West Cocoa Chat

The "Phantom" is back. This was a nickname my Dad hung on one of his friends due to propensity for disappearing for days at a time. I’ve been “gone” for a period of time as well from our blog family. Please forgive me.

Our trip to the Mid-Ohio Valley Work Camp held at Ohio Valley University was great. Our kids were outstanding and to a person worked their fannies off on their individual homes.

My home was especially challenging. When we had our “Area Meeting” (my home was in the North Parkersburg area) my area leader looked at me, smiled, and said, “You have the most difficult home in our area.” I was thinking “what are you smiling at buddy.” Our home wasn’t as especially big but it was in poor shape and needed mega amounts of scraping. The home owners were 92 and 85. Ruth was taking care of William who was bed-ridden. Each day we went inside to pray with William and each day, Ruth joined us on her porch during our devotional time. They were a blessing to us who were there to bless them. Isn’t it funny how that works?

We ended our week with a full day trip down the New River. This was my 4th time rafting the river. On my previous trips the water level had been quite high making for a fun, rough, tiring trip after a week of scraping, priming, and painting a house in 4 days. This year the water level was just right. The rapids ran at class 3 and 4 levels. We had many spots were we were able to body surf some of the rapids as well as float down the river. My kind of trip at the ripe old age of almost 48.

Our youth group and parents had a July 4th party at our Youth
Deacon's home. It was a great day of food, volleyball, and swimming. It was also our teen’s annual rite of seeing who they could throw into the pool. At one point I heard our teens plotting to throw a friend of mine into the pool. I decided to relive some football days and join the fun. As 4 of them were trying to be sly by surrounding my buddy, I emptied my pockets of cell phone, keys, and wallet. I strolled over to the impending “pounce.” As our 4 teens grabbed Ray, I did my best imitation of an NFL “bull rush” and crashed into the pile. The boys were so stunned that Ray and I were able to take all 4 of them into the pool. Now I’m sore but it was fun.

Hope your 4th was fun and “restful.”