SERVE 2013 - Day 2 - Saturday - Participants Arrive

SERVE 2013 - Day 2 - 

Participants Arrive and Team Introductions

Greetings again.  

Well, it's been a long day 2 for the planning team and mentors of SERVE 2013 here in Ottawa.  

My day began after a not so great sleep on an air mattress that wouldn't hold its air, and being woken up by Shawn and Steven's parents at 6 am, not 6:30 am as I previously thought. 

Shawn and Steve's family were travelling back home and needed to leave really early.  After they left I drove them, and Justin and Ben to Mary-Jane's place for the morning.  We had work to do before everyone else arrived. 

Before I get on with the day though, I thought you might like to meet the planning team, support team, and mentors and participants, so here goes....

Harold = In charge of Transportation and work sites and our schedule for the week.  

Bea = In charge of Small Group time and helping out with crafts. 

Joanna = In charge of participants.  

Ron = In charge of mentors, and overseeing everything.  

Joy = In charge of sports/games, pampering and warm fuzzy department.    

Grace = In charge of evening crafts and and helping with small groups. 

Janine = In charge of Work Sites and activities for the week.  

Joanna = helping out with small groups.  

Annette = In charge of community life and prayer initiatives.  She gets the joy of handing out all the gifts to everyone for warm fuzzies.  

Annet = In charge of Kitchen.  

Anne = In charge of Kitchen. 

Mark = Our Speaker

Hannah =  In charge of praise team.  

Shirley = helping out with crafts

Nancy = Helping out wherever we need her. : ) 

Ailene = in charge of pictures

Chris = in charge of pictures, on praise team and helping out with worship slides. 

Megan = helping out with sports/games, and video

Mary Jane - one of our nurses.  

Rosalie - Helping out wherever needed.  : ) 

We now move on to our mentors and participants.  

Left = Steven - participant

Right = Ben - mentor

Left = Becca - mentor

Middle = Zachary - participant

Right = Caralynn - mentor

Left = Fayth - mentor

Right = Kyle - participant

Left = Deshawn - participant

Right = Jonathan - mentor

Left = Justin - mentor

Middle = Shawn - participant

Right = Steven - mentor helper

Left = Rachel - mentor

Middle = Jessica - participant 

Right = Jessica (yes you read that correctly - mentor)

Left = Carissa - mentor

Right = Ryan - participant

Left = Niesje - mentor

Middle = John - participant

Right = Rachael - mentor

Left = Amy - mentor

Middle = Jordana - participant

Right = Sarah - mentor

Left = Joy - mentor

Right = Francine - participant

Left = Lisa - participant

Right = Valerie - mentor

Left = Chris - mentor

Right = Tyler - participant

Left = Lucy - mentor

Middle = Alex - participant

Right - Nicolette - mentor

And so ends our team and mentors and participants.  

Now we move on to the happenings of the day......

I got up at 8 am, after trying to get back to sleep from dropping off the boys, but that didn't work too well.  I found Annette coming in from her stay overnight at home, but she didn't look to happy about life at the time I snapped this picture...  : )  

I made a stop in the kitchen to get a cup of coffee (I really needed it this morning)  and saw the wonderful display of strawberries.  We sure are eating well this week.  

It seems that Anne and Annet couldn't find the milk containers to put the milk in to, so Evert ended up holding the bag, so to speak.  I ended up finding the containers.  That sparked a great moment of humility for all those times they have chided Evert and I for not being able to find things because we are ....well....male.  : ) 

Good morning to you too Chris.  Rise and shine.! 

Becca getting her caffeine fix.   

Each morning Annette opens with devotions.  Here she is letting us know about the prayer box that we can use to write down prayers and they will be prayed for during the week.  

I spent some time getting to know Jessica.  A very nice person, who looked much more awake than last night.   

After our great breakfast, it was time for training. Joanna led the group through some things to think about as we interact with our participants.  It's a bit out of her comfort zone to speak in front of people, but she did an awesome job.   

Sarah and Becca are reading something together.   

I spent that time collating all the forms I received from the mentors.  Lots of forms for a week like this.   

The group went outside for a bit to do an exercise in something or other (not sure because I wasn't outside).  

Apparently it had to do with being blindfolded.   

The group getting ready to lead those who are blindfolded.   

Reminds me of sheep being herded.   

It's OK Carissa, you'll be just fine.   

After Joanna was finished, it was time for Bea to walk the group through the small group times for the week.  Lots of great material once again.  Bea and Grace never disappoint.   

Joy and Jessica seem to be having a good morning.  

Hmmm, these pictures seem to be a wee bit out of order...we are skipping back to breakfast for a few minutes.  Here is Jonathan...well....showing off maybe.  : ) He must have a very heavy plate of food or something.   

Mark loves to interact with everyone, which is great to see.  Here are Jessica and Rachel sharing a fun story together.  

Joy and Niesje (pronounced Neesha, in case you were wondering).  Buds.   

Steven and Shawn joined us for lunch and Jessica took some time to get to know him.  

Megan came at about lunch time too, to help out with games and other things.  She has been a mentor in previous SERVE's.  

After lunch was served, we waited for our participants to arrive.  They had a window of 2 - 4 pm, but at 1 pm our second set was at the door and ready to go.  

Here's Kyle coming in with all his stuff.  

