Ok, first-Has anyone seen Babes in Toyland recently? I have not. It's been about a decade or more. But this week, I learned the Cincinnati Song from that movie! There's a Cincinnati Song! Here are the words I learned: C-I-N-C-I-N-N-A-T-I Cincinnati! The best town in O-H-I-O Ohio, USA.At first it was just Cincy but since Cincy was so Nati, they called it Cincinnati so they say!
The girls are pretty pretty in this crazy little city.
The fellas are the fiestiest I've seen!
...And that's all I learned. It was in my head all week and it was awesome.
Also, I decided that I needed to document everything this week. So the pictures are just random from the week. Exhibit A & B. 
Another thing right off the bat. Sad times. John's grandfather passed away on Wednesday. So, he decided that he would need to go home for the funeral. We had no idea how that would happen in a timely fashion and he was stressing out looking for bus tickets and stuff. Then he talked to his sister and was like, John, where are your groups from this week? One of them was from Wisconsin, about an hour where he's from. Thank you, Jesus. So, he hitched a ride home with them on Friday morning. The funeral is Monday and he'll be back Tuesday morning...how, we're not quite sure yet. We'll be without a very important part of our team for the first 30 hours of the week, which is a big deal. And we found out a lady from YW is coming to observe our site. She's coming Sunday and leaving Tuesday morning-the exact time span we'll be without John. Prayer for this situation:
-For John's family.
-For a way to get back by Tuesday morning.
-For our team as we're one man down.
-Dependence on Jesus for strength and not ourselves.
-Dependence on Jesus for strength and not ourselves.
-We'll have our biggest group next week too. Ratio without John-3:76. Ha!
This week was good. We had our biggest group yet of 71 and next week we'll have 76. A lot. We only have 2 more weeks with kids coming. That is so crazy. We had some rainy days this week, but it worked out fine.
I spent a lot of time at my favorite ministry, C.H.U.M., Churches United in Ministry. It's a food shelf and so our work is spent sorting, stocking, and weighing food donations. There is the Funky Food Shelf for random things, such as canned Alligator, canned Gefilte fish (Rush Hour anyone?), an edible shot glass, Mixed Vegetable Jello. It feeds the organizational, compartmentalization freak in me. :-) Steve is an older guy that works there and so it's always good to talk to him. I love that there's always work to be done and that you feel like you're making a difference. Plus, it's cool to see the kids go in on Monday, overwhelmed and to go in on Thursday and they're experts on where everything goes.
Fact about Kirstie: Of all the ministries we go to, the ones that I prefer to not go to are the nursing homes. There's just something about them that make me really sad. I think it's the fact that I see these people and I know that they've had this life full of ups and downs, love and heartbreak, happiness and joy and now they're oftentimes limited to a room or a building. One of the nursing homes we go to is St. Benedictine. It's a really great facility. They have beautiful gardens and activities for the residents, such as Bingo, Polka dancing, a beauty shop and balloon volleyball. I went on Thursday and the students who are there all week always do a song or two for the Protestant church service. The residents love the students. Then I sat through the church service and the scripture was the Loaves and Fishes story. The chaplain talked about how we have a mindset of scarcity sometimes as the disciples did in this story, where we focus on what we don't have. The challenge was to focus on what we do have. I looked around the room and realized that I had that mindset while viewing nursing homes. All I saw was that they no longer had the life that they once did, that they were now confined to a building and many times cannot function on their own. But what they do have is a community who loves each other and who still believes that Jesus loves them even in the state they're in. During the Lord's Prayer, one lady grabbed the lady's hand next to her and they just looked at each other and held on so tight, knowing that their faith and each other will keep them going day by day. There is hope and love in those places, which is hard to see when all I could focus on is what they don't have. A strong challenge for me.
Last weekend was incredible, relaxing and so fun. We went to a cabin in Wisconsin. It belongs to Deb and Jim, who are on the YW board. They are some of the most hospitable, generous people I've ever met. The cabin was beautiful. The Minneapolis Staff went too. We all had a bed to sleep in, there was a hot tub, a boat, and an endless supply of awesome food. I took full advantage of the hot tub when the boys were like, Let's jump in the lake! I thought they were crazy but then about 5 minutes later found myself counting to three and screaming as I jumped in. Immediately following, I booked it back to the hot tub. There was no TV, so it was really fun to relax and just spend time
with everyone, having great conversations. We lounged around, read, played Nerts and Spades, and went out on the boat all afternoon. The boys tubed, waterskiied, and attempted to wakeboard. I love boats, so I just sat in the front as we spun around the lake as the boys tried to get up on the wakeboard. Fine with me. One afternoon, I picked up Beloved by Toni Morrison and read half of it. I read it in high school and loved it, but caught so much more this time. I needed some magical realism in my life.
