This past week has been fantastic! I’m so glad the family fun time is not over yet. We spent 3 days in Galvez with the Carpenter side of the family. I am truly grateful to have such wonderful in-laws, and a fun family. My children are, of course, the most blessed by it.
We went to the beach, the boys went fishing, and my niece, her friend, and my son took surf lessons with my husband. But perhaps the most fun occurred with the much anticipated (by my 9-yr old Reece,) family Bocce Ball tournament. She worked for hours making “Bocce Ball Boss” shirts for herself and daddy. A video of their funny warm up is below for those of you not on facebook with me. =)
And my service work finally came to me…a little later than my liking, but I found it when I stopped looking. It was the weirdest thing. Somehow when I went to register with Northwest Ministries, my application went to Deonna Molina at the Wellness Center. I can understand if I was on our email system at the time, but I hit the “email questions” tab directly off the Northwest Ministries website. I’m not sure how it defaulted to our wellness center, and I’m sure it was user error, but it really messed up my plans. It became more complicated when I decided to use my default plan–Meals on Wheels. Unfortunately for me, Meals on Wheels is run by, you guessed it, Northwest Ministries so the required paperwork and orientation wouldn’t make my deadline. I was trying to decide what to do about this when a friend (mother of a kid my son plays football with) asked me what I decided to do for my service work.
I like my friend Damian very much, but we couldn’t be more different. She is an African American lady who was raised in the ghetto’s of Baton Rouge and Houston. She was able to rise above it and she is now a practicing attorney who has been married for 15 years to a teacher. She has two children. She continues to have deep ties to the ghettos and wards of Houston and works with some sad family situations that are usually the result of addiction and abuse. She had this idea to start a 501c to specifically help the disadvantaged children she meets to participate in activities. Ballet, gymnastics, football, track, basketball ect. She is creating a “free” store in exchange for 3 hours of community service work. Even when kids have registration fees waved, and somehow get transportation, they don’t often have the shoes, cleats, equipment, practice clothes, leotards and so forth to fit in and really participate. Parents may not have the proper casual clothes to go to the games. She told me she was starting a collection to personally give to those she met in need. Since I live in a somewhat upperclass neighborhood, I knew I could help, and from that I started my porch pick up project. I ask neighbors and friends to leave their gently used stuff on their porch, and I will pick it up. It’s really gaining steam so I am also helping another friend who is sending items to Venezuela. What’s really neat is that this is something I can do beyond sabbatical. I can’t wait to hear some stories of kids/people helped, but that will take some time.
I am enjoying my daily devotional, and I look forward to our next family trip to the Frio. We are bringing a friend for Reece since she feels left out by her brother and cousin who are teenage boys. Please pray all goes very well and that the little friend we bring for Reece loves the Frio as much as we do. It will be her first time away from home without family. Thanks for all your continued thoughts and prayers.