Leaving TFC

Yep, Margaret and I are retiring from Transport For Christ (TFC) at the end of July. That will be eight years and one month since our first night on the chapel as volunteers. On August 1, 2009 I will no longer be the Lead Chaplain for the Life-Saver Chapel in Elkton, MD., but I will still be an ordained Chaplain, just not with TFC. And before you ask, we have no idea yet what TFC’s plans are for the Life-Saver.

This will be the third time I have retired.  The last time Margaret put up with me at home for six months and then told me I had to get a job or volunteer someplace.  She had enough of me home underfoot.  It will be different this time because now Margaret is the one working and I’m at home.  Just call me Mr. Mom!  I will still be filling in as a relief preacher when requested plus teaching an adult Bible study every Thursday night at church.  I’m sure the Lord has other things for me to do as well.

My main focus initially will be to get some health issues under control.  Last November I had two sleep studies which confirmed that I have Complex Sleep Apnea which is a combination of Obstructive Sleep Apnea and Central Sleep Apnea. From December through May I spent six frustrating months trying to get a V-PAP breathing machine to relieve the apnea.  I tried six different masks and they all failed to work correctly.  My apnea is so severe that it takes a lot of air pressure from the machine to force air into my lungs while I sleep.  At full pressure, all of the masks leaked which defeated the purpose plus the leak was loud enough to wake me.  At one point I had a serious infection in the bridge of my nose caused by a mask.

Life without a breathing machine means Chronic Sleep Deprivation for me.  That is much more serious than just being tired all of the time. When we consistently don’t get adequate sleep lots of health problems develop and the effects are cumulative.  The longer you suffer Sleep Deprivation, the more severe the symptoms get—some of which are irreversible.  The biggest immediate issue for me is that it causes migraine headaches. When I get a migraine I don’t get pain, I get vertigo which puts me completely out of action for hours.  Right now I don’t do mornings!  I need ten to twelve hours in bed at night to not wake up with vertigo.

There is surgery for Obstructive Sleep Apnea but my pulmonologist did not recommend it for me.  The only other alternative is to lose weight.  My apnea is related to my being over weight  Gee, where did I hear that before?  So, this afternoon I have an appointment with my doctor to begin a 800 calorie per day diet.  I expect that it will be an easy diet to follow—if it tastes good, spit it out!  I also expect to hear my doctor use that awful word “exercise".  Please be in prayer for both of us as I do this.  I will be posting my progress here so you are all my accountability partners!

On a happier note, Lord willing, our goal is to move back to the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia after the Lord gives me victory over this health issue. That should be in 1.5 to 2 years.  I would rather not change doctors in mid stream.

In His name,
Chaplain Sam Houchins

Busy Weekend

We had a wonderful and busy weekend.  Our 10 yr-old grandson, Patrick Sean, was visiting with us.  Friday afternoon the three of us went to the Air Mobility Command Museum located on the Dover Air Force Base.

This is a picture of the tarmac next to the museum which is located in the hanger in the top center.  There are 19 restored aircraft inside and outside the museum.  I got this photo from the museum website.  It is a great museum and the admission is right, free.

Saturday was my 62nd birthday.

Margaret and Patrick Sean had a birthday cake for me, complete with 62 candles!  I am amazed that our smoke detector did not go off!

It is a wonder that the cake survived! (Chocolate Oreo, of course)

 

Patrick Sean shot a video of me opening his present to me, a bar of extra dark chocolate.

Saturday afternoon we drove to Lansdale, PA for the 29th annual TFC Bucks-Montgomery Chapter Pig Roast and concert

As always, the food was great.  You can just see Patrick Sean at the far end of the serving line in the yellow hoodie.  Margaret is just to the right of him.

Here is a closer picture of them.  Next to Margaret is Peg O'Hare, wife of TFC Director of Chaplains, Bunny O'Hare.  That evening there was a great Gospel Concert by the Mark Trammell Trio.  I brought two CDs and a video of them home.

I drove home after the concert.  This was my longest stint driving since my accident.  We were ready for a snack when we got back into Delaware and went to one of my favorite restaurants.

The Charcoal Pit is a 1950's hamburger and ice cream restaurant that I started eating at when I was still in high school.

Patrick Sean was fascinated with the table-side jukebox

"The Pit" still serves milk shakes the old fashion way, in the metal mixing containers.  I had a triple thick, double chocolate shake (chocolate syrup and chocolate ice cream).

Sunday afternoon we went to the Brandywine Zoo in Wilmington, DE.  Patrick Sean took a bunch of pictures of the animals there.

On the way home we stopped at another restaurant dating from my growing up days, The Dog House.  They specialize in foot-long hot dogs with a big assortment of optional toppings.

That evening we went to another Gospel concert.  This time we heard a great choir from the Smyrna AME church that came to our church to share their music ministry.  Today, Margaret and Patrick Sean drove to Philadelphia to tour the U.S. Mint.

Praise the Lord for a wonderful weekend.  I guess Patrick Sean enjoyed his visit because he was reluctant for Margaret to take him home to Virginia when it was time to leave this evening.  He wanted to stay a little longer.

