Happy 24th!

I count today as my 3rd birthday.

My first birthday was when I was born physically.

The second was when I gave my life to the Lord & He gave me a new heart.

24 years ago today I was in a bad car accident.
"I cried unto to the Lord with my voice and He heard me out of His holy ear." (from "Thou O Lord")
I really did. While my car was spinning out of control into oncoming highway traffic, I looked right up into His face and called to Him, "Oh, God!!!"
He heard me and I did not die.

Some driving past thought, "Someone must have died in this horrible accident." Some prayed for me. Some came to see me in the hospital. Some nearly passed out in the hall. Some sent flowers and cards.

I thought, "If I were dead, this wouldn't hurt so much - but my poor new husband Stan."

Some doctors said, "If this, if that, if only ________, you would have died." Then several used their God-given skills to put me back together so that eventually all my parts worked the right way again.

Some others looked at everything and said, "God is not finished with you yet."

So I lived.
And I said, "Thank You, God for LIFE. This life is Yours, whatever You give me to do."
Happy Birthday to me.

Big Creek Missions Update #3

Maryn & Jacob's correspondence
From a jeopardy game we did on stage that was really funny!






Part of my first group at Cutshin Senior Center playing checkers.






The staff fridge. Notice it is full of caffeinated and energy drinks. lol.









Friday we had a cookout.







We went to a Mexican restaurant Saturday night after seeing the movie "Up".






Sunday morning the guys all had a hair buzzing party out back. Kevin and Jacob were the first. We all sat around and watched.



From Maryn:
Hi!! The past few days have been great!! I really love my new group. it's 15 people, 3 adult ladies, and 3 boys. All of them are really nice and willing to serve. Yesterday we had training and my team cleaned the building. We've moved into the gym which hasn't been too bad. We stayed up Sunday night telling stories in our little lounge which consists of two couches, 3 fridges, and a table. Last night we had a dance off in the gym which was fun. Today was a really good day. It started out scary! We called the school we were going to and they were gone! So I was trying to call other places but none of them picked up their phones so we were really panicking! Right when it was time to head out and we were calling frantically, we got a call! The high school janitor was calling for help this morning! We were praising God!!! Yay!! We went there and cleaned out lockers, which was interesting. After that we had to go back to big creek b/c one kid was sick. (some kind of stomach bug has been going around. I haven't gotten it thankfully).

Then we went to God's Closet, an amazing ministry that distributes food, clothing, and even has two rooms where people in need can stay. It's an amazing place! You should look it up (click on the link above). It's in Manchester. Anyway, our group went to the grocery store and had 40 bucks to spend on a family of 3 who were in need, for a week. We got to deliver it and it was really great! Then I went to the post office with Katie Kilbert, the other leader of Big creek; she's kind of his (Kevin) helper and she runs the day camps.

HEY EVERYBODY!!!!! My week is going great! I've been leading/serving this group by myself since Sunday. It consists of two adults/drivers and twelve "students" and me! (makes 15) Neither of my groups has had health or "drama" issues, which is SO non-stressful. Last week we worked on closing in a porch and re-enforcing the roof struts in an ancient mobile home. It was difficult the last few days because of weather issues. We ended up leaving the project on Friday short one OSB sheet and two gallons of paint. SOOOO CLOSE!!! I was amazed at how God sped up our work and enabled us to do so much with so little actual work time! This week it looks like we're going to finish two days early; not necessarily a good thing. Our project this week is to redo the gutters, soffets, and plywood on a cinder block and wood sheet home. We also have to repaint the entire outside of the house. We've been working for a grand total of about six hours and we are about another six hours (at most) from completion. My group is very hardworking! The food here is good (Mexican tonight!) and I eat way more than I should every single day. I am going to gain forty pounds this summer. :)

Week Two-Day Three
From Big Creek website
written by Volunteer Editor Megan
The week is moving right along and we are seeing God work in multiple ways!

