Schedule Change

I have had connectivity issues last night and this morning. I was trying to put up pictures of the house progress but could not stay hooked up long enough for the pictures to publish properly. It seems to be working better now but I must be on to other things. I will try to get them up tomorrow.

Thanks for the texts and emails concerning several of last week's posts, especially Friday's post. Many of you had me weeping with joy. Thank you very much.

I mentioned Saturday that we have a change in our schedule next week. We are scheduled to preach a youth rally for Pastor Randy Brown in Sharonville, Ohio on Friday June 2nd and then begin revival. It is always good to get to be in Sharonville and we are looking forward to it.

We had originally planned revival through the following Friday June 9th. Bro. Brown called this week and needed to adjust the schedule to close on Wednesday June 7th. He has an important event to attend and I completely understand.

So we will preach youth rally on June 2nd and then stay until Wednesday June 7th. If you are any where near Cincinnati or northern Kentucky please make plans to come see us that week.

Bro. Randy and I went to school together in Waynesville. He is a long time friend from way before either of us became Christians. We were both raised in Pentecostal churches and both of us ended up called to preach, probably to much surprise to many in those churches! It is a special privileged to preach for him and his folks in Sharonville. They always have good services.

Speaking of schedule, our itinerary will probably be pretty sketchy all summer. We are trying to preach two or three revivals each month during this summer that are close enough to the barn that we can drive back and forth. That should give us some time to work on the house each day.

We will be making several weekend trips out of state to preach and some of them will necessarily be last minute in nature. I will try to keep you posted as things develop.

We really appreciate all of the Pastors and churches within driving distance of home that have asked us to come this summer. That is a huge encouragement. It is a wonderful blessing to be able to preach and sing right here in our home area. May God bless you, my brothers.

Thanks for stopping in today.

Davy

A Memorable Memorial Day

Monday was a big house day and I will try to pull all the pictures together this evening for posting tomorrow. We are excited about the progress.

We also spent a couple hours with my family celebrating Memorial Day and my Dad's 74th birthday which was Sunday. We got together at Dad's barn for a meal and fellowship. I think we all had a good time.

This is the first Memorial Day that we have been home in quite a while. I know we were home for it seven years ago but I do not know about the years since then. I would have to go back over our calendars. It has been a while, that is for sure. It was nice to be home.

Memorial Day or Decoration Day as it was first known is a pretty big event at our local cemetery. They go all out and really do it up right. We have many, many, many immediate family members and extended family members buried in the Miami Cemetery. Kelly Jo's extended family has been involved in running and maintaining the cemetery for well over 30 years. They do a good job and it looks better than ever.

We did not attend the official ceremony Monday morning but we did drive through in the late afternoon. We stopped a few minutes where several from the Boggs side of our family are buried including our Ali.

We own several plots there so we decided to find our places and try them out for size. 

I thought it was downright peaceful.

I hope you enjoyed your Memorial Day. Thank you for stopping in to read the blog today. Tomorrow we should have a bunch of pictures.

Davy

Weekend Woundup and Weview #22

God knows exactly what He is doing and I usually do not have a clue! I already know that but it helps to be reminded on a regular basis. This weekend was a good reminder.

I had fully intended to be in Kentucky for services this weekend. I was pretty sure that was where I needed to be and it was where I wanted to be. The first clue I had that I might be mistaken was when Bro. Larry Hall said the crane to set the trusses could not come on Friday but would come on Saturday.

I am all for trusses being set on the house so I was thrilled with that. They started early and worked an extremely long day. They made unbelievable progress. Here is the first truss being swung onto the house!



I will have a bunch more pictures of this process later in the week.

By the time we cleaned up the construction it was late so we scrapped our plans to go to Kentucky. I have been trying not to eat at night but we had not eaten since lunch so we took a few minutes to drink a little salsa make a quick trip to Rural King.

We were happy to attend our home church, Dryden Rd. Pentecostal, Sunday morning and hear our Pastor Bennie Sutherland teach a great lesson in Sunday School. Associate Pastor Gary Lee preached Sunday morning and God touched me during his preaching. It was good to be home again.

Bro. Bennie asked me to come back and preach Sunday night so we were glad to do so. We had an excellent service and a good response in the altar to the sermon. I was thrilled to be in the right place at the right time this weekend.

Here are a few pictures from Sunday night.

That wraps up our weekend. This week holds more work on the house and youth rally in Sharonville Friday night. Thank you for stopping in today. 

Davy

View Out The Front Window 5/28/17

Before I link to last week's posts and show you our view out the window, I have a special greeting I want to extend. Today is the 74th birthday of my Dad, Eugene Boggs. Happy Birthday Papa Bear. We sure love you great big bunches!

Here are links to our posts from the last week.

