The Nashville News

Final day of work!

2011-07-09T00:11:00.001-04:00

Today we had a rainy final day of work in Nashville! We were working on 4 separate projects. Marylou and Marty were finishing up painting at Leon's house!

Jeff and Andy went to Richard's house to finish up the drywall!

David and Susanna went with Jim, a skilled craftsman that works for PDA, to work on tiling a bathroom. They spent literally all day there (got there around 8 and didn't get home until 7!). They had a great time, did a great job, and were even given cd's that Jim has recorded in a studio of his bass playing!

Here are some photos of their work!

The rest of us (Brian, Keith, John, Aly, Maddie, Kayla, Mark and I) went to Ed's house:

The flood waters rose all the way up to a foot from the ceiling of his house. Due to this, after the floods he had to raise his house 7 feet (as you can see in the picture!). We needed to do a couple of things in his basement. 1)Empty out all of the debris into wheel barrows and take it to the dumpster. 2) Move around the dirt so the the floor was level.

3) Take the gravel and wheel it into the basement (back breaking work!!!)

4) Spread the gravel out so that it is nice and level!

All done!

The slogan of the other mission group working upstairs :)

This evening, we wrapped up our programs with a discussion on God's lyrics (referencing psalms of course!). We then were each given a notebook that we used to write down the "lyrics" of our life with God (our faith testimony!).

Also, Keith and Mary Lou worked on making our sign for the post inside the church!

Can you guess what it will be?!

An oriole bird!!!


Easily the coolest sign on the post! Great job guys!

Now, our drivers are in bed resting up for the long haul tomorrow! The kiddies, Jeff and I are staying up late and hanging in the "blue room" so that we can sleep on the ride tomorrow :) Can't wait to see you all when we get back! Thank you for your love, support, and prayers! Good night!

Work Day 2!

2011-07-08T00:33:00.000-04:00

Today we all got a lot of work done and it was very satisfying! My favorite part of today in particular was being able to meet and talk to the home owners! Now that it has been 14 months since the flood, it would be easy to overlook the need that is still here, but hearing their stories of the flood and how they were homeless for months really puts things into perspective. A homeowner said to us that even though this has been really hard and trying, they are grateful for the way it has brought people together, not only in the community, but from across the U.S. We are blessed to be here to help!

Jeff and Brian's team went back to Richard's house today to continue work on drywalling, caulking, and adding shoe molding to his basement. Here are some more photos from Tuesday as well as completed work photos from today!

Dry walling experts!

Finished caulking and adding shoe molding!

Keith and my team went to THREE job sites today!

First we went to Bob's house to add sealant to the grout in his new tiled basement floor!

Beautiful!

Then we went to Derek's to demo his bathroom! We are experts at reverse drywalling!

John's hammer holes made a heart in the drywall!

All the drywall is out! Time to remove some nails and vacuum!

Finally, we went over to Leon's to seal tiles and help Mary Lou and Marty finish up some trim work that they have been doing an excellent job on!

Overall, it was a very productive day! Can't wait to see what tomorrow brings!

Program, Water Park, Dinner and a Tour!

2011-07-06T23:29:00.001-04:00

We are slightly more than halfway through our trip and we are having a blast!

Last night we had our first program. Our theme this year is "Measures of God's Love". Our inspiration for this is being in Music City, of course! Tuesday night we talked about how God has a steady rhythm that he plays for us throughout our lives and how we need to listen to his rhythm and follow.

Here are some group shots from last night's devotion...

This morning, we woke up at 8 and cleaned our living areas before heading out to Nashville Shores water park!

We had a great time bonding and enjoying the gorgeous day in the park!

After the water park, we came back to the church for a special dinner purchased by the church for us. Joining us were the PDA workers as well as our homeowners!

We finally got to meet Lisa, the owner of the house where we fixed the crawl space! She was SO nice!

After dinner, Jim (our hospitality coordinator) gave us a personal tour of the whole church and its history! What a beautiful church with a storied background!

The Santuary (and you can see Jim in the bottom corner!)

Notice how the windows are mostly frosted with a few clear windows in the shape of a cross! Beautiful!

This is their columbarium! It is a gorgeous and unique design!

Mid-tour we had another group photo shoot!

The "cute" photo

The "silly" photo!

