Today things crashed. Not everything, by any means, but some things did. Let's not talk about them quite yet, though.
Lori and a group of kids headed to Hope Academy. You may remember what a cool endeavor Hope is, but if not, check out this video that tells their story. They had a full and good day of reading to kids, interacting with them, helping with teaching prep stuff, and all sorts of other things. One important note of clarification: Tate was dubbed the laminTATEr because of her mad skills with the laminating machine, not because of any connection to sadness and/or the book of Lamentations in the Bible.
Marv worked with Luke and another guy on wall repair for most of the day. His mad wall finishing skills stood him in good stead on the project - though he might have liked getting a project other than his normal job. Maybe tomorrow things will be mixed up a bit!
A crew of guys took on hole digging. They were digging a 5 x 5 x 5 hole for an egress window, and another one to enable drainage and prevent future flooding. They were very, very manly in their efforts.
Mike and Nick worked on building a porch and made awesome progress in spite of the fact that Nick's brother Adam, who was coming with some friends to join in the fun, hit serious snags in the transportation process. They were still in time to be of real help in moving the project forward and in helping with a lot of cleanup.
Ryan and some other dudes were high up on a scaffold, putting up soffit. The height was significant, so I'm happy to report that they were NOT what crashed.
Angela had too much of her day job to still accomplish for the week, so she ended up staying at the church for the day, trying to catch up.
Crashing:
- the trailer, as it came off the truck en route today. No serious harm was done and all is well now, so maybe "crash" is too strong a word.
- the kids when they got back to the church after a hard day's work
- angela's laptop. 'course, the power cable might have been helpful...
- Dan and Holly's party. Dan is Mike's brother, and he is a pastor at the church where we're staying. We got to drop by their place, meet their family, scare their dog, and generally take over the place for a few hours. It's beautiful, and we really had a nice time.
- the kids, after eating all that pizza
- the original plans for the evening. We had, um, coordination issues that caused us to abandon the original plans (hanging out some more at The Source) and instead chill out at the Y. It was actually a pretty nice time.
- the kids (well, some of them) at the evening's "devos" with Mike. It was a neat time, in spite of everyone's exhaustion, and the kids had really thoughtful responses. Good times.
- all of us, now. 'Nuff said.
Saturday, October 30, 2010
Friday, October 29, 2010
Rollin' (Senior High Fall Work Trip - Day 1)
I'm happy to report that we've arrived in the Twin Cities with the same number of folks we began with. Unfortunately, that can NOT be said of our tires. Just as we neared Weyauwega (half hour out of town), one of the tires on the trailer started spewing bits of itself across the world. So with that, a run to Fleet Farm once we reached Steven's Point for a new tire, and a bit of a late start to begin with, it was 1 AM before we were in the church with the trailer unloaded. So, *yawn* I believe we'll turn in!
Saturday, June 26, 2010
a bit o’ catchup
(from Angela) Technical issues and a desire for most of our energy to be focused on being as present as possible together have meant that the blog posts/photos have not been as complete as I would have liked them to be this week. I’ll try to get more highlight photos up today sometime. If you’re in the Fox Cities, we’ll be sharing more about our trip at both of our church services tomorrow (9:00 and 10:30).
A lot happened throughout the week, but I’d like to highlight a couple of them. First of all: the kids. There were 15 of them in our group, and they were fantastic.
They were NOT perfect :) but I was continually impressed by their willingness. Willing to help with stuff – sometimes even taking initiative on it and helping without being asked! Willing to step out of their comfort zones. Willing to admit when they were wrong. I don’t think I was much of any of those things when I was in high school. It’s just such a privilege to be with them and to get to know them better throughout the week.
The adults, also, were just great to be with. Mike – pulling everything together, providing energy and direction, engaging folks everywhere in conversation, and pushing us all out of our comfort zone. Adjusting when the week did NOT go as planned because of his injury, and not drawing a lot of attention to it. Oh – and making coffee every morning! 
Bob – keeping us organized! Working behind the scenes to bring order out of chaos and pull things together that otherwise would get missed. Humbly sharing his experiences of the week whether or not they put him in a good light. Providing humor and quietly helping in whatever he was tasked with doing. Lori – wowza. Being with kids non-stop for the entire time. Providing energy, humor, energy, love, and, uh, energy! particularly when we needed it most. 
