Saturday, July 19, 2008
Greetings from Atlanta, GA. Yesterday was a transition day. We wrapped up things at Murphy Harpst. Made lunch for and served the kids and staff there. Zack and Brad grilled kielbasa. Sam, Carianne, Kelly, Ben, and Katie Ke helped prepare and serve the rest of the food. The MH kids are so appreciative of us being there. I overheard several of them asking their counselors about how long we were staying and being sad that it was time for us to go.
W e drove to Due West, GA to the United Methodist Church where we are spending Friday night and Saturday night. It is a huge beautiful facility and we have the Contemporary Service building which is a giant gymnasium/multipurpose room with a platform and stage at one side. There is a full size professional kitchen and several misc rooms. The bathrooms each contain a shower.
Our tourist part of the trip has begun. We headed into downtown Atlanta after we unloaded. We ate supper at The Varsity. It is the oldest drive-in located in the US. We checked out Centennial park that was developed for the Olympics when they were here. We found the Keesom brick and played in the dancing waters. We spent some time in the CNN building and then headed to Atlanta Underground. Upon returning to the church, most of the kids and adults engaged in a frenzied game of indoor football. Once everyone was exhausted, they quieted down for the night.
Today, we are heading for the Georgia Aquarium. After that we will be at the World of Coke for the afternoon and the Braves baseball game this evening. I am predicting that it will be a quiet ride home this evening. It is a full day of activities. Hope all of you are well. Keep up the prayers. Everyone is great!
Michele
Saturday, July 19, 2008
Friday, July 18, 2008
Thursday recap and Friday morning
Good Morning,
I apologize for not blogging last night, but we got socializing in another room and didn't get back to the room until very late. It was a great day yesterday. The work project were completed, the laundry was done for everyone (Sam, Kelly, and I did 19 loads), and the chapel service for the MH kids was awesome. Ask the kids about it. They did a great job!
We are heading out for Atlanta this afternoon after we cook lunch for everyone. It's Fun Friday and the kitchen help has the day off, so the staff cooks for the residents. We are the guest chefs. Once we head out, I can't guarantee internet access like we've had so far. This has been great. I will try to keep you informed, but it may not be on a regular basis.
Tomorrow is a jam packed day. Atlanta Aquarium in the AM, New World of Coke in the afternoon, and a Braves/Nationals Baseball game in the evening. Sunday we will be worshiping at Northpoint Community Church. Then we will head out to Washington DC.
Thanks again for your prayers. It has been a wonderful trip thus far.
TTFN! (Ta Ta for Now!)
I apologize for not blogging last night, but we got socializing in another room and didn't get back to the room until very late. It was a great day yesterday. The work project were completed, the laundry was done for everyone (Sam, Kelly, and I did 19 loads), and the chapel service for the MH kids was awesome. Ask the kids about it. They did a great job!
We are heading out for Atlanta this afternoon after we cook lunch for everyone. It's Fun Friday and the kitchen help has the day off, so the staff cooks for the residents. We are the guest chefs. Once we head out, I can't guarantee internet access like we've had so far. This has been great. I will try to keep you informed, but it may not be on a regular basis.
Tomorrow is a jam packed day. Atlanta Aquarium in the AM, New World of Coke in the afternoon, and a Braves/Nationals Baseball game in the evening. Sunday we will be worshiping at Northpoint Community Church. Then we will head out to Washington DC.
Thanks again for your prayers. It has been a wonderful trip thus far.
TTFN! (Ta Ta for Now!)
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Brief Wednesday Description
Hi all!
I am exhausted and it is already 11:20pm. We just got done with evening worship and planning the chapel service we are doing for the Murphy Harpst kids tomorrow evening. It has been a very long day so my blog is going to be brief. I've posted several pics of the day. Here it is in a nutshell:
1) Happy 13th Birthday to Zack Stenglein. He even got his name in lights and was sung Happy Birthday to by the hotel breakfast eaters, the lunch crowd at Murphy Harpst, and the Birthday party crew for the mission trip. We had a birthday cookie, ice cream, and presents.
2) Scavenger Hunt in the morning. Two teams running around town in two vehicles trying to get answers to their questions. Lots of fun and good stories. Ask Vic about the dent in Gina's car. No biggy, it was just his head as he tried to jump into the van. (He really is fine. It was just really funny)
3) An afternoon of working - hard. Same projects and lots of sweat.