In the community ministry, groups went to Laurel Creek Nursing Home to fellowship with others, and lead the residents in craft projects. Another group went to the Hyden Senior Center and exercised with the people there, and also visited Hyden Manor. At Hyden Manor, the community group encountered a man who loved to praise Jesus, even though he could only sit in his chair in the lobby.

The day camp ministry is continuing to grow as well! The Hyden day camp had 28 children today, and Manchester has grown to 15 kids! Please continue to be in prayer for these groups, as they are working to minister to these children and share Christ's love.

As for the construction ministry, they are continuing to work despite the heat. The adults and groups are fantastic and are working fully to the glory of the Lord.

We still have no air conditioner for the gym here at the school, but we are surviving! This week has been great and we are thankful for the way God provides!

Miss Piggy & Miss Scarlet

But we're not sure that they are female & I guess in the snake world they could be considered married...

Recent additions to the reptile room (aka Andrew & Caleb's bedroom) are this scarlet snake which was rescued from the cats (who have forgiven us for stealing their moving toy) and a hognose snake (aka puff adder) which was found on the campout.
We were uncertain if Miss Scarlet would live due to all the bodily punctures but it is looking better & has managed to down several pinkies. It has not been aggressive at all.
This is one of the snake types often confused with a coral snake even though it has a gray/white stripe rather than yellow.
"Red on yellow kills a fellow
Red on black, you're okay, Jack"
Coral snakes in our rural paradise always have a black nose. For a while we averaged killing one a year.

Miss Piggy provided much entertainment at the campout by first spreading the excess neck skin to appear cobra-like and producing a hiss like something 3 times her size and the end of the tail was curled up tight like a piggy's corkscrew.. It then played dead, over and over again - at least 20 minutes of dying - would've made any Shakespearean tragedy proud. I chose this photo so you could see the upturned nose & curved mouth. This snake has not attempted to strike at anyone and has not played dead nor impersonated a cobra while in captivity. It has chowed down on several toads.

I chose this photo so you could see how flat the underside is. This snake has the roughest (largest scales) skin of any we've held. Excess skin - for the puffing - can be stretched out on each side of the neck. Very interesting snake but not remaining in captivity. It tries to get out all the time & eats frogs & toads which we'd prefer to live in the yard reducing our insect population. Maybe we'll have the opportunity to play with it out on the island in the future.

Big Creek Missions Update #2

Compiled from Facebook & the Big Creek Site

Hello all! We are now approaching the end of week one of Summer Missions! This has been a phenomenal week of service on the various ministry sites here in the community, and we have been blessed to have groups from Alabama and Tennessee.
We would like to thank Calvary Baptist Alcoa, Calvary Baptist Tuscumbia, Grace Baptist Bethpage, Dotson Memorial, and Little River for their service to this community, and their servant hearts.

We have had a great week of serving in construction, community, and day camps. The construction ministry (Jacob serving here) has been working on finishing the roof at Big Creek, as well as serving at two other locations. Community (Maryn serving here) has traveled to God's Closet to sort through clothes, delivered food to families in needs, and have visited with several senior adult centers and adult day cares.

The day camp ministry has been working in three different locations this week. Due to students in Leslie County still being in school because of snow days, day camp in Hyden could not take place. Instead, the principals at Hyden Elementary and Hayes Lewis Elementary schools have allowed groups to come in and minister to and hang out with the students. In Manchester, the day camp has gone from having no children on Monday to 15 kids registered by Thursday.

The staff of Big Creek Missions is incredibly blessed to be working with amazing students, and we are excited about the work they have been doing this week in this community!

From Megan, one of the Manchester track group leaders

Kevin Rogers: "Week 1: amazing! Seven students HERE believe & confess for the first time. MANY seeds planted, many residents touched. We're exhausted and looking forward to doing it all over again!"

"We welcome a new crew of Churches to Big Creek Missions this week (June 7). Over 200 volunteers are serving at our mission center, and all have arrived safely! The students are unpacking and preparing for dinner. "

Maryn has dealt with a cold but is feeling better. Her status late Friday: Learning more and more about God every day! And about to go to the bonfire!
Sunday morning: Got to sleep in!! orientation again today.
Sunday evening: Getting ready to meet her new group!

