Thursday???? WHAT?!?!?!

I can't believe it's Thursday night and our week is almost over.  Good grief time flies when you're having fun!  We have laughed, worked, cried, sweat, cleaned, played, fixed, built, served, and loved for 4 straight days and it has been incredible for all involved!  We visited one of our home projects today and we were greeted with tears of joy and hugs as the homeowner told me how she had prayed and prayed for help, and then here we were.  All week she said she would just go outside, hold her hands up and say PRAISE THE LORD!  For the first time since December she and her family were able to take a shower.  They had been boiling water to fill the tub which would take hours each day.  They had been walking around the huge holes in the floor so they wouldn't fall in and now they could walk without looking where they were going.  Her husband told me how he had come from a previous marriage where they had a nice house and everything they could think of...he said this had been really hard for him and that you don't realize how much you have and how you take things for granted, until you don't have them anymore.  Our working with them this week had renewed his faith, and given this family hope that they hadn't had in a long time.  If only they could realize it was just as much, if not more of a blessing for us as it was for them.

We had over 100 people come to the block party today in Sneedville and it was a blast!  They advertised it over the scanners last night so when we got into town today we had people telling US about the block party :)  We had Jennifer, Kipp and the kids sing for us, we painted faces, made balloon animals, played lots of games, served sno cones and popcorn, made salvation bracelets and just had a good time with the people there.  We ended with an awesome testimony by Tina, a short message by Daniel, a song and a prayer.  For them it was a big deal because they don't have things like that very often - for us it was just another chance to continue loving Tennessee.

We were again reminded today through many of the things we saw and did, of the many needs we have at home.  Once again some of our conversation turned to ideas and things we needed to do to "love Florence".  I don't think that is going to go away...

As we ended tonight we closed with prayer and there were more children that prayed aloud than the adults.  I cannot say enough how well these children have done this week.  Truth be told they have handled some of these situations better than the adults - and they have not complained or fussed about ANYTHING all week long.  Each one of them has seen and done things this week they would NEVER have done at home and they have each learned in their own way that nothing is impossible with God.  I am SO proud of them I can hardly stand it, and they have blessed my heart more than they will ever know.

Tomorrow we will visit our second house project and then make a stop by the house that Jennifer and Tricia have spent all week at.  I am looking forward to both of those!!  The afternoon will be spent relaxing and enjoying time togther with our fab family of fifty-five before we pack up and head back for Flo-town Saturday morning.  I'll have one more post tomorrow night and will try to get some of the other team members to write about their week.  We have so much to tell and cannot wait to come home and share the joy with you!