SERVE 09 - Monday - Work Day #1

Welcome back all you who are following these blog entries from SERVE 09 in Ottawa.

We've just finished Monday.....our first work day. Everyone had lots of fun today and woke up excited to work...well most of the group did. I THINK : )

Tamara got up as usual and grabbed her coffee fix. She then mozied (? sp) over to the computer to check out what I've said about her on the blog. I awoke to this sight. I personally like the towel on your head, but the wink here is pretty good too. : )

As usual Alex was up VERY early in the morning. Chris and Kyle mention that he's often very tired around Worship time.....go figure!!! Kyle and Elysha look very bright and chipper this morning.

Ah, my son Chris. You're doing VERY well here on SERVE buddy. I'm proud of you, just so you know. Keep up the great job. And as Alex would say, you are my honey bunny too. : ) Now, Shawn. He's been pumped about working for weeks. He donned his hard hat and vest and wanted this picture taken of him. He worked hard today.

Kyle, my nephew.....what can I say.....there is a common gene pool : )

More blog addicts. It makes writing this in the wee hours of the morning all worthwhile.

In the mornings now, we need to have lunches packed for our work sites. Here Annetta and Joyce are busy making sandwiches. They were soooo engrossed in conversation that they didn't even notice me taking this picture, . . . with a flash. . . . they just kept right on talking..... I had to laugh. It wouldn't have mattered if it was out loud because I don't think they would have HEARD me : ) .

Rey did his morning devotions. He mentioned something about swords and plowshares. That came to become another theme for my door, which you'll see at the end of this blog.

Breakfast was GREAT again. French toast. Yummy.

As I was taking this picture, I didn't realize that Annet was wanting me to get more milk. She looks like she's really sucking up here, so, well, I did it....twice. I can SERVE when asked too you know !

After breakfast it was time to get ready to load up the vans for our work sites.

Kevin is READY TO GO!!!!

We went to 7 different site today. Here we are at Redeemer Christian High School cleaning lockers. Adam looks like he's having LOADS of fun.

Kevin made short work of stacking chairs from the cafeteria.

Next I was off to the Ottawa Food Bank to get some pics of the group sorting food.

Caitlin had LOTS of fun sorting food. She spent about a minute explaining what she was doing on the video camera.

Amy , well, she's just being GOOFY here. : )

Next I was off to one of the Jericho Road homes where men stay who need assistance in living. Tyler spent a long time cleaning the trim in the home.

Shona's showing off her muscles here. I think she got them today doing all that hard work.

Then it was off to the Ottawa Mission. Each noon hour many hundreds of homeless are fed by the mission. Here is Jodi helping out. Incidentally, Jodi is our 20th mentor. I wasn't able to get a picture of her until now. She doesn't like the camera I guess. Nice hair net Jodi. Thanks for coming out to help.

Here are Jovita, Rebecca, Megan and Rosalynn getting lunches ready. I'm not sure, but I think Megan is peaking in that lunch bag to make sure she didn't forget anything.....

I was soon off to another Jericho Road house. Here Joy is busy cleaning out the kitchen pantry cupboards. You can see from her face that that cupboard is quite heavy. She worked VERY hard today, even though she was VERY tired. Cudo's to you Joy.

The group also prepared lunch for the Jericho Road residents.

Soon I was off to Stillwater Creek Retirement Villa. Nick and Sara and the group cleaned ALOT of chairs. Apparently they found lots of gum and other interesting things under the chairs.....yuck...

Oh, this picture. This came right after I'd made a comment about Elysha not needing to worry about having more lunches. Apparently they were all complaining that they were still hungry after lunch and wanted more snacks put in their lunch cooler for Tuesday. I made an INNOCENT comment that she needn't be concerned about that, and as soon I said that, I KNEW the next words out of her mouth would be, "So, Ron, are you saying that I'm FAT!?"

Now, I didn't mean that at ALL, but hey, there's no use fight it.....I apologize AGAIN Elysha. I'll try to get through Tuesday without having to apologize again to her. Maybe I should just loose my voice again....yeah, that's it...I'll do that. : )

I didn't make it to Starwood Extendicare, but Chris took LOTS of pictures there. Apparently they all folded laundry and got VERY good at it. I'll need to remember that for when Chris gets back home again and it's time to do OUR laundry. : )

Now, you need to know that my son likes to take LOTS of pictures. Some of the ordinary, some downright strange. He knows I HATE squirrels, so I think he took this picture just to bug me.

Everyone taking a rest after all that folding. The group also took residents outside for a wheelchair stroll. I hear that Alex REALLY like doing that.

After our work sites, it was off for showers at Redeemer and various homes. We were a bit ahead of schedule and had about 45 minutes to kill so I suggested maybe we play charades or something. Well, let me tell you that there are some VERY good charade players. Here's Jovita doing and charade of ME taking all that video and pictures...

Elysha did some sort of Karate thing, but I didn't catch exactly what it was. I won't comment on her pose because I don't want to have to APOLOGIZE AGAIN!!!!

Hannah, well, guess what she's doing here. Yep, the phone in GET SMART! Quite ingenious. What does that word mean Hannah....??

