This past week saw the return of two groups. The first is led by Cheryl and Larry Winger. Their group is called the Kairos Carpenters. Larry is a corn farmer from Lafayette, Indiana. He and Cheryl have been leading mission trips with friends for over twenty years to both disaster responses in the US and also international trips to Nepal, Mexico and others. I have lost count of the trips that Larry has brought to work with me since 2006. They have come multilple times to Biloxi, Ms., Bridge City, Texas and Port Sulphur, La. and now their third trip to Tuscaloosa. They are going to Bolivia in January and Chile in 2014- and have invited Brandon and I to tag along. Let's see. A few years back, Larry and I both attended the Millard Fuller Legacy Build in Indianappolis, about an hour south of his home in Lafayette. At the Friday at the end of the build (7 new homes and 7 rehabs in 5 days) Larry invited me up to visit his home. We got there about 6 pm and jump on his humungous John Deere combine to harvest 8 rows of corn in one sweep. Amazing machines. It spits out the separated kernels of corn into a bin in the back or onto a conveyor that dumps it into a tractor that is running along beside it- (cut and run? I forget what that process was called). Larry's son Andrew helps with the operation when he's not driving trucks. Worked till about 10 pm- Cheryl brought dinner out to the combine (eat and run?) It was going to rain the next day and you can't drive those heavy machines after the rain. We harvested a bunch and then back to the farmhouse, showered and couple of hours sleep, up at 4am and Larry ran me to the airport to get back home. That's the way you make unforgettable experiences. Don and Shirley Johnson, Harold and Sandy, Curtiss and Rene- all good friends and my heroes from Larry's group have all been married over 50 years! I am truly blessed to have gotten to know these folks!  
     The other boomeranger group which was with us last week was from Spruce Pines, North Carolina . Their third visit with us here in Tuscaloosa. They started the week with Stephen, working on Jessie Hill's home and worked themselves out of a job, so Stephen sent them over to work with me on Kylia Colvin's home. Whooped the metal roof and a bunch of the hardi siding. Great group of guys also. Dave, the pastor, Marvin, crazy Pat (although he seems to have mellowed a bit since last time) and Arch. Also, Gail and Sandy two newbies. Great giving spirit.
      Had some local help also from a local university- Shelton State. Kevin is a teacher there and brought 4 students to help out. We are working to develop a base of local regulars and hope we see more students and staff return from Shelton. The law school at U of A has also been coming out regularly.
     Today's my 61st birthday. Worked on the Lion's Den after church and then went to see the movie Lincoln. What a great movie- go see it if you get the chance. That's all for this week. Short week coming up. Travelling up to Virginny for the gathering of the clan over Thanksgiving. Looking forward to it alot.