By 4 pm we had everyone in the building and all the individual and group photo's were taken (thanks again Chris and Ailene) and we were ready to start our scrum time.  

As we were waiting for people to arrive, there was registration to take care of, settling everyone into their rooms, seeing the nurse for medications, and spending time getting acquainted with each other.  Here's Zachary decorating his gift bag.   

Here's Joanna and Mary Jane at our registration table. They spent a good 3 hours there.  Such dedicated people.  

I don't know why Chris took this picture, but I guess he likes to see me working at my computer or something.  

Kyle and Rachel catching up.  

John arriving with Annette.  He was very excited to be at SERVE once again.   

Shawn playing cards.  He looks tired. Got up at 5 am this morning.   

Jessica and others waiting for their participants to arrive.   

Mark introducing himself to Jessica.   

Shawn is always happy to see old faces coming back to SERVE.   

Hmmm, I guess when Chris and Ailene are in charge of the pictures, a couple of originals are going to end up making their way in.  : )  

I don't think Ailene was too impressed with Chris' tree climbing.  :) 

Tonight, our kitchen crew was NOT Anne and Annet, but others.  We are trying to diversify that responsibility as it's a lot of work.  Here are Cheryl and David peeling potatoes.  Thanks for helping us out.   

Chris just hanging out.   

Kyle with his guitar. Ready to play during worship, and very excited about his part in the upcoming talent show.  Stay tuned.   : )  

Here's Alex, our final participant to arrive.  

A group shot.  The team is now complete and we are ready to being SERVE 2013 here in Ottawa.  

Yahoo!!!   

Alex and Mark hamming it up.   

For our scrum time, people had to ask each other questions and if they got the answer right, they could put a colour onto these sheets of newsprint.  As you can see, they are forming a rainbow.  It didn't get finished, so we will be coming back to it later in the week.  

Here's Katrina, my daughter, writing warm fuzzies...and I really appreciate you giving me two of them today.  : )  

After Scrum time it was time for dinner.  The best meatloaf I've tasted in a long time.  

Jeremy helping out with supper.  Thanks for your work Jeremy.  

One of the many table enjoying the food and fellowship.  

Zachary being interviewed by someone during small group time.    

Rachael and John going over the material during small group time.   

Shawn and Justin interviewing each other.   

Give Alex a mic and he's just a ham.... : )  

Jonathan is doubling as a member of the praise team. Here you see him getting ready.  

Annette is getting ready too...for tomorrow. Something to do with winter coats...in 40 Celsius weather...what is she thinking!!!!! 

Small group time, it was time for worship and our speaker, Mark.  I introduced our time together.   

Worship time is always a wonderful time for me. 

The music is such a powerful medium for all of us, but I find even more so for our participants.  They just love singing and playing their instruments.  A joy to watch.   

Joel was our leader for the evening.  Hannah will be starting tomorrow morning.  

Tyler and Kyle having a blast playing in the band.  

Mark was up after worship time.  He interviewed previous participants about their experiences in SERVE.  Here's Steven talking about what he likes about SERVE.  

Mark is playing a reporter for his time here at SERVE.  He thinks he knows it all, but really he doesn't.   

His desk sure is messy, and he likes to boast about all the stories he's covered over the years...like Justin B and America's funniest videos etc.   

I am playing his boss, and I just love it.   

I guess I must have said something that frightened him.  : )  I've given him the challenge of finding out why people can't JUST BE any more.  Mark has 1 week to get his story out.   

There was a short play during our time, and here's Rachel playing the role of a wonderful mom. I really like the hair and glasses.   

It seems that her son, Justin, got stuck in something called a "sin box".  Once in, he couldn't get out.  A Dr. couldn't get him out, even when he tried shaving cream on him..... 

A sheriff couldn't get him out either.  

But Jesus got him out, and John was impressed with the end result.  

We ended our worship time with a final song.   

and then it was time for crafts and sports....or, just hang out time, which is what Deshawn, Jessica and Jessica are doing.   

Rachel trying her hand at basketball.   

Zachary in direct competition with her.   

I think he won.   

Deshawn took some time to write in his journal.   

Kyle getting ready for something...but I'm not sure what.  : )  

Inside, it was worship flag making time.  Alex is into it.   

Fayth playing football.   

Nice catch Chris.  

Steven balancing and relaxing as the evening began to cool things off outside.   

Watching others playing basketball.   

Sarah helping others with their craft.  

Ben and Steven doing a hand drawing together.   

Lucy and Alex.  

Shirley making sure all the supplies are available.  

Valerie and Lisa spending quality time together.   

We don't have clothes lines, so here's how we dry our towels.   

John just chillin' with Rachael and Niesje.   

 And we end our day with Alex playing his guitar just before heading off to bed.  

And so ends day two of SERVE with our participants.

It was a good day of renewing old friendships, and making new ones.  Time to adjust to new surroundings for some, and to new relationships.  Some of them easy, and some of them we are still wondering how they will turn out.  : ) 

All part of the Special Needs SERVE experience.  

It's now time for bed.  I hope you have enjoyed reading and seeing the pictures of this day. 

Tomorrow it's time to commission the group for works of service and to continue getting to know each other's gifts and talents as we continue to grow in relationship with each other. 

Blessings to you, and good morning.  : )