On Thursday, Allison and I were able to go out with a team to their work site to work alongside them for the day. We ended up working at Miss Ruby Greene's house with part of the team from Columbus, Ohio. The house is a duplex, so Miss Ruby is going to live on one side while her brother is going to live on the other. I worked with Allison and two guys from the team, Kyle and Josh, to put up the last little bit of drywall. We ended up having to take down 2 of the 3 pieces we put up so that we could fix them, but it looked great by the time we were finally done!
One of the things teams are encouraged to do is to talk to people walking by and not just focus on physical labor. There is an elementary school just up the street from Miss Ruby's house that the team had discovered and visited the previous day, so we went there for about 2 hours to play with the kids during their recess.
Every Thursday, we have a block party near teams' worksites. We give out free hot dogs and drinks and invite people to come throughout the week.The party went from 5:30 to 7:30 and was held on a median not too far from our work site. A lot of people came, and we gave a ton of piggy back rides to kids before the party was over. We got back to Trinity Church at about 8:00, but there was a memorial service going on so we headed to Walmart and hung out at the McDonalds there until a little after 9.
Yesterday, I had breakfast at church so that I could sit in on the team debriefings held at 7:00AM. Afterwards, we said goodbye to all the teams, and I cleaned the warehouse for the rest of the morning. I didn't do too much in the afternoon, but I made myself a stuffed bell pepper for dinner which was DELICIOUS and went on a run. I plan on joining a gym when I get back from Costa Rica because it is so hot here!
Today we went to Fountainbleu State Park which is about 15 minutes away. The park costs a dollar for entry, but it is gorgeous and they made a beach off Lake Ponchatrain. The water was really warm, and shallow because of multiple sandbars. I am sunburned on my shoulders and back, but we had a lot of fun and it felt great in today's 95 degree weather!
Saturday, June 13, 2009
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
♫ Here comes the sun ♫
I'm sorry to say that Kara did not win her game last night, but they did very well and all got second place trophies. Kara got an amazing triple at one point, and it was definitely a fun game to watch. The girls on the other team were like giants compared to our girls, even though they are all supposed to be 7 or 8... oh well!
Today I arrived at the church at about 8:45 and got there in time to see Mr. Lewis and Mr. John (Horst) get a trailer up on a trailer bed so that they could move it to the other side of the warehouse. After that, some guys from the team and I started digging a trench for the gutter pipes to drain into. About 5 minutes into digging, I snapped a shovel head right off. It was a pretty old shovel (obviously), but I traded jobs with another guy who was moving bricks from one place to another. The men wanted to move another trailer too, so a guy named Matt and I moved random stuff like a toilet, a basketball hoop backboard, scrap metal, and wood away so that a bulldozer could come and pull the trailer away. It was really hot today, so we were all sweting like crazy. Luckily, Allison and I helped in Trinity Cares (the free store) again which is inside and airconditioned. We see what needs to be restocked, go get it from one of two sheds, and stock it in the store. As we were working, Mr. Lewis came and told me that I was on pool duty this afternoon--a tough job =) I made the kids lunch and we headed to the pool for about 3 hours. Right now they're playing happily with legos, and I'm waiting for Mr. Lewis to call and tell me the plan for tonight. Hopefully we'll go to the church for dinner and I'll stay for the program tonight since teams are going to be sharing about what they've done so far.
Tomorrow, Allison and I are going out to work with one of the teams and then going to the block party that all the teams put on together for outreach. It should be fun!
Today I arrived at the church at about 8:45 and got there in time to see Mr. Lewis and Mr. John (Horst) get a trailer up on a trailer bed so that they could move it to the other side of the warehouse. After that, some guys from the team and I started digging a trench for the gutter pipes to drain into. About 5 minutes into digging, I snapped a shovel head right off. It was a pretty old shovel (obviously), but I traded jobs with another guy who was moving bricks from one place to another. The men wanted to move another trailer too, so a guy named Matt and I moved random stuff like a toilet, a basketball hoop backboard, scrap metal, and wood away so that a bulldozer could come and pull the trailer away. It was really hot today, so we were all sweting like crazy. Luckily, Allison and I helped in Trinity Cares (the free store) again which is inside and airconditioned. We see what needs to be restocked, go get it from one of two sheds, and stock it in the store. As we were working, Mr. Lewis came and told me that I was on pool duty this afternoon--a tough job =) I made the kids lunch and we headed to the pool for about 3 hours. Right now they're playing happily with legos, and I'm waiting for Mr. Lewis to call and tell me the plan for tonight. Hopefully we'll go to the church for dinner and I'll stay for the program tonight since teams are going to be sharing about what they've done so far.