In His name,
Chaplain Sam Houchins

Margaret's 60th Birthday (post script)

I forgot a very important part of the celebration at home.  After everyone else had left, Patrick Sean said he had something special for Meme.

Patrick Sean had picked out a special birthday cake for Margaret.

While Sheri was giving Margaret the cake, we all sang Happy Birthday with Patrick Sean playing the song for us.
He had learned the tune for the occasion. That was his special gift to Meme.

Margaret's 60th Birthday

Margaret's birthday is April 14.  Back in February of this year she told me that she had never had a surprise birthday party.  I decided that her 60th birthday would be an ideal time for her first surprise party!

The first challenge was how to organize this without her realizing what was going on.  After all, we not only live together, we also work together.  Normally that's one of the blessings of our being in the same ministry.  It's a major problem though for something like this.  I needed someone who was sneaky and devious to help plan and coordinate this project without Margaret finding out.

My first choice for the job was Sharon Orshaw, our Pastor's wife.  She was not sure if my asking her was a compliment or not.  She did like the idea, though, and agreed to take on the job.  She in turn enlisted two more gals from church to help her — Sharon Daniels and Sharon Cahall.  These three did a great job of organizing all of the details for the surprise party.  We kept in touch with email and IM (instant messaging).  We chose 3:00 PM, Saturday, April 12, in the church fellowship hall, to have the party.

I began inviting folks to attend via a Windows Live Event website (setup so Margaret could not access it) plus a church emailing sent out by our church secretary, Marnie.  Folks without email were invited by phone or in person.  Obviously, we could not put this in the church bulletin!

It worked!  The party was this Saturday and Margaret had no clue what was coming.  I had told her not to make any plans for that afternoon because we were going out for her birthday.  She jumped to the conclusion that we were going out to eat.  After we got into the car, I told her we needed to first stop at the church because the Pastor had something to give us. (Thanks Marnie for coming up with that idea!)

The fellowship hall at the church is downstairs.  I parked in front of the church, so she couldn't see the church parking lot, and went in the front door.  (I found out later that a number of folks had parked elsewhere so she wouldn't see their cars in the lot.) She finally got suspicious when we got to the top of the stairway to the fellowship hall.  She could hear the voices of a lot of folks downstairs.  She looked at me and said, "You didn't?!".

Everyone there shouted "SURPRISE!" when we opened the door to the hall. What followed was one emotional high after another as Margaret recognized unexpected out-of-town friends and family one at a time.  She was so excited and surprised she actually walked right past our daughter and two grandsons the first time without even noticing them.  It was great.  A number of folks remarked that it was the first time they had ever known Margaret to be at a loss for words.

Margaret finally realized daughter Sheri, and grandsons Jonathan and Patrick Sean were here from Virginia

left to right: Chaplain Tom Kramer; Chaplain Don Jaggers; and his wife Carol

 

Charlotte , Margaret, and Kenzel
Pastor Kevin Wall from Chesapeake City, MD, back left, and Sharon Orshaw way back in the kitchen
(that's the ribbon on a balloon in front of Margaret's face)

Lorraine, Thelma, Janice, and Tootsie - ladies from our church

very dear friends, Gordon and Edwina, who came all the way from western PA

Jessica with baby Danny, Pastor Kevin Wall and wife Dawn

front, left to right: Chaplain David Weaver, Linda Kramer, and husband Chaplain Tom Kramer
daughter Sheri is standing behind Margaret
(Chaplain Ron Jones was also there but didn't make it into any of my pictures)

Margaret with the three Sharons, left to right: Sharon Orshaw, Sharon Daniels, and Sharon Cahall
They are showing Margaret the birthday cake made by Sharon Cahall

The Pooh cake.  Half of the cake is lemon, for Margaret, the other half is chocolate, for the rest of us

Pastor Dan Orshaw, and his wife Sharon, and their granddaughter, Emelyn

Margaret posing for pictures with her cake

Of course the kids were first in line for cake and ice cream!

A Pooh piñata filled with candy.
You don't hit this one with a bat to break it open.  Instead you pull the ribbons on the bottom, one at a time.
Only one of the ribbons opens the bottom to let the candy spill out.

Margaret and the kids took turns pulling out a ribbon until the right one was pulled

That's our grandson, Patrick Sean, on the left

The last activity at the church was Margaret opening presents. I think the kids were as excited as she was.
Notice the country girl without shoes — can't take her anywhere!

Some of the folks had time to come to our house and visit after the party.
(including Charlotte, on the left, and Patty, on the right)
Patty worked with Margaret and me years ago in ministry in Virginia.  She now lives in NJ.

Sheri and her two sons spent the night at our house.
We had breakfast together at a local restaurant, the Wagon Wheel, Sunday morning and
then they had to get back to VA for Sheri's father-in-law's birthday party.
(Patrick Sean is hiding)

The last birthday weekend activity was lunch at the TA in Elkton, MD. with Chaplain David Weaver, Chaplain Tom and Linda Kramer, Gordon and Edwina, and driver Greg.  Margaret and I drove to the TA after attending church in Smyrna to meet up with the others.  We had a great time of fellowship there.  No pictures though...I didn't have the camera with me.

