Our Mission of the Month for August was to provide water and sports drinks to Boonsville/Balsora Volunteer Fire Department. We packed up the drinks in Denise and Brad Bowen’s truck and delivered them. We were greeted by Paul Wood, a member of the fire department. He was grateful for the drinks. We have been told before that during a fire in the 100 degree heat, one fire fighter can go through several bottles of water. Also, electrolytes are lost in extreme heat and the sports drinks help to replenish them.
Here are a few pictures.
Joe Baish is a co-worker of a member of our congregation. As you can read below, it is actually a miracle that Joe survived. Because of this, Joe is our July Mission of the Month.
Joe was attacked on June 17,2018. He was beat and kicked within inches of his life. He suffered a fractured skull, broken jaw, broken nose, broken orbital bone and a fractured cheek bone. He has suffered a collapse lung and has internal bruising as well. He had bi-lateral brain bleeds, for which he endured brain surgery. The right portion of his skull was removed to relieve pressure in his brain. He is currently on life-support in the ICU, being monitored very closely by doctors. As you may imagine, Joe faces a long road to recovery. That being said there is great cost associated with his care and the maintenance of his bills and needs. We ask people donate what they can to support him through his traumatic time. Please, if you can or cannot donate, keep him in your prayers and thoughts. We appreciate it, Thank you.
Update: Joe has come a long way and is even driving a little by himself. We thank our generous members for contributing to help with his care
Blessings or otherwise? It is all in how you look at it.
First, let me say that Monday, May 16, started out as just a regular hot, summer day with great expectations of being OUTSTANDING! After all, at 7:00 p.m. we were going to have our priest, The Rev. Anthony Hiatt, installed as priest-in-charge in the Episcopal Church of Wise County! (We have since become a mission and changed our name to Episcopal Church of the Resurrection) There was much to do. I had made a list of all the things I needed to take to the church for the festivities because I knew I would forget something.
I think it was about 9:00 a.m. when I looked out the kitchen window in search of “the girls.” On our little farm at the time we had one cow and her heifer—they were both pregnant and were both to deliver any day. I noticed that Lily, the heifer, was lying down. Hmmm, kind of strange early in the morning; usually she is up and grazing away. I made a mental note to check on her. It was around 10:00 a.m. that I went outside and still noticed her down, so off I went to check. Sure enough, she was in labor. She really is tame but she didn’t want me messing with her so up she got and off she went. I watched her for about an hour and she had not progressed any at all—I could see the baby’s hooves but it didn’t seem that Lily was pushing hard enough. Having no idea how long she had been in labor I called the vet; he said he would try to come out on his lunch hour because he thought she needed assistance.
Deborah, our next door neighbor, was kind enough to come over to help me get Lily into the pen. Well, Lily didn’t want to go into the pen and around and around we went. It is just too hard with only two people. (May I say here that my husband walks with a prosthesis and is physically unable to walk in the pasture.) I called another neighbor but he was unavailable. Finally, another neighbor and his son came over and we got her into the pen. By now it was about 1:30 p.m. Our vet had called and said he couldn’t come until after 5:00 p.m. and that I should call another vet he recommended. Of course, I called that vet and no one could come until after 4:00 p.m. I hadn’t eaten a bite and after all the running around, I was somewhat dehydrated. The neighbor’s grandson brought his trailer over and offered to take Lily to our vet and I gratefully accepted.
So, now, not having to worry about the girls, I went inside and tried to eat a small bite and drink some water. I was lightheaded and wasn’t very hungry. Now it’s 2:30 p.m. and I needed to get a shower and be ready to get to the church early enough to go over last-minute things, and I was assigned to usher. I got out of the shower and I guess the steam worked against me, because I was so lightheaded I thought I would faint. I lay down for a few minutes and thought I wouldn’t be able to go to the installation. My husband came in and told me that I was getting into the car and I could choose what I wanted to do, go to the church or go to the Emergency Room. I chose the church, of course. As we drove there, I could barely look out the window. I kept drinking water and I think I had soda, too. By the time we got there I felt somewhat better.
We entered the church and found that our air conditioner was not cooling at all. Terrific! One of our members took a look at the unit but he couldn’t fix it. It was extremely warm and stuffy in our little building and the old windows are unable to open. So, the doors remained open throughout the service which allowed a little breeze to sneak in occasionally. Oh my, we felt so sorry for the bishop and other clergy as they wore tons of vestments. Everyone fanned themselves with the programs, trying to create a little cool air.
However, the service was wonderful, and afterward we had a fully-installed priest-in-charge. On the veranda after the service we had many tasty snacks and drinks and the cool breeze was very much appreciated.
So, what can I say? Blessings or otherwise? It is all in how you look at it. This day provided me with many blessings: new life, terrific, helping neighbors, a caring husband who knew just what I needed, and a loving church family. All in all, I would say this day was OUTSTANDING!
When we called, we were told the children needed fun outdoor activities during the summer months as well as some quiet activities in case of rain. We also were informed they could use July 4th decorations, i.e., plates, cups, flags, banners, anything patriotic, for their big July 4th picnic.
We gathered the items and packed a trunk full of goodies to be delivered to them.
Lydia Hiatt coordinated our May mission. Several members of our church gathered at Boyd High School to help kick off “The Big Event,” in which students, staff, and other interested parties were given projects to clean up the town of Boyd. After we arrived at the school, we were given a light breakfast and our assignments. Ours was to clean up the area around the Samuel Clayton Hays Sub-Court House, Wise County Precinct 3. With gloves, hats, hand tools, and water, we started weeding the beds around the front of the building. It was hot work, but it was so satisfying to help clean up our community.
4 Saints Episcopal Food Pantry is an Episcopal food bank at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, located in the Meadowbrook neighborhood of east Fort Worth, a food desert. The pantry board has members from the Fort Worth East Deanery, which includes St Stephen’s, St Martin-in-the-Fields, St Luke’s, and St Alban’s.
Our April mission was to gather specific items needed by the food pantry that they are unable to obtain from the Tarrant Area Food Bank.
Judy Cariker, Director of the food pantry, and her husband, Leigh, joined us in worship one Sunday and afterward we filled her car with everything we collected during April.
Also, we honored the ICU/CCU nurses at Wise Health System by getting all sorts of junk food (their request) and using a wagon to deliver the goodies. We gathered lots of good things and made sure that both the day shift and night shift had their own containers. A nice card was included for each shift, thanking them for all they do for everyone who makes their way through the ICU/CCU on their road to recovery. As you can see, it didn’t take long before they were anxiously digging into the baskets; you should have heard them! Thank you all! You are appreciated.
Our secondary mission for February was to donate cleaning supplies to Wise Hope Shelter and Crisis Center, which is dedicated to providing compassionate, comprehensive services to any person impacted by rape, sexual abuse, domestic violence, dating violence and/or stalking while partnering with our community to promote safety, healing, and prevention. Susy Sportsman and Leonard Keesee organized and delivered the donated supplies to the shelter office.
Wise Hope Shelter & Crisis Center
24 Hour Crisis Hotline – 940-626-4855
P.O. Box 569 • 608 North Business 81-287 • Decatur, TX 76234
Tel: 940-626-4855 • Fax: 940-626-4117
January is the month our congregation prays and contemplates what we need to do for our community. We keep our eyes and ears open for ideas where we can make a difference. There will never be a time when help is not needed somewhere; we just must find where we can best serve.
Recent Comments