Tshasthoughts’s Weblog

We arrived in San Francisco on Sunday where we were put into groups.  Heather and I ended up being in the same group along with two other leaders and 11 kids (4 from our group and the others were from other states).  We learned what we would be doing for the week, ate dinner and get settled in.

Day 1~Monday

We worked at the Salvation Army Warehouse. I never realized how much the Salvation Army does for the community.  We delivered meals to some people that lived in Government housing.  It was me, Shelley, and Svea along with one volunteer man.  I think he really trusted the area because he walked WAY ahead of us and never looked back.  I made sure the girls were right with me the whole time.  I mostly waited in the lobbies so the girls could have the experience of delivering the meals.

When the meals were delivered we had the wonderful opportunity to sort through left over bars of soap, bottles of shampoo and conditioner that were donated by local hotels in the area.  And, I must say, when I say left over I mean USED.  Yep, there were bars of soap we were digging through that had hairs stuck to them.  Our task was to pick out the ones that were half decent, re-fill half bottles to make them full and put together hygiene bags.  There are two days a week that families come to the warehouse with a case worker and they get to shop.  These hygiene bags were one of the things they got to take home with them.

Day 2 ~Tuesday

This day we headed down to another part of town to the Salvation Army Day Camp.  As we drove down the main street of this poverty stricken area, I couldn’t help but notice the men lined up down the street.  They kept waving their hands at us. I couldn’t figure out if they were flirting or if they thought we were a  bus and wanted a ride.  Finally I asked Heather what that was all about.  She then told me that they were looking for work for the day.  They were hoping a construction crew would come by and need their work.  As soon as she told me this I had to fight back tears as I tried to imagine living like that.  The tears welled up as I thought about the uncertainty of whether or not they would make enough money to have food on the table for dinner that night.  I think the things that always hit me the hardest on these trips are the things I can try and relate to the most.

At the day camp we organized  a worship time for the kids and basically just talked and hung out with them the rest of the day.  Several of the kids I talked to lived on that main street where I saw the day laborers.  So, the chances of them being the children of some of those men were very high.  So sad.

Day 3-Wednesday

We went back to the Warehouse this day.  I got to go to some of the rooms where we delivered meals this day.  I remember two instances very clearly.  One man we delivered food to said, “Thank you so much.  God Bless you.  If it weren’t for you guys I wouldn’t be eating today.”

The other time  I got emotional this day was outside and apartment building a homeless man came up to our group and made eye contact with each one of us asking for spare change.  Unfortunately, none of us had any money on us.  I looked him in the eye with sincere apologies and said I was sorry.  He looked back at me and said, “Please, mam, my feet, they really do hurt.”  I looked down at his feet and he was wearing sandals that were at least two sizes too small and his heals were hanging off the edge.  I couldn’t stop the tears this time.  I felt awful and helpless.

When we got back to the warehouse we sorted through HUGE boxes of clothes that were donated for the people to come shop through.

Day 4~ Thursday

We went back to the day camp this day.  The story that sticks out to me from this day was the story I heard from a sweet little five year old boy, Chris.  We were at the park.  Shelley had been sitting under the playground with a group of kids for awhile, so I decided to join her.  There is where I met Chris.  I talked to him about random stuff for awhile when I asked him if he lived with his mom and dad.  He said not my mom, they broke up.  I said Oh but you still get to see her, right?  He said “No, never.”  I asked him why and he said “She’s in Heaven.”  He then went on to say that she had 101 dalmatians and that they ate her and all her bones.  Shelley then said that he told her his mom was shot by the cops.  Tears flooded my eyes as I thought about these things he was saying.  I don’t know which parts of his stories were true.  But, it would be my guess that most definitely some of it is true.  How sad it is to know that there are kids out there in this world growing up in homes like this.  It really was heartbreaking for both Shelley and I to hear.

Summary of the week~  I was most amazed with some of the changes I saw amongst the kids in our youth group.  I really think of each of them as our adopted teenagers or our little brothers and sisters.  To see them be emotional about the things they were seeing was absolutely amazing and rewarding in itself.  To see walls of prejudices broken down in them.  We had kids getting their hearts broken seeing some of the things they saw.  We had kids chatting the homeless, watching movies with the homeless, witnessing to the homeless, exchanging e-mail addresses, one girl washed the feet of a homeless lady and gave her a pedicure and manicure.  We had kids stepping up as leaders amongst all of the church groups volunteering to help wherever or whenever needed.  They weren’t afraid to share their stories at night when we had group time.  I learn from these high schoolers and its so great!!

