On our way home...

We attended the service at Rededmer Lutheran this morning after a much needed nights sleep at our great hosts' home!  

Molly put together a picture presentation for the church. And there was even a baptism today!

And now we are back home safe and sound and richer for the experience.  

Thank you all for your prayers and support!  

First Leg Home

We are blessed with beautiful weather!  The trip home is a bit quieter than the trip out. 

We are very grateful for the prayers that have been covering us this last week. We are grateful for the beautiful church we were able to call home (and oh my, the ideas!!:). Today they were hosting a baby shower and they had a piece of lattice painted white in a frame with wheels they decorated with onesies, ribbon and tulle. Great for a backdrop idea!!

The Sanctuary was large and beautiful!  I don't know the year it was built but they seem to have been adding on over the years. 

I can't even hazard a guess on the square footage, but I think our church could fit in just the fellowship hall and kitchen!  They feed massive amounts of people!  Can't imagine how big their UMW must be:)

Dinner at the Bamboo House!  It was excellent!  Worth the drive!!

And we finally arrived at Pourchot's!!

Day Five - Last Day

Today is our last day rehabbing at Tom's. It is almost 60 degrees at 8:30 am!  Beautiful blue skies. We all wish we had a bit more time to explore the area. 

Living Room 

Before:

After:

Bedroom

Before:

After:

Kitchen

Before:

After:

We are exhausted but the tasks  are complete!!

We will be missing Tom... He has made an impact in all our lives.  We also learned quite a bit from him:)

1. You can use a chainsaw to fix almost anything. 

2. Cows like stale donuts. 

3. Don't be a hoodlum, cause that's pitiful. 

4. All his skinny cousins got fat and lazy. 

5. Don't need to cut a hole in the wheely meals, they can do it themselves in the microwave. 

6. Keep your guns loaded. 

7. Journaling every day is good for you and it holds up in court. 

8. His house was built in 1920 in three weeks, and is stronger than most today. 

9. When you cut a hole in the floor, do it on an angle so you can put it back together easily. 

10. We are all invited back to hunt up and eat some opossum. 

All and all a great week! And tomorrow we begin the journey back home. 

Day Four

Well, today all nine of us headed out to Tom's. We got a lot accomplished even though we were in pretty tight quarters!  His bedroom is complete!

New ceiling, new fan/light and new curtains and a fresh Spring cleaning. 

The kitchen got most of its makeover...just a bit left for tomorrow. 

And yes, that is Karsten on top of the fridge holding up a ceiling panel:)

We are all EXHAUSTED!! But we are getting the job done...

Day Three

Left at the regular time. Beautiful, sunny day!  Let's hope it holds as today requires preparing the ceiling panels outside!

The work begins...

The ceiling is up!!

 

We also got to meet the rest of the "family":)

Tomorrow is trim, clean up and the bedroom and kitchen ceilings!!  

We are having spaghetti dinner at the church tonight and then early to bed!

Day Two

We began again at about 9:00 am. More ceiling paper had to come down and that made another big mess. 

Clean up and then lunch with Tom:). 

This photo is of one of his journals and the flash light he purchased for $1 on his sixteenth birthday. 

Back to work...

Then the poly went up over the 100 year old oak ceiling boards. 

Then the first ceiling board - Yeah!!  

Everyone is working hard and the girls are doing a great job and learning new skills!  Both already have that cleaning thing down pat:). 

First Day

Finished off our evening with 12 laps around the walking track at the church. You should see the size of this building! The walking a full size gym and the walking track is a balcony above the gym completely around the exterior edge. There are also pool tables, air hockey and more. 

The kitchen has a HUGE 10 or 12 burner gas stove!  Oh the people they must feed!  And, by the way, all the cabinets and drawers are labeled:)

Up early this morning for breakfast and lunch making. We all headed out about 8:30 am. Two different job sites...

We arrived at Tom's about 9 or so. What a sweet guy!!  So full of incredible stories and he lives on a beautiful piece of propery right in a creek he uses for his Saturday bathing:) since his water has been down since January 24. The property once consisted of 600 acres until his scheming ex-wife took all but 160 of them. He journals daily and gives God the glory for everything, except maybe the "acid-heads" who terrorize the area which is why he sleeps next to a loaded revoler:). He still has cattle, hunting dogs, and quite a collection of hubcaps and warning signs!

Today was removing the ceiling in three rooms, reToring water and clearing the mess fr the part of the ceiling that fell unexpectly!  

Jane and Dave's team worked on ceilings at another location where the man's daughter and two children had moved back with him. He really just wanted them to go fishing!

We are all beat...and tomorrow is another day!

We have arrived!!

We made great time with very few stops. Lunch at McDonalds and on the road again. We arrived at First United Methodist Church shortly before 6:00 pm CST.  Unpacked, made a list of needed food (those of you who know us-know our trips always revolve around food!) and then out to dinner at Maya's Mexican for dinner. Here is to a good week of work!

Journey to Poplar Bluff

Early morning!  Breakfast with our gracious hosts...pancakes, eggs, fresh fruit and great company!

Arrival in Stevens Point

We were blessed with an uneventful trip!  We arrived in Wausau, Wi in time for a nice lunch and some shopping. We couldn't possibly go through Wausau and not stop at Barnes and Noble!  

And we have been on a "hunt for a blind bracket" which meant a stop at Fleet Farm and Frank's Hardware!

Then we were treated to a nice message by Pastor Annie and a scrumptious lasagna dinner and delightful dessert at Redeemer Lutheran. 

Now we are enjoying an evening with our gracious hosts Regan and Ann!  

Departure

Five minutes until lift off!!  Right now it is clear skies and 13 degrees...First stop Minocqua, WI for gas...Rendezvous Stevens Point, Wi  

White Pine Community UMC Mission Trip for Tornado Relief

The area of Poplar Bluff, MO, affected is in the low-lying area and was one of the first to flood in the tornado. In some houses the water rose to over three feet. While FEMA did award some repair and rebuild money to homes in this area, one the whole it was not enough to cover damages. Most residents that had damage did not have the resources to complete their recovery. The homes we will be working on fall in this category. These people have been waiting a long time for volunteers to come help. 

We leave tomorrow morning!  This is the first trip for some of us and we aren't sure what to expect it what we are doing:). Thankfully we are pretty fast learners. 

Stay tuned...

Preparations Begin

On March 22, 2014, the Varecha's will embark on their first Family Mission Trip! Nine of us, including some of our church family and a long time family friend, we will set off to on our journey to Poplar Bluff, Missouri to help with the reconstruction efforts in the area!