4) Dinner and then swim in the pool. Cannonball contest. Brad got best form. Ray got biggest splash. Vic got honorable mention.
That's the scoop. I'm heading to bed. Everyone is fine. The kids are really bonding with each other. Bye!
I am exhausted and it is already 11:20pm. We just got done with evening worship and planning the chapel service we are doing for the Murphy Harpst kids tomorrow evening. It has been a very long day so my blog is going to be brief. I've posted several pics of the day. Here it is in a nutshell:
1) Happy 13th Birthday to Zack Stenglein. He even got his name in lights and was sung Happy Birthday to by the hotel breakfast eaters, the lunch crowd at Murphy Harpst, and the Birthday party crew for the mission trip. We had a birthday cookie, ice cream, and presents.
2) Scavenger Hunt in the morning. Two teams running around town in two vehicles trying to get answers to their questions. Lots of fun and good stories. Ask Vic about the dent in Gina's car. No biggy, it was just his head as he tried to jump into the van. (He really is fine. It was just really funny)
3) An afternoon of working - hard. Same projects and lots of sweat.
4) Dinner and then swim in the pool. Cannonball contest. Brad got best form. Ray got biggest splash. Vic got honorable mention.
That's the scoop. I'm heading to bed. Everyone is fine. The kids are really bonding with each other. Bye!
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Terrific Tuesday!
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Today has been a very productive day. The three work projects that we have are near completion or actually finished. The kids are really working hard and doing a great job. Tomorrow the director, Vance, has organized a community scavenger hunt for us. We've organized two teams to try to find different locations in the community and they have to take a picture of the location. Vance takes the disposable cameras to one hour processing and figures out the points value of the teams. We'll meet up and he has fun prizes.
I'm going to include a post following this with some of the pics of today. I need to explain one of them however. Last night after devotions, the girls decided that they had to straighten Zack's hair. They took him and took care of him with their ceramic straightener. This is what Zack will look like with straight hair. Scary.
Tonight we ate at a really good Chinese buffet. I think we stuffed ourselves completely. It is 8pm and we are all meeting in our room for evening worship. We have 18 people in one hotel room. Brad is leading us with his guitar and it is great! Tonight the kids have to let us know what they did today for an intentional act of kindness. They have been very conscientious about it throughout the day. They knew they would have to report back tonight. It's cool to hear the variety of actions they have experienced.
This evening we have had a dip in the hotel pool and some free time before bed. All the kids are great. They are awesome!
Goodnight for now.
Monday, July 14, 2008
Fresh as a Georgia Peach...
Monday, July 14, 1008
Well, maybe not as fresh as a Georgia peach. Who has smelled a teenager who has worked in the heat all day? Peyew! We had a very productive day. I think Vance (the director) was very impressed. A group of us ar
e renovating a former art room into a records room for old files of finance, former residents, and archives. This means removing all the art stuff in the room, painting the whole thing, placing shelves around the whole perimeter, and then organizing all the boxes in appropriate areas.
e renovating a former art room into a records room for old files of finance, former residents, and archives. This means removing all the art stuff in the room, painting the whole thing, placing shelves around the whole perimeter, and then organizing all the boxes in appropriate areas.Another group removed shelving from a dark basement room and then worked with the third group. The shelves were wood and heavy. The guys really worked hard today.
The third group went into the school area for the kids who can attend the public school. Murphy Harpst is replacing the carpet and needs to have all the furniture removed and the carpet ripped up. The carpets are glued down completely, so it is really tough work.
We ate breakfast at the hotel, had devotions in our room, then worked for 
the morning. Lunch was served at Murphy Harpst and then we worked for the afternoon. We cleaned up our areas and headed to the hotel for showers. We went back for supper and a swim in their pool.
the morning. Lunch was served at Murphy Harpst and then we worked for the afternoon. We cleaned up our areas and headed to the hotel for showers. We went back for supper and a swim in their pool. Our day concluded with a wrap up in our room with Brad leading us in song. We discussed where we saw God today. It was great to hear each of the kid's responses.
Until tomorrow, goodnight!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)