Organizing, motivating, being an example, and just loving kids. The love was so evident, whether it was for the kids from our group or the kids we were serving this week, or the kids from the other groups, or the college interns who were working on every aspect of the program. I want to be like Lori when I grow up! Matilde – Matilde ended up coming last minute with her grandson Francisco. She is visiting for five or so weeks from Mexico, and she doesn’t speak English. She was just amazing. Two kids in the group and Chris, a leader from another group who had lived in Peru, would translate for her whenever possible. I’m so grateful for them, but I still think it had to be so challenging for her to be “along for the ride” and to be such a good sport about it. She had to wonder, many times, at what was going on, but she just pitched in and helped whenever she saw a need. The New City folks were delighted to have her: she spent most of her time on a small team that connected with families in the apartment complex where we’ve been hanging out & building the swing set. New City had connected with lots of folks there, but hadn’t realized that there are about 50 Spanish-speaking families with whom they’d had minimal contact. Matilde loved it and New City is looking forward to maintaining and building on the connections that she helped start.
And me? I had the opportunity to help with English tutoring for an Iraqi family that arrived in St. Louis two months ago. Every afternoon I would go over to Lamyah’s house and learn about her and her family, and teach bits of English, or the US money system, or whatever else she was interested in. We played a lot of Bingo (with money, or household items, or whatever)! I learned a few words in Arabic too! (I know I’m butchering the spelling on these, even using an English keyboard – hope I’m at least close). good: Sa’h. yes: eeeh. no: lah. equals: esaree. fast: sari-ah. I also got to connect during kids club with some kids from Burma (count to five in Burmese? ti – nee – lei – na – chow – I think!!) and Maryan, a woman from Somalia who’s lived here for seven or so years. (“My country? America. Somalia is no more. Twenty years – TWENTY YEARS of fighting. Somalia no more.” Unreal to us here – can you imagine that happening to your home and country??) She asked if I was married and I said no, expecting a scolding of some type about how I should be having children. But she surprised me. “Husband, no good. Lots of work.” Ok, got it! :) Because she’s been here a while, she tries to help new refugee families acclimate – pretty neat. She’s frustrated with the landlords though, and hopes to move soon. The crime is pretty bad there, and they don’t seem to do much about it. They say they do, and then they don’t.
Well – this is all over the place, I know, but hopefully it gives you some idea of what the week felt and looked like!
-Angela
A lot happened throughout the week, but I’d like to highlight a couple of them. First of all: the kids. There were 15 of them in our group, and they were fantastic.
They were NOT perfect :) but I was continually impressed by their willingness. Willing to help with stuff – sometimes even taking initiative on it and helping without being asked! Willing to step out of their comfort zones. Willing to admit when they were wrong. I don’t think I was much of any of those things when I was in high school. It’s just such a privilege to be with them and to get to know them better throughout the week.
The adults, also, were just great to be with. Mike – pulling everything together, providing energy and direction, engaging folks everywhere in conversation, and pushing us all out of our comfort zone. Adjusting when the week did NOT go as planned because of his injury, and not drawing a lot of attention to it. Oh – and making coffee every morning! 
Bob – keeping us organized! Working behind the scenes to bring order out of chaos and pull things together that otherwise would get missed. Humbly sharing his experiences of the week whether or not they put him in a good light. Providing humor and quietly helping in whatever he was tasked with doing. Lori – wowza. Being with kids non-stop for the entire time. Providing energy, humor, energy, love, and, uh, energy! particularly when we needed it most. 
