Off we go…

Elaine and I had a wonderful time with Mike over these past few days. We left on the 26th for Mike’s and spent two days there with him. We saw a great movie, Avatar. If you have not seen this movie yet it is amazing!
After our couple days with Mike we brought him home to Louisa with us. He spent two days here with us. We bought a used (1985 LeBaron) car for him. He had a great semester at Ivy Tech and we told him if he did well we would help him with school. He should be eligible to do volunteer fire fighting very soon and needed the car.
On January 1st we are leaving with Fr. Anthony (our priest from India) for Florida. This will be a wonderful experience for him. When we asked him if he knew where Florida was, he said “Yes, by Main, right?. No, Father, Florida is not by Maine, it is a bit further south of there.” This will be a blast with him in Florida, what a treat it will be!

Merry Christmas!!!

Just a quick post to wish each of you a very Merry Christmas!!! I pray the Lord fills you with both Peace and Happiness as you celebrate the birth of our King. At mass both last night and today, I was reflecting on how wonderful my life is...I have a fantastic family - all of them, sister, brothers, Mom, in laws, children and husband. I am living a life of trying to serve our Lord, which I didn't really think I was capable of doing. As I have mentioned before, I was always great at allowing God to accompany me on my journey, but to give up that control was and still is difficult. I am trying to let the Lord lead me - I am learning step by step. Please enjoy this wonderful day of Christ's birth. My thoughts and prayers are with you and your family!!!!

Phase One, done!

Well, we did it again! Today, Tuesday, we gave 400 baskets to needy families. The baskets included toys for the children, frozen chicken, pizzas, fresh produce, milk, eggs and canned goods. There were another 200 families which received just food. We had two groups, starting at 10:00 and the next group at 1:00. I worked outside directing the cars. I think I said “Merry Christmas” at least 800 times today for the folks coming up the hill, walking to their car, walking back from their car or driving away. They probably thought I was nuts! “Why is this guy telling me “Merry Christmas” four times?” But, hey, what do you expect from a blind guy!? And, was it fun! Try parking 250 cars into a parking lot which only serves 150 cars! Everything went off without a hitch. We did that twice in one day too. Elaine, of course, being the “Queen Bee”, buzzed around the inside of the warehouse insuring all was running smoothly. Do I need to say any more!? . My little girl, the “Organizer”.
And we get to do all this again on Wednesday! Another 400 families receiving food and gifts with another 200 just getting food! But, what can I say …. Other then “God is Good! Alleluia! Just another glorious day in the Fr. Beiting Appalachian Mission Center.

The Holy Spirit is Good! Alleluia!

Well, we did it! For us, and several others, this past Saturday was our first “group” Christmas give-away here at FBAMC. For Fr. Beiting, we are not sure how many he has done, but we kid him and say it has to be like his 100th or something.

There were two large distributions today which we sponsored. One in Lawrence County, where we were and the second in Martin County. For Lawrence County, where the new warehouse is located, it was something to behold! We gave away to 35 different agencies, who in turn will give to the individual clients.

You can tell by the pictures how much was given away. Through excellent planning by Phillip, the Director of Operations, and the hard work of many volunteers, it came off without a hitch.

Ok, here is our Holy Spirit story for this week. We have some incredibly generous benefactors. Two very large donors, which come in at the last minute, provide us frozen chickens and fresh produce. We have a full time semi-truck driver who drives all over the eastern part of the USA, dropping off empty trailers, and picking them up later filled with goods for us. Well, Chris called from the emergency room on Thursday very ill and unable to pick up these two loads. We had a trailer full of frozen chickens to be picked up that day, several hours away. Another trailer full of fresh produces the next day, also several hours away. We had no idea what to do, where are we going to find another driver on such short notice? One of the volunteers made a few phone calls and this gentleman, whom we did not know, offered to pick up both loads free of charge at this last minute – An Angel sent from God to Fr. Beiting!

Well this day is done, everyone did an incredible job and all we can say is …”God is Good! Alleluia!

And, we are back at it on Monday as we prepare Christmas baskets which we distribute to 800 local families! That project is in full swing for three delivery dates of December 18th, 22nd and 23rd.

Our big day is almost here....

Well, as some of you may know (if you read the blog) that tomorrow we participate in a humongous food distribution. I don't actually know the exact number we are handing out, but probably enough food to feed 8,000 to 10,000 people. How is works is many other organizations come to us for bulk food and toys. All of which has been donated to us from various food vendors and mostly Hasbro toys. Each group has a scheduled time to collect their stuff. Those organizations then go back to their location and divvy it up to the needy. We are to be there at 7:30am and load stuff up all day long. Hopefully we will be finished around 6pm. I am really excited to see it all. I am going to be taking pictures so hopefully we will have some posted soon.

I just have to say God is great - All the time!!!!! We ran into a little (HUGE) glitch yesterday. Our semi driver was hospitalized with a kidney infection. You might think - sorry.....we will pray for him...which you should - BUT he was to go on a run yesterday and today to pick up all the food. What were we to do???? PRAY, PRAY, PRAY... We did as well as make some phone calls and low and behold, a very nice man came forward and donated his time. He already had the correct license so all we had to do was add him to our insurance. As I said....God is great - All the time!!!!!

Happy Thanksgiving

I know this is a little late - like more than a week. But I just wanted to share that we had a fantastic Thanksgiving. We drove to Mike's in Bloomington, IN on Thanksgiving. Although we didn't have the big bird until Friday, we were able to enjoy the fantastic company of Mike and Heather. On Friday, I showed Mike and Heather (me giving them directions) on stuffing and cooking the turkey. Heather's parents arrived in the early afternoon. It was really great meeting her folks. We were all able to enjoy Thanksgiving even if it was on Friday. The meal was great and the company even better.