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Sunday morning everyone showed up bright and early for the service and the celebration picnic afterwards. The grownups had brought work clothes and their tools and the children their bikes and swimming clothes for a day of swimming and home made ice cream. The sevice began with annoucements and singing then David walked up to the podium. "Good morning everyone. As I was working on this morning's sermon, it occured to me that what I had written was all wrong. What we need is a celebration of Praise and Thanksgiving for everything our Creator has given us beginning with a prayer of thanks that no one was injured in the fire this week and that the damage to Unity seems to be minor. We also need to express our gratitude to Ms Jo and her Goddess for building Sanctuary and the jobs and money it has brought and will continue to bring to our community in these rough times and for letting us use her place to gather this morning. Let's begin with the choir singing 'Our God is an Awesome God' - Ms Bea has the words written on the flip board here if you'd like to join in." When He'd finished his sermon David said: "As you know Ms Starr's last official job as church secretary was to call for a vote from it's members on how to help pay for the repairs on the church having declined Sanctuary's offer to cover all the expenses. She'll be out front after church with a list of jobs for volunteers to help with ongoing projects. Please keep track of the hours each of you put in and for those of you who are already working for Sanctuary or Kidman Construction you need to keep your volunteer hours separate from your regular employment hours. Shall we pray?" "I want to see all of you in the house as soon as you get everyone settled." I told Starr as I was leaving. ***** Monday morning when Joe and his crew arrived he was amazed to see what everyone had accomplished over the weekend; he and Kyle checked everything over while David and Mike supervised some of the men who had shown up from Unity to spread gravel for the driveways and parking areas that Mike said we needed to keep the yards from being torn up. ***** Having lost the battle the day before over the repairs to the church and receiving a very clear message last night from The Goddess that Sanctuary wasn't mine I was in the office with Starr going over everything for the dinner meeting that evening when David came in to grab a snack. Antoinette had already covered the funiture in the living and dining room and was upstairs cleaning while the sheets and bedspreads were drying. "Joe tells me his people are going to be working 12 hour shifts until they're finished, starting tomorrow and considering how proficient our local people seem they should be finished by the end of the month if the weather stays suitable." he said joining us and handing me the mail. "That's Great. Starr says Carl's gone. He drove into Denver to check on things and should be back with everything we need for the windmills and to install the solar equipment by the day after tomorrow." "I'd thought we'd could bring our plates out to the porch and talk while we had lunch if that's okey? That way we'd save some time besides it's beautiful out." "I kind of thought I'd go up on the ridge and spend some time with Paul this afternoon and see what needs to be done there before the Gathering and the wedding. I've been so busy lately, it seems like forever since I've been there; I wasn't even up there for Solstice." ***** Beth joined us for dinner that evening and in the middle of a sentence about something, Andy yelped "OUCH!" ***** "Beth was just reminding me not to get off on some tangent before I kept my promise to speak to you about what we found when we went fishing up at Blue Lake yesterday," he said rubbing his leg. "You know that abandoned miner's cabin up there; well seems there's somebody squatting in it. An old Indian couple and their 4 grandchildren who had been evicted from their place in Arizona were trying to get to Mesa Reservation without getting on the interstate and somehow wound up on North Blackwell Road. When their old truck started acting up climbing the ridge they limped along and pulled off the first chance they got, that's when they found the shack. He and the boys have been hiking into town trying to find odd jobs so they can get the truck running and move on but they're barely surviving. I explained to them I was a friend of the property owner and they were welcome there as long as they wished." "I also told them if they wanted to come down and talk to her she would probably give them some work besides since this was a busy time of year for her." "That explains the feathers and the footprints I saw around the alter when I was there this afternoon. I'll stop over in the morning for a visit and take a basket of stuff from the garden. David can you drive up there with me? I was going to take a couple of people up to the gazebo anyway to start getting it cleaned and spruced up before the Gathering in case Danny and Tina want a private ceremony there."
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