Project Updates

We had the opportunity to serve a former military couple who graciously sold their home to our youth ministry intern and her husband (who is the media and tech intern) at what the young couple could afford, rather than what they could have gotten from their home in this crazy high sales market. I thought we'd only be there an hour or two, but quickly discovered they needed to basically start from scratch in getting their home of a decade emptied. The girls aren't pictured, but, until they were due at work, they helped pack boxes and Gabby drove to the church to get dollys (dollies? someday I'll look that up) to help with heavy moving. I was impressed at the strength of our boys/young men who were able to carry appliances through the house, down the precarious steps, up the very steep ramp, and into the back of the extra large moving truck!

An hour or so after we started, the current homeowners ordered pizza, so we got to take a lunch break and hear a bit of the vision this newlywed couple has for their first home. We also drank fizzy water, which does not quench a legit thirst (but the neighbor handed ice cold KS water over his fence, so we stayed hydrated that way :) Actually, the weather was excellent for a moving day. Although we've been getting the 100 plus scorchers like the rest of the country, this day was oddly in the mid-70s. Perfect!

Eventually, due to the high quantity of work, and the low quantity of help we set up a bucket brigade style line to move things out of the kitchen. The pool table professionals were down in the basement and we had to leave truck space for their big piece of the puzzle, so it only made sense to rest a bit and work smarter not harder ;)

As we packed a lot of stuff (I think we counted 24 chairs for the two people who were moving) into a truck, I had several conversations with the young men helping with the process. They agreed that having lots of material possessions, beyond what we need, can be a burden on ourselves and others. An interesting lesson for young, mission-minded fellows to learn. Especially our friend from China who is wrestling with God's call on his life. He sees possessions as a hindrance to going anywhere at anytime to serve Jesus. We had some good talk time on the truck between deliveries from inside the house (he and I became the arrangers and pilers of goods).

The Crew did come home with a few "treasures." Brennen was given the sweet hat pictured below, and the boys cleaned that middle eastern sword which was given to the home-owner-to-be (much to his delight :) Graysen received a giant mug and was reminded that God does big things, and also a pair of 3D glasses to remember to see the world through a different lens--the way God sees it. Gabby came home with bass guitar and amp, which she hasn't set up yet. I don't think Caelan or I brought anything home, although she did drive her brother back two days later to pick up a bunch of wood for his treehouse. Oh, and also the kids went back the next day to work on scraping and repainting all the chipped trim and basement walls as one of the many hoops the young couple had to jump through in order to secure their loan.

In our other serving location, we spent a couple hours making progress on our pastor's coop. We got *most* of it stained (although we still have more to do), we got the water bucket hung up, and Buck and Brennen built the hay storage bin (for nesting materials, which have been laying out drying, and getting soaked by these crazy random rainstorms lately, and then hopefully drying again). We need to go back to saw off the screw points, which are super sharp, finish the stain, rake the hay, and then we're pretty close to being done. 

Caelan gifted them the storage shed for chicken food, etc. Buck found these pallet tops (?) at work and, as no one claimed them, grabbed a bunch. They're really cute! I might try to make one into a pot rack for our kitchen :) Also, manufacturers don't make stain the color of the roof piece . . . that's the color they advertise the stain covering, but there is no way this stain is going to turn the old wood the color of the new wood. So, maybe we'll paint it to match the little prayer retreat house our pastor's family also has on the property? I'm not sure, but you can see how things are looking so far!

And their babies are growing! They are super skittish because we do not hold them enough. One escaped the other night and Brennen and I chased it around the garage for about 30 minutes. They are fast, but so delicate, it is hard to just pounce on them to get them back in the coop. The little hairy-legged dark brown eggers are kind of hilarious looking right now. They are just about to exit cute chick stage into that gawky half-feather, half-fluff stage which is not cute at all, ha!

But, I write all this to remind that we can tithe our income, but we can also tithe our time, our strength, our youth, our skills, our intelligence, our work-ethic . . . there are so many ways to serve others and it is fun to help!