Hello! (Day 5!) Wow! What a day! First, this is Karen, Maria, and Emily writing for Lori Anne because she is too tired and bribed us with cookies.
Following morning devotionals and quiet time spent with God, we enjoyed banana muffins and more cereal. We were all anxious to get our hands dirty. Unfortunately, the morning fit our moods; sluggish and lazy. We had several patches of mud, which was actually clay and a solid mix of seashells to till. Following that, we had to wait for the over 1100 hundred flowers, trees, and bushes to arrive. We were all ready to unload the trucks, one a semi full of plants. (You should have seen Father Doug skipping down the street next to the semi with a huge child like grin on his face. It made all of us happy.) Thankfully one of the parishioners lent us a tiller and Jake and Emily took turns tilling as Claire and Anna worked hard to rake over the soil and smooth things out in the peace garden. So all of the soil was finally ready to go. The Rockstars planted 7 foot trees, Team Ramrod planted the gardens in the front of church, and Team TGTLADWTSAM filled in Father Doug's flower gardens with fresh soil. Later on in the evening, we ate a delicious dinner of Shepherd's Pie made by Anna and Irene, as well as celebrating all of the summer birthdays in our group: Especially Becca G's whose birthday was today. The cake and ice cream we had was extremely delicious and a great way to relax after a hard day.
As if the lovely meal was not enough, afterwards everyone was entertained by some genuine New Orleans jazz music and interesting sing-a-longs with the pianist of St. Gabes (Eric) and his friend, Edward, who played the sax. The teens spent the rest of their club time bonding and enjoying each other's company. We finished off with a nice closing prayer and then the rest of the group got to go to bed while we finished this blog. We are going there now. Good night!
P.S. It's me, Lori Anne again. Didn't the girls do a great job on the blog! I need to bribe them more often. jk. Just a few personal observations. The teens did AWESOME!!! They planted over 25 trees, a slew of other plants, and had the entire grounds tilled for the rest of the planting to be done tom. It was fun to work as a team! John and Beth went to do the punch list today with Brad and Olivia, and they got all of their houses for the week finished with the exception of one. It will be nice to spend some time with them tom. also. Eric and Ed were the musicians from Sunday's mass, and they came back just to play for the teens. This community is very welcoming, and the teens told me that they will be sad to leave on Saturday. (I think they just want to see the parishioners faces when they see the parish grounds for the first time. It is looking great!) We miss and love all of you back home. Please continue to keep us in your prayers, as we are keeping you in ours.
Following morning devotionals and quiet time spent with God, we enjoyed banana muffins and more cereal. We were all anxious to get our hands dirty. Unfortunately, the morning fit our moods; sluggish and lazy. We had several patches of mud, which was actually clay and a solid mix of seashells to till. Following that, we had to wait for the over 1100 hundred flowers, trees, and bushes to arrive. We were all ready to unload the trucks, one a semi full of plants. (You should have seen Father Doug skipping down the street next to the semi with a huge child like grin on his face. It made all of us happy.) Thankfully one of the parishioners lent us a tiller and Jake and Emily took turns tilling as Claire and Anna worked hard to rake over the soil and smooth things out in the peace garden. So all of the soil was finally ready to go. The Rockstars planted 7 foot trees, Team Ramrod planted the gardens in the front of church, and Team TGTLADWTSAM filled in Father Doug's flower gardens with fresh soil. Later on in the evening, we ate a delicious dinner of Shepherd's Pie made by Anna and Irene, as well as celebrating all of the summer birthdays in our group: Especially Becca G's whose birthday was today. The cake and ice cream we had was extremely delicious and a great way to relax after a hard day.
As if the lovely meal was not enough, afterwards everyone was entertained by some genuine New Orleans jazz music and interesting sing-a-longs with the pianist of St. Gabes (Eric) and his friend, Edward, who played the sax. The teens spent the rest of their club time bonding and enjoying each other's company. We finished off with a nice closing prayer and then the rest of the group got to go to bed while we finished this blog. We are going there now. Good night!
P.S. It's me, Lori Anne again. Didn't the girls do a great job on the blog! I need to bribe them more often. jk. Just a few personal observations. The teens did AWESOME!!! They planted over 25 trees, a slew of other plants, and had the entire grounds tilled for the rest of the planting to be done tom. It was fun to work as a team! John and Beth went to do the punch list today with Brad and Olivia, and they got all of their houses for the week finished with the exception of one. It will be nice to spend some time with them tom. also. Eric and Ed were the musicians from Sunday's mass, and they came back just to play for the teens. This community is very welcoming, and the teens told me that they will be sad to leave on Saturday. (I think they just want to see the parishioners faces when they see the parish grounds for the first time. It is looking great!) We miss and love all of you back home. Please continue to keep us in your prayers, as we are keeping you in ours.
posted by Lori Anne at 2:06 AM
2 Comments:
Project Hope, What a great job you are doing and what a blessing you are to those in need! Thanks for giving of your time - that's what it is all about: do unto others as you would have them do to you. Please let Patrick Mathews know that his aunt is thinking of him and proud of him for the work he is doing. Thank You, Pat Bartley
Looks like the Knights did you right. Hopefully you have before and after pictures of the Marian Garden. I am sure many prayers will be said your names at Mass on Sunday. Tell Caitlin, Maria, & Emily Uncle Steve says hi. Have a safe trip home. Can't wait to hear the about the National Gaurd.
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