We arrived on Thursday night and found a place to "camp" for the weekend. We were all supposed to sleep around the walking track on the 2nd floor of the gym at the host church. That was fine because there was plenty of room to spread out. After we got settled, Steve went on the search for a store that carried a few items he was looking for and I headed off to find out where the showers were located. When I left the gym area, all of the kids were playing games on the first floor. When I returned, I looked over the rail to see one of the boys balled up on the floor holding the back of his head. I took off down stairs because I knew this was not good. By the time I got down there, another parent had gotten to him and had a wad of paper towels on his head to try and stop the bleeding. I took off to find his mom or dad. The good news is that his mom was a nurse and well able to make the call on if he needed stitches or not. They decided that even if he did need to have it stitched, that it could wait till the next morning since the bleeding was under control. So what happened? Well it seems that the kids started playing tag and two of the boys collided and when they did, Garrett fell and hit his head on the bleachers that were around the gym. What a way to start the trip. God is good, all the time!!
And by the way they ended up NOT taking him to get stitches. Also Dawn dish washing soap inside of a zipper bag freezes great--bendable and not as hard as ice. I would recommend double bagging it though!!
Sleeping wasn't all that great on Thursday night. At one point after lights out, I wanted to trip a couple of the teenage boys who kept having to go somewhere, I guess to the bathroom. The made a ton of noise walking by our "campsite"!!! I say lights out very tongue in cheek since they wouldn't turn out one row of lights out in the gym for safety reasons. They didn't want it to be to dark and someone actually fall over the 1/2 wall around the area we were sleeping. This would not have been an issue since they left on so much light that I could read by it. I got about ZERO sleep. First of all, I didn't know how much I really like for it to be dark when I sleep. Second and just for the record, I CANNOT stand to have something on my face or even near my nose when I sleep. Third, in an effort to make it dark, I slept with a shirt over my face--well I tried to sleep but I kept feeling like I was suffocating so there wasn't much sleep. Fourth--apparently I'm the only person in my family who has this issue because everyone one else slept just fine!!
Friday was the day Drew had been waiting for--HIS BIRTHDAY!!! We put a sign up across from where he was sleeping so that when he woke up he would see his giant birthday card. After a short devotional, the ladies and kids under 12 did a mini VBS for an inner city day "camp" while the men worked on several projects (painting and building a rolling sound booth) at a local community center and the youth (over age 12) got to do landscaping. We were all supposed to meet back by 12:30 but Shelby and I got back a little early so we walked a few blocks and picked up a few sandwiches for our families lunch. Steve got back next and then finally Drew. Drew had just gotten started eating at about 1:15 and shortly there after, the fire alarms went off in the church!!! We got up and started heading out but I did run back for Shelby's shoes. I really thought that it was just a fire drill (since they have a day school in this church) and I didn't want her standing on the hot pavement without shoes. Well it turns out that it was a real fire!! An exit sign of all things had shorted out and started a small fire. So we got to stand outside in the heat for almost an hour. Poor Drew had to go and finish with his crew without finishing his lunch but you know what? He never complained one time. God is good all the time. Steve went to finish painting and Shelby and I were off to the nursing home for the afternoon.
We all got back around 5:30 and went out to dinner (see the post about Drew's birthday). After that we walked around down town. Then we went back to the church and crashed. I don't think I've ever been that tired!!! They did finally realize that there was plenty of light coming in from the windows and turned off the lights in the gym--God if VERY good!!!! Although, I think I was so tired that I would not have cared if they turned them off or not but I sure am thankful that they turned them off.
Saturday was more of the same for Steve and Drew. Shelby and I however got to go to the park and talk with families there. We, our group, took drinks and snacks to the park at the Greenville Zoo and passed them out to the families out enjoying the park and/or zoo. That was nice but boy was it HOT! We started a game of kickball and invited kids to play with us. I think everyone had a good time. On Saturday, we were all supposed to be back by 1:30 so that we could get lunch, pack up and get ready to set up a block party at a community center. Poor Drew, (now this is all me because not one time has he complained AT ALL) ended up working on yards until 3!!! His lunch by the time he got it was very cold and probably pretty yucky but he ate it and never said one word. We got the block party up and going and I spent the next 5 1/2 hours talking to a ton of people that I didn't know. I talked so much that my voice was giving out by the time we left to go home!!! God is good all the time!! Drew manned a beanbag game for the kids--I figured he deserved a chance to sit down if he wanted and he's great with little kids. Steve and I mingled with the crowd but I didn't stay with Steve very much because I needed to be on my own so that I didn't "fall back" on Steve.
I spent the entire weekend in neighborhoods that I normally would do my best to not even drive through on a normal day. I spent my time talking to lots of people who are definitely not on the same life path I am on. One of the most interesting people I talked to had JUST gotten OUT of prison after 15 years and 5 months. He told me lots about his life and how he had messed up and how he had turned his life around and how he would like to keep kids from making the same mistakes. He said he should be in the ground and not walking around but that God had given him another chance and he didn't want to blow it.
Let me just say that my bed felt WONDERFUL after 2 nights on the floor of a gym!!! We made to church on Sunday but not to Sunday school. And you know what, we love our church and have since we first started going there but now, now we belong!! We have found a place for us.
God is so good. As lots of you know, Drew does not like heat. He hates bugs in his face and being hot. I say all of this to say that not one time did he complain or have a bad attitude or anything like that. He served God to his fullest and with a joyful attitude!!! God is so very good!!! And for the record those 9 boys did 16 yards in 2 days!!!
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