If you are one of the students that was on this trip and you are reading this I hope you know how proud I am of you and how Blessed I feel to be a part of each of your lives.  What a Blessing~I love you all!!

Yesterday was my Birthday….what an AWESOME day it was.  I just want to thank all of you who made my day so special.  We spent the day with family up at the Woodburn stores, ate at Sonic on the way home, and more family came over for dinner (yummy homemade-create-your-own pizzas), cake, gifts and swimming.  It was truly a great day.  Thank you all for your love and generosity, the phone calls, stopping by and dropping by, myspace comments, texts, e-mails, and e-cards.  It is so nice to know so many people were thinking of me on my day!  I honestly have the best family and friends.

We leave today at 5PM please remember too keep us in your prayers.  Especially now because we are leaving both the kids here with fevers.  Not sure what they’ve got, but they aren’t feeling the greatest.  I hate to leave them when they are sick, but I KNOW they will be in good hands.

Thanks again!  I love you all more than you know!

Grandpa Charlie offered to take Madi andher two cousins, Jordyn and Karson, fishing yesterday while Evelyn, Granny, Pat, Vanessa, Ginger, and I adventured up to IKEA for the first time.  What a trooper he was taking on all three kids.  Grandpa Gary had Lincon for the day and they had fun jumping on the trampoline, reading books and playing hard.  Both Grandpas really pulled through for us yesterday.  It was so nice to be able to shop and not worry about the kids whining and crying and tearing up the store.  Thanks Grandpas!

Madi was quite the little fisher yesterday.  Check out some of the pics below to see for yourself!

This Rainbow Trout was 18 inches long and 2.75 pounds.  Madi insisted that they buy Rainbow GLITTER power bait.  Must have been the glitter! 

Madi and Jordyn showing off the catch of the day!

Karson checking out the fish!
 

So last night Russell, Madi, Lincon and I went to a silent auction for a fund raiser.  Isn’t the idea of a silent auction to out bid people?  Even if it’s right up to the last second?

This lady and I were both bidding on tickets to the zoo.  We have family coming from out of state and we will be for sure going to the zoo.  When there was 7 seconds left she wrote in another bid under mine.  She finished and there was still 2 seconds left.  So, I had a pencil in my hand ready to write my bid.  I was going to win the tickets.  Everyone knows I’m all about a good deal.  So I wrote in my bid and they closed the table.

I then get in line to pay and I see the lady come up to my mom (who was working at the auction)  Oh and did I mention this other lady was working there too.  She wore her shirt to identify herself as someone who works there and was part of the team to raise money for a good cause.  She leans over to my mom and tells her something like I cheated and wrote in my bid after they closed the table.  Not true.  There was two seconds left.  I wasn’t going to let her walk away from the night thinking that I cheated.

I chimed in and said “Actually there was one second left when I was finished writing my bid”

“You were still writing when there was one second left” She got a little attitude.

Then the nice me says “If it’s that important to you, you can have the tickets because we are going no matter what.”

She says “Fine I will take them, THANK YOU”  (attitude yet again)

“Good have them!”  I began to have an attitude too.

Then someone asked me if I really wanted to let her have the tickets and I said “Yeah, I’m not going to stand here and argue about it, thats petty.”

Then she has the nerve to say “you’re the one arguing about it”

I dropped it at that point.  My adrenaline was sure going.  I don’t like confrontation but I wanted her to know that I did not cheat at writing in my bid. Outbidding is the name of the game.  I couldn’t believe that someone who was there to represent Relay for Life would act like that to someone from the outside trying to participate in raising money for a good cause.  I think she should be embarrassed for embarrassing the others that she was representing.

Madi was disappointed because all she wanted me to win was the zoo tickets.  I had to explain to her the whole situation.  I told her that sometimes you have to step up and be the bigger person, even though you may not like it.  She is slowly and unfortunately learning that not everyone in life is going to treat you right or treat you good.  What a reality check for her.  Anyways, there’s my vent. Maybe now that I’ve blogged about it, I can let it go.

The Before

The big SNIP!

There it is!  All 9 inches!

