What a Week...or Two!

Spent the last 2 weeks on the road...first to Anniston, Alabama, then to Gatlinburg Tennessee on a mission from God. Two different, but same missions trips...different in that the first was the high-schoolers and the 2nd was the middle schoolers. The same in that, to our surprise, the most wonderful man you could ever imagine meeting was also our speaker during the middle school trip. We had just spent a week with Tom Cooney, a deaf Pastor from Florida and avid Team Effort member, and we got to again the 2nd week. He taught us about sign language of course, but he also taught us how to become part of the deaf world with laughter, love, and just pouring your heart and soul out. I've never cried over leaving a virtual stranger before, but he was just the best...he told us his stories about how he met Helen Keller, several Presidents, how he became deaf and learned to sign, etc...but out goals for the 2 weeks were to aid those who didn't have the capacity to help themselves. First, in Anniston, we helped out in the Spanish community...2 families, to be more specific, who lived close together in a trailer park. The trailer I was assigned to was owned by Erica, a single mom of 2 little bitty ones, 3 year old Ariana, and 6 month old Gabriel...dolls. Her home was very dilapidated and infested and our job was to clean it the best we could(after they bombed it for 3 days before we got there, and lay some laminate floor in the kitchen and hall. It was only 98 degrees outside with 80 percent humidity and she had no air conditioning, so it was worse in the trailer...I am so spoiled. The work was painstakingly meticulous because what we had to work with was wretched and we had limited time and funds. Ideally we would have replaced the floor before we laid the laminate because it was uneven and broken, but we had to work with what we had, and in all honesty, it looked 5 billion times better than before! I had never laid a floor before, so it was amazing to me! My kids and I did a great job. Some of the crew on the outside built her a new deck and cleaned her trailer with bleach, picked up garbage, and played with her daughter! It was a challenge to speak Spanish, but we managed to communicate pretty effectively...

The second trailer, owned by 26 year old Martin, was assigned the task of building a wheel chair ramp. He became paralyzed from the waist down as the result of a car accident a couple years ago. The day we got finished was his birthday, so he got a really wonderful present...as well as a cake...he was just as giddy as you can imagine!! It was a great time!!

The Middle School missions team was assigned to do some minor repair and painting for a deaf man. We scraped the whole outside, primed, and replaced some of the facia, then primed the interior to get it ready for the next week's crew to come in and paint everything. His house was huge, built on a hill, and it was extremely slow going because of the interesting architecture. The man was deaf, so he could have done it himself mostly except that he was recently diagnosed with diabetes and prone to fainting...not good for all the uneven ladder work necessary! Pastor Tom came along 3 of the 4 days, but the 4th day, we managed to communicate effectively thanks to what Tom taught us and some of my skills...I always knew my signing might come in handy one day! So happy and so empowered now!! Thanks to all who got me involved!! Ok so I have to go but I have pictures...will post later...supper time now! Peace, Love, and LILY...