Barnardsville, NC - Convoy of Hope joins Switch It Up Crew

Dana and I are blessed and honored to be serviing the community of Barnardsville with our Switch It Up family!

 25 members of the Switch Crew are on the ground in Barnardsville, North Carolina—serving a community still recovering from the devastation of Hurricane Helene just over a year ago. Whole homes, bridges, and roads were swept away in the storm, leaving families with nothing but memories and the determination to rebuild.

We’ve set up our own Switch Crew Camp near the local fire station, coming alongside those still without permanent homes to help them prepare for the cold months ahead.

We’ve heard story after story of families standing helplessly as the rushing waters carried away their homes, belongings, and sense of normalcy. Many now live in small travel trailers, still paying mortgages on houses that no longer exist. The destruction is hard to put into words.

And yet, what we’ve found here is resilience. Courage. Kindness. Gratitude. These are some of the sweetest people you could ever meet; thankful for every bit of help offered. As fellow RVers, we’re installing skirting, insulating pipes and windows, and helping them learn how to live safely and warmly in their RVs this winter. For many, this is their first experience in an RV—now sitting on the very ground where their homes once stood.

We came to serve with helping hands and willing hearts, but the truth is, we’re the ones leaving blessed. To hear their stories, share their burdens, and be even a small part of their rebuilding journey has changed us all.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WdDDym9KJxY

The work is not done! There is a fund to help provide propane for these families to stay warm through the coming harsh winter.  If you feel the desire please donate to:

https://convoyofhope.org/donate/disaster-relief/helene-propane/

These funds go directly to buying propane for this community!

It has been 14 months and these people feel forgotten, yet they are not angry. They are grateful and gracefilled! Help be the hands and feet of Jesus and spread human kindmess!

Gods Fields of the Woods, Murphy, North Carolina

 One thing we have learned is that God and Christianity is alive and strong in this part of the U.S.!  As we prepare to be the hands and feet with our Switch It Up family Dana and I went exploring and found the most amazing space built in 1944! In the late 1800's when bible studying was banned Tomlinson met in private homes.  Long story short, he climbed a mountain and had private moments with God.  40 + years later he, with assistance, climbed that same mountain and marked the spot for people to worship and learn about God for decades to come!

The first thing we came across was a reproduction of the resurection and the tomb from Jerusulum!

Next was the resurection

As you move down one side you arrive at the 4 tablets about the prohets.  A circular building covered with all the psalms and then the prayer garden staircase filled with bible verses from each state!

When you come to the top you reach the Beatitudes and the Lords prayer as well as a prayer station!  All nestled in and on top of the Blue Ridge Mountains!

The other half of land is AMAZING!  They have built into the mountain the ten commandments which can be seen by planes flying overhead!!!!!!

Tommorrow we head to the heart of where the flooding happened near Ashville, NC and Banardsville, NC.  The flooding was a year ago but people are still homeless, hurting and broken.  Please pray for us, our Switch It Up Crew and Convoy of Hope!

Family time

 We have been spending the past two weeks visiting family.  First we spent 3 days with our neice Angelina, Jeremy and their boys and coincidentally Dana's sister was visiting from Michigan! It was wonderful to hang out and catch up! We then made our way back to Lenexa, Kansas where we took the RV in for minor repairs and adjustments.  We took advantage of the time and spent quality time with all of our children!  Highlights included Tall Trellis with Ashley, Pumpkin patch with Mike and Emmy and baby Ellie and Top Golf with Nicole and MIke!  Unfortunately as we were departing from Kansas our emission light came back on, which there supposedly fixed and we are now hanging out in Kansas for a few more days which means we miss Nashville and pray we get to Talona Ridge on time for our Switch it up retreat!

Well, we spent 23 days displaced without our rig! The good news is that we got to spend wonderful time with friends and family and also got to go with Ellie on her first trick or treating!

We also made an impromptu decision to put the jeep up for sale to see what happens.  We LOVED the jeep but it was a small 2 door and we knew we couldn't travel long distance in it with Duke and luggage.  Dana has been looking for his next car for years and since he has a sports car he thought a nice SUV would be good. SOOOOO, the jeep sold in 24 hours and we bought a Bronco Badlands Sasquatch. Dana has lovingly named it   The Dirt Bandit!  We ended up missing our Switch It Up event but still needed to go to Talona Ridge to get our windshield replaced!  Life on the road means you have to plan ahead and since we KNEW (jokes on us) that we would be in Talona Ridge for a week, they shipped our windshield there!  

Uh Oh!  The man assigned by the insurance company was inexperienced!  Keep in mind our windshield is 8 feet x 5 feet and weighs 250 lbs.  He brought his daughter and and brother to help!  Needless to say the job was not done well and we will need to take our home to Lakeland Florida in December where they will pull it inside and fix it properly.  The  good news is that we are safe and it will not fall out!Please God!  LOL! 

While getting our windshield fixed my college roommate Jeanne came to visit!  We hadn't seen each other in 30 years so we spent 9 hours talking nonstop catching up. We didn't miss a beat and it felt like no time had passed at all.  True friends are such a treasue! 

We are now in a growing small community of Murphy, NC!  We are hanging out here and exploring until we head to Banardsville, NC to work with Convoy of Hope and our Switch It Up family to help the survivors of last years flooding.  Many people are still homeless and grieving their lost friends and family!

God Moment!  My college roomate had suffered the loss of her high school best friend to cancer.  This friend was a special angel of God.  While she was going through her chemo and treatments she wanted to make sure that others didn't feel alone soooo she ordered a bunch of little wooden crosses with hearts of them and hand wrote notes that said "You are not Alone  You are Loved" and gave them out and left them around the chemo rooms.  Her family wanted to honor her so they started the Renee Roberts Cross Foundation. You can search it on Facebook and read her story.  I will try to link it.  Since we will be working with people who are hurting next week I ordered 100 of these for our Switch It Up crew to hand out as they see fit!  Renee's memory lives on!  God is Good!

The Holy Cross Abbey and Winery, Colorado

 Our next stop was Canan City, Colorado.  16 years ago when were were in Denver for our neices wedding we traveled south the white water raft on the Royal Gorge.  While there we found this beautiful Abbey that had become converted to a winery.  They had the most beautiful logo and etched bottles and glasses.  Since we were so close we decided to go down memory lane and visit them again.  It did not disappoint!