- Flying into Seattle and getting my very own hotel room.
- Taking the s.i.n.g.l.e. most beautiful drive of my life. It was two hours up and over the mountains and man! what incredible views. I found myself saying "is this real??!?!"
- Meeting a very wonderful staff that is going to have a great summer!
- Paying close to $2000 for five flats of food at Costco and making a mental note that we would do the same thing in a week
- Hearing the passing by shoppers at Costco exclaim "what a big party!" or "i wanna come to your party!" or "you guys sure eat a lot" when they get a look at our carts.
- Constantly being amazed by the surrounding landscape.
- Meeting students and adults from places I never have before: Idaho and Nevada!
- Making meals for seventy right alongside jr high and high schoolers.
- Painting some houses
- Meeting a man with a prosthetic leg and hearing all his one legged jokes!
- Getting threatened at kids club one minute and then hugged by the very same kid the next minute!
- Hearing the INCREDIBLE sounds of Native drumming and singing.
- Participated in a worship circle.
- Did another foot washing club - - these were always my favorite!
- Had a cookout in the park, and watched as the grill almost exploded.... but it did not, no worries mom
- laughed as Jillian (the kids club staff) showed me what was confiscated at kids club. Included were some fake weapons and one very real throwing star
- Friday faxes! I did not miss these.
- Met probably the most adorable Hispanic neighbor kids who just LOVED to help us unload lots and lots and lots of groceries.
- laughed and laughed and laughed
There was so much in just one week that it is hard to describe and I could not possibly cover it all in one post! However, I will say that it was so wonderful to do another week with YouthWorks. And it felt good going into it knowing exactly what I was doing. I enjoyed being able to lead and encourage the staff and watch them take over as the week went on. I was blessed to help out such a wonderful group of four people and they provided me a week full of entertainment. I have to say that my favorite part, aside from connecting with the staff, was meeting the students and adult leaders. I had forgotten how much I liked working with youth. They are so full of energy and honesty and always manage to teach me. It is always cool to see how they are challenged throughout the week and how they process that. I was re-energized by the week, even though I was exhausted, but you know what I mean. It was a wonderful week.
I leave you with this true story from my week that makes me laugh every time:
We were getting ready in the kitchen for the community cookout in the park. The students were preparing leftover creations and packing up all the food. Joe, the program staff, went over to a student and told him to fit as many bags of chips into the tub as possible so we could carry them over. Well, a few minutes later Joe and I looked over and just smiled. Because instead of just piling the bags in the bin, he had opened the bags of chips and dumped them into the bin! Doritos everywhere! I mean, hey, he was just doing was he was told right?? ha. ha.
