The last week :(

I already love my campers!! The first campers arrived at 7:00 am!! We were not up for their arrival and they didn't actually come to the church until around 11. They came to service with us. After service the girls and I ate lunch at a local pizza place with some members of the band. We then ran errands and headed back to the church to welcome the groups. One group never showed up....odd.....So we only have two groups this week! One from Pennsylvania, who I love already! The other is from Enterprise, AL! :) They are Auburn fans! We ate dinner then got ready for worship. Worship was fun as always! I video taped it so maybe I can put it on here when I get back home! The groups are really energetic so it is going to be a great week! Okay so after worship I hung out with the groups and found out who was going to be going to my worksite with me for the week. It is sooo funny because I have some pretty country boys! They are actually from PA, but they are very country. One of the guys had on a rebel flag t-shirt! They say they are awesome at construction, so we will see! It is going to be an interesting week. They bought a purple bear to be our mascot for the week! They are pretty crazy! It is all boys and one girl with me! I'll try to get some good pictures and video throughout the week. I played spoons with the group and had a blast! Now it is lights out and I'm soon going to bed! One week from today and I will be back at home! Crazy to think the summer is over! I'm going to be sad to leave DC! 

Wild n' Wonderful

Thast is what they call West Virgiani for those of you who didn't know. That is where we spent our day. White water rafting proved to be a bit out of our price range, so we met the West VA staff in Harper's Ferry to walk around and see some sites. For thsoe of you who don't remeber your American History Harper's Ferry was the site of John Brown's raid during the Civil War. It was tons of Historic museums and the main street in the town has cute little gift shops and restaurants. We ventured around the town and it's sites for several hours then headed back to the church that the W VA staff stays at for dinner. Stephanie the camp director cooked us a wonderful dinner of seasoned chicken tenderloins. We hung out a bit and then the staff wanted to take us to Jule's ice cream shop. We decided to leave from the ice cream shop becasue it was getting pretty late. The ice cream shop was actually a small teck from the church, so we were glad we made that decision. The W VA camp is pretty far from signs of civilization......Jule's turned out to be a small trailer type thing in a parking lot much to Stacey and my surprise. The group raved about how good the ice cream was and when we arrived they were very crowded. I had custard and it was pretty tasty. (PS. Stacey will eventually make a facebook album of all the food we have eaten over the summer to show everyone how big of fatties we have been....) After eating and bidding our farewells we drove back to Dranesville. We stayed up talking and then eventually hit the sack! Campers come soon!

A day to remember.....

Today we said farewell to the group, but this is not the reason it will be remembered. It will be remembered because shortly after saying goodbye to the group Stacey and I headed over to the worksite I will be working on next week. After inspecting the worksite we headed to the nearest Home Depot to figure out how to get wood to the worksite to complete the deck. Well after 2 hours of waiting at Home Depot, renting a truck, unloading 23 decking boards, filling up with one gallon of gas, and returning to Home Depot at 5:15, then driving through rush hour friday afternoon traffic back to the church we were exhausted and frustrated! This turmoil of probably the hardest longest day of all summer will be the reason it will be remembered. We had a hard, long day, so we decided to go to dinner and a movie. Our night has been relaxing and enjoyable and at the moment we are looking up fun things to do tomorrow. Hopefully we will catch a little rock climbing or white water rafting, at least maybe some museums. Then Sunday it is back to work! Pray for me this week! I have a challenging worksite! 

The last day with the group!

Today was the last day with the group. I took some of the boys and we finished up my work site from last week. I got back to the church and went to lunch and walmart with Sara and Sofia. Stacey, Matt, and I went to Tyson's Corner to go to the mall. I bought the cutest sunglasses! We headed back to the church and met Josh at Quiznos for dinner. We got back to the church and set up for worship. Worship was really great tonight. The group sang and sang with the band after they washed each other's feet. We had a bit of a situation after worship was over. Sofia was really upset so we prayed with her and I think she is finally doing a bit better. We are all tired and this summer is beginning to work on us. It is just a little nerves after not a lot of sleep and a lot of work. We all cried a bit and prayed and then Matt and Josh brought us ice cream. Matt then did a crash course with me on how to build a deck. Yes, next week I will be building a deck, but not only a deck. The deck is about eight feet off the ground so the steps will be a bit tricky. Pray for me because of twenty minutes ago I didn't really know what I was doing!! Keep us in our prayers this last week. We have our biggest crowd of the summer. It will be an adventure for sure!!

Hmm....it seems this summer is almost over

I just came to the realization that one week from today will be my last full work day. Okay so at the beginning of this summer it seemed it had been forever since I had seen my family, but now I feel like I just got here! It has been a whirlwind of emotions and blessings, but it has been amazing nonetheless! Today started with a ride over to Ms. Trutie (SP?) A new elderly lady we are helping out. We fixed up her yard for about an hour then headed over to the Arlington Food Bank. We had a great time movie around corn and tomato sauce! It seemed we had just gotten there and it was then time to leave! We headed back to the church and got slurpees along the way! Three of the middle school boys rode with me, let's just say that was an adventure!! I got back and it was time to get ready for the cookout. The cookout was a success :) Worship was great. I love Wednesday worship! They play my favorite songs! I don't know if I have mentioned (sorry if I have!), but they play Chasing Cars and ya'll should really listen to the words to that song it is great!  Now is free time/group time and soon will be lights out!! See you all soon!! Keep praying for me!!

If I don't return home....

It is because the Capitol Area Food Bank worked me too death... No really....Today we had breakfast and started on our way. I took 13 of the campers with Sofia to the food bank. There was a wreck on the highway so it took us a bit longer than usual to get there which made me sort of exhausted before I even began the work! When we finally got there we had a lot of work! We packed 450 boxes. All of those 450 boxes I sat on a concrete floor and put together! It was crazy, but I got to sleep for about an hour when I got back so I was refreshed. While riding home I heard this song called Hookers and Robbers by Charlie Hall. It is about Coming as you are before Christ with your guilt and shame. I started talking with God and just felt a call to change my talk and to take the come as you are to not just mean with your gift and talents, but with your guilt and shame also. So I sat down after dinner and just began to listen to the song and to talk to God and to read scripture. I didn't end up changing my talk completely, but I did talk more about coming to Christ with all your baggage and laying it down before Him. Then letting Him use you to bring Him glory. It ended up really well, so I was happy. After the talk one of the leaders came up to me and said that his daughter really needed to hear the talk and that he knew God was telling me to say the things that I did. SO i guess that goes to show what God can really do!! Not that I ever doubted!! Well that was about it worship went well and we ate banana pudding and dirt for dessert. Now it is lights out and I'm going to bed!!

Work Day ONE with a new group :)

Today was another wonderful work day. I love the work days because they are the times when I get to really know the kids the most! We had breakfast and then headed out on our way. I went to Sarah's worksite from last week. They didn't finish so we finished up today. I had a great crew! We worked very hard and got a lot done!! We put doors up on a storage unit and painted. the men were great with the doors and some boys put on the door knobs and all the girls painted. We have some siblings here from Haiti! The girl is so sweet I love her! After work we came back and Sofia took the crew to the showers. I took a quick nap that was much needed. We had dinner of spaghetti! A great crew from a methodist church in town made it for us and it was fabulous! Then it was time for worship. Jimmy our cook came to worship tonight and hung out with us! We had ice cream and now it is time for lights out!