NOMADS Project 1

Welcome our new followers Teri, Kenny/Angela and Lady Dyna Ryder. Thanks for coming on board. Hope you enjoy our adventure.

Our first NOMADS project was a success. We completed all of the major tasks assigned plus a few others we discovered as we were working. Our new RV friends have all moved on to other places. Overall, it was a great experience and super blessing to see how God put together a team of volunteers who had the experience needed to get the job done.

In my previous post, I failed to give you a little info on Odem  and Sinton.  We parked in the overflow parking lot of First United Methodist Church Odem and worked about 7 miles away at First United Methodist Church Sinton.  Our team project report is available here. I must warn you it is a large file.

Odem was platted in 1909 and contains about about 1.1 square miles of land. The city is located about 20 miles north of Corpus Christi on US Highway 77. The city is at the intersection of two major rail lines that are heavily used today. I am certain the locals are accustomed to the train whistles as they approach the many street intersections. For fine dining, I highly recommend the Seafood Railroad Station.

Sinton is the county seat of San Patricio county so it hosts the county court house as well as the San Patricio County Fair Grounds. Sinton is also at the crossroad of two major railroads as well as US Highways  77 and 181. Colonel George W. Fulton, founder of the Coleman-Fulton Pasture Company, received approval from the board of directors to give 640 acres for the town site of Sinton on the south bank of Chiltipin Creek in the late 1880’s. For fine dining, I highly recommend Back Street Café and Flores Mexican Restaurant.

Our NOMADS team was given a private tour of the Welder Wildlife Foundation. This 7800 acre refuge is one of the largest private wildlife refuges in Texas. For additional information about this gem, please visit Texas State Historical Association On Line. They have an incredible collection of over 400 bird species and 55 mammal, amphibians and reptiles. They have a large library containing over 24,000 individual books and journals some dating to pre 1800. All of this is available for research to college students and research scientists.

At the end of our three week project, Carol and I made a quick overnight trip to San Antonio for Carol to pickup her new Viking Embroidery Sewing machine. We had time to include a quick visit with Carol’s sister Donna.

Thanks for stopping by.

Going Live in 2012

Going live is a term that identifies when a transition from the old to the new will take place. For about a year now, we have been shouting about Going live in 2012. At first this was a target date for retirement. God had other plans and moved that up to March 2011 for me and December 2010 for Carol. Since retiring, we have purchased our new home on wheels and developed a plan to hit the road in 2012 –  thus our Go Live date of 2012 would be when we transition from living in a house to living in our RV.

To hit the target date, we needed to have a plan to do something with our house and we needed confirmed plans for what we are going to do in 2012.

For the house, we originally planned to have our daughter and grandson rent the house from us for a couple of years but then decided that was not a good idea because of typical home maintenance and utility expenses. We met with a realtor who felt our house would move quickly even in today’s depressed housing market. So, with a task list in hand we began the process of fixing up the old place and are culling through years of stuff. Our two daughters will be taking what they want in the next 30 days and the rest will go away either by way of estate sale or give away. Yes that includes my 900 square foot wood shop. My brother is interested in some of the shop equipment so if you are interested, let me know by completing the Contact Us section of this blog.

For the work we will be doing in 2012, we have confirmed commitments through October.

From Jan 9 through Feb 16, we will be working with NOMADS. This is a ministry of the United Methodist Church. Through this group, we will be working at two churches close to Corpus Christi.

We will then take a trip to Maysville, North Carolina about 100 miles southeast of Raleigh, NC. We will be volunteering at Safe Harbor Farm during the month of March. They are a K-9 Rescue, Rehabilitation and Rehoming organization who follow Cesar Millan’s principles for rehabilitating animals. Working with the animals and working on the facilities seems like a good match for what we enjoy doing.

Then from April through October we will be volunteering at Windy Valley Llama Farms in Blue Ridge, GA.  This is a working farm about 100 miles north of Atlanta, GA where the owners breed and raise show quality Llamas. The owner said that while we work at the farm the llamas will find their way into our hearts and that our life will find a sense of peace that we  may have never experienced before. To me this sounds like the peace we’ve felt being at Live Oak Ranch, Carol’s brother’s place on the Guadalupe River just north of New Braunfels, TX.

You might wonder how we found these places.  About the middle of 2010 we were in the dreaming phase of our retirement planning.  As I searched the Internet for different opportunities, I began by asking God to show me what He wanted us to do in retirement.  When I shared Windy Valley Llama Farms with Carol in 2010, she said, “I wonder if they will need help when we get on the road.” As we were searching for cool places to work in 2012, God once again brought this place to me. I sent them an inquiry and received a reply. The owner told us that the couple who had committed for the April-October period was unable to come so that left an opening. I call that a divine appointment.

All I can say is God is good! We are excited about our Go Live in 2012. More to follow.