Group Leaders , revisited

We were surprised to find we were to be group leaders for the Camp Baldwin project (February 2012)  Most new SOWERs  carefully avoid this responsibility by not being the first to sign up for a project.  This would only have been our fourth project. Whoever signs up first is appointed group leader.  We weren't the first to sign up, but the group leader had an emergency, so we were appointed.  "You can do it!" I enthusiastically told Terry, forgetting I was to be group leader, too, for the women. 
Now that the project is finished, I can say it was a joy to serve in this way.  We were a liaison between the camp director and our team. One of our issues was the Internet connection. David, the camp director, said we were to tell him every time the Internet disconnected, even if it was several times a day.  It was only in the RV area that the Internet was capricious. Even the camp staff could not understand why it would randomly disconnect.  Sometimes I got around this by carrying our laptop to another area on campus.  That was not the best solution, because then I still had team members coming to our trailer telling us the Internet wasn't working.  So I would hunt down the director or someone in the office.  They were good about immediately jumping into their golf carts and going to reset the router (whatever that means!)
Our other responsibilities were finding out and organizing our job assignments, distributing any mail, organizing social events, and making a final report.
We ladies enjoyed an impromptu trip to a Wellness Event in town, and as a group we had a Valentine's evening, complete with "How we met" stories from each couple.
On our last morning together, Terry passed out the usual certificates SOWERs always get, along with photo collages, and two special chocolate bars, only available in the States--Payday and 100 Grand.  Our real reward, however, will be in Heaven when the Lord will say, "Well done, good and faithful servant."
Matthew 25:21

Hear the word of the Lord

As we travel in our Ford Expedition, Terry focuses on driving, and doesn't say much.  I sometimes look up from my book and break the silence.  I start talking.  "You're talking to the window again.  I can't hear you," he says.  My first thought is to be irritated.  I repeat the comment, a little louder this time, or else say, "Oh never mind," if it seems like too much effort to say it again.
Terry has a moderate to severe hearing loss and wears hearing aids in both ears.
Why do I respond with such irritation?  It stems from one of my character weaknesses, that is, a perfectionistic nature.  I like to have "all my ducks in a row."  I am impatient when things don't turn out perfectly, people don't  act the way I think they should, or situations don't go according to my plan.  God is working on me, however, and I  am getting better.
In the Old Testament, in Exodus chapter 4, Moses was complaining to God.  He said, "O Lord, I'm not very good with words.  I never have been, and I'm not now, even though you have spoken to me.  I get tongue-tied, and my words get tangled."  He did not think he could go to Pharoah to ask him to release the Israelites from their bondage in Egypt and give them permission to leave the country. 
God's answer was surprising.  "Who makes a person's mouth?  Who decides whether people speak or do not speak, hear or do not hear, see or do not see?  Is it not I, the Lord?"
In the same way, God is in control of Terry's life, and knows all about his lack of hearing. 
Moses kept pleading with God to send someone else.  Finally God relented and allowed Moses' brother, Aaron, to go with him and speak for him.  They would do the job together. 
In Matthew 19 Jesus talks about marriage.   When a man and woman get married, they are joined together and become one.  "Since they are no longer two but one," said Jesus, "let no one split apart what God has joined together."  If I am irritated at my spouse, I am not treating him as my other half.  Moreover, I'm supposed to be treating him better than the way I treat myself.  Did I not promise to share my worldly goods with him? (Except my duvet; we got used to our own duvets when we lived in Europe) I am to share in helping Terry with his hearing, not critisizing it as an imperfection.
When Terry had demonstrated to him some new hearing aids at the Beltone hearing centre in Canada, he longed to try the new technology.  We always thought it was too expensive, and just thought, "Someday."  "Maybe it would be less expensive in the States." Terry thought.  It has come up every now and then in the last three months.  Finally, we made an appointment in Foley, here in Alabama. 
The hearing specialist invited me to be part of the appointment.  He demonstrated conversations on the computer, picking out the scenarios Terry said he had trouble with, and testing his reaction to them.  One was of  a couple interacting with the server in a crowded, noisy restaurant. After playing it through, the specialist said, "And this is how you're hearing it."  What came up was half the conversation, the other half a muffled, distorted sound.  Tears came to my eyes.  I don't cry easily, but today I cried.  For the first time I understood how those situations sounded to Terry. I understood for the first time the reason for his frustration.
"I'm so sorry!  I don't care what they cost; just get those hearing aids!"  I exclaimed.
Just before we left, I asked the specialist if he would mind checking my ears for wax.  I saw my ear canals larger than life on the computer screen, down to the last hairs.  A large dark blob appeared in my right ear.  "It's enormous!"  I thought.  It wasn't really that big, and was easily removed. 
It was as if God himself removed the wax from my ear so I could finally hear what he was saying to me.
A week later, a follow-up appointment.  The hearing aids were tweaked.  Terry shared how he had been able to hear individual voices in the coffee room, and not just a din. 
On the way home we were chatting.  "Hey, I can hear you, and you're talking to the window!"
Anyone with ears to hear should  listen and understand.   Mark 4:9

Adventures for Rainy Days

The ladies were supposed to paint on Thursday, after we had cleaned and vacuumed motel units for 3 days.  It poured rain, however, just as we were to begin work, so we thought, "We can't possibly paint in this weather!"