We ended the night by celebrating Aly's birthday!!!! Happy 15th, Aly!!!

Back to work tomorrow!

Work!

2011-07-05T20:03:00.000-04:00

We were sent to three different work sites today! Marylou and Marty (Brian's AWESOME mom!) went with a PDA lead worker to a house that had a "punch list". They had some finishing work to do around a house that was nearly completed. This was perfect because they were able to get home in time to get the food ready for the hungry troops later that night!

Jeff, Brian, Andy, Mark, Kayla, David, and Susanna went to a house that had insulation and dry wall to install. The homeowner's name is Richard and he has EIGHT dogs!

Andy and David hard at work!

Wouldn't be Nashville without a cowgirl hat!

Keith, John, Maddie, Aly, and I went to Lisa's house. We discovered quickly that when they said we had a "crawl space" to work in, they meant crawl... mostly flat on your belly, unless you are John who has super human crawling monkey like abilities!

First we had to pull out the old plastic that was put down on top of the mud/rock floor to keep the "vapor" (moisture) from going up into the house.

Then we measured, cut, and spread new plastic down in the crawl space!

Then we went in and hung tons of insulation up in the floor....

It was a long day, but we got the job done!

We end tonight with the first part of our devotional program followed by ice cream sundaes! Sweeeet!

Exploring Nashville

2011-07-05T00:55:00.000-04:00

Today we celebrated the 4th of July by exploring Nashville!

First we went to Centennial Park

Where we saw an exact replica of the Parthenon!

While geocaching around the park and Nashville, we stopped for a smoothie break!

After dinner, we headed downtown for a concert, shopping, and fireworks

Darius Rucker (Hootie has gone country!)

The fireworks were spectacular!

All in all, it was an awesome 4th of July! Now we are definitely ready to get a lot of work done tomorrow! Work updates coming your way tomorrow!

Happy 4th of July!

2011-07-04T10:25:00.000-04:00

Good Morning Baltimore!

So, the PDA coordinators are not working today since it is a national holiday. Therefore, we have been gifted a day to explore Nashville!

In the meantime, I will keep you entertained with some Haikus that van #2 wrote on the 12 hour journey to Music City... Enjoy :)

Another mile gone

Painted in rolling green hills

and sunshine soaked earth

The road stretches on

Through valleys and mountains green

The wind carries us

Driving to the sun

Steam blurs the green and the orange

of the trees and sky

Endless highway mile

Oh, why do you tease me so?

Nashville calls my name

Green Tennessee hills

Interstate eighty-one flows down

Here comes Baltimore!

More updates and pictures to come tonight!

We have arrived!!!

2011-07-03T21:41:00.000-04:00

We have arrived safe and sound in Nashville! It was definitely a long trip, but with naps, walkie talkies, and frequent bathroom/food breaks, we made it! (Thanks to Brian and Keith for their super human driving skills!) The church we are staying in is really hospitable and nice! We are very blessed to have a place like this to use as our home for the week.

Here are some highlights from the drive in....

7:30 a.m. departure from TPC

Nap time for Susanna!

Van 2: "Sally Girl" (named after Andy's nail polish!)

Van 1: "Flavor Expedition"

Westminster Presbyterian Church in Nashville, TN!

The gym in the church

Girls' sleeping quarters

Hand made signs from past mission trip groups! There is another group from MD on there!

Today has been a long, but fun, day! Can't wait to see what tomorrow brings (fireworks on the riverbank in Nashville!!!)

Goodnight, TPC!

The 2011 Mission Trip has begun!

2011-07-03T08:35:00.000-04:00

The youth mission team left TPC early this morning at 7:30 in two roomy 15 passenger vans! We have 8 youth and 5 advisors (with one advisor meeting us in Nashville)! The drive to Tennesee will take about 12 hours. Stay connected with us through this blog... All comments and prayers are greatly appreciated! "See" y'all in Nashville!

Snapshots of our life in Texas

2010-06-25T00:51:00.000-04:00

As I look through the blog, I realize that Jimmy and I have chronologically been posting main events of our days here in Texas. I wonder what is to become of all of the random snapshots taken everyday that don't really fit in with a main event?! A sunset here, a trip to the beach there... you know, all of the pictures that answer the question: "what do we do when we are not working?!"

