I am thankful beyond words for all that God has given me. This Thanksgiving Day was filled with many emotions with joy being at the top of the list. As you view the images on this entry you will see work being done on a trailer which happened a couple of days before Thanksgiving. My thankfulness is for the people who are doing the work... Susan has the drill in her hand replacing the bolts on the shower trailer. She has become like family to me over the years. she and her husband Monty and I have spent over two years together since Katrina hit the Gulf Coast. Now that another storm has brought us together we intend on serving our call from God in the every way we can.
Another couple in a photo who are dear to my heart are Gregg and Pam from South Dakota who have been here for a month. While they were here they helped with many projects and were able to be here while the team from my home church were here. they had worked with 3 of them on a Speed Build (building a house in 6 days) in Mississippi last October. Gregg and Pam were suppose to leave on Weds to spend Thanksgiving with her two brothers in Dallas but when we did an outreach on Tuesday to the people in Galveston and saw the need for people to have meals they opened their hearts and said they wanted to be part of another food outreach on Thanksgiving Day.
The planning began..... On Weds we went to Sam's Club and bought all the things we needed to feed 350 meals. There was ham and buns for 700 sandwiches, pasta for 350 salads, 17 spice cakes for 350 pieces and chips for each plate. The picture shown is a sample of what we served. We planned to pack it all very neatly in brown bags so it would be easily served to anyone who stopped by. The day was spent cooking pasta to make the salad, building sandwiched, filling the bags, and creatively packing the slices of cake. It took about 7 hours once we returned to the church to prepare what we could and on the morning of Thanksgiving we finished filling the bags and packed the van and trailer.
As we drove to Galveston and parked at the selected spot it was only seconds and people were there for meals. In fact, some of the men there began helping us set up and stayed to the end handing out food and water to anyone who stopped. For a while we thought that we were working the drive-thru at a fast food place. All the people needed to do was drive up and the men that were helping us ran to there cars to bless the families. It was amazing. What a great way to reach out on Thanksgiving Day! We loved it! In less than one and one half hours all the meals were given out and as we were leaving Galveston we stopped at the police station to drop off a tray of pasta salad and several sandwiches. They need the blessing as well!
It was about 1:15 when Gregg and Pam pulled away to head back to SD. There is a very large whole in the parking lot now with their camper gone but it does not compare to missing them. They are such awesome friends that I am so thankful for.
The other emptiness was when I spoke to all of my girls, their special friends and my grandchildren. I miss them all so much and hope that I will be able to get home for a bit for Christmas. I am thankful that God helped me through the feeling of loneliness.
One last thing... once again I am thankful that my mother has successfully gone through another lung tap. She went in the day following Thanksgiving and breezed through the procedure. She is back home, resting well!
I am ever thankful to god for all that I am blessed with!
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