Odie's Saturday Post

30 Years Ago

I Declare It Is A Frame Job

The Wall Going Up In Pictures

House Update 5/23

Weekend Woundup and Weview # 21

Our view out the front bus window has certainly changed this week! What do you think?

We love the new view! It means there is progress we can see!

I hope you have a great weekend!

Davy

A Great Week

Before I turn the reins over to Odie this morning for her regular Saturday morning adventure, I want to make you aware of a schedule change. I will write more about it later but the revival that is scheduled in Sharonville, Ohio beginning on June 2nd will now close on Wednesday June 7th rather than June 9th.

Heeeeeeeere's Odie!

Hey  Friends,

This is Odie checking in from the Lazy OD Ranch. So many wonderful things have been happening around here this week. My excitement meter is off the charts!  

We are hoping to get the trusses up on the house today and make some more progress. I can not express how happy I am to see this house take shape. There is no way possible for me to thank everyone enough that has already shed blood sweat and tears to make this a reality. Thank you from the bottom of my heart! I will never forget your labor. 

Dad covered all the progress on the house in Wednesday's post and Thursday's blog. You will find a whole bunch of pictures in those posts. Also yesterday's post from Dad was moving. I needed tissues to get through it. Take a moment to follow the link and read it.

Last night I was able to spend some time with two of my favorite people, my cousins Lisa Isaacs and Jacqueline Coffman. Both ladies are no strangers to the blog. We had a fantastic time visiting and enjoying delicious food. It was a great way to spend Friday evening. 

 

 

 

Mom and I spotted a cow Friday afternoon in a drive-thru Friday afternoon. 

 

I  love Chick-fil-A's Eat Mor Chikn slogan and their advertising cows. Chick-fil-A is one of my favorite restaurants but I had never crossed paths with their cows in real life. LOL 

Well, I hope you have a wonderful weekend. I will see you next weekend. Thanks for checking in. I appreciate several comments on the progress of the house. We love hearing from our you all. 

Odie 

30 Years Ago

After six weeks in the hospital, six weeks of doctors, nurses, tests, needles and procedures, six weeks of uncertainty, fear and angst, the baby was born.

It was months away from the due date. It was way too early for the baby to be born, but born it was.

The baby came late in the evening. It could not live long, but it lived long enough to capture their hearts. There had been a longing in those hearts for months. They looked forward to the baby. They pondered long and hard for the right name. 

They imagined the future, but the future had come to soon.

They only had a few hours together, but the love that had drawn them for months now consumed them. They were hooked! The hot coals that had warmed their dreams now burned brightly as they held their little bundle. 

And hold that bundle they did. They held on physically, emotionally and spiritually. They held on with all of their might. 

It seemed a little strange at the time, but they perceived they were not the only ones holding on. The little baby was holding on too. Each time it would find a finger of Mom or Dad, it would wrap its little hand around it and hold on with all it had.

Did that precious baby realize that it had an uncertain future? Could it know that its hold on life was temporary at best?

As the hours passed, the grip slipped. The Daddy's grip, the Mother's grip and the baby's grip could not prevail. The grip slipped.

They went home the next day. They left that hospital and went to their little home with empty hands. Their hands were empty but the hearts were full of emotions.

They were grieving, of course. They were sorrowful, heartbroken and sad. They were confused and shaken. What to do with their big plans? Where do they begin to pick up the pieces?

They were also disturbed by the contrast of their emotions. They were relieved that the long, difficult ordeal was finished. They were finally waking up from a six week nightmare. Yet they were guilt ridden because they felt relieved. 

They had no one to tell them those wildly conflicting emotions were completely normal in their situation.

With the help of their families and their church, they stumbled through the next few days. They planned a graveside service. When that day came, they made it though somehow, by God's grace.

The day was beautiful. The preaching was perfect. The singing was tremendous. The people were kind. The families were loving.

The Daddy carried the little casket and vault himself. He placed it in the ground with his own hands. When it was over the Mom and Dad carried each other back home. The family came and comforted and then they left.

What in the world do you do now? How do you cope? How do you grieve properly? How do you put one foot in front of another? 

They did not know the answers to those questions or a thousand more questions. They did not have a book to read or a program to follow. In hindsight they needed help, but they did not know they needed help.

Folks politely and compassionately say, "Time heals all wounds." Time did not heal their wounds. Does a blown engine suddenly start running after enough time? Does it? Absolutely ridiculous! It does not happen. So time did not heal their wounds, but they made it.

They healed one step at a time. They trusted God and trusted each other one day at a time. Since then they have put their arms around many, many Mommys and Daddys that were grieving and had nothing of value to say. But they knew how to cry with them and they knew what Not to say.

Remarkably each time they wordlessly comforted someone going down the road they had traveled, it became a little easier. It was never easy but a little easier.

Recently they stood and held each other at the grave. They were 30 years removed from the events that forever changed their lives. It has been an incredible journey full of twists and turns. Could it really be 30 years?

