We had a FANTASTIC family Thanksgiving complete with delicious food, fun & games, a campfire, an outdoor movie, and attended by special guests - Birddog & The Ambassador (AKA: Mom & Dad)!! It was perfect and special in so many ways!
It was so great to bring Mom home for the first time in over 6 months! The day was full of special and cherished moments with Mom & Dad that we may never have again... and that was the purpose of this Thanksgiving... MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!! Thank You JESUS & thank you volunteers!!!
Over the past 2 weeks a small army of friends and family came over each day to help me transform a cluttered mess into a less cluttered comfy hangout ready to host our family Thanksgiving (and more fun get-togethers in the future AS WELL AS a nice area to enjoy as we continue all the other renovations).
The Family of God / Body of Christ is one of The Greatest Wonders of The World! Everyday I would get an unexpected text or phone call from a friend or family member asking if they could help me do some work that day. It was amazing! It was a daily answer to prayer!
We moved a massive amount of GTD gear from inside my house to a storage container in the backyard (and organized about 80% of it!). We cleared out most of one bedroom and made a temporary bedroom for Dad so he didn't have to sleep in the livingroom. We hauled off old outdoor furniture and replaced it with new & improved stuff (we had several volunteers who spent several hours just assembling outdoor furniture and games). We had the PODS container hauled off and removed. We tidied up the livingroom and dining room and decorated for Thanksgiving. We tore down old fencing, dug up old fence posts, built new framework for the back gate and relocated that gate 10 feet further back to the property line to maximize our trailer and truck storage. We moved bricks, busted up concrete, raked leaves, built a trashcan area, and built 2 fire rings. We installed hose reels and assembled outdoor heaters. We added 16 super comfortable Adirondack chairs, 4 zero gravity chairs, a complete outdoor sofa/dining set, a swinging bench, several strings of hanging lights, a waterproof outdoor stereo system, and finished creating an outdoor movie screen my parents and I started building together 4 years ago!! I now like to refer to our outdoor movie area as "Shantytown Theater" where admission is free, but attendees may help with a home improvement project ;) . We watched the edited version of Planes, Trains, & Automobiles (a classic comedy misadventure of trying to make it home for Thanksgiving... the perfect Turkey Day movie!)
In a short period of time we created a nice little hangout that my parents loved! And so did/do I! I hope I don't leave anyone out in my list of awesome people to thank who sacrificed their free time to help me, but my profound thanks to Tom & Cindy, Diane, the Routman family, the Zeitler family, the Vescovi family, 3 fantastic college students from Southeastern University, my Dad, Laurie, Lauren, my right hand man - Carson, and a friend who asked to remain unrecognized who has helped me once a week for 2 months putting in 10, 12, & 13 hour intense work days!! From the bottom of my heart - THANK YOU SO VERY MUCH!!!! We did it!! BECAUSE OF YOU WE DID IT!
Thank you to all of you for your prayers, support, & encouragement! They helped us more than you may ever know until we get to Heaven.