This week was good. We had our biggest group yet of 71 and next week we'll have 76. A lot. We only have 2 more weeks with kids coming. That is so crazy. We had some rainy days this week, but it worked out fine.
I spent a lot of time at my favorite ministry, C.H.U.M., Churches United in Ministry. It's a food shelf and so our work is spent sorting, stocking, and weighing food donations. There is the Funky Food Shelf for random things, such as canned Alligator, canned Gefilte fish (Rush Hour anyone?), an edible shot glass, Mixed Vegetable Jello. It feeds the organizational, compartmentalization freak in me. :-) Steve is an older guy that works there and so it's always good to talk to him. I love that there's always work to be done and that you feel like you're making a difference. Plus, it's cool to see the kids go in on Monday, overwhelmed and to go in on Thursday and they're experts on where everything goes.Fact about Kirstie: Of all the ministries we go to, the ones that I prefer to not go to are the nursing homes. There's just something about them that make me really sad. I think it's the fact that I see these people and I know that they've had this life full of ups and downs, love and heartbreak, happiness and joy and now they're oftentimes limited to a room or a building. One of the nursing homes we go to is St. Benedictine. It's a really great facility. They have beautiful gardens and activities for the residents, such as Bingo, Polka dancing, a beauty shop and balloon volleyball. I went on Thursday and the students who are there all week always do a song or two for the Protestant church service. The residents love the students. Then I sat through the church service and the scripture was the Loaves and Fishes story. The chaplain talked about how we have a mindset of scarcity sometimes as the disciples did in this story, where we focus on what we don't have. The challenge was to focus on what we do have. I looked around the room and realized that I had that mindset while viewing nursing homes. All I saw was that they no longer had the life that they once did, that they were now confined to a building and many times cannot function on their own. But what they do have is a community who loves each other and who still believes that Jesus loves them even in the state they're in. During the Lord's Prayer, one lady grabbed the lady's hand next to her and they just looked at each other and held on so tight, knowing that their faith and each other will keep them going day by day. There is hope and love in those places, which is hard to see when all I could focus on is what they don't have. A strong challenge for me.
Last weekend was incredible, relaxing and so fun. We went to a cabin in Wisconsin. It belongs to Deb and Jim, who are on the YW board. They are some of the most hospitable, generous people I've ever met. The cabin was beautiful. The Minneapolis Staff went too. We all had a bed to sleep in, there was a hot tub, a boat, and an endless supply of awesome food. I took full advantage of the hot tub when the boys were like, Let's jump in the lake! I thought they were crazy but then about 5 minutes later found myself counting to three and screaming as I jumped in. Immediately following, I booked it back to the hot tub. There was no TV, so it was really fun to relax and just spend time
with everyone, having great conversations. We lounged around, read, played Nerts and Spades, and went out on the boat all afternoon. The boys tubed, waterskiied, and attempted to wakeboard. I love boats, so I just sat in the front as we spun around the lake as the boys tried to get up on the wakeboard. Fine with me. One afternoon, I picked up Beloved by Toni Morrison and read half of it. I read it in high school and loved it, but caught so much more this time. I needed some magical realism in my life. For dinner the last night we had steak, scalloped potatoes and french bread. Yes, those are t-bones.
I spent a good chunk of time by the lake in the morning. It was so still and so necessary to be still with it. As I sat there, I realized how much God created everything to be like him, particularly water. Check this out. Powerful, calming, constantly moving, transparent, three forms, cleansing. A great reminder that creation had a lot of thought put into it.
Week 7 of 8. We're almost done. I'm starting to get overwhelmed at life when I get back. Life is jam-packed and I'm always doing something here, but it's only one thing that I'm focusing on. When I get back, there will be about 6 or 7 things to focus on, as well as all the details in between. I can do it and I'll do it well, but it'll be an adjustment. And as incredible as it's been here, I'm beginning to miss people a whole lot and cannot wait to get back.
Week 7 of 8. We're almost done. I'm starting to get overwhelmed at life when I get back. Life is jam-packed and I'm always doing something here, but it's only one thing that I'm focusing on. When I get back, there will be about 6 or 7 things to focus on, as well as all the details in between. I can do it and I'll do it well, but it'll be an adjustment. And as incredible as it's been here, I'm beginning to miss people a whole lot and cannot wait to get back.
Pray for:
-Continued energy and a mindset of love
-Me to be fully present here and not count away the days
-For the beginning of the week without John + his family
Much love. Miss you all.
No comments:
Post a Comment