Jacob's statuseses: Getting ready for worship tonight then another busy day tomorrow. WOOOHOOOO!!!!!June 4

Glad that the weekend is almost here.... SLEEEEP!!!!!! June 5

Starting a new week with a new crew, and is praying hard that this group will be as fun and hardworking as the last one. 6:28a.m. Monday
Glad to see he has Pringles. He can live off them, Pop Tarts, peanut butter & Mountain Dew.

Construction Projects for Week 2 (June 7)

Project 1:
Ms. Brown is a very kind woman with big smile and big heart! She lives alone as her husband is deceased. She has already expressed her gratitude for any and all repairs that will be made to her home.

Need 1: Need to dig ditches around house to route stormwater runoff away from the house.
Need 2: Replace/Repair guttering, soffits, and fascia board.
Need 3: Exterior painting. Homeowner desires white paint for all trim work (approx. 3 gallons) and barn red paint for the rest of the exterior (approx. 5 gallons)
Need 4: Replace/Reinforce/Repair subflooring in kitchen of home.

Project 2:
Ms. Lois Brown is a single mom. She has two kids that both go to Leslie County High School Adam, 16 yrs. and Courtney, 15 yrs.). She works at the local senior citizens home to provide for her family.

Need 1: Replace entire kitchen sub-flooring (18'10" x 10'2")
Need 2: Replace 8 windows in home (5 measure 30x53, 1 measures 25 1/2 x38, 1 measures 58 1/2x38)

Project 3:

Mr. and Mrs. Day are very kind people who simply love people. There 5 year old granddaughter (Angela) stays with them while her mother works. This little girl is very smart and wants to become a veterinarian when she grows up.

Need 1: Repair entire roof
Length of house is approx. 41'
Width of roof from edge to ridge is 12'10".
Porch on side of house is approx. 9'.

Project 4:
Ms. Feltner is a middle aged woman who is on disability. She has friends and relatives who help her with things around the house.

Need 1: Seal roof with cool seal. Roof material is still in good condition, leaking where screws hold metal to trusses. (10 gallons cool seal)
Need 2: Reconstruct front porch (20'x6')

Project 5:
Mr. and Mrs. Feltner are two very friendly and talkative people. They are very open about how much the Lord has blessed them and has expressed that any amount of repair is a blessing from the Lord!

Need 1: New roof on home. The home is 70'x14'. The distance from the edge of the roof to the ridge is 7'5"
Need 2: Kitchen sink to have plumbing installed for drainage. (They currently have a 5 gallon bucket to catch all drain water or anything else that goes down the sink.)

Sense His Passion

That was the experience Sunday a.m. in a communion service unlike any in which I had previously participated. The sanctuary lights were dimmed. Music exalted the Savior & recounted His sacrifice. Pastor James led us in worship, reading scripture, expounding on the physical realities.

Smell the incense as Bro. Jim slowly walked the aisles gently swinging a smoking censer. Be reminded of the importance God placed on its usage during sacrifices in the Old Testament, remember the frankincense brought by the wise man and finally the ultimate sacrifice made by Christ for His bride the Church. "And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savour." -Ephesians 5:2

See the cross: The church sang "When I Survey the Wondrous Cross" with "Oh the Wonderful Cross" (bids me come and die and find that I can truly live) as one of the Easter Pageant crosses, rough and bloody with a crown of thorns around the top, weighing heavily on the shoulder of Bro. Ted, was carefully dragged to the front and hoisted into its spot front & center of the choir then spotlighted with blue. "And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death— even death on a cross!" Philippians 2:8

Hear the nails. I'm not sure what Bro. Brad was hitting with that hammer but the metal on metal sound rang through the sanctuary. Clang........Clang......Clang.... slowly pounding over and over. We were reminded that our sin was the cause, we could have driven those nails with our very hands, that He could have chosen not to pay for us but loved us to death and back. "Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God." Hebrews 12:2

Pastor James encouraged us make sure we were right with God as he reminded us of 1 Corinthians 11: 27-31 Therefore, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord. A man ought to examine himself before he eats of the bread and drinks of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without recognizing the body of the Lord eats and drinks judgment on himself. That is why many among you are weak and sick, and a number of you have fallen asleep. But if we judged ourselves, we would not come under judgment.

