July has come and gone and we are now into our third week of work on the third project of our season. We are at Warm Beach Christian Camp in Stanwood, Washington. I have been dragging my feet regarding writing a blog about our second project in July at Camp Berachah. My delay has partly been due to a very busy schedule here at Warm Beach. But it’s also due to the fact that I needed to process in my mind the things that happened at Berachah the last three weeks of July before sharing them with you.
I left you in June with a note that I would be joining the
kids and grandkids in Sun River, Oregon during the first week of our July
project while Jim stayed on at Berachah on the project. I was to come back to
work the 13th of July and finish out the project, then move on up to Stanwood
for August where we were to do our first stint as the project coordinators at
Warm Beach.
Well, all that took place, except this is now our second
stint as MMAP coordinators. Again (for my “loyal” readers) you previously read
that our friends, Sam and Mary Tozer agreed to be the coordinators at Berachah
in July and we were to coordinate the project at Warm Beach the following
month. We also shared about Sam’s
near miss with the saw in June when he almost cut his little finger off and had to have reconstructive surgery on his hand. (If you’re not tracking with what I’m talking
about, feel free to take a break from this blog update and go back to last
month’s blog post to get the details.)
I had titled that post “Some Days Are Diamonds, Some Days
Are Stones” and I can say without over stating, July for the Tozers continued
to be pretty stony! The short version is that Sam very nearly lost his life in
July.
This is really Sam’s story – not ours. But I got permission
from Sam and Mary to tell it so you can understand how truly merciful God is.
I had gone off on the planned vacation with the kids and
grandkids on the 7th of July and was having a great time. (Pictures
of that trip follow.) I was to come back to Berachah on Sunday, the 13th – the
start of the second week of the project. On Saturday the 12th I got a message
from Jim that Sam was in the hospital. Mary had taken him into the ER on
Thursday night after he woke up in a fever which quickly changed to a chill.
When he started talking and making no sense, Mary figured he was having a
stroke. It wasn’t a stroke, but his blood pressure dropped to 64/40 and they
admitted him to the hospital. His condition was worsening when they decided to
put him into a medically induced coma. He apparently had a bacterial infection
in his blood and they needed to take some pretty serious steps to find out what
was causing it and what to do to bring him around. At first we all thought it
was due to the finger wound – but that also was not the case. He spent over 10
days in the coma while they filled him full of antibiotics and did a
multiplicity of tests. In the meantime he got pneumonia and his heart rate was
all over the place. His two daughters and his niece flew up to Washington to be
with Mary while she kept a vigil at his side. Finally they were able to bring
him out of the coma and move him from the ICU to another room. They still had
not figured out what the cause of the infection was but his condition was
slowly improving.
[A Side Note -In the
midst of this crisis for him and Mary, several of Sam’s tools were stolen out
of the tool boxes in the back of his truck while it was parked at the hospital.
"WOW!" you may be asking…."could it get any worse?"]
A few days after taking him out of the coma, the hospital
did one more blood test that they sent off to the University of Washington. The
results were beyond belief. It seems that the culprit of the infection was Sam
and Mary’s dog. WHAT???
Dogs and cats have a certain bacteria in their mouth that is
of no consequence to the animal. But if the animal licks an open wound of a
person, it may be quite serious to the person. (Before you run out and get rid
of your pet - especially if it is a “licker” – know that only certain
individuals are prone to this infection. One category is alcoholics….Sam wasn’t
in that group. The second category is people who have had their spleen
removed….again, not Sam. The third group consists of people with compromised
immune systems – which may have been Sam’s case because of the finger wound.) Apparently there have only been 25 known
cases in the United States of this bacterial attack of the blood, and many of
those ended in either loss of limbs or death. Sam’s case was truly astounding
and very rare. It was definitely a blessing that the hospital persevered to
discover the cause.....again, the mercy of God prevailed.