Tomorrow, Allison and I are going out to work with one of the teams and then going to the block party that all the teams put on together for outreach. It should be fun!
Monday, June 8, 2009
Crazy week!
I know I haven't posted in forever and I'm really sorry! This past week has been pretty busy with work and activities with the Lewis Family. I'll just give you a brief, or not so brief, overview of what I've done this past week:
Wednesday- I met with Katie, my boss, and Allison at a cute little restaurant called The Cheesesteak Bistro. Katie gave us an explanation of our jobs this summer, and afterwards we went back to the church so that she could tell us some other information. One of my jobs is to meet and greet the teams when they come in and give them a tour of the church while explaining the rules and sleeping arrangements. Katie walked us around the church and showed us what our tours should look like. Allison and I did a little bit of office work, and then I headed home at about five o'clock. Almost as soon as I got home, we headed out again to go crabbing! First, we went to Fairview National Park-very prettty!- to the day use area where there is a little stream that connects to a bigger lake. Mrs. Lewis had bought turkey necks as well as a crab net, but we decided that the crab net would probably get caught on sticks in the water. To my surprise, Mrs. Lewis just tied a neck to a string for each of the kids, and they threw them in the water while holding the other end of the string. I had never heard of this method, called "hand crabbing", and I was very doubtful that it would work. We sat there for about 15 minutes without even a nibble, and were about to give up when Caleb called "I got one!". I went over and sure enough there was a crab! Unfortunately we didn't catch that one, but Kara caught one, and then another, and then another. Eventually we ended up with five crabs and were getting the hang of it. That was also when Kara screamed that there was an alligator in the water not too far away from us. When he disappeared underwater, we decided it was time to leave. We headed to Madisonville, to the boat dock place we had previously visited, and caught 2 more big crabs and a lot of smaller ones that we released. As we were about to leave, Kara spotted a snake under the dock. It was latched onto a turkey neck tied to someone's string and wouldn't let go! A boy pulled up the string and whammed it on the head with a net, and it swam away pretty fast. My mom had told us there were free root beer floats at Sonic, so we went there before heading home to cook the crabs. They were actually pretty good!
Thursday- Emily and I drove up to the church and we worked in the warehouse with Vaughn and Allison all day. We hung a ton of drywall and did a lot of it by ourselves! Kara and Caleb had games at the same time and they both won.
Friday- Mrs. Lewis left to go to a wedding in PA and then to a church planting school in Minnesota, so the kids came with me and Mr. Lewis to the church. We didn't do too much because it had rained and was really muddy, but Emily and I ran to Lowes to get some string line, and went home to get a pump so that we could get rid of some standing water outside of the warehouse. After lunch, we went to a house owned by a woman named Ms. Rose. She works in the free store, and needs help fixing up her new house before she can move in. We peeled wallpaper for almost 2 hours using sponges and vinegar water to saturate the paper before peeling it. It was suprisingly fun and we hope to go back to work on it again this week. After dinner, we bought two half gallons of ice cream, stuck it in a cooler, and went down to the lakefront. We scooped it onto cones and sat on the wall overlooking Lake Ponchatrain. There was a man playing violin, and we listened as we watched the gorgeous sunset. After we had finished, we played a little bit of frisbee and catch before heading home.
