But These Go To 11

5 weeks down. Only 3 to go. How is this happening?!

I've decided that I love Duluth. I see why people are born here and then they never leave. Maybe if I was here in winter I'd think differently, but I'm not!
This week was straight up. Nothing too exciting, dramatic, or over-the-top. One night, I was about to dump the prewash bin where the kids wipe out their ranch dressing from the salad and bean juice and stuff and I picked it up too fast and dumped ranch water all down the front of me. It was disgusting, but funny.
The kids were a riot. Our typical week is about 65-70, but this week we only had 40. The thing about this week, even though there were only 40, is that the decibel level was twice that of a larger group. I don't know what was up, maybe it was the pounds of extra snacks they brought and munched on constantly, but they were super loud. Exhibit A. The boys' sleeping room is directly above the girls'. I'm in the gym and I hear this loud thumping at 10:45pm when lights out should be. It sounded like the T Rex was approaching in Jurassic Park. We realize that the boys were all jumping at the same time to create a ceiling-shattering effect for the girls. In response, 25 girls yelled Love Story by Taylor Swift up the stairs. Like yelled. The whole song. For 10 to be the loudest level was not enough--11 would have to do.
I was apprehensive at the beginning of the week of how well they would get it or get involved throughout the week, but Jesus always amazes me at how He affects and changes kids. Jesus is real and still moves, a fact that has been reinforces countless times.
One interesting conversation I had this week was with Mary at Interfaith Care Center. It is a really nice rest home facility. Kara and I stopped in to visit the kids and I ended up chatting with her for a second. She had only been there for a week and her son was coming to visit from Florida later that afternoon. Her husband passed away in 1990. I guess I never realized it, but I've only seen about 8 men total in all of the nursing homes that I have visited this summer. Most are women. She said, "I guess it's good for the men to go first. They just don't know what to do with themselves when their women are gone. They just look so helpless. You never think you'll end up in a rest home. Even though it's lonely, it's a nice place. They have a nice place here." I could tell she was still adjusting. I hadn't really thought of that before. I always think when I visit there that these people have had such full lives and now they are in a completely different stage of life. It made me realize that even though I've seen and experienced so much, there are so many stages and things that I have yet to experience and while I have years to do them, life is so short. A good reminder to love people well and with my whole heart, not just part of it, and give life everything I have while I can.
Switching gears, Minneapolis was a blast last weekend. We crashed with the Minneapolis staff and the St. Paul staff hung out too. We did some sightseeing, Mall of America which had a Chipotle (YESSS), played Nerts (which I'm awesome at from playing in Ethiopia), and went to a Twins game. We stayed at our prayer partner's house, Fun Size Dave, who was with us 2 weeks ago. We went to church the next morning and saw the kids. It's sweet to see them in their element. I think their world's were colliding a little when they saw us and some of them didn't know what to do.
The Twins game was fun. There were signs that read This is Twins Territory and I loved it because I'm a twin! I was like, If only Bri was here. I got a Dome Dog and experienced the Metrodome before it gets replaced by an outdoor stadium. I'm not sure I understand why there will be an outdoor stadium in Minnesota since it snows until May, but that's ok. Some things are meant to be a mystery.



















Also, I'd like to share the joy of Sam's Club with you. We spent $880.14 this week. And then my organizing fix for the week comes with jamming our fridge.

This weekend we were invited to a cabin on the lake in Wisconsin of one of the YW board members. The Minneapolis staff is going and we were like I don't know....we kind've want to stay here and rest. But then we found out that there's a hot tub and there's a bed for each of us and they're making us dinner tonight. OK! We're totally in. We're leaving tonight and coming back before Sunday morning because, lucky me, I get to sing a song at church during the offering. The worship director found out I play guitar and was like You should play! When can we count on you? Never thought I'd do that EVER in my life.
We're doing well as a team. We're not really feeling the lull of routine yet. Every group is so different, which varies the week drastically. It's great to serve alongside brothers and sisters that annoy you sometimes, but at the end of the day, I love them and wouldn't have anyone else.


Pray for:
-Rest this weekend.
-Endurance.
-Choosing to love, even when kids are annoying. :-)

Much love.