The project at Berachah ended on July 25th and the other two
MMAP couples left the camp. Since Sam was still in the hospital, we stayed over
a few more days to be with Mary. Sam was released on the 30th (20 days total
and 30 pounds lighter!) We left Berachah enroute to Stanwood the morning of Sam’s
release. He needed time to recuperate, so they stayed on at Camp Berachah until
August 11th. Because he is still as weak as a puppy (pardon the pun) Mary hired
a man to tow their 5th wheel to their daughter’s home in Idaho
Falls, Idaho where they will stay for a couple more weeks while Sam regains his
strength.
However, this story was not over. The day they left for
Idaho Falls, their rig was also picked up. Mary and Sam drove in their truck
and were ahead of the driver pulling their 5th wheel. He made a stop
the first night in a truck stop and they continued on to a nearby town to visit
friends and then on to Idaho Falls. The following day they got a call from the
tow driver. It seems that while he was parked at the truck stop, another driver
side swiped Sam and Mary’s trailer. The damage is repairable, but again I can
hear you all saying, “I guess it did get worse!”
I’ve always tried to share with you the positive side of any
situation, but Sam and Mary’s story could depress even the Polyannas in the crowd. Yes, sometimes life gets rough – but we need to keep on in spite of the
rocks in the road…..even if those rocks are boulders that seem to totally block the way.
Sam and Mary are not giving in or giving up. Even though Sam
almost lost a finger resulting in reconstructive hand surgery, did lose a few
tools, has to have his rig repaired and has to end their MMAP projects for a
while to take time for recovery….. by the mercy of God he didn’t lose his life!
The latest update from Mary is that they are at their
daughter’s. Sam is getting stronger each day and they will be heading back home
to Kingman, AZ in about a week. Sam plans on driving their 5th wheel
back home. GO SAM!!!
I believe the following scripture expresses Sam and Mary’s belief,
and it tells us the hope that anyone facing any kinds of trials should hold on
to –
We are hard pressed on
every side, but not crushed; perplexed but not in despair; persecuted but not
abandoned; struck down but not destroyed. (2nd Corinthians 4:8)
No go back to verse 7 to understand that this all surpassing power is from God, and
not from us.
So, dear friends, never
give up – no matter the circumstances. God is our strength in any
trial.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In closing, for those of you that enjoy our pictures,
following are some featuring our work in July at Camp Berachah, my trip with
the kids and grandkids to Sun River, and a little pampering Jim indulged in at
the end of the project.
Our MMAP crew consisted of three couples (not counting Sam
and Mary). The Scotts (Scotty & Pat from Texas) stayed on from the June
projects and we were joined by our good friends, Jim and Jennifer DeMaria from
Roseville, California. They graciously agreed to change their travel plans and
come up to Berachah to make sure the project did not shut down for lack of
volunteers. We love these people. They are so servant-minded.
.JPG)
We also had the pleasure of a visit from Vonda Bridgeman. Those of you who follow our blog remember the memorial we posted two months ago to Vonda’s husband and our very good friend, Gary. Gary went home to heaven on May 1st, but Vonda has carried on with a strong faith in Jesus. This strength allowed her to sell the motor home she and Gary lived in for over ten years and purchase a camper she calls “Buddy” that she can drive on her own. Although MMAP does not allow widows to continue working full time at MMAP projects, Vonda still plans to continue to visit her many friends at the projects. She joined us for the last week of the Berachah project. (This strength Vonda has is the same strength that is getting Sam and Mary through their trials -2nd Corinthians 4:7 This all surpassing power is from God, and not from us.) God is truly good!
The men’s work –
With Sam in the hospital, we failed to get as many pictures
as we could have of the things the three men managed to get done in July. There
were miscellaneous repairs and painting done along with a major job of putting
together 40 individual wooden beds for the camp. The last week they also
repaired and painted one of the many picnic tables that so desperately needed
fixing……more work next year perhaps!
