Visit to Rusk

I had a week off of being on call for work, and arranged to go spend it with my dear Marilyn Foster and her family.  She was in need of some physical help in her house as she had just had her sciatic nerve burned in her leg and was having trouble walking around.  

Martha Stewart--errr--Heather hosting us for Breakfast tacos.

 We don't have ANY fun . . .

 . . .ever!  Aren't we fabulous?!!

 Before. . .

 . . .during. . .

 . . .and after one of the many projects I did last week

 Visiting the new owner/organizers of Elijah's Retreat, a camp for autistic kids and their families.

 Sneaking in a visit with Manolo, one of Marilyn's great grands

 Love this lady

 In spite of being in a lot of pain, she still spoiled me with some coconut cream pie

 Hosting breakfast for the ladies, while my man worked on sawing down tree branches outside

Chair Transformation

Yet another project that we started this spring is finally finished!  These chairs were in storage on the farm, crafted on by Len's grandma.  We needed new chairs for our dining room table, and I didn't want to spend a whole lot of money.  So, we spent a whole lot of time instead!  We forgot to take pictures of the before shots, but, as you can see, the cushion color was fabulous. . .for the '50's.  

Although this shot is sideways, if you look at the back of the chair, that's the color it was painted to be.  Jojo not too excited about the smell of paint remover.

We finally got the chairs down to their original wood color, then had to choose something to match our already renovated table, also a hand me down from Len's family.

Today we finished the last of the cushions!

 The ever-thrilled-to-be-photographed hubby

 Ta-daaa!!

 And now nicely decorated with my polish pottery.  What do you think?!!

Georgia Peaches!!

The peach truck from Georgia came to town last week and we bought 2 25lbs boxes of peaches to process.  I have not had a  whole lot of experience with this, so I had coaching for the canning from Len's mom and dad.

Then I came home and taught my "boys" how to process them for freezing.

Hopefully we'll have some yummy peachy things coming up in this next year!

Volunteering During COVID-19

So, our house has not been doing a lot of actual working, especially me.  I've not been on an airplane since April 13th.  But, we HAVE been going to the food pantry our church runs ever Monday, and the current total families fed since COVID-19 started is over 6,800.  Today was another one of those days, and I'm going to try to walk you through each part of the process to show what all happens for the feeding of the 900. . .or so. . .families every week.

 First, semi's show up from the Houston Food Bank, since our location is one of the city's emergency food distribution sites.  Today they delivered 20 pallets of food each.

 This is CJ, the organizer of the pantry, and one of the 20 pallets

 Today we were able to have boxes of produce already sorted to give to each family.  Most of the time, though, this produce is in 50 lb boxes or bags, and we have to sort through all of it and give a selection to each family.  Carrots, turnips, cucumbers, tomatoes, potatoes, cabbage, pineapple, watermelon, oranges, etc., just to name a few.

 Miss Jeanie and Mr. Willie, 2 of the regulars that help keep the place running.  Miss Jeanie also organizes a clothing closet (currently closed) for donations.  An opportunity given to clients that participate in the regular weekly food collection can also get clothing when it's open. 

 Mr. Willie is the point man for all things janitorial--he loves his job!

 So, this morning's task for the volunteers was to bag 2 pkgs. soup mix, 2 trailmix, 1 can of beans, 1 pkg of peanut butter crackers, and 1 package of spaghetti into individual shopping bags.

 Volunteers of all ages are welcome. . .including this mom carrying her little one on her back.

 The bags, all 1,206 of them this morning, are then put in these boxes to distribute 1 to each family.

 Len and I had the job of taking care of bread donated (because it was all crushed) from a local grocery store.  We ended up filling 2 watermelon boxes. . .and then some. . .with all that was there.

 And, the cardboard boxes are then collapsed and recycled every week--a BIG job.  I think this is the 3rd or 4th cart emptied just this morning, and that's only about 2 hours worth of work!

Then, after a couple hours break, the "fun" starts!  Approximately 500 cars line up and do a drive-by food pick-up.

 There are 5 stations to stop for food:  dry goods, produce, milk, frozen meat, and bread, eggs & juice.

 2 lines of cars drive by at a time

 There are also people that line up on the sidewalk for food--this guy asked for his picture to be taken!  That was my job tonight--shopping for the walk ons.

 As you can see, another evening full of volunteers of all sizes

 Borden milk company donated another 3,900 gallons of milk this week--4 gallons per family

 My cousin, Simon, worked on that stand.  You need a lot of muscle for that one!

 Len directed traffic at the end of the line

 Each family also receives a tract in English and Spanish, as well as a website to refer to if they want more information.  THIS is why we do what we do every week, hoping and praying that those who need it the most will read the tract and accept the truth of it.

 Don't we look fabulous??!!