Saturday- The Lewis's neighborhood had a neighborhood yard sale, and the kids wanted to sell juice and brownies. Unfortunately, there weren't any yard sales close to their house, so the goodies didn't sell very well. They still had fun though, and Emily found a bike at one yard sale. Kara had an end-of-season tournament game, and they won 19-18! That meant she would play on Monday night as well. Caleb's team also won their game 25-24. At about 3:30, the Mr. Lewis took the kids to a party they had been invited to, and I stayed home to get caught up on email. I ended up talking to my grandma, Merrimom, for 2 hours which was fun. After that I read emails, went on a run, and hopped in the shower before they even got home. There was a team arriving at 10:30 PM, and Allison and I were supposed to meet them and briefly skim over the rules so that they could go to bed. Another team had arrived at 4 in the afternoon, so they were already asleep by the time that the team arrived at 11PM. We ended up having to stay to answer a bunch of questions, so I didn't get home until 12:10 AM.
Sunday- I was definitely tired when I woke up, but we went to church at 9 AM. During the 11 o'clock service, I helped in the nursery and got to hold a 5 month old who went to sleep in my arms. A team was supposed to arrive at 2 in the afternoon, so I went to Allison's house for lunch since she lives only 5 minutes away. After a delicious lunch of blueberry pancakes, we headed back to the church to find that the team had already come in. It was just a group of 3 older men who had been here before, so it was okay. Our last team finally came in at 3:20, and then we dealt with waiver complications. Each team is supposed to have a waiver for each member of the team. If they don't, and the member is underage, we have to call their parents and send them the form so that they can sign it and send it back in. We dealt with that for most of the afternoon, but the teams were great sports about it. Allison and I grabbed pizza at youth group before joining the teams for orientation. I didn't get home until almost 10 o'clock, and went to bed shortly after I got back.
Monday- Katie had told Allison and me that it was good to come for breakfast with the teams on the first day because they have no clue what they are going to be doing, and still have a lot of questions. After they left for the day, we did a little bit of office work and also helped in the free store (Trinity Cares) for an hour. After lunch, we worked in the warehouse and hung more drywall. We are almost done with the celings, and have started on the walls. Three people from a team were there, so it was fun to talk to them and get to know them a little bit. Kara's semi-final game was at 7:00, so Allison and I rushed over there after dinner with the teams and arrived about halfway through. The Horsts had come to cheer on Kara as well. It was a great game! I never played softball, but it's so much fun to watch these girls play! It was a very close game and the teams were evenly matched. At the bottom of the 5th, Kara's team was in the outfield. Kara was on 1st base and caught a pop fly to get a second out, and on the next hit, she got a girl out at first and won the game 12-10! It was amazing, and definitely intense. The Horsts came back to the house with us for an ice cream celebration, and then the kids went to bed so that Kara could rest up for the championship game today!
Today- I stayed at home with the kids and Mr. Lewis headed out for meetings all day. We haven't done too much, but we got caught up on the laundry, played with legos, and have started a new puzzle. Kara's championship game is tonight at 5:45!
Wednesday- I met with Katie, my boss, and Allison at a cute little restaurant called The Cheesesteak Bistro. Katie gave us an explanation of our jobs this summer, and afterwards we went back to the church so that she could tell us some other information. One of my jobs is to meet and greet the teams when they come in and give them a tour of the church while explaining the rules and sleeping arrangements. Katie walked us around the church and showed us what our tours should look like. Allison and I did a little bit of office work, and then I headed home at about five o'clock. Almost as soon as I got home, we headed out again to go crabbing! First, we went to Fairview National Park-very prettty!- to the day use area where there is a little stream that connects to a bigger lake. Mrs. Lewis had bought turkey necks as well as a crab net, but we decided that the crab net would probably get caught on sticks in the water. To my surprise, Mrs. Lewis just tied a neck to a string for each of the kids, and they threw them in the water while holding the other end of the string. I had never heard of this method, called "hand crabbing", and I was very doubtful that it would work. We sat there for about 15 minutes without even a nibble, and were about to give up when Caleb called "I got one!". I went over and sure enough there was a crab! Unfortunately we didn't catch that one, but Kara caught one, and then another, and then another. Eventually we ended up with five crabs and were getting the hang of it. That was also when Kara screamed that there was an alligator in the water not too far away from us. When he disappeared underwater, we decided it was time to leave. We headed to Madisonville, to the boat dock place we had previously visited, and caught 2 more big crabs and a lot of smaller ones that we released. As we were about to leave, Kara spotted a snake under the dock. It was latched onto a turkey neck tied to someone's string and wouldn't let go! A boy pulled up the string and whammed it on the head with a net, and it swam away pretty fast. My mom had told us there were free root beer floats at Sonic, so we went there before heading home to cook the crabs. They were actually pretty good!
