365 Days of Service

I adopted out Pickles to a great lady today. He will be well cared for and loved so much by his new family. It was a joy to see him go to a great home. I was so happy!

See you Pickles - you’re a lucky boy!

Pickles has a new home!

Day 109 - Sept 30

I am beginning to think that Tuesday is my favorite day of the week. So many cool things happen on Tuesdays and now I can be a part of the experience at the Internet Campus twice a day! They recently added a noon (12:00pm CT) experience to the lineup and I’ve been volunteering then and again at the 8:00pm CT experience. It makes the day go by rather quickly, but it also keeps me really focused on what I’m doing and why. It’s so easy the rest of the week to forget about God and just work through the routine. Tuesdays make me pay attention and help me refocus on God.

Tonight I spoke with a woman whose waited 4 months for her house to close. She’s stressed, frustrated and feeling overwhelmed. In this housing market, I’m not sure how I would feel in her shoes - but I think it would probably be very similar. I encouraged her to seek God, to rely on His provision and to remember that He has a plan. It’s so hard to do that in the midst of chaos and turmoil, but those are the times we need to do it most. I’ll continue to pray for her and her family.

Day 108 - Sept 29

I went to Mercy Ministry tonight to bag groceries and found out from Rosa that a new group was coming in. How exciting! I took the tour with them and got to hear Rosa’s heart for what she does at Mercy. She told some powerful stories and it reaffirmed what I’m doing there every Monday night. Being able to affect change in people’s lives on behalf of Jesus is pretty cool stuff. I’m honored.

It was a fun night working with the new LifeGroup and getting to meet new people. I showed them some of the ropes and then let them work. It’s always exciting to see people lit on fire and doing God’s work.

Day 107 - Sept 28

I am still in Austin and my aunt, uncle and Grandpa came to my brother’s house for breakfast and to say goodbye. They had a long drive back to Dallas where I think they were going to fly out. We took some pictures and chatted for a while before they left. It was so good to see Grandpa again and to get to talk to him about a lot of things. So much time has passed since my grandmother fell ill and he spent the last few years caring for her… we hadn’t been able to connect as much as we’d both have liked. Now that his time caring for her has ended, I’m so excited to have him back in our lives and able to be a full part of our family.

After they left we went to a great spot to have lunch and again, so Clive could play. That kid has a ton of energy. My mom and I packed up our cars and headed out at the same time to drive in opposite directions. I was able to spend some time putting Adam and Mandy’s house back together before I left. I love that they are so hospitable, generous and laid-back. It’s a great place to spend the weekend. They are about to begin a remodel of their home, and I think it’s going to be even better when it’s all done. We’ll have to work together to figure out where to visit each other in the coming months, but we’ll manage.

Day 106 - Sept 27

We had an awesome day at my brother’s house in Austin today. The entire family was there to spend time together and have fun. We went to Central Market to get some lunch and to allow Clive, my nephew, to play on the playground. Then the girls (me, my mom, sister-in-law, and aunt) walked around and shopped. There were a lot of cool things to look at. We ended the afternoon at Half-Price Books where we all picked up some reading material. There was a shop next door where I also scored some cheap board shorts. It was a successful shopping day.

My brother, Adam, made us all dinner and my uncle Paul came to the house to visit. He had spent the day fishing with a friend while we played in Austin. It was a great dinner, lots of good conversation and then we sat around looking at the pictures from my mom’s trip to Italy. My brother and I had fun making up stories about her trip to Italy that never happened. But it was a lot of fun for us.

We wrapped up the evening with the dishes. Since Adam had cooked such a great meal, the women tackled the dishes and cleaned up the place. I absolutely love spending time with family.

Day 105 - Sept 26

My mom met me and my grandpa and aunt in Austin for some family bonding time at my brother’s house. Yeah, there’s a lot of us here. Anyway, when she got out of the car you could tell something was bothering her. She had neck surgery on a bad disk a few years ago. Seems like she’s done something to hurt herself again. I can’t believe it is that same side and everything. I feel really badly that she’s hurting. She had an MRI so I guess we’ll know what is wrong in a few days.