The maintenance
coordinator, Dan Austin (aka “Hollywood”)
helped get the table back to the
picnic area
And, of course we had ample time to have fun outside the daily work. Vonda, Jennifer and I went shopping and out to lunch and on to see a movie one day. Because of other commitments, Pat was unable to join us for this MMAP “requirement” of at least one Ladies’ Day Out. We missed her and dedicate the following picture to her:
.JPG)
It
was a privileged to help out at Camp Berachah, and each morning we watched in
delight as the day campers gathered outside our rigs to start their week of
fun, knowing they would also be introduced to our Jesus. (We love being a part of that!)
Following are some pictures of my trip to Sun River Resort with the kids and grandkids. (Feel free to skip these if you are easily bored when watching other people’s family pictures and videos. I completely understand – but don’t miss the pictures at the end of the blog showing a special gift I gave Jim at the end of the project.)
Sun
River was a blast. I’m so grateful to my kids for their generosity in allowing
me to tag along. The kids rented a vacation home (5 bedrooms and 3 1/2 baths)
large enough to house the 16 of us (Meleea, Scott and their two girls, me, Eric, Lydia and nine of their ten kids. Their oldest daughter, Erica and her
husband stayed behind in California packing up to move to Eugene, Oregon where
they will finish up their college.
In
the garage of the house was a ping pong table and all kinds of balls for the
kids to play with. Scott arranged a “friendly” family ping pong tournament. I
was out after the first round!
The house supplied 11 bikes and
almost all of the kids and some of the adults spent nearly every day riding the many
trails around Sun River. (Note - this old lady opted out of the bike rides!) One
of the bikes was a tandem and little Joe (4 years old) rode with his dad or his
Uncle Scott. Actually Joe thought he was really peddling the bike on his own,
but he was simply being carted around. However, near the end of the week, Eric
decided it was time for Joe to learn to ride on his own. So (with lots of help from Aunt
Meleea, Mom and Dad) after 14 tries on a little pink girl’s bike, Joe got it. I’ve included the 14th
of 14 video clips I took of his hard work. He's a champ! 
One afternoon five of the older grand kids and I went horseback
riding. Nathan had never ridden a horse, but he did great.
 |
| Caleb, Jacob, Nathan, Isaac, Skyler and the "old cowgirl" |
The weather was fantastic - the swimming
facilities were outstanding – water slides, floats, water games, indoor pool
with water volleyball. We could have spent every day in the water. In fact I
think the kids did. (Note – I did swim several times, but I also took the
pictures so, sorry…you’re not going to see me in any of the shots. Trust me –
you DO NOT want to see this gal in a bathing suit!)
There were playgrounds as well. Haddie and Joe played on the playground equipment while the rest of the family played a family baseball game. Of course, Joe had to be included in the ball game too.
Outside the swimming area was a climbing wall and a grass luge. Here are video of both:
You can probably tell how much I love and enjoy being around my grandchildren. When I was raising our kids, I enjoyed being with them, but I never imagined how much fun it would be to be the grandmother of 12 very different persons – they crack me up! God has been so good to me. Here are some final pictures and one video that was a hoot to be a part of.
Since we haven’t been around Josiah (“little Joe”) as much as we were with some of the other grand kids when they were little, I took every opportunity to bond with this special little guy.
And finally – as promised – I wanted to share how I managed to pamper Jim at the end of the project:
That’s
right! A pedicure, including hot paraffin wax and a hot rock leg massage. NO
he did not have his toe nails painted!
At times, this summer of MMAP
projects has been a little stressful and certainly full of happenings that were
not at all what we expected, but God has been faithful to give us strength and
mercy. We praise Him for it and will continue on at His bidding.
Hopefully it will not be too long before I can update you on the project here at Warm Beach. We will head out of here in just a few days, but will stay in the area to visit family and friends living here. After Labor Day we hope to continue our travels south to visit with our son and family in Northern California and then on home to Arizona by early October......God willing.
