I don't have nearly enough time to write all the things I need to on here. So much has happened in the past few days. Yesterday was Sunday and I felt like the day didn't even really exist...it was crazy. I got up at 8 to take a shower. Fred was supposed to have emailed us the OpN newsletter on Saturday night but he didn't get it to us until Sunday morning. So...while I was in the shower, he called KT and she and Laura printed and stapled 30 of them. Then, we had to go to the church at 9 to pass them out and greet everyone. Sunday was the first day of Sunday school for this church since the storm! That is just one more indication of how devastating this storm was to these people....and still is. Everyone was excited about the classrooms and most liked them. This church worries and excites me at the same time. There are great people here...and we have been welcomed and helped in so many ways by so many of them. On the other side of that, though, is the fact that though we don't see much of it, the church is being torn apart by some politic type stuff. Some are even wanting to do away with OpN! I know that it has to be hard on people to have one of their elders, Fred, working so hard to help other people and not just them, but it benefits them too! Besides, how can the not want other people to receive the love that this operation has been spreading for almost a year?? I pray that God will continue to support this work and that Fred's family will understand. That is another thing, yesterday we went to eat at Fred's house. We ate with Dee, Ruthie, Robin and her husband Jay. While everyone is nice, they aren't vibrant, easygoing...it is really sad. Dee is having a hard time coping with all of the things...her mother being really sick, Fred not being there all the time and very busy, her daughter's not being happy...it is a lot for her to handle. We told her at church that we would take her out to dinner this week, maybe on Tuesday and I really hope that she says yes because I want her to know we're here for her. We also offered to help her start to clear up her house and get her life back to some semblance of order. Fred doesn't want us to overextend ourselves, but I think this would be a very valuable work.
Saturday was a really busy day. We worked on the classrooms and making the building safe and ready for the kids all day. Tamron Hall and her cousin Erika came...Tamron is a talk show host in Chicago. They were with Fred most of the day but then later they came and helped paint and did a really good job too. The yellow room is insanely bright. They I went with them to get some stuff to decorate the rooms. Tamron had set a 500 dollar budget to get supplies for the classroom. We went to a place called the Educator, then to Target, then to Toys R Us, then to Wal Mart. We got stuff for a little reading corner, bulletin boards, lots of books, just general things to help in the classrooms...and all for her budget which was great. A group of 3 people came in on Saturday night. They are from Tennessee and they are kind of an odd group. It is Linda, Mike, and Kyle and they are not related. Linda is probably around 40, Mike is 33, Kyle is 20. Kyle and Mike are a bit socially awkward but alright guys. We are glad to have them of course. Saturday night we went to eat with James. He told us that he wanted to take us out to eat but we would have to pick the place. We asked Fred and he told us to go to Sweet Fire and Ice. We tried, but we couldn't find the place and so James took us to O'Henry's. It was excellent! We had such a great time too...laughing at each other a lot. Last night we sent out all the emails to the campus ministries for our after finals project. I'm really excited about it and I hope God blesses us with more people than we can handle really...or just the right amount =)
I just spent some time writing down all the emails that are no longer functioning that we sent our challenge to. There wasn't a whole lot so that is encouraging! We also got 3 responses back already--all positive!!! I'm so excited! Well, it's 9am already and I need to be getting to work. I'm doing ok about missing blair right now, probably because i've been so busy lately. It is going to be SO good to see him here in a little over a week. I just want to sit somewhere in his arms for a couple hours...i think that will do wonders for the both of us. I hope we can stick this out...I pray so hard for him and for us. I have another interview at Zea's today...hopefully I can convince him that I'm a hard worker and that I won't just screw around. I think that working there I could make some good money and save a lot for Germany...another thing I need to be thinking about. ok, here i go...another day in the life