365 Days of Service

Day 97 - Sept 18 through Day 102 - Sept 23

I swore I wasn’t going to bulk post anymore, but forgive me because after Wednesday last week, I was in a ton of pain from a horrible sinus infection. I was completely useless, for the most part, so you’ll understand my lack of post. I hope.

Day 97 - I can’t remember. Honestly I can’t. When I can, I’ll update.

Day 98 - Friday night we met with a group of people in town from the MinistryCOM conference in OKC and had dinner. Ryan learned from the neighbor that their 50th wedding anniversary was this weekend. I said we had to stop and get something for them on the way home. That didn’t happen - I went straight to bed with an ice pack on my face. But I made a mental note so as not to forget.

Day 99 - I was completely useless today. So much so that I had to call in sick to the bookstore. My face hurt. I did remember our neighbors, though, and took them a card, a photo album and a nice candle for their anniversary. We talked for 50 minutes (according to Ryan). It was good to talk to them for a long time. Learned a lot about them.

Day 100 - Still so sick that I couldn’t serve at in the toddler room at the Oklahoma City Campus of LifeChurch.tv which is my usual Sunday stint. I had to pass that up and I was bummed. Instead, I made Ryan an apple pie. I finally found a dessert other than cookies and chocolate cake that we agree on. I’ve made three in the last month. I’m not kidding - the man likes apple pie.

Day 101 - Monday nights I spend some time at Mercy Ministry in Oklahoma City bagging groceries, stocking shelves or putting out donated clothing. I arrived and found no one else there! I couldn’t believe it happened again. I guess it’s not that uncommon but it left me wondering what I could do alone. I decided on the toilet paper job. Basically that means cutting a package of 6 rolls into thirds. I took longer than you’d expect. But it was very helpful when we showed up there today…

Day 102 - …and spent the morning bagging all the groceries that weren’t bagged last night. Once a month our team and the Internet Campus team joins up to serve at Mercy Ministries. Originally the Digerati team also joined us but then we had about 40 people there (not really but it was too many) so we split up. The third and fourth Tuesdays of every month are covered by our two teams. It makes such a huge difference when there are a ton of people there to help out. And everyone was extremely grateful for my contribution of split toilet paper packaging. I knew it was time well spent!

Day 96 - Sept 17

I mentioned in a post recently that I have been dwelling on some difficult things and that they were affecting my mood - working at the bookstore was a challenge Friday night. On Wednesdays I meet with a couple of great women on staff at LifeChurch.tv who encourage and uplift me. We had a discussion about some of the things I’ve been experiencing and they were encouraging and helpful. My friend Lisa prayed for me and she said a lot of the things I know I need prayer for. It was a great reminder that in everything I have to lean on God and take my cares to Him. After praying I shared a while about my passions and the areas of my life where God has been leading me. She and I were able talk about her passions a bit, to share our struggles, and to think of opportunities to serve others. I love conversations where God is able to connect two believers. It’s a great opportunity to share what we’ve learned with someone and to reveal the areas where we still need to grow.

Day 95 - Sept 16

That title is a downer, right? That’s all I’ve heard on the radio the past few weeks. And today, while at the Internet Campus, it was internationally confirmed. I spoke with a woman in India asking to pray for her to find a job. I think she’s trying to move to be closer to family, and wasn’t sure she would be able to find a job to help care for her family. Did I mention she is a registered nurse?

If you’re not aware of all that’s going on in the US economy right now, I’d definitely do some research before the presidential election in November. I’m not sure there really is a feasable solution, but I also hope America is able to discern the best next President to help get us out of trouble. That’s just my two cents.

Day 94 - Sept 15

I’m not actually sure clothes is a word - I think it is supposed to be clothing. Does it matter? Don’t you know what I meant?

Anyway, a friend in our LifeGroup asked if I was going to Mercy Ministry tonight and wanted me to take some of the clothes they cleaned out of their closets this past weekend. I loaded up the car with their stuff and some of my stuff and headed to Mercy.

When I arrived one couple was already bagging groceries and they were expecting most of their group to come, so I went into the clothing closet and worked on getting donations out to the racks. One bag I opened had a family of spiders living in it. Seriously? Did you really donate a bag of clothes inhabited by spiders? Gross. So, most of those went into the trash. But I did uncover some really nice stuff. I put out as much as I could manage in an hour’s time but I focused on the mens’ and boys’ sections - there really isn’t a lot out there! If you’re in OKC and you have some mens’ or boys’ clothes to get rid of - please take them to Mercy.

Day 93 - Sept 14

I look forward to Sunday afternoons at the Oklahoma City Campus of LifeChurch.tv. I usually sleep in, have breakfast, get ready and head over to the church. It’s a relaxing morning followed by a fairly chaotic hour and a half of screaming kids, dirty diapers and playing silly songs and games. Don’t get me wrong, sometimes the screaming is a little grating (I can’t imagine listening to that all the time - kudos to you parents with young kids) but having fun with those little guys is always worth it.

