catch up post 2

We didn't have any teams out for the week of the 4th of July.  Probably a good thing, since our neighbors set off so many fireworks, no one would have gotten any sleep all week!  It was a good time to relax, read, knit, and see some of the surrounding area.  Also, I got sucked into Candy Crush and broke down and bought all of Downton Abbey on dvd.

Sometimes, missionaries get care packages!  My honey loves me!!!!!  He sent me Sunday School posters for my trailer, and music for a song we're supposed to sing in church when I get home.  I really ought to take a look at that sometime soon....  Thank you, baby!

ZoeyMonster and I spent a lot of time exploring the area around the ministry center, and look what I found all along the roadsides!

Prairie roses!  Aren't they pretty?

Z and I were just getting back from a walk the morning of the 4th of July--I was literally just climbing through the ministry center fence-- when Ron and Dawn said "Russ invited us all to his son's naming ceremony; we're leaving right now."  AGH!  I had been out walking dusty dirt roads during the hottest week of the summer for an hour and wanted nothing more than a cold shower, but no way was I missing out on the name ceremony!  I got myself presentable and in the truck in under three minutes.

I'm gonna send y'all over to Dawn's blog, Views from the Big Country, to read her description of the ceremony, because really, I have no words.  It was an incredible experience, and I felt so blessed to be able to be a part of it!

It was a low-key week, but a good one!

catch up post 1

I haven't posted in a while.  Whoops!  First I was busy, then our internet got all crazy, and...well, I'm here now, right?

It's been an amazing few weeks.  Teams from Texas and Illinois did a roof, repainted a house, built a deck, and helped haul trash to the dump during a neighborhood clean-up.  During Sidewalk Sonday School, they renewed old friendships with the children of Rolling Hills, where some of the youth remembered the children by name.  I think only one of the children clearly remembered the team members (she introduced them to her cousin "this is Shayna, and that's Jake, and they got married last October!"), and a few others I think sort of remembered, but you could see that the fact that the team remembered them by name made the children feel really special.

They also took SWSS to a brand-new neighborhood.  The roofing team was working in St. Michael all week, playing with the neighborhood children while they worked.  One of the girls told me "We tried to do story time, but it was kind of a fail.  The kids were like 'can we go play now?'"  And play they did.  They blew bubbles, sang songs, played duck, duck, goose, and gave piggyback rides, because they understood that building those relationships was just as important as the roof they were building.  Some day, that roof will need to be replaced again, but those kids will always remember the love they were shown!We'd never done SWSS in that neighborhood, but this seemed like a good time to start.

We didn't really know what to expect.  Would we have 6 children?  16?  We really didn't know.  I packed up snacks and craft kits for 60 and called it good.

Oh.  My.  Gosh!  You guys, it was AMAZING!!!  The team walked up and down the road, gathering up the children they'd been playing with all week, and those kids grabbed their friends, and we ended up with 50+ children that day!  We went through ALL the snacks I took, plus ALL my back-up stash!  They colored with sidewalk chalk, played basketball, read stories, gave more piggyback rides and had a great time.  LOVED IT!!!