Yes, 30 years have slipped by in a few moments time. They stood there and shed some tears. They cried a little and laughed a little. They talked of love lost and opportunities missed.

But mostly they thanked God for His providence. 30 years have taught them a valuable lesson. God is not the cause of every hurt of life, but God's loving embrace can be experienced in the midst of every hurt of life.

That is enough to bring comfort now.

Davy

I Declare It Is a Frame Job!

I was trying to prepare all of these pictures to post late Wednesday night but we had a storm come through and I think our Wifi was flooded with molasses. I could get a few things to open and a few things to move but Nothing from blogger. It is moving now so here we go!

(I spoke too soon. This post should have been up before 6:00 but the molasses struck again!)

The progress Tuesday on the framing was incredible. This is part of the crew below with Odie.

This is Dad, my nephew Victor Boggs, Pastor Scott Morris and Bro. Sheldon Walley from Mississippi, Bro. Yates from Hodgenville, Kentucky, Bro. Larry Hall from West Harrison, Indiana, his brother Joe and their framing crew and Andrew Bowling from West Harrison.

Not included in the picture above; Pastor Wade Hicks from West Harrison, Indiana, Bro. Dan Bragg from Richmond, Indiana, my brother Steve and probably a few others that are escaping my mind at the moment.

It was a wonderful day and it was awesome to watch the house take shape right before our eyes. Within a few minutes of Bro. Larry Hall and their crew arriving Tuesday morning, walls were going up. Within two and a half hours all the exterior walls were up and they were starting the interior walls! I already said it but it was an incredible day.

I posted these two pictures yesterday but they sum up the whole day very well.

Tuesday morning

Tuesday afternoon

Tuesday I showed you a picture of Odie on the slab for the first time Monday. Getting her up there was quite a story.



I backed the Green Machine up in the gravel next to the garage and we man handled here into the chair and around the obstacles.

Here we are coming up with a plan!

I wish we could have a picture of Dad driving the Green Machine out and three of us pushing! The Green Machine almost became part of the house!

Boy Howdy! Do we ever have pictures today! If you come here each day for the Pulitzer Prize level writing, you are going to be disappointed today. But if you come for pictures, and I suspect that most of you do, then you are going to love this post! Several of us were taking pictures along the way and I will try to group each person's pictures together.

Pictures from Odie

Here I am with Bro. Shobanke and Bro. Dan Bragg

The rest of the Yates crew from Hodgenville, Kentucky.

Steve's Pictures

Have you noticed there is a certain age group of our population that seem to be addicted to their phones?😉😀😁

I am so glad Steve captured a picture of this. Mom, Steve and Dad provided lunch for all the people that came to help Tuesday and Wednesday. 

They took on a huge task but it was a huge help. Various others jumped into help when needed too and we sure appreciate every bit of effort! Thank you all!

Kelly Jo's Pictures

Davy's Pictures

Pastor Wade Hicks with Odie

Bro. Shobanke is in the states preaching for a few weeks and he set his mind to be here to watch the construction on the house. It was great to have him here for that and it is great to be able to spend a little time with him today.

Bro. Shobanke's church gave the first $220 toward Odie's house. That is a huge amount when compared to an average month's wage in Abeokuta and we are asking the Lord to bless them for their tremendous sacrifice. We are also asking the Lord to let those $220 spend according to the measure of their sacrifice!

Bro. Shobanke also brought $250 more dollars with him. We are extremely humbled and grateful for our dear friend and his love toward Odie and our family.

Pictures From Cousin Lisa

Not many jobs have a cheering session all along the way, but this one did! They did a fabulous job too!

Steve, Mom, Bro. Shobanke and Davy

I took these early Wednesday morning.

From the northwest corner.

From the northeast corner.

From the southeast corner.

From the southwest corner

Wednesday we hit a pothole. Bro. Larry Hall was laying everything in order for swinging the trusses up on top when he noticed there was something wrong. To make a very long story very short, the truss company misread the prints and designed the trusses accordingly. It was an easy mistake to make but an unfortunate one.

All of them but two can be used but two of them must be built again. They are now hoping to have those two trusses on the job by this evening and we hope to swing the trusses Friday or Saturday.

There was no sense in our wonderful help from Mississippi hanging around two or three days doing nothing when they could be home with their families and responsibilities there so they started home Wednesday afternoon. It was sad to see them go!

Davy, Bro. Sheldon and Pastor Scott Morris

Odie Wednesday

That is a portion of what took place Tuesday and Wednesday on the Lazy OD Ranch! We are excited with the progress and trusting God to bring this whole thing to a completion in His time!

Praise the Lord that most things went very well the last few days and nobody was hurt in the process! Thank you all for praying and for reading each day. God bless you all.

Davy