What should actually be two separate rooms we turn into one for the hour that I am there. So we have kids as little as 10 months mixed with 23 month olds. It can be a little crazy trying to make sure those big kids don’t throw or drop something on a baby, or just knock them out of the way for a toy. We have one little boy in there who is getting close to the 23 month age, and he could easily manage with a class of older kids. But he’s stuck in the baby room, with the baby toys, and I can tell he just gets bored. When that happens it means extra vigilence because for him boredom equals bullying. He’s so young that you can’t call it bullying (I hardly think he means to be mean) but that is certainly what it looks like when he takes the ball out of the 15 month old’s hand and throws it across the room. The other volunteers today agreed that our system of having the kids organized by age isn’t necessarily the best one-size-fits-all system to apply to every kid. Oh well, I just keep an extra eye on him and he has a pretty good time. He’ll move up before we realize it and I bet that his next room will keep him plenty entertained.

Day 94 - Sept 13

I’ve been fostering a couple of kittens that friends found in their attic since they were 10 days old. We have had them in our house for 5 or 6 months. I started by feeding them by hand (in a tiny bottle) 4 times a day. I even took them to work with me that first month. Then I shuttled them around town getting shots, having surgery and today, I was finally able to take them to Petsmart to have them enter the adoption program.

I’ve fostered other kittens before. We had several litters last year that were cute and funny and when we gave them back for adoption one in particular was hard to let go of. His name was Tank and he was all boy. He and his sisters were trapped (mom was probably not a tame cat) and taken into the program so they would not have to live on the streets. Tank was an awesome kitten and he was actually adopted by friends of ours. I got to see him recently and he’s just as awesome as ever.

Out of all the cats and kittens we’ve had come through our house, however, none had ever been as young as 10 days. And if they were - they had their momma with them. Ponder and Pickles were so tiny and so sweet. They grew up to be funny, playful, sweet boys and I was really attached. Dropping them off yesterday was one of the hardest surrenders I’ve ever had. I hope they are going to be loved by their new families as much as we loved them (yes, even Ryan got attached). Here are some pictures I took on their last day at our house.

Day 93 - Sept 12

Tonight at the bookstore, I was not in a good mood. There have been some things bothering me lately and I was dwelling on those. So instead of focusing on that fact, I tried to be as helpful to my fellow co-workers as I could. We divide tasks up by section. If you’ve ever shopped at the store, you wouldn’t really be aware of clearly deliniated sections, but they are there. So at the end of the night, when the store has to be put back together, you have “your” section. Of course no one can go home until the entire store is straightened, so it doesn’t really matter that your section is done if the one next to your’s isn’t. My co-workers will pull books off shelves, tables, and the floor and walk them all the way back to the front to put them in your box to shelve; even though the walk to the correct section and shelf would probably take half the time and effort. So, when I came across items not belonging to my section tonight, I put them away wherever they went, even if it meant working in others’ sections. There are many, many opportunities to serve my co-workers at the bookstore and a lot of the time it’s really just a small gesture.

Day 92 - Sept 11

Today was one of those days where when you finally stop to reflect upon it, you realize you were so busy that you hardly even registered what you were doing the entire day. Yeah. That was today.

It started by working at home. There is usually one day a week when I can get away with working at home because the projects I’m working on don’t require a connection to the server. Even if they do I have VPN and can get what I need even though there will be a waiting period for the files to transfer. It’s good to work at home, though, because I can start something, throw a load of clothes in the washer, and finish a task. Repeat. I can eat whenever I want without packing my lunch and do the dishes when I’m done. And with all the pets at the house they get an extra day out of their crates playing and socializing and that makes me feel better.

Anyway, specifically today I was able to clean up the house a little, take care of all of the pet duties, bake an apple pie, work for the church, care for the backyard birds (I’ve discovered the fun of bird feeders), take out the trash and recycling, meet with a friend and client about her website, pick up Gatorade for Ryan before our soccer game, play soccer, and clean the car out. There are days when I can turn 14 hours into what feels like 48. Needless to say I was pretty tired when I got into bed.

Day 92 - Sept 10

Every couple of weeks I’ll go online and moderate the new posts at MySecret.tv. I had not been there in a while so I worked on that this morning. It’s always a refreshing task because I am able to gain some perspective on my own life and my own walk with God. Not only is it difficult to read the traumatic and difficult situations people have experienced, it’s even harder to read about them and feel that a real, intimate relationship with God could help them so much. When you’re in the middle of a tough time, seeking God is usually the last thing you think to do, when it should be the first. I’m guilty of this myself, so I can understand how far you can go down one path before you realize you’re all alone. The enemy tells us that we are alone, that no one cares (least of all the Father) and that things won’t ever get any better. If you feel like you’re in one of those situations, first find help - I am a great resource if you need it - and secondly, turn to the Father. You’re never alone, it’s never so bad it won’t get better, and people do care. I promise.

My brother, Ethan, and his wife, Julie are expecting their third girl this November. I am so excited. When Ryan and I went to visit them in Nashville, we had a chat about the baby’s name one night. Ryan and I are only experienced in naming pets, and maybe a few inanimate objects here and there, so we lean toward the more unusual and edgy names. For example, our friends the Bishops recently had a baby boy and Ryan wanted to name him Knight Takes. (You’ll get it in a minute). I’m leaning toward Talon for the next male that comes into our house. We recently dubbed some kittens, Pickles, Ponder, and Tormey, for instance. But Julie wasn’t taking our bait. I can’t even remember some of the names we picked, but they didn’t mesh with Julie. Well, the good news is they came up with a good one all on their own, Audrey Lynn. Aww. So sweet! I can’t wait to meet her. Good job Ethan, Julie, Alyssa and Megan.