Thursday- Emily and I drove up to the church and we worked in the warehouse with Vaughn and Allison all day. We hung a ton of drywall and did a lot of it by ourselves! Kara and Caleb had games at the same time and they both won.
Friday- Mrs. Lewis left to go to a wedding in PA and then to a church planting school in Minnesota, so the kids came with me and Mr. Lewis to the church. We didn't do too much because it had rained and was really muddy, but Emily and I ran to Lowes to get some string line, and went home to get a pump so that we could get rid of some standing water outside of the warehouse. After lunch, we went to a house owned by a woman named Ms. Rose. She works in the free store, and needs help fixing up her new house before she can move in. We peeled wallpaper for almost 2 hours using sponges and vinegar water to saturate the paper before peeling it. It was suprisingly fun and we hope to go back to work on it again this week. After dinner, we bought two half gallons of ice cream, stuck it in a cooler, and went down to the lakefront. We scooped it onto cones and sat on the wall overlooking Lake Ponchatrain. There was a man playing violin, and we listened as we watched the gorgeous sunset. After we had finished, we played a little bit of frisbee and catch before heading home.
Saturday- The Lewis's neighborhood had a neighborhood yard sale, and the kids wanted to sell juice and brownies. Unfortunately, there weren't any yard sales close to their house, so the goodies didn't sell very well. They still had fun though, and Emily found a bike at one yard sale. Kara had an end-of-season tournament game, and they won 19-18! That meant she would play on Monday night as well. Caleb's team also won their game 25-24. At about 3:30, the Mr. Lewis took the kids to a party they had been invited to, and I stayed home to get caught up on email. I ended up talking to my grandma, Merrimom, for 2 hours which was fun. After that I read emails, went on a run, and hopped in the shower before they even got home. There was a team arriving at 10:30 PM, and Allison and I were supposed to meet them and briefly skim over the rules so that they could go to bed. Another team had arrived at 4 in the afternoon, so they were already asleep by the time that the team arrived at 11PM. We ended up having to stay to answer a bunch of questions, so I didn't get home until 12:10 AM.
Sunday- I was definitely tired when I woke up, but we went to church at 9 AM. During the 11 o'clock service, I helped in the nursery and got to hold a 5 month old who went to sleep in my arms. A team was supposed to arrive at 2 in the afternoon, so I went to Allison's house for lunch since she lives only 5 minutes away. After a delicious lunch of blueberry pancakes, we headed back to the church to find that the team had already come in. It was just a group of 3 older men who had been here before, so it was okay. Our last team finally came in at 3:20, and then we dealt with waiver complications. Each team is supposed to have a waiver for each member of the team. If they don't, and the member is underage, we have to call their parents and send them the form so that they can sign it and send it back in. We dealt with that for most of the afternoon, but the teams were great sports about it. Allison and I grabbed pizza at youth group before joining the teams for orientation. I didn't get home until almost 10 o'clock, and went to bed shortly after I got back.
Monday- Katie had told Allison and me that it was good to come for breakfast with the teams on the first day because they have no clue what they are going to be doing, and still have a lot of questions. After they left for the day, we did a little bit of office work and also helped in the free store (Trinity Cares) for an hour. After lunch, we worked in the warehouse and hung more drywall. We are almost done with the celings, and have started on the walls. Three people from a team were there, so it was fun to talk to them and get to know them a little bit. Kara's semi-final game was at 7:00, so Allison and I rushed over there after dinner with the teams and arrived about halfway through. The Horsts had come to cheer on Kara as well. It was a great game! I never played softball, but it's so much fun to watch these girls play! It was a very close game and the teams were evenly matched. At the bottom of the 5th, Kara's team was in the outfield. Kara was on 1st base and caught a pop fly to get a second out, and on the next hit, she got a girl out at first and won the game 12-10! It was amazing, and definitely intense. The Horsts came back to the house with us for an ice cream celebration, and then the kids went to bed so that Kara could rest up for the championship game today!