You can watch a Flickr slide show of all of the pictures here.

In His name,
Chaplain Sam Houchins

Friday Musings

I haven't felt much like blogging the past month or so.  Margaret and I were both sick with whatever this sinus/bronchitis stuff is that is making the rounds.  After two trips to the doctor and a second round of antibiotics, I am finally feeling better.  Margaret did not get any prescriptions from the doctor and she got better about a week earlier than I did (and $300 cheaper).  Go figure!  Praise the Lord we are both better now and getting back to normal activities (as normal as we get).

Margaret and I have decided to get more serious about our health.  We are eating healthier - almost no deserts (except chocolate, of course, that is one of the basic food groups).  Since last November I have lost 16 pounds and Margaret has lost 13 pounds.  PTL!  We are also exercising regularly.

Neither one of us get very excited about getting out and walking in bad weather.  We do some walking at the big mall in Dover, DE when we are home.  Since we aren't home that much, mall walking wasn't doing us much good.  I searched the web for a portable exercise machine that we could use both at home and at the chapel and that would be easy to transport back and forth.  Some portable machines are mostly plastic and the reviews of them were not good for folks our size.  The machine also needed to be small because we have a very limited space in the chapel living quarters.  And of course, it had to be economical enough to buy on a missionary's budget.

We settled on an InMotion E1000 from Stamina.  It has a steel frame but is only 24 pounds and very compact.  It now goes back and forth with us between home and the chapel.

Margaret exercising at the chapel.  We use her old walker for stability.
Because the walker folds up and is very light weight it works great for this.

I could barely manage 50 steps on it when we first got it.  We both lost some ground while we were sick.  Now I'm able to do around 300 steps at a time twice a day.  That is a long way from where I need to be but at least I'm headed in the right direction.
Margaret can do about 150 steps per session and a daily total of 500 to 600 steps.

We have also been introduced to the books of Dr. Batmanghelidj.  Marty Miller, an Elkton Volunteer Chaplain, has an amazing personal testimony about how the Lord used the teachings of Dr. "Batman" to bring about an amazing change in his life - from a back injury 10 years ago that was to have resulted in chronic pain and disability to now being a marathon runner.  You have to meet Marty and have him share the details!

Anyway, after talking to Marty and reading a couple of Dr. Batman's books, we are now drinking a lot more water - up to a gallon a day for me.  We have cut out all caffeine drinks and the use of artificial sweetener. It is amazing how much damage can be caused by caffeine in our system.  (Chocolate doesn't have that much caffeine in it, does it?)

The past few weeks have been especially busy for us.  As of last Saturday, we had been in Elkton for ministry 16 of the past 19 days. - the result of a combination of the sudden death of a truck stop employee and volunteer chaplains needing time off.  On the plus side of that we were able to provide much needed pastoral care and ministry to employees and chapel visitors.

A very big praise report: Volunteer Chaplain Allan Graham led two drivers to the Lord in recent weeks.  PTL!

In His name,
Chaplain Sam Houchins

Five Months of Confusion

I have not been posting very often to any of my blogs.  Frankly, the past five months have been very unsettling, beginning in April when our ministry finances were turned upside down.  We have not received a check from TFC since March, when we got a check to reimburse us for our February ministry expenses.

Since that March check God, through many wonderful individuals and churches, has miraculously provided for our personal needs plus covered our ministry expenses.  Praise the Lord!  We believe God has affirmed to us each month that he wants us to serve at the chapel in Elkton.

We fully expected this month to be authorized to resume being able to submit our monthly ministry expenses for reimbursement.  Unfortunately, this latest expense submission was again denied.  And, as before, we were not informed that it had been denied.  Margaret found out that it had been denied after the expected check did not arrive and she called to find out what the delay was.

In my mind I keep coming back to Paul's statement in 1 Corinthians 14:33, "For God is not the author of confusion but of peace, as in all the churches of the saints." (NKJV)

This entire process has been incredibly draining, distracting, and disheartening!  Our personal relationship with TFC has been strained to the breaking point on more than one occasion.

Please continue to keep us in prayer.  Our only desire is for us to be in God's will.

In His name,
Chaplain Sam Houchins

AECC Northeast Conference 2007

July 13-14 Chaplains Tom Kramer, "Hoppy" Hopkins, and I went to Waverly, NY to attend the annual AECC Northeast Regional Conference.  We stayed in a lovely Victorian Bed and Breakfast in nearby Sayre, PA, the BriMarie Inn.

My room at the BriMarie

Chaplain "Hoppy", second from left, and Chaplain Tom next to him.
(see more pictures)

Some of you may remember that my ordination was at this conference last year.

The first session was Friday night followed by a time of fellowship.  I gave a presentation about our TFC ministry during one of the Saturday morning sessions.  Lunch was provided by the host church and no one left hungry.  The final activity before we left was communion.  It was great to see some of the folks we met last year.

Margaret and Tom's wife, Linda, did not go with us this year.  They were in D.C. for a Women of Faith conference.

In His name,
Chaplain Sam Houchins