Tuesday

I forgot to mention our clean up duties yesterday. The Green Monkeys had to wake up extra early to prepare breakfast and set out the lunch stuff for us. The Silver Snakes had bathroom cleanup after breakfast. Luckily, since we had boys in our group they could clean the boys bathrooms and the girls could clean the less messy girls’ bathrooms. Lauren says, “mention I even cleaned bathrooms!”

The nursing center that the Silver Snakes are working at has beautiful gardens in the back. Ten years ago it was all grass a small amount of cement patio. Now, there are different sections with raised vegetable gardens, a strawberry patch, pumpkins and tomatoes. There is an area with a small train running through and miniature houses. There are flowers everywhere. The seniors love going out there as much as possible and they are extremely proud of it.

Here are some thoughts from Marilyn on Tuesday morning before we left for our workday:

“Like Nancy probably already said, I am in the group the Green Monkeys, and we work at Goodwill. At Goodwill, there are racks and racks of clothes all sorted by size and color. Beth and I worked in the shoe department yesterday, and the shoes are also sorted by size and color. It was fun working with the shoes and the clothes because there are some strange garments there. What I did was sort big shopping carts full of shoes into the right shelf. I’m tired, but it was fun.”

As I’m writing this it’s late Tuesday afternoon. We just got back from visiting the Green Bay Packers Hall of Fame. I’m not sure how much the kids enjoyed it but Keith and I sure did. The history of the Packers is actually quite interesting. Dinner is being prepared now, we’ll do “Club” (worship, singing, lesson, group activities) then our church group time.

The Green Monkeys went back to Goodwill today and worked hard; sorting more shoes, and tagging more clothes. In the afternoon they were given some big boxes to put price tags on and were finished in record time. The people at Goodwill thought it would take them all afternoon. Amanda, Marilyn and Beth are actually having fun working so hard… who’da thought?

The Silver Snakes played Outburst this morning with the seniors at the nursing center. We also weeded for an hour before lunch. After lunch we went on a field trip! We accompanied 6 residents of the center and one of the recreation directors to Bay Beach Wildlife preserve. We pushed and pulled residents in wheelchairs up hills and down hills. We saw some animals and walked some nature trails. Madelyn actually had a deer eating from some corn in her hand. She was super excited. We were sad when we had to leave to go shower.

I’m enjoying seeing the kids make friends with kids form other churches. They aren’t too shy this year and are venturing out a bit. Tonight I am telling them not more than 2 kids from Geneva at a table… we’ll see how that goes. I’m also impressed with their insights and thoughtfulness during our church group time. They aren’t afraid to reflect and share about themselves at the end of the day.

Our kids have such serving spirits. They don’t complain when given a task, or asked to pitch in. They are willing to help and are full of God’s love. I haven’t heard any whining. Of course, maybe they are doing that when I’m not around, but I really don’t think so, I haven’t heard any grumbling underneath their breaths. I hope their willing attitudes continue for the next two days of our service here.

Continue to pray for us.