Organizing, motivating, being an example, and just loving kids. The love was so evident, whether it was for the kids from our group or the kids we were serving this week, or the kids from the other groups, or the college interns who were working on every aspect of the program. I want to be like Lori when I grow up! Matilde – Matilde ended up coming last minute with her grandson Francisco. She is visiting for five or so weeks from Mexico, and she doesn’t speak English. She was just amazing. Two kids in the group and Chris, a leader from another group who had lived in Peru, would translate for her whenever possible. I’m so grateful for them, but I still think it had to be so challenging for her to be “along for the ride” and to be such a good sport about it. She had to wonder, many times, at what was going on, but she just pitched in and helped whenever she saw a need. The New City folks were delighted to have her: she spent most of her time on a small team that connected with families in the apartment complex where we’ve been hanging out & building the swing set. New City had connected with lots of folks there, but hadn’t realized that there are about 50 Spanish-speaking families with whom they’d had minimal contact. Matilde loved it and New City is looking forward to maintaining and building on the connections that she helped start. And me? I had the opportunity to help with English tutoring for an Iraqi family that arrived in St. Louis two months ago. Every afternoon I would go over to Lamyah’s house and learn about her and her family, and teach bits of English, or the US money system, or whatever else she was interested in. We played a lot of Bingo (with money, or household items, or whatever)! I learned a few words in Arabic too! (I know I’m butchering the spelling on these, even using an English keyboard – hope I’m at least close). good: Sa’h. yes: eeeh. no: lah. equals: esaree. fast: sari-ah. I also got to connect during kids club with some kids from Burma (count to five in Burmese? ti – nee – lei – na – chow – I think!!) and Maryan, a woman from Somalia who’s lived here for seven or so years. (“My country? America. Somalia is no more. Twenty years – TWENTY YEARS of fighting. Somalia no more.” Unreal to us here – can you imagine that happening to your home and country??) She asked if I was married and I said no, expecting a scolding of some type about how I should be having children. But she surprised me. “Husband, no good. Lots of work.” Ok, got it! :) Because she’s been here a while, she tries to help new refugee families acclimate – pretty neat. She’s frustrated with the landlords though, and hopes to move soon. The crime is pretty bad there, and they don’t seem to do much about it. They say they do, and then they don’t.
Well – this is all over the place, I know, but hopefully it gives you some idea of what the week felt and looked like!
-Angela
Thursday, June 24, 2010
Mike
Mike, our indefatigable and fearless leader, has been HAMMERED by St. Louis. Yesterday, he filleted his little finger with a saw – right through his glove. He wrapped it in plastic wrap and kept going (they’re trying to finish up the swing set). Then Matilde (who’s a nurse) took a look and re-bandaged it and told him he should get it stitched up. So he went to kids club (of course) and THEN headed to the ER around 9:00 pm. They did not get him in until 3:30 AM by which time he was exhausted and dehydrated. He ended up passing out and needing IV fluids and finally got out of the hospital 3 hours and 5-6 stitches later (6:30 AM). He ended up missing the morning’s activities and moving slowly (but still working) this afternoon. We’ll see if he ever comes back!!
more kid thoughts
Francisco – more about Josh – He’s really good at basketball. He would do better in school if everything were a competition!
Connor – I’m thinking about coming back the week of July 10. Anyone want to come with me? They only have 15 volunteers for that week.
Calvin – It’s hot. It’s just really hot. I’m also thinking about coming back with Connor – maybe my dad could come. He would be really good with it because he’s awesome at building.
Conner – and by the way, it’s really hot down here.
Francisco – oh, and we’re out of doughnuts.
Thursday Morning kid updates
Connor
It’s hot. Very hot. Stay away.
Sara
This year has definitely been a lot different from last year. First of all, I’m tutoring a boy. Second of all, I’m not on a work project all afternoon. Third of all, I actually get free time in the afternoon. Lastly – there’s a smaller amount of people (in total) here this week. Oh, and Popo (Josh Chappeau) has a goattee.
Ruby
I’ve met up with Fatima again. Her mom is 8 months pregnant but has been in the hospital on bedrest for a month. They’re taking the baby by c-section on Tuesday. The baby is a little girl named Rafifi and she will be tiny.
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
from Lori
It is Wednesday and we are TIRED!!! Late nights, lots of work, no sleep all factor in.
Mike Ziehr
enjoyed playing soccer with serious soccer players at kids club at the apartment complex where we’ve been hanging out. They’re from all over the world, and they’re pretty good.Hannah Welk
is enamored with the way the children are waiting for us with our truck full of games, snow cones, popcorn and whatever else Mike brought with us! And how the children come up and hug us and are so sad when we leave.
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