She was so proud.  At church we do prayer requests and praises.  Madi didn’t sit with us last night, but as they were asking for praises or requests, she raised her hand.  I thought to myself “what is she going to say?”  Here’s what she said in the sweetest cutest voice “Um, I’m thankful I got my hair cut” Followed with a big smile.  So cute~

Yes, the ablove photos are real.  They have not been enhanced or tampered with.  It is true that the above child formerly known as the “chocolate milk Junkie, I don’t eat vegeatbles, Give me anything thats sweet CHILD” made a miraculaous turn-around today and chowed down on carrots, broccoli and Green Beans…all fresh and crisp!  I have to admit I am one proud Momma!  He did of course have to dip them in ranch.

Is this really a miracle?  Or is it a once in a lifetime thing?  I have to have one child that doesn’t take after their father in the “NO veggies” rule.  Right?  Someone in this house has got to share the love of fresh veggies with me!

The countdown begins as we look forward to what’s in store for the teens from our church and for us as we prepare to travel to San Francisco for this years missions trip.  It’s always interesting to see the way God works in the lives of the teenagers each time we go away to serve.  Not only the way the teens are affected by what we do and what we see, but the way Russell and I are affected as well.  What a humbling experience we have had the previous two years.  There are always tears…whether they are tears of sadness or tears of joy being able to touch people’s lives, I know we will come home with a little piece of us still in San Francisco.

While down there we will be doing a variety of things.  Some of the places we may end up working are a pregnancy crisis center, a retirement home for homeless people who can’t afford any other type of care, day camps, the food bank, and possible other locations as well.  Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers as we travel and as we serve.  I will definitely write about our experience when we return.  We will be gone from June 21-June 28.

Russell and I decided to go to WalMart tonight.  On the way we realized that we forgot the leash.  Yes, we use a leash with Lincon.  I swore we would never use one of those things.  Just goes to show you never know what you might end up doing as a parent so don’t swear anything off because anything is possible!  :)  He seriously hates being in the cart so we thought trying the leash in the store would work.  I called my good friend Dayna and it turned out that she had one we could stop by and borrow.  When we got to her house, Lincon and Madi both wanted to stay with her because she is so much fun to them~So, we of course let them because shopping without kids goes so much smoother than shopping with kids.

We did some shopping in the random departments of the store. Like the deoderant aisle, the baby section, the fabric section, and then made our way over to the food.  We ate dinner before going shopping so we shouldn’t have been too hungry.  As I went down the condiments aisle I saw these cute little baby dill pickles.  They looked so good!  I bought them along with other random food…biscuits, crystal light, butter, cinnamon graham crackers and all the other stuff Russell threw in the cart.  When we got home I HAD to try the cute pickles and the graham crackers looked so good that I HAD to have those too.  I alternated eating both of them and it was the best snack!  I think that is the weirdest closet craving I have ever gotten to the infamous “Pickles and Ice Cream” And it was so good and so worth it!

Just had to share my weird food thing.

I went in for my BIG ultrasound on Tuesday… we did not find out the sex of the baby.  Everything measured just right, but we didn’t get many good pictures.  When we were leaving the appointment, I told Russell that it seemed like she spent a lot of time looking at the baby’s heart.  I was a little worried , but pushed it to the back of my mind.  We went to Charlie and Evelyn’s to get Lincon and stayed for dinner.  When we got home from the appointment, there was a message from the u/s tech at the hospital saying that they needed me to come back in.  She said they missed a mandatory image of the heart.  Of course in moments like these, you automatically think the worse, but then try and be hopeful…. “Did she really miss a mandatory image?”  “Why WAS she looking at the heart for so long?”  “Was it not beating right?”  “Why did she check the heart rate twice?”  All these thoughts ran through my head all night. I didn’t sleep terribly, but I didn’t sleep well either.  Yesterday morning when I woke up I just said “God, you know what I can handle so if there is an issue with this baby’s heart, I know you will get us through this.”

I called and was able to get in at 10 o’clock for another u/s.  They lady kept apologizing and said that they really did just miss a mandatory image of the four chambers of the heart.  She took the image she needed then took TONS of pictures of the tiny little miracle growing inside me.  She said everything looked beautiful.  Very reassuring! It’s hard to believe this little baby weighs about 1 pound and has every little body part that we as adults have.  We could even see the lenses of the eyes.  Here are some pics from yesterdays ultrasound.  The baby was in a beautiful position for the heart image and for all these other neat ones too.

Folded in half…look at those calves!  Just like Daddy’s!

Both feet…the ankles were crossed.

Cute little profile.