Then we sang and prayed through the Lord's Supper as Pastor reminded us of the significance.
Touch the bread. Crusty loaves were broken, passed and pieces torn away. And he took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, "This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me."Luke 22:19

Taste the juice, the new covenant of grace so we are no longer under the law! In the same way, after the supper he took the cup, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you." Luke 22:20

Then we sang "Oh What a Savior" with a side of "Jesus paid it all, all to Him I owe" and Pastor James took the solo verses. Most of the church were on their feet by the second verse and all were up, praising God by the end of the song.

Oh what, what a Savior, O Hallelujah
His heart was broken on Calvary
His hands were nail-scarred
His side was riven
He gave His life’s blood for even me - yes for you and me!

Pastor James reminded us that we are to "do this in remembrance of Me" UNTIL Jesus returns. The Lord Jesus, on the night He was betrayed, took bread, and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, "This is My Body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of Me." In the same way, after supper He took the cup, saying, "This cup is the New Covenant in My Blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of Me." For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes. 1 Corinthians 11: 23-26

He has gone to prepare a place for those who love Him and is just waiting on His Father to tell Him to come get us.

ARE YOU READY?

Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Admit to God you are a sinner.
Believe that Jesus is God's Son.
Confess your faith in Jesus as your Savior & Lord.

Big Creek Missions Update #1

As I told you, Maryn & Jacob left on May 24 for Big Creek Missions in Kentucky. Here's a compilation of communications up to date. All the pictures are from Maryn & much of the photo narrative too.

Jacob & Maryn on the plane.
This was an amazing ride. It left the airport over 20 minutes late yet arrived in Knoxville 5 minutes early. I expected to see a photo of these kids plastered back into their seats with expressions of terror on their pressure-flattened faces. Hm. Maybe the plane had yet to leave the runway...

Jacob is sitting next to Cooper, Kevin's dog in Kevin's car who drooled and panted and smelled on him the whole drive to Big Creek.

The plan: Week one was staff training which included TRAINING plus getting the facilities ready for the churches to begin arriving May 31. That first ministry week (this week) is scheduled to host only half the number of volunteers to allow the pairing of new staff with experienced for OJT then next week (beginning June 7) each staff member will be heading the individual ministry teams.

The stage where much work was done the first week.

Jacob was thrilled to drive a sky jack but I'm not sure if it was in this room which looks like a gym to me.

When they first arrived, the A/C was not working in the official staff quarters so they lived in the cooled classrooms until just before the church groups started arriving. Here's Maryn's first "home away from home".
"The sleeping area we're moving to is perfectly safe and decent. It's not as bad as it sounds. Girls on one side of the gym, boys on the other and every bunk is curtained off with really thick hotel curtains. We DO have bathrooms out there after all."

Jacob has been thrilled at being surrounded by mountains big hills. He said that he plans to hike one when he gets some time off but no one knows when that might be...
Staff have been shown around the communities and introduced to people in preparation for their upcoming community service. Maryn met the mayor of Manchester and visited a nursing home somewhere else. May 29 they were supposed to go into Hazard.

Doesn't he look pitiful?
This was only a test injury. No staff were harmed in the making of these photos. It is probable that laughter was employed by all.

Had some other person been employed doing the weed-whacking that Jacob's been assigned, they might have some plaster or bandages or just pink stuff. J got the job because he is not allergic to poison ivy. He was disappointed that he didn't get to drive the big mower. I think Kevin claimed that big toy.

