the years that the locust has eaten” (Joel 2:25). I know I'm exactly where God wants me to be even though I don't always want to be where God wants me to be. This is my calling right now. At times I hate it, but I'm learning to love it. At times I don't want it, but I'm learning to embrace it. This is my Nineveh even when I try to board a boat to Tarshish. We all have a cross to bear... and we all eventually have a cup before us that causes such great overwhelming anguish that we ask the Father to take it away, but then (hopefully) interrupt that request with a deeper fortitude of faith that rises up to say, "not my will, but Yours be done." I'm not quite where I need to be, but I'm on the right heading. I still squirm some days. I still tap out some days. I still get enraged some days. But those days are fleeting. I'm growing up in some very valuable ways. Kicking and screaming many times along the way.

 

Thank you for lifting our family up in prayer!

 

Lord willing, I'll be backing back down to 3 days per week at my parent's house and hopefully chipping away at my work responsibilities & projects... and maybe even having some fun along the way. And unfortunately preparing for my parent's next health issues. It's the reality of aging bodies in a broken world... eventually the body hits its limits.

 

There is nothing that the devil can steal that God can't restore!

 

There is nothing that the devil can kill that God can't resurrect!

 

There is nothing that the devil can destroy that God can't rebuild!

 

"The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full." -  Jesus (John 10:10)

 

 

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He has returned home!

Dad was discharged from the rehab center yesterday afternoon and is back home after nearly 3 weeks in the hospital and rehab center. Miraculously his kidney function values are the best they've been in the 3 years of records we have. He is still regaining his strength and using a walker to get around. Physical therapy, occupational therapy, etc begins later this week. Thank you everyone for your prayers, phone calls, & visits! We can't believe how much his kidney function has improved!

 

 

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ALL-WEATHER MINISTRY MEETS RED FLAG CONDITIONS! ...PADDLE PROWL 2022 DONE!

 
You never know what kind of weather you'll get when you pick a date for an event months in advance. This past weekend we got sloppy, cold, rainy, choppy, "High Hazard" Red Flag conditions. Day 1 was 5 miles of paddling on the more protected intercoastal side of Caladesi Island including 2 miles on a kayak trail within a canopy maze of mangroves. We camped out on a nearby spoil island as the front continued to pass through that night. Day 2 was 5 miles of paddling on the unprotected Gulf side of Caladesi Island. That's where we met up with the unfiltered winds, waves, and slop of those Red Flag conditions. But we were sufficiently prepared with quality sea kayaks equipped with rudders and spray skirts... the conditions we encountered were what sea kayaks were designed for and they performed most excellently :) . Not surprisingly we were the only crazy people out there. It was a rare time that we didn't see a single boat along the coast or in the channel, and not a soul visiting Caladesi Island. But even with the challenging conditions we had a blast, overcame the elements, and went the distance!
 
We originally had the max of 13 participants registered, but several had to cancel as the start date approached.
 
Special thanks to the Berry's who brought their boat out on Day 1 to escort us along the way :) 

 

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DEADLINES MET! PTL!! ...PUSHING BACK DATES OF VOLUNTEER MEETING & WORK DAYS

  

I'm not sure how we did it (except by the grace of God and the awesome help of Traci & Laurie by covering our parents a lot over the past 2 weeks), but we met all of our January 31st requirements! Did I say, THANK YOU JESUS yet!!

 

For businesses and non-profits across the country January is a month full of legal requirements and deadlines. It was very challenging, but we GTD'd it (Got Tasks Done)!! 

 

W2's - DONE!

W3 - DONE!

Quarterly Report - DONE!

Annual Donation Receipts - DONE!

 

Now it's back to building & running God-awesome adventures, thanking our amazing supporters, tackling a bunch of projects, and taking care of our parents.

 

Due to our parent's current health challenge (Dad's coming back home from rehab soon and will still be regaining his strength and Mom just got diagnosed with her 4th UTI in 12 weeks) I'm pushing back the dates of our Volunteer Meeting & Work Day Wednesdays one month till the beginning of March. More info to come :) 

 

 

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GREAT NEWS!! NEW RECORD!! ...$110,292 RAISED!!!! PTL!!! ...AS WE CLOSE OUT THE FUNDRAISING SEASON

 

Our fundraising season officially ended at midnight last night and I'm overjoyed to share that you, we, He all worked together to set a new GTD fundraising record by raising $110,292!!!! Yayyy x 110k!!!! PTL!!! Thank You Jesus!!! Aaaaaaaaand thank you to all of our amazing and generous supporters!!!! You guys BLOW US AWAY!!!!!

 

The Stats: 

<> 115 people donated or made pledges.

<> $61,122 came thru one-time donations. 

<> $49,170 is pledged for this year via monthly donations.

 

We will never be able to put into words our profound depth of gratitude and appreciation for our phenomenal team of supporters! You guys are simple AMAZING!!!! Thank you so much for launching GTD into our 26th year of ministry (& beyond)!!!! God bless you dear friends & family!!!! Forever grateful!!! 

 

 

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