The following pictures are here to try to answer this question and to give you a glimpse into our lives and surroundings here in Texas. Please enjoy. (you can click on the pictures to make them bigger!)

Welcome to Galveston!

Hanging out at the beach after a long day of work! The water was really warm! Almost like bath water!

Pat's cuticles on his toenails are "screaming out for help" according to Ali!

The nail polishers extraordinaire!

Group spa night!

What good sports! At least we got orange and black fingernail polish colors for their sports teams!

This is Abby, the dog of the house owners where Lindsey, Jill, Ali, and I are staying!

Our annual trip to sonic in the midwest!

This is a picture of the beautiful sign that Emily and Rachel painted for the post. This will join the painted signs of all of the other mission teams that have stayed at our PDA site.

I hope you've enjoyed our blog so far and we cannot wait to see you all back in Towson this weekend. Our flight gets into BWI around 6 or 6:30 p.m. on Saturday. Thanks to all of you who have volunteered to pick us up!

See you soon,
Britt

Work work work!

2010-06-24T01:02:00.000-04:00

Well, we are more than half way through our week and we have definitely had many different experiences and adventures! We have had 3 main work sites so far. Here are some details about each.....

The Food Bank
Everyday, we have sent a new group to the food bank to help distribute food to the needy. Every night when that group returns, there are always stories of how our eyes have been opened to the many blessings in our lives. We have had many "God moments" at the food bank, including a woman tearing up and thanking Hailey for giving her a piece of meat because she hadn't eaten meat in 6 months. We will continue this mission Thursday and Friday morning and we hope that it will continue to be a heartwarming experience for all! Here are some pictures that Jeff took of Tuesday's group.

The Summer Enrichment Program
On Monday and Tuesday, a group of us volunteered at a local summer enrichment program for underprivileged youth. We went in with hopes of being able to make a difference in these kids' lives. Unfortunately, we ran into some bumps in the road at this camp and felt that it was not the right fit for the age range of our group. However, we feel as though these two days were not wasted because we definitely made some connections with some of the kids and experienced a God moment or two as well! Kayla, Tommy, and I also felt very accomplished after cleaning out and organizing a closet full of learning materials that these kids will now be able to use because the counselors have access to them. The picture of boxes that follow are where all the materials used to be collecting dust in a closet. Then you can see the after of all the materials OUT of boxes and neatly organized. (P.S. I do not have any pictures of the youth we worked with up here due to privacy)...

Angela's Home
The main work almost our entire group has been involved with this week has been on Angela's house. The pictures of us dry walling in the last post were taken here. Our group was able to meet Angela on Tuesday and hear her story. She showed the group how high the water had been in her home and talked about what had been lost or destroyed during Hurricane Ike. We have been working very hard to get her closer to having a home back. Our job mostly involves measuring, cutting, and hanging drywall as well as taping, spackling and sanding it. Today, we also became involved in creating a new garden for her. She is coming to eat lunch with us tomorrow and we cannot wait to see her reaction when she sees the progress on her house and garden. Please enjoy the rest of the pictures below...

Pictures of our garden work...

Beautiful and new!!!

As you can see, we are pretty tired by the end of every work day...

Check in for more updates tomorrow (including our 2nd annual Sonic trip!)

Goodnight y'all!

Britt

2010-06-21T23:04:00.028-04:00

1st Presbyterians Sunday church service

View of 1st Presbyterian Church.....

Picture of a trailer everyone is sleeping in.

It's Lanelle! Our site manager...

Enjoying a little fine dinning in the fellowship hall.

Boys will be boys! But I think Jack (first on right) might need lessons on Pull-Ups?

An early trip Monday morning down to Galveston to start our work week about 30 minutes south of Texas City.

Devestation at Galveston Island

Our introduction devotion to "One Mission Galveston" our P.D.A. mission partner.

Arriving at our work site in Galveston Texas!

Back at home and the work never stops! Must say thank you to all our stockholders.

It's music and devotion time. Our theme is "Building from the inside out"

Ended Today with some fun lunch making for Tuesday!

Sunday is a day of rest

2010-06-21T00:23:00.001-04:00

As today winds down and I am looking through pictures to try to decide which ones make "the cut" for the blog, I must say it is a hard decision. Today was filled with roller coasters, Texas steak, geocaching, boat rides, and bonding. As we prepare for bed before the week of hard mission work ahead, I will let the pictures do the work of sharing our boardwalk adventure today...... enjoy :)

Some of our crew by the water at Kemah boardwalk!