Rebecca, Shona, and Rosalynn getting in some friendship time while we waited until it was time to leave for indoor, glow in the dark mini golf.

Andrew and Ethan. They do look like brothers don't they?

I just had to put in this picture of Rey. He looks so distinguished here doesn't he? (tee, hee).

After showers and Charades it was off to mini golf. Alex is getting ready. Oh, I should mention that I scared the living daylights out of Joanna in the the parking lot. Apparently she doesn't like the sound of my van horn right behind her as I'm parking.....I'm just surprised she didn't hear me coming.

We enjoyed 18 holes of glow in the dark mini golf. Kevin and Silene had a GREAT time.

Melissa....well, let's just say that mini golf is NOT her thing. I think if we were keeping score she'd be 100 over par..... or more. And Hannah, well, she almost killed 3 people. She kept forgetting she was INSIDE A BUILDING, right Hannah.....

After min golf it was back to the church to eat supper. Were a bit early so we took out Rey's basket ball net and some shot some hoops.

Apparently Amy is very good at Sorry (I thinks that's what they were playing, but they can correct me tomorrow). Evert was getting a bit flustered I think. See that pointing finger.....

Here's Annet giving instructions to yet another set of faithful volunteers. We just couldn't do SERVE without them. THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU for helping us out.

Jodi and Grace catching a bit of a break just before supper.

My daughter, Sarah, came to help out tonight. Thanks for coming sweetie.

Joanna is often in the background doing our slides during worship, or helping out with the crafts. Thanks for all you quiet work Joanna.

After a GREAT supper of shepherd's pie (apparently Foo, Foo has never heard of this great dish) we went outside to work off that great supper. Soccer and Basketball were the sports of choice. Here's Nick showing us his stuff.

At 7 pm we were back in the sanctuary for worship time. Shawn has a way of getting different people up with him as he plays the guitar. Tonight it was our nurse, Mary Jane. I think Mary Jane turned white as she was dragged up the stage steps, but we've discovered she can really move to the praise music. : )

Shellie did another of her GREAT talks again tonight. Unbenonst (? Sp) to me, but I was going to be used as an illustration this evening. Apperently Shellie didn't know what blue prints were. She thought that painting someone's hands blue and taking a hand print would suffice as a blueprint. And, well, I was the guinea pig for the blue paint. It was lots of fun, really!!

And, I made sure didn't leave without getting some blue on her person too. : )

Shellie also took a $20 bill and did some pretty creative things with it. At the moment it's being squished by Amy.....are you really allowed to do that to currency Shellie?

The final illustration was using a cork and a bowl of water. Tyler is filling it overflowing...yep, that's right overflowing. Right on the front steps of the church.....I DO wish she'd clear some of these things with me first. Good thing the pulpit sits there....aw...it's only water. It'll dry....

Apparently a cork floating in 1/2 bowl of water will meander to the side of the bowl. A full bowl allows the cork to stay in the centre.

After Worship and Teaching Time, it was small group time. Tonight is was creating and decorating a flower pot. More of that BLUE paint. Jodi's doing a great job here.

Charlotte's turned out really well too.

Here's the plan for making the Pots, I think, but I'm not really sure. Either way, Bea and Grace continue to AMAZE me with their talent. Awesome, just aweseom stuff.

As we came to the end of our day, inbetween the worship exit and Small Group time, my room was attacked again. This time to this mornings devotion. There are now little lego men guarding my room, complete with swords.

Can't you see them. Aren't they cute. Whoever's doing this is being VERY creative.....and I LOVE it.

My only concern now is that I think tomorrow devotion is coming from Jeremiah in the rebuilding of the temple. Does that mean I'll find my door bricked in????? We'll have to wait and see.

Here's the text that was placed on my door that was read this morning. I'm not really sure how to take it though. Are they saying that my blog isn't worth doing, or that I just stay up too late, or what. I can't ask, because I don't know who's doing this, so I guess I'll just have to rest in the fact that I think the blog is worth doing, and staying up late is just part of the task of providing YOU with current information about the week. I do hope you are enjoying reading it...whoever you might be. ????

Whoever you are, I may never know who YOU are, but rest assured, I'm ok with that. It's been fun watching this take shape. I just hope Pastor Ken doesn't trip over those little men. They might just attack him.

One final note before I lay me down to sleep.

I wanted you all to know that this SERVE site is not a CALVIN CRC SERVE site. Our planning team is not made up of just Calvin people. We come from several different churches. Our volunteers do too, as to the funds that use to pay for all of the food, fun stuff and AWESOME Crafts, etc. There are 5 other CRC churches that are helping us out, and I just wanted to thank ALL of those who have stepped up and decided to be part of this week as a volunteer. I also wanted to thank the other CRC churches in our area who have donated funds to this project. Without your assistance we wouldn't be able to do this. Thanks too to Al for assisting us with our transportation needs. Muchly appreciated. If I forgot someone, rest assured we are thankful for your work in this week.

Now it's time for a bit of sleep. Another busy day tomorrow. Blessings to you all.