Today- I stayed at home with the kids and Mr. Lewis headed out for meetings all day. We haven't done too much, but we got caught up on the laundry, played with legos, and have started a new puzzle. Kara's championship game is tonight at 5:45!
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
Rainy Day
Yesterday, Emily and I were put straight to work in the warehouse by Mr. Lewis. Our goal for the day was to empty a 40-ft. trailer so that it could be towed away the following day. Before we could empty the trailer, we had to organize the warehouse. Vaughn and Allison arrived about 10 minutes after we did, and soon the warehouse was organized as much as it could be. The trailer held a variety of things like paint leftover from homes that have been worked on, insulation, batteries, solid wood doors. We started with the 1-gallon paint cans, and finished those off pretty quickly, but then we discovered the 5-gallon paint cans. There were TONS of them, and most of them were full to the brim. We eventually worked out a system of loading them into a wagon. wheeling the wagon to
the warehouse, lifting the buckets on the pallet jack, and finally unloading them again where we wanted to put them. After lunch, we continued moving the various objects in the trailer until there were only the heavier things left. Mr. Lewis and Mr. Horst helped us with those, and eventually we emptied it out! Emily took some before and after pictures, so I'll try to get those from her later. The first picture to the right is the "burn pile" that we formed from trash in and around the trailer. As you can see from the smoke, everything that we burned was perfectly fine for the environment. The second and third pictures are of me and Allison in the clean skid loader. Unfortunately, It poured yesterday afternoon, and all that red dirt you see is now on the skid loader again. Oh well!
Monday, June 1, 2009
Certified Caulker
My day began at 6:45 this morning when I woke up so that I could be ready to go at 7:30. Mr. Lewis wanted me to come to his CR meetings with him so that I could get to know what EFCA Crisis Response really is about. We met with the rest of the CR staff and discussed how things are progressing where CR has responded to natural disasters. These places include Iowa, North Dakota, Texas, China, and many others. We then talked about church planting and how we might improve our approach. This was very interesting to me because I didn't realize that CR goes into communities affected by disaster and not only evangelizes them, but also encourages and nurtures their spiritual growth long after the disaster is forgotten.
While at the meeting, I met Mrs. Dorinda's son, Vaughn. He is the same age as me and is going to be on the CR staff as the tool manager. About mid morning, we took a break and Mr. Lewis told Vaughn and me that we could be excused to go do work out near the warehouse. I ended up scrubbing and cleaning a skid loader-- a bulldozer-type machine. It was caked with mud and grease, and I probably worked on it for about 2 hours. It looked beautiful when I was done with it though! Mr. Lewis is going to show me how to drive it tomorrow, as well as how to use the pallet jack.
After lunch, I helped Mrs. Dorinda with copying work before heading back out to the warehouse to hang drywall. We hung two big pieces in the ceiling, and I also learned how to caulk! I am starting to feel like part of the team, and I am excited to see what God has me learn this summer!
While at the meeting, I met Mrs. Dorinda's son, Vaughn. He is the same age as me and is going to be on the CR staff as the tool manager. About mid morning, we took a break and Mr. Lewis told Vaughn and me that we could be excused to go do work out near the warehouse. I ended up scrubbing and cleaning a skid loader-- a bulldozer-type machine. It was caked with mud and grease, and I probably worked on it for about 2 hours. It looked beautiful when I was done with it though! Mr. Lewis is going to show me how to drive it tomorrow, as well as how to use the pallet jack.
After lunch, I helped Mrs. Dorinda with copying work before heading back out to the warehouse to hang drywall. We hung two big pieces in the ceiling, and I also learned how to caulk! I am starting to feel like part of the team, and I am excited to see what God has me learn this summer!
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