10/22/18

This is our last Rest Day and our first service project day. The project was scheduled for 12:30 p.m. so we were able to sleep in, which was a bonus.

Two of our trip leaders took off about 9:00 a.m. to drive the roads ahead to is if the hurricane damage may hamper our travels. We are hoping to be able to continue our ride as planned. Later today we will know.

I received a great surprise text message from my nephew Shaun Hill. His family and he are vacationing in Florida and are only about 1 hour away from the church in which we are staying. We decided to meet for dinner after my service project and after the kids afternoon naps. This is a special treat.

When we reach our service project destination we were briefed on the various tasks that need to be accomplished. We had 17 people working, which 15 of which were our from our team. It is always interesting how quickly people take on the projects assigned and the quality of work performed.

The majority of the work involved landscaping which included removing stumps of dead hedges, trimming trees that overhung the house, trimming a lemon tree, and rake all the property. We had quite a pile of bags and limbs out by the road when finished.

There were a couple of specialized projects which involved cleaning and scrubbing the floor in the back screened in patio. Before that could be accomplished all the furniture and bar-b-que grill had to be removed and cleaned also. When all was cleaned and returned to their places it looked like a totally new patio.

Both of their cars were also cleaned inside and out.

At the end, Tom, the gentleman who has MS came out to thank us for all our work. He is confined to his electric wheel chair after being very active most of his life. He was a life time navy man. We had a chance to spend time with him and he was very interested in our trip.

I personally like these projects and the time we get to spend with the people with MS. It reminds me how fortunate I am and I am so glad to give back.

Once back at the church I got ready to meet Shaun and his family. We had a great time at Panera Bread. The boys went for Mac and Cheese. The boys range in age from 4 to 7 months. This is the first time to meet the Griffin the 7 month old. The other two boys are Theo and Thatcher. Since I didn’t think about getting a picture, I stole one from Ashton’s face book account.