"Last night we had our first aid class. it was funny. I got to bandage Jacob and he put splints on me. I slept really well last night! The other people are fun too. We're all getting along great. Today my group (we split into 4 separate groups) had breakfast prep. it was veeerrrry interesting! Burned bacon, almost burned cinnamon rolls and biscuits, and the guys who made the gravy had no idea what they were doing! lol. We had fun! Then some other girls and I cleaned all the classrooms, swept the beds, floor, mopped, etc. It was crazy! Jacob was helping with the lights in the gym." May 26


"I'm doing great! We did lots of work today hanging curtains and fixing bunk beds. We also straightened the kitchen. My roommate Kristen is really nice. We have a lot in common! Everyone else is supposed to come today." May 25
"Kristen & I repainted the stage today. I've been given many tasks of designing logos and things to paint on the wall, signs, etc. Hopefully I'll find the time to do them!" May 30

Staff made a video about the mission and some of the rules to show to the guests who come. "The videos we made are HILARIOUS! I can't wait to show them to you. I'm not sure when we'll have them. Kevin's computer died today so we are all a little freaked out. It had all our info on it. Not good. Pray it gets fixed and we still have all our info!"
As of yesterday afternoon, Kevins's 'puter was still kaput.

Here's some of the staff playing Apples to Apples = team building 101. :-)
That's Kevin in the white T. No, that is not Jacob with his face turned toward Kevin. His head's been shorn, remember? Just look at him in the other pictures & you'll see.

Maryn (then there's that creepy looking partial-face between the two heads), Jacob & Kevin at Applebees on May 30 - so they are not tooooo far from civilization.

"Hey! Here's pictures from yesterday! The girl on the end is Hannah, our kitchen coordinator. Everyone cheers, "Let's hear it for Hannah!!!!!!" whenever we see her. The girl in the middle is Lacy.

"Jacob and I worked in the kitchen most of the day. We made: lasagna, alfredo, grilled chicken - Jacob & I grilled ourselves! I cut vegetables, breadsticks, pizza bread, mud cake, and fruit! We were very proud of ourselves." June 1

Chatting with Jacob on Facebook yesterday he told me that he was working on a construction crew that is "converting a porch into a room, rebracing a roof, and other random things, all in the same house".

His status is "working hard building and renovating! And yes, the food is awesome."

Kevin highlights the week here and sent a very nice post to me:

"You would be VERY proud of Jacob and Maryn. They are both working VERY hard and are excellent staff. They've caught on SO fast and are just rockin' my face off!!!! Love them both. I don't know what I'm going to do when they break up with me at the end of summer. I might just have to come to Florida to see them ;)"

Kevin (June 3)

I plan for periodic Big Creek updates as I get them but have been warned that Kevin says we're going to be dead by the third week. But we have permission to be a zombie in the staff area when we have a chance.

Jacob & Maryn

Remember AGES ago when we went to TX & I told you I took prodigious amounts of photos both of Andrew (for graduation) & the newly engaged couple?

Since Jacob & Maryn have headed to Big Creek Missions to work for the summer, I thought I'd work up this "tribute" blog so you can see my favorite shots from the TX trip. BTW, Kevin was VERY IMPRESSED that they packed ALL the stuff they needed for the summer in one suitcase each and two carry-ons each. (Ask me about the vulture with the two dead rabbits some time.)

Here they have loaded up Maryn's folk's trunk for the drive to Orlando to catch the flight to TN where cousin Kevin picked them up & drove with them to Big Creek. If you think Jacob looks a little blurry it's 'cause they picked him up at 7 a.m. to get the kiddos to the airport on time.
The following photos were taken at the Japanese Tea Gardens in San Antonio.
You can see why some people choose to get married here.

This is such a pretty spot it almost looks like a backdrop.

The rest of the photos were taken on the Alamo grounds.

Recognize some of these cacti from Andrew's pics?

This would even look nice with a waist-high crop.

Made as we were headed back to the van. Such a beautiful and huge old tree shading that cute couple.