Day 11 - As you can probably guess, we could not get Internet access last night, so this entry is coming to you a day late. I will be posting two entries today. One for yesterday, this one, and another for today.
To begin with, I need to let parents know that we should be arriving home around 9 pm tomorrow night. We will be calling you when we are 1 hour from home so you will know.
So, yesterday was the day to say good-bye and begin our journey home. A bitter sweet day, as always.
I began my morning by seeing John and Hank. They have formed quite a friendship over this week.
It was time to begin the task of packing. Not an easy one for some in the group. : ) In some rooms it was hard to find the floor.
See what I mean.
It was also time to pick up the crafts that were done. The nice picture frames.
Fontana utilizing the sink to get her hair washed.
Hannah and Kayla starting the packing process. Where does one begin? : )
Jacob received a can of peanuts in his warm fuzzy box, but he didn't seem to believe they were actually peanuts. He opened up the can, only to realize that they were actually peanuts.
John and Rosy looking at the group picture we all received.
Fayth and Jovita looking rather tired.
Leah and Amy going over all of Amy's warm fuzzies. She received a lot of them this week.
Ben was up to no good for part of this week, but he got payback from Bonita. She found his shoe and put some dirt and a plant in it. Annette took the plant home with her. Thankfully she took it out of the shoe first, as it's sitting with us in the front of the van.
Hank going over the picture with Kayla.
Breakfast was served for the last time by the 3 amigo's. Thanks a bunch for serving us in this way.
Chris having his morning tea....quite a cultured boy he has become.
Pastor Ken smiling. Underneath that smile is masked one tired person, as are all the team members.
Shellie got very little sleep last night, though you'd never know it. Bonita is still looking chipper too. BTW, THANKS A TON for the two bags of skittles Bonita.....we have been enjoying them on the way home.
Carla was AMAZING this week too. Thanks for being part of the team. It was an honour getting to know you.
A toast to a great SERVE experience.
Our breakfast team with the pastor of the church.
Joanna writing last warm fuzzies.
Kyle and Jacob and Ben doing the last morning devotions of the week.
Leah and Amy....
and Jovita and Fayth.
The packing begins.
Ben doesn't look to happy about packing. The goal for our group was to pack as tightly as when we arrived. A tall order for some in the group, but we managed.
After packing time, it was worship time.
Final worship for John, Amy, Kyle and Jovita. Chris drummed this morning to fill in for someone who couldn't come.
Lots of the songs were fun. We learned some new ones over the week. The actions were fun to do as well.
Lots of hip action and arm waving.
It's always fun to go on stage and praise God.
It was time for the final leg of the amazing race. Kyle is helping Shellie. I had to feel sorry for Ken this week. Shellie pulled some fast ones on him, but he handled things very well. You never quite know where Shellie's going to go with things.
Kim helping Shellie go through all the lessons of the past week.
Amy and Leah playing tic-tac-toe.
Receiving the peace of Christ and passing it along.
Our sound tech guy, in the middle, did a great job this week. Thanks for all your work.
A shot from the back of the church.
After worship we met in the gym and Carol thanked those who helped make this week amazing.
Here you see some of those amazing people.
Then it was time for the final small group session. Parents were invited to be part of this too.
I continue to be impressed with our mentors and how they have led the small group times. They have done an amazing job.
Amber always smiling.
Our map - complete!
We wasted no time in beginning to clean up while the small groups were in session.
It's over...... : (
In order to arrive in Thunder Bay at a 1/2 decent time, I was the kill joy who pushed noon departure time. I was toast and wanted to make it there before I was way too tired to drive, so I kept pushing. We left by 12:15 pm. Before we did, the whole team surrounded our van and Pastor Ken prayed over it. Cool.
Our kitchen crew had made us brown bag lunches. THANKS a lot.
And then it was time to say farewell.
Tears flowed......
Kyle will miss us, and we will miss him, along with all the other new friends we have made in Winnipeg.
As we drove away Annette was already starting with her antics. Lining up all our empty cans on the dash board.
