Obedient and Faith

Another week has flown by. Beginning to look a lot like spring in this part of the country. Trees are budding out, flowers are starting to bloom. God is good!

Not sure how to describe last Saturday. Too much going on, but what a blessing the day was for all. We had our Brookwood friends show up, a bus load of them! Some of the young ones wanted to go with Mr Scott on the visits, so they took the bus. Others  stayed around the center and help out. We had Gus, and his friends, Katy and Gabriel join us Saturday morning. So good to see Gus. Gus wanted his friends to meet his outdoor friends. Mr Scott took our new friends to the camps. Children have a way of knocking down any barriers and lvoing folks where they are. Dale continues to struggle with his move and his health.  Momma T and Ms Patty set up for U2 Saturday with tables full of activities. Some of us stayed around the center and begun the process of getting the kitchen ready for the make over, some painted the outside, some hung the new chapel window coverings, others worked in the clothing and food pantry rooms. We got a lot accomplished.

After Brookwood folks left, we headed over to Barnes and Noble for Judie Chrisitie's book signing. A good crowd was there, buying books Krysten had picked out for our children.

Then later on that afternoon, the tutors took the children to a movie.

All and all a great day, a long day, but a day full of God's blessings. Thank you all for helping out and being there for others.

Sunday morning, Ms Lisa and mr brian spoke to a Sunday School class at Christ Methodist church. Always good to share our stories with others. This group has helped us by bring food for our community meals. But they want to do more, so Ms Lisa shared all what was going on.

Our afternoon activities has turned into outdoor activities for the most part. To be honest, with the pretty weather, it is fun to be outside with the children playing, running and having a good time. As Joey said, it is fun to play with the kids and see everybody getting a long. I tried to take a picture of Ms Abbie playing baseball with the children Wednesday afternoon, but she wouldn't stand still long enough. Just know, don't get in an argument with Ms Abbie if she has a bat in her hand, she was hitting the tennis ball a long way!

Tuesday evening at our men's Bible study was filled with lvoe. We had Ms Abbie's Joe join us for the first time, praise God! We had a young man, join us for the first time, who is living in an abandon house around the corner from the center. Matt took him home, so he could get his clothes and come back to the center and wash them. Joey visited with him while the clothes were washing. We read from James, talking about faith and works. Good discussions. Smokey made the comment as we were leaving, I use to live my life, like God, I have already done what I was suppose to do for you, so now I am living for me. Never thought about that before. You just never know what the Spirit will bring forth or who we will meet on Tuesdays.

Last week, we were able to get the organ in the chapel repaired. An organ repair person, especially an organ from the 60's, is hard to find. But we did, through our relationships. He came last Friday and got it working. There a few minor flaws with the organ, but for the most part, he said, he thought we could get many years of enjoyment out of it. Now, the task at hand is to get Ms Abbie over there and practicing on it, so one afternoon we can sing hymns at our chapel time. How cool will that be.

Thursday meal time was handled by the Grace Young Adults class. Ms Sarah and Mr Scott, had a huge group of young people, preparing the meal, serving, cleaning up, what a great evening. Michelle, I want you to know, mr brian did enter the kitchen once during the whole time! They were doing all of this, with heavy hearts as one of their family, Emily Smith, passed away earlier in the week.To see the enthusiasm, the energy, the lvoe of this group was inspiring. Ms Sarah and Mr Scott, please come back anytime.

After our meal, some of us had a Board meeting. Ms Lisa had several things, she needed to discuss. One was the new Missionary application. We have applied for a missionary to come and be in community with us. Our application has been approved but there were some particulars that needed to be resolved with housing and transportation. The conscientious was to proceed with the application and if we have to make changes, we can at the time the missionary comes. That won't be until August, if they find a match for us.

The other topic was the summer feeding program. We have been asked to be a site and discussions were about whether the timing is right for us to proceed. The biggest obstacle to the program will be the status of our kitchen. We have until the beginning of June to apply for the feeding program so a decision will be given as we see where we are with our kitchen remodel.

John reported the applications have been approved for the state and city fire marshals. John is now waiting on the permits which have been approved, just not yet printed up. That should be coming today. The new vent hood and air conditioning units have been ordered and should be installed in the next several weeks. John Williams will begin the process of wiring the kitchen and the plumber will begin his task of tearing out some of the flooring for a new grease trap. John is in the process of scheduling tasks and work schedules. We will have some work day Saturdays coming up, so if you can help, John will really appreciate it if you can help him. Very exciting to see it all finally coming together.

Building Common Ground is the name for Dr Phil's dream of building houses in the neighborhood. We purchased and were given several lots across the street on Southern. Unfortunately, the lots where the houses are going were zoned commercial. So Dr Phil and our builder, Dan Poole have made application to the zoning authority to get it rezoned. That process will take place on April 4. Hopefully after that, the building will begin. Joey and Beth have agreed to help Dr Phil with the process of who will be getting the houses. Great to see a dream come true. God is so good.

Ms Patty talked about upcoming plans for the greenhouse. A scout has taken on the huge task of replacing all the glass in the greenhouse as part of his eagle project. Adults will take down the glass and then the scouts will replace it with Plexiglas. Can't wait to see it all happen. Another group of scouts are going to start the process of making a brick patio. Once it is complete, another group of scouts, who are making picnic tables, will set them on the new patio. Some new flower beds are being designed, new irrigation systems are going in place, amazing things going on. Ms Patty brought up the idea of opening up the fence along Southern, where the community can walk into the garden. Maybe have a flower cart set up with vegetables. The dream of Ms Patty is to have the garden become a truly community garden.

Beth brought up an idea, she and Ms Abbie have talked about, teaching sewing to the community ladies. There have been new sewing machines donated and ready to go. Beth will host the activities in the friendship room. That will be cool.

Discussions about summer camp were shared. The hours will be Monday through Thursday, 1 - 4. Ms Lisa and Krysten have been interviewing prospective interns already. We have several who have applied and are eager to go. Ms Mary will be back to help out also. Momma T and Ms Lisa will host orientation activities for the new interns, with the culmination of the orientation with a sleep over at Momma T's. I am jealous! As we continue to walk along our journey, we are learning. We want our time together to be one of joy and lvoe. We need to learn from our past and our future will be full of blessings.

Our electricity bill was high for March. John said he would call SWEPCO to see if we can get someone out to the center to point out things we can do to be more energy efficient.

Continue to brainstorm, pray about an upcoming fund raisers. Lots of good ideas are out there, what can you add. We are open to anything.

We will have a group from Oklahoma join us next Thursday and Friday. Come by and meet them if you can.

Don't forget to be buying or be on the lookout for Easter eggs and candy. Ms Sarah has already done her part and getting leftover supplies from Grace and First Methodist. We will have our community Easter egg hunt, Thursday, April 5th at 5, around the center. This is not to be confused with our Easter sunrise egg hunt for neighborhood!

This Saturday, is our breakfast Saturday. Pancakes, bacon, strawberries will be provided. This maybe our last breakfast for a couple of months while our kitchen remodel is going on. Come at 8 if you want to help cook, come at 9 if you want to eat!

As I type this note, amazing to see everything that is going on. Everything that is going on, is something that has been brought to us, not something we have created ourselves. Another reminder to me, it is not about me, but about God. When God wants it to happen, He will bring folks to us to make it happen. The only thing God is asking of us, is to be obedient and have faith. Isn't that amazing! Something so simple, yet we make it so hard. Continue to dream, continue to pray, continue to lvoe. God is with us, enjoy the ride! Amen.