A Minnesota Treat

 Our friend Mary and her kids

Great niece Kaitlin says, No, I won't show you my missing teeth.

Yes, she is adorable - this is Amber, our great niece.

The house that John and Linda built

 We have had a week jam-packed with activity! Throughout this time we have reconnected with family and even met a new member! - Amber.  

I was able to get to know the new additions to my long-time friend Linda's family on an overnight visit to Embarrass, MN. 


Mary's family got together to celebrate a birthday and we were honored to be invited. 

As the years fly by these photos weave the comfortable "old" friendships together with the  newer treasures. My, how the Lord is mindful of what brings us joy.

Doing dishes with a smile!  Two of Linda's girls.

 

 

Family Visits

Amber and Travis

Our resident photographer

             We seldom have company at a campground. Usually, we are camped in a driveway, a church lot or on a gravel patch next to a church or school.  These past few weeks have been great.  Travis, our son, and his lovely bride we get to claim as a daughter, came to visit us at Maple Springs Campground. The visit included an adventure in tubing on the Root River.

Dean and Cindy's RV to the left and haRVey on the right - nice neighbors!

Cindy and Dave

Earlier this week as we were camped near Hinkley, Minnesota Dave's sister and her hubby camped next to us overnight - as always, a delight to spend time with them. We have been very thankful for our campground stays these past few weeks as the temperatures have been WAY TOO HOT to be without air-conditioning in our hardly insulated easy-bake oven house on wheels.  When next I complain about the cold weather, please remind me of this post.   

Tools of the Trade or We need a Machete!

Dave taking care of the final mounting screws

When we arrived at Robin's Nest we were hoping there would be a few projects in our skill set to call our own and complete during the week.  

Before getting started on their projects the guys found a number of handy tools: an axe with a broken handle, a saw with a rusty blade, pruning saw with a broken blade, and a shovel head with no handle.  In Jamaica a machete is the premier tool for all of your tree cutting, pruning, and edging needs so they were set with the clothesline chore. The clothesline in this photo is one of MANY around the perimeter of the house.  With thirty children, there is always someone hanging clothes on or taking clothes off of the many lines.

Guess why Dave got to do this job?

The swimming pool has a light which was no longer working, so our electric crew got to work running a new line.  Imagine Dave's joy to find that PVC is a premier construction tool in Jamaica.  It is used as the conduit for electrical lines because it does not rust or breakdown over time. There was much celebration when at the end of the week - there was light!

Nick is standing near the spot where Dave was working in the previous photo.

Matt, and Joyelle  are the administrators of Robin's Nest. They have an apartment on the lower level of Jake's House, part of the Robin's Nest facility.  The clothesline will provide a much less work-intensive laundry day as Joyelle will be able to step out of her door instead of climbing the hill with her family laundry. Our work crew was happy to supply the labor to make it so.
The clothesline for Joyelle involved cutting down a tree.  This chore called for serious tools, but alas, all they had was a machete.  In the end a gentleman named Cracker cut the tree down as the guys watched in awe.  

In order to complete these projects the guys needed to stock up at the local hardware store.  By the end of our stay ALL of the salespeople knew this group of guys and will be receiving a Christmas card this year!  I am not kidding when I say we sat in the hardware store lot about 45 minutes one day and much less subsequent days.  Any time we all climbed into the van the first comment was, "after the hardware store, where are we going?"

Sharpening the Machete to chop down the tree and install the jungle clothesline.

 Hot, tired and sweaty, but still smiling!

Note the stump - Machetes rule.

Jamaica!

Barb and Mary made passport holders- girls only. The guys did not need a purse sort of holder and wouldn't they look silly slinging one of these stylish bags.

Our team took 12 bins and two suitcases full of supplies for Robin's Nest

Digging a post hole for a clothesline - in the jungle.

Painting - I am taking a "breeze break"


Our time at Robin's Nest was hard joyful work.  Our team painted, built a clothesline, ran a line for a new light, repaired screens, and spent some quality time with the children. Dave and I enjoyed our time with some of our dearest friends and made some new friends   

At the end of the day - we are glistening (okay sweating) and very tired.