The water is over my rubber shoes

Instead, we drove to a Wellness Event at the hospital in Foley, a few miles down the road. I had wanted to have my cholesterol checked: didn't know my next address, had to put my permanent one, so won't know the results for weeks.
On Friday, we set off again with Ed and Patty, despite the threat of showers.  First, a stop at a farm in Elberta, near the camp, where homemade cheese was sold, then a Baldwin County museum showing "old stuff", well organized displays of clothing, furniture, kitchen implements, and school furniture from days gone by.

I didn't know a dunce cap really existed.

Can you read how Crayola got its name?

Next, a train museum, then an old hospital that reminded me of the New Denver hospital, then gumbo for lunch at the bowling alley.  Terry had to try ten pin bowling!  I collected my ice cream prize at an old fashioned soda fountain in an old fashioned drug store where a model train continually ran around a track above us.

Beautiful "swamp" and walking trail at the park

At a park in Foley, the rain held off so that Terry and I could play tennis for half an hour.  From the pond, Patty came to get us.  "Come and see the huge turtle!" A man had thrown dog food into the water, bringing out the turtles.  There were slider turtles, as well as a huge snapping turtle.  You could hardly see them because of the algae on their backs, but they did come to the surface. Another "surprise" of the day, as Patty put it. A full day!

Snapping turtle about 18" long

From Alligators to Key Lime Pie

Florida is so close we ended up grocery shopping there the other day.

On our day off, Terry and I took another field trip with Ed and Patty, driving east this time along the Alabama shore. This is the type of habitat along the first part of the trail in Gulf State Park. An attendant at the nature centre had warned us about alligators. "They can move 30 miles an hour," he said. 
Terry said jokingly, "First one to see an alligator gets to go to Dairy Queen!" (an ice cream shop) I raised my binoculars to scan the shoreline. "There's one...and he's HUGE!"  It looked like a log, tail on the land, and head in the water. All of a sudden he seemed to head towards us. All we could see were two eyeballs peering from the surface of the water as he advanced closer and closer.  We didn't stop to see more, but kept walking on the trail. 

After walking miles along pleasant trails, looking and listening for birds, we drove to a beach near Pensacola, Florida. It was deserted, except for a fisherman catching whiting from the shore. He had several fishing rods attached to a cart on the sand; here he is rinsing off the fish.

It wasn't an ice cream sort of day, but the four of us shared a slice of key lime pie instead, at Flounders, a seafood restaurant. It was certainly a big enough piece; actually, it looked like three pieces on top of each other.

Total bird species for the day:30, and no brand new ones. We did see a bald eagle, which wasn't yet on our trip list. A good day.

Welcome to Camp Baldwin

We three women (our fourth hadn't arrived yet) were sent to meet Billy, the young man in charge of cleaning.  He introduced his partner, "and this is Daae.." 
"What? What did you call him?"
He repeated it several times before we understood he was "Dan".  His southern drawl is so interesting to the ear!
Billy and Dan very carefully explained each step of the cleaning process, demonstrating with anti-bacterial spray, bathroom foam, and separate sets of cloths how to tackle the furniture and bathrooms of motel style units that had been used during a weekend event.  Then we had a lesson in bedmaking, with the pillows and sheets tucked in just so. I don't remember having formal lessons like this when I was young, although a friend who had begun nurse's training explained about "hospital corners" on the sheets.  The top sheet had to be tucked in all the way to the pillow as proof that the bed was actually made.  Lessons would've been a good idea when I was a child.  While on a train trip across Canada, the porter asked me to put the pillowcase on a pillow, then watched with amusement as I struggled to do something adults found so simple. I felt so mortified.
Later we cleaned rooms with bunkbeds, reaching up with a Swiffer to spread the anti-bacterial spray on the plastic mattress covers.  My new experience of the day, however, was cleaning urinals.  "This is a first for me!" I said to my partner, a sweet pastor's wife. "I don't think I've done that either!"  she replied.
Servants on wheels have to be ready to do all kinds of jobs.
(SOWER= Servants on wheels ever ready. )

Billy on garbage duty; I mean trash duty

The Painted Turtle

Our camping spot for February is at Camp Baldwin on Wolf Bay, part of an estuary leading to the Gulf of Mexico.  It's beautiful here; we're camped close to the shore of a tiny lake, under the loblolly pine trees. These trees are tall and skinny with needles about 8" long.

a small replica of a mill with water wheel

We went exploring today with another couple. First, we walked on a beach with white sand. "I don't need to pick up any more shells," I thought, but then couldn't resist the ones with little holes "drilled" on top, ready for stringing on a necklace. 

Most of the houses on this beach were high up on stilts

This picture doesn't do justice to the pure white sand and crashing waves. The highlight of the day, however, was what we saw at the Bon Secour National Wildlife Refuge.  Right by the trail was a Painted Turtle, busy at work.  She had dug a hole in the sand, oblivious to us crouching down and watching her labour.  All of a sudden I saw a long, soft-looking egg slide out into the hole! There were already other eggs deep in the hole, and the turtle used her hind legs and tail to cover up each egg with a layer of sand.  When we inspected the site on the way back, we could hardly tell where the hole had been, so well did she cover up her traces. 

What a sight!  A drama I never expected to see.