Some of the local decor!

Andie found a micro-cache while we were geocaching (with the help of Jillian who figured out the hint!)

Jillian found the second micro-cache of the day (the very small silver container in her hand was hidden in the plastic pipe on the wooden pole!)

Some of our crew enjoying the rides with the PDA crew members Doug and Kayla

I have a lot more to update on general hanging out around the campsite, our church service today, and there will be a lot to update after our work tomorrow! Keep checking back this week to see what we are up to! Feel free to leave comments on the bottom of the posts (we really like comments ;)

Goodnight all!
Britt

We've Arrived!

2010-06-20T09:26:00.001-04:00

We have arrived in Texas City, TX after many interesting trials. Fortunately, we are all here safe with all of our luggage, which is the important thing!

We started our day off on Saturday morning at Towson Presbyterian Church saying our goodbyes to our families. Thanks to all of the awesome parents who drove us to the airport!  

After arriving at BWI, everything went smoothly through security and we hopped on the plane for Texas.    Most of us took this as an opportunity for a small nap.

When we got to Houston (and enjoyed the smoooooothest baggage claim I have ever experienced), we waited for what was way too long to get our rental cars.

Ben oh so patiently waiting for our vans......

Eventually, we got our 5 Dodge vans and headed out in style on the road to Texas City. My personal favorite anecdote from our ride has to be the choice in radio stations in Houston. They have your classic rock, light FM, and country stations. However, they have three things that we don’t have: hip hop gospel, hottest bluegrass hits, and about 9 completely spanish speaking stations (which is not an exaggeration!). My personal favorite was the hip hop gospel music.

Despite a couple of wrong turns, we arrived at the 1st Presbyterian Church where our PDA village is housed. Linelle, our site leader, and Doug, our work leader, are extremely helpful and welcoming. We were greeted with a delicious dinner of mac and cheese, hot dogs, baked beans and bacon. The pods we are staying in are very nice despite close quarters. We are very blessed to have such a nice place to live this week while we do God’s work.

This morning, we will be attending the 10:30 church service. After church, we are going to have some lunch and head to the Kemah Boardwalk for some “fun day off” time before we kick into gear EARLY tomorrow morning (I mean... 5:30, early!).

We cannot wait to see what this week will bring. Please keep praying for us at home as we start building from the inside out in Texas.

More pictures and stories later,
Britt

Date Change!

2010-03-30T20:58:00.000-04:00

Chick-fil-a night has been moved to the second Monday of every month! That means that it will now be on April 12th, May 10th, and June 14th. Same time and place! Can't wait to see you there :)

Welcome to our blog!

2010-02-24T22:10:00.003-05:00

We are so excited to be going on another mission trip this June! Our calling this summer is to Texas City, Texas where we will rebuild houses that were destroyed during Hurricane Ike in 2008. In preparation for this trip, we have many exciting fundraisers and events happening over the next 3 and a half months! We would love to have your support and prayers in any way that you can offer them.

Here are the upcoming events for the TPC Youth Mission Trip:

Monday, March 1st: Chick-Fil-A night at the Cockeysville location. 20% of the profits are donated to our trip! Come hungry and don't forget to mention that you are with our church! 5-8pm

Saturday, March 6th: Bingo Night and Silent Auction in Thompson Hall to raise money for mission. The event begins at 6:30, but youth and advisors should arrive at 6 to help set-up!

March 6-7th: Lock-in at the church following bingo night! Get ready to bond!

Monday, April 5th: Chick-Fil-A night at the Cockeysville location. 5-8pm

Monday, May 3rd: Chick-Fil-A night at the Cockeysville location. 5-8pm

Sunday, May 9th: Fiesta Lunch and Plant sale in Thompson Hall after the 10:00 service to raise money for our trip! (More details to be announced)

Saturday, May 22: Car Wash! 10am-2pm. Location to be announced.

Monday, June 7th: Chick-Fil-A night at the Cockeysville location. 5-8pm

Saturday, June 12: Car Wash! 10am-2pm. Location to be announced.

Check back soon for more details and updates! Thank you for your support!