She and I are sleeping at my brother’s house and we brought air mattresses. It’s not a difficult task to put a bed made of air together, but I thought since she’d already spent 4 hours in the car and could hardly move her neck I would help her out. She sleeps on a twin air matress. When was the last time you slept on a twin?? I really can’t even remember. If it works for her… (maybe she will figure out her sleeping arrangements and her neck injury just might be related).

Day 104 - Sept 25

I have the hardest time remembering what service projects I complete on Thursdays. I guess near the end of the week I am less mindful of my desire to serve. I still cannot remember what I did last week.

Tonight, I went by Starbucks on my way to run errands and while I was there I grabbed a $5 giftcard to give to someone. I thought that it would be obvious when I came across the right person. It’s funny when you’re carrying around a giftcard - you’re just itching for an excuse to bless someone. Well, on one of my errands I bought some heavy stuff and one of the store clerks offered to help carry it out. I thought “Perfect. I’ll give it to that guy.” Then, the other clerk offered to help so they both came outside to my car. I couldn’t give it to one over the other.

I tried againe at the next stop which happens to be the bookstore where I work part-time. I saw one of my co-workers and remembered that he covered for me when I was sick Saturday night. So that felt right. I handed it to him and said thanks for covering for me, and he looks at me funny and says “Sure. Did I cover you?” Umm… I wasn’t about to take the card back. He said he’d try to remember, but I told him to keep it anyway, just because I like him. He’s always a nice guy. He was the right person, but it was funny when he thought maybe he didn’t “deserve” it.

Day 103 - Sept 24

My friend Katy’s birthday was last night so I stopped to pick up a birthday cake and took it to LifeGroup tonight. I was so ready to sing Happy Birthday, but we got wrapped up in some awesome conversation and just ate the cake without singing. I guess that’s ok. It was good cake… that’s the most important part.

Friends from our LifeGroup called this afternoon to ask if I could babysit while they went out for a birthday dinner. They have two little boys under 3-3 1/2 (we can’t remember his birthday) and they are go, go, go. It was a busy night, to say the least. I don’t have kids, so trying to speak “kid” is difficult for me. Sometimes I have a translator, when mom or dad are around, but times like tonight I just respond with “uh-huh” and “Ohhhh, I like it” a lot. Kids probably think there is something wrong with me, but without a translator, I don’t have many other options. Well, both of these guys speak a mile a minute, so I said a lot of uh-huhs and Ohhhh, I like its tonight. The best thing that happened all night was caught on film, well, digital particles, or whatever. So I’m including a photo with this post. If anyone else is interested in a sitter, just keep in mind I have some unique techniques. No harm came to anyone this evening, I would just like to add that little sidenote.

I made sure they had plenty of food and water in there with them. Seriously, though, this is just a joke. They got in there themselves. And it was unlocked (almost) the entire time. I don’t want DHS knocking on my door at 4:00am or for our friends to suddenly decide another LifeGroup might be a “better fit”.

Thanks Katy, Perry, Josiah and Jace. It was a fun night! Happy Birthday Katy!

I got an email from a volunteer at the Oklahoma Humane Society last night letting us know that our kitten, Ponder, had been adopted. I was so excited to hear that. He’s such a beautiful and sweet boy, I wanted someone to fall in love with him just like we did. Of course, that opened up the discussion of “Do we go rescue Pickles so he doesn’t have to be alone?” But, we’re holding out. I’ll go by the adoption center and check on him today, just to make sure he’s not lonely. Pickles is not the kind of cat you should really worry about, he’s always been pretty independant and happy-go-lucky. But just thinking of him in a cage without the brother he’s had his entire life is sad… I will not give in.

Bye Ponder - have a great life!

Ponder has a new home!