It is amazing how time flies.  We started our project on Monday, and it is already Thursday.  As I have mentioned to you before, our NOMADS projects work week is Monday through Thursday, so today is our last work day.  I feel as if we have only worked a couple of days since the job is going so smoothly, and the weather, although cool at times, has been great for working outside.  The temperature has stayed around the mid to upper 50's most of the time,  great working temps.

I know I haven't mentioned much about our team yet, so let me tell you a little about our gang.  Frank and Kaye are from Michigan.  They have been NOMADS since about 2002.  Frank said that they do about three or four NOMADS projects a year.  They are also involved with SOWERS, a Baptist group like the NOMADS. 

Walter and Annita are from California.  Walter's home is really Galveston, Texas, but claims California now since he has lived there for some time.  Walter and Annita have been NOMADS for about three years.  This is there third project.

Then there are Sharon and I.  We, as you know, call Alabama home.

We have been very fortunate this week to have Earl and James working with our team.  Earl and James volunteer here at the Loucon Training  & Retreat Center when their jobs and time permits.  Earl has helped build four of the cabins here before.  It is a good thing that we had someone that knew what to do.  Frank, Walter, and I have all done some construction, but nothing like this.  We are building the cabin from the block foundation up.  James is a great helper.  I have worked with very few people that are so helpful.  James had learned by just watching and listening to what kind of help somebody needed, even before that somebody knew he needed help.  When standing on a ladder, or holding a heavy board, it was nice being able to turn around a see James holding the nails, hammer, tape measure, or what ever was needed at that time.

The staff here is really great.  They have made us feel very welcome.  Heidi, the Hospitality Director, has cooked lunch for us each day.  We have had homemade vegetable soup, chicken salad, country ham and fried potatoes.  On Wednesday we had homemade chicken noodle soup that Annita made.  Nice to have a nice lunch prepared and waiting for you everyday.   Heidi has a staff of about six that help her with taking care of the facilities, that is the cleaning and cooking for the many visitors that use the Loucon Training & Retreat Center.

Warren, the Louncon Training & Retreat Center director has been gone until today.  Sharon had a chance to work with Warren in the administration office today helping with camp paperwork.  I think she really enjoyed doing that since she had worked for a couple of churches prior to my retirement.

The ladies have also spent a lot of time helping with cleaning cabins, getting ready for the spring weekend programs.  There a lot of different agencies that use the Loucon Training & Retreat Center.  Today and tomorrow, a group of college students from several Kentucky schools, yes Danny UK is one of them, are here fro leadership training.  The training includes the confidence course.  The course includes a zip-line.  Wouldn't mind trying that myself.

The Loucon Training Center was established in 1952.  My understanding is the the Methodist Women of the conference in this part of Kentucky started it as a place for the women to meet for their special training sessions and retreats.  It is now much more than that.  Today the facilities are used for camps for all ages.  It provides opportunities for guiding and nurturing children and youth in a relationship to God through Jesus Christ.  It creates and environment of Christian fellowship in which campers can develop positive peer relationships and benefit from positive adult role models.  Retreats are developed to provide a safe Christian environment where personal attention will enable groups to reflect, relax, and grow with Christ as they achieve their goals and exceed their expectations.

Enough of that, now some pictures of what we have been doing since Monday.

It took us all of Monday to install the floor joist.  This shows over half of the plywood flooring installed.  The plywood will be the only layer of flooring in the cabin. 

This is the end of day on Tuesday.  We have completed the floor and are about to raise the first wall.  We will have to wait until Wednesday morning to raise the wall.  It is very heavy, so we will need a few more hands for the job.

We had the first wall raised by about ten o'clock on Wednesday morning, and as you can see, we have the second wall ready to raise.  We will do that right after lunch when we can get our extra help back.

Right after lunch we got the second wall up.  We then commenced on getting the third wall ready.  Hey Mel, you would have really enjoyed the measuring and cutting of all the different boards for making the window and door openings.

On the right is James, on the left is one of the many young volunteers that help out with different jobs at the facilities.  They are carrying a sheet of hardi board to be installed on the wall.  If you remember, we worked with hardi board on our project in Taft, Texas, where we replaced the siding on a house.  We worked with 8" by 12' boards on that project.  These are 4' X 8', very brittle and heavy.  Have to be very careful carrying it, it breaks very easily.  We installed the hardi board onto the wall joist while still laying down on the floor, then raised it up.  That's why we needed extra help.

Here is what the hardi board looks like when the wall is raised.  We will cut out the windows after we have the rafters installed.  It will be easier since everything will be more solid.

We had both of the other walls installed by lunch on Thursday.  That gave us time to start putting up some rafters.  It is a good thing we did since Earl and James will not be with us on Monday.   At least we will have some idea what to do.  Benji, the Ground Director, is on vacation this week, he will be back on Tuesday to take over our leadership for the rest of the project.  Good thing too, we still have a lot of work to do.

This is Heidi.  She is preparing one of the great lunches we have been enjoying.  She will be doing a lot of food preparation over the weekend,  the facility is supposed to be pretty busy.

Here is James on the left, and Earl on the right.  Two of the friendliest guys I have ever met.  Really go to miss working with them next week.  Oh, yes, it was that cold today.  James said he wanted to stay warm.

 

Here is Frank on the left, and Walter on the right taking a well deserved break. 

 

We hope to have a nice relaxing weekend of resting and maybe some sightseeing.  We have never spent much time in this part of Kentucky.  There are a lot of places to go and see, will have to pick out the best ones.

 

Until next time,

 

and remember,

 

God Loves You.

 

Gary