Those in the front bench seat got comfortable again.....whew, what a smell...... : )
Fayth got into the swing of things rather quickly...by sleeping......she does look comfortable.
Everyone settled in and began to share memories of our week and the conflicting emotions of leaving the SERVE site. No one wanted to leave. Then there is the added conflict of knowing that there will D.V. ("Lord Willing" for those who don't know) be a Winnipeg and Ottawa site next year. Which one to go to......not an easy choice. I know where I will be going, and not going..... : ) I hope our great mentors decide to stick around Ottawa and continue to make our site a quality one....and maybe they want to do both sites????? Lots to ponder over the next year.
Megan had to pee right around the same time that we stopped on the way back, so we stopped at the same place.
There was no wash basin, so we used the lake to wash our hands, and then dip our toes into the refreshing water. Nice picture....don't worry, we waited a couple of minutes after washing our hands to let the water move things away....(for those of you who might be grossed out by the thought....)
The back of the van gets rather dirty, but everyone makes sure messages help with the mess.
We stopped at a Subway to grab some dinner....
They all lined up nicely for their meal. Another great pic.
Ah yes....the infamous Megan eating photo. I got another one for today.....yes!!!
Remember that picture I took at the beginning of our trip of someone pulled over by the OPP, and saying that if you didn't speed they wouldn't bug you? Well, in actual fact, they don't only pull you over for speeding. The OPP can also pull you over for traffic violations.
Before my group tells all you parents about this, and all the facts get muddled, and you think I was doing 200 KM/h in a 90 KM/h zone, I'll just give you the details.
Apparently after stopping to go pee, I was talking with Annette and Fayth and we were having lots of fun. They were trying to keep me awake, because I was tired, and they were doing a great job. Probably too good, because I wasn't paying complete attention to the road and came upon someone going VERY slow in front of me, and I passed them. Seems it was on a hill with a solid line, and that's a no no, but I didn't pick up on that at the time.
About 45 minutes later, an OPP car came opposite us, and then turned around and pulled us over. Someone had complained about my maneuver, and the officer said they had a witness to it, so who am I to argue. Suck it up and pay the fine, which is what I did today (I don't think it helped that when the female officer said hello, that I said hello Sir.....oops....).
The group had some fun with the event, and I felt a bit dumb, but I took comfort in the fact that my sidekick, Annette has had numerous brushes with the traffic police, though not many convictions (thankfully). We laughed for a while about police stories, and carried on with our drive home. Not much one can do about things like that except move on (no pun intended).
So now you all know. Case closed. : )
We arrived outside Thunder Bay and stopped for a minute at Kekabeka Falls. A wonderful place. I'd love to camp there someday.
Nice scenery.
Annette made us pose for this shot.
We then drove to Thunder Bay Christian School. We were lodging there for the evening. There was a playground in the back of the building, and we were waiting for the principal of the school to come open the building, so the group ran to the playground. Apparently some ran so fast that they ran right out of their sandals.
And left their stuff strewn everywhere.
It was a nice playground, and the sun was just setting...at 10 pm.
Chris remembering his days when he was king of the castle.
Ah memories....
After being let in we settled in. I pumped up the air mattresses just as the mosquitoes decided to come out. They were crazy. I had so many bites you could connect the dots with them.
It was an older school, but well kept, and we were thankful to have a place to lay our tired heads. Especially me.
Here's the boys room.
So that ended our final official day of SERVE and our first leg of our trip home. Again, it was a good day. We ended things with evening prayer time and then it was off to bed. I enjoyed the drive today. Annette came up with a great game of guessing 3 letter words (part of the reason for my ticket), but it helped to pass the time and seemed to speed the drive up. I've come to appreciate anew Annette's sense of humor, and her ability to put up with mine. Whomever ends up in the front bench seat either ends up in a fun discussion about life, or a fun game. Several in the group want to be in the front bench for that reason.
I will end this post now, and move on to today's ride home. Move on to day 12 if you want to know more.
1 comment:
And did the